2025 Classics Reading Challenge
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We’re going to have a great year reading classic books in 2025! Here’s the lineup for this year’s classics reading challenge.
2025 Reading Challenge for Classic Literature
The Tea and Ink Society Classics Reading Challenge is back for its fourth year, and I’d love to have you join us in reading great literature and expanding our reading horizons! Once again, our monthly challenge prompts are all new this year. I’ve never repeated a topic (although there’s been some overlap) because there are just so many ways you can go with classic literature.
This reading challenge is meant to help you discover new genres, authors, and regions for classic books, as well as to circle back to old favourites or finally get around to reading books you’d always meant to read. Follow along to read a classic book per month! You can adjust this challenge to suit you, but here are some basic guidelines:
- All books must be written before 1970 (you can read a rediscovered classic that was published posthumously, for instance, or a short story collection that was compiled and published recently, but the stories themselves were written 50+ years ago)
- You may not count the same book for multiple categories
- Children’s chapter books are fine (but no picture or storybooks)
- Books may be re-reads from titles you’ve read in the past
- You may join the challenge at any time, even if you discover this late!
To help guide you through the challenge, I will publish blog posts throughout the year with suggestions for some of the prompts. Where I don’t have a blog post dedicated to a particular theme, I’ll still send out an email reminder to our newsletter list, and may include suggestions there as well. As always, my list of 101 must-read classic books to read will come in handy for some starting inspiration.
We also have a Tea and Ink Society Facebook group, which is a great place to share your reads and to ask for suggestions. To gain access to that group, subscribe to our Tea and Ink newsletter; the group is a perk for members, and you’ll receive a link after you join.
2025 Classics Reading Challenge Plan
January: A classic you discover in a used bookstore
You get a delightful assignment for this month: find a used bookstore and give yourself time to wander and browse. Find something old that tugs at your curiosity and bring it home to read. To get you in the mood for this month’s challenge, read Mary’s lovely ode to secondhand books.
February: A Russian novel or short story collection
Russian literature has given us so much! Read one of the major classics like Anna Karenina or Crime and Punishment, or go with a lesser-known but still foundational work like Dead Souls. Although Russian literature has a reputations for long classics, there are some good short offerings, too, like The Death of Ivan Ilyich or a collection by Chekhov, known for his short stories.
March: A classic about immigrants or pioneers
Read a novel that centers on the immigrant experience or follows the lives of people making a new start, like A Lantern in Her Hand, Moberg’s Emigrants novels, or Brown Girl, Brownstones. I plan to have a blog post on this topic to give you more ideas.
April: A classic set on your own turf
Read a book that’s set where you’re from. It’s up to you how granular you want to get: your region? State/county? Is there anything from your city or town? Go back to the past while staying at home.
May: A book you were supposed to read in school
Is there a book you were assigned back in your youth that you skipped? Or something you started but never finished? Or perhaps there’s a famous classic you feel like you should’ve read in school, but somehow it was never on your reading list? Here’s the nudge you need to read it now!
June: Nonfiction nature writing
Read a book by an author who has explored, celebrated, and learned from the natural world. You could read an environmental apology like Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, a nature travelogue by John Muir, or a blend of nature observations and philosophical musings like Walden. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll find a copy of a John Cecil Moore book–an author on my wishlist who is frustratingly hard to locate! (Perhaps it’s easier if you’re in the U.K.?)
July: A science fiction novel or short story collection
Take a planetary voyage with C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, battle aliens in The War of the Worlds or Starship Troopers, or explore an early work by Ursula K. LeGuin.
August: A classic by an author you’ve only read once
Is there an author you enjoyed and want to read more of? See what else they have to offer!
September: A classic World War I or World War II novel
In the month World War II both began and ended, read a novel that focuses on the soldiers, the war effort, or civilians during wartime for one of the World Wars. You could read a famous book like A Farewell to Arms or All Quiet on the Western Front, try a wartime mystery (two I love are N or M? and Green For Danger), a thriller (HMS Ulysses is on my TBR), or a homefront story like Spring Magic or Rilla of Ingleside. You certainly won’t have trouble finding a book for this category!
October: A Jane Austen novel
Jane Austen is always a good idea. Choose from one of her six full novels, or try her novella Lady Susan for something quite different.
November: A poetry collection by one of the Romantic poets
Get swept up into the works of the vastly influential Romantic poets. You could go with one of the “big six”: Keats, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Percy Shelley, or Blake. Or, explore someone lesser-read, like Charlotte Smith or John Clare.
December: A Medieval or Renaissance classic
You have a wide time range to pick from (476 A.D. with the fall of Rome to about 1600), so you could go with something tending towards ancient or something more “modern.” Perhaps you’ll read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight or The Faerie Queene, the German epic Nibelungenlied, The Song of Roland, or The Poem of El Cid.
Are you looking forward to our classic book reading challenge? I am, and I always love seeing what our members pick! If you use Instagram, you can tag @teaandinksociety to share your reads. I’ll also be posting monthly discussion threads in our private Facebook group, which you get access to as an email subscriber.
Find previous years’ classics reading challenges here:
Oh I can’t wait to start in January! I’ve been looking forward to this new list, to see what new adventures I’ll get to take this year. Discovering this reading challenge back in 2022 was one of the best things ever- love my new hobby!
Time to finish up The Taming of the Shrew and start planning 2025! Thanks for setting this up!
A keyboard can’t really show my delight in reading your comment(: Thank you! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the bookish adventures!
The Taming of the Shrew is an interesting one, isn’t it? You can really take it all kinds of ways!
Oh, this looks like such fun! I love to browse in my local used book store. I just ordered a copy of El Cid for December because I’m descended from him and I didn’t know the poem existed. So besides being fun, it’s educational, too! Win, win!!
Have you seen the movie staring Charlton Heston? I remember being quite impressed watching that as a kid! Great, epic, old-time movie.
I think I’ll try it this coming year! I love reading your emails! Full of great things!
I’m so glad you’ll be reading along with us! And it’s always good to know my emails are arriving in mailboxes(: Thanks for reading.
I look forward to playing along from continental Europe!
Glad you’re joining! We have lots of continental members(:
Just printed the list to get a little ahead for January. Went to my favorite bookstore and found Jamaica Inn by Daphne DuMaurier written in 1934 as my January read. Can’t put it down!! Love the list and look forward to connecting with other T&I readers.
DuMaurier is great! I haven’t read JI yet. So glad you’ll be joining us!
Will you have a printable version of the list like you did last year, with space to write the titles? Thanks!
I guess I should, since a few people now have asked for it! I will send out an email with that.
I’m joining.
Thank you, and welcome!
I’m excited to join for my first time! These prompts are so unique; I’m looking forward to many wonderful reading adventures in 2025 <3
Thanks for joining!
I did not do as well as I hoped with the 2024 challenge, but I’m trying again in 2025! Thanks for hosting!
You’re welcome, and good luck!
Have you read Jane Austen’s Juvenilia?
I haven’t, but I want to.
Argh. Posted this comment to the wrong challenge. I’m modifying the list order to fit some other prompts I’m already filling. Like how I already have Persuasion slotted for a Valentine’s read. Nothing against Jane Austen, but once a year is enough.
The point is to read some classics, not adhering to a rigid order, right?
Right! If you’re doing multiple challenges, that adds to the fun to put everything together like puzzle pieces!
BTW–A good deal of Shakespeare will fulfill prompt #10. The Sonnets are out, but it’s known that he wrote Rape of Lucrece and Venus and Adonis during 1593-1594.
About half of his plays came before 1600 as well. A timeline of which ones will qualify is here:
https://www.rsc.org.uk/shakespeares-plays/histories-timeline/timeline
I’m joining for the first time, I’m so exited. This will be a great adventure!!
Thank you for joining! Happy reading adventures!
Looking forward to this!!! Woo hoo! Thank you for being an encouraging voice, spurring us all on to classical-reading greatness.
Classics are an endless well to draw from! So much good stuff to read and discover.
I just finished my 2024 list yesterday! Excited to start two new challenges in a few days, as I’m also doing the Shakespeare one. It should be a fun year in reading!
Yes, think of all the good things you’ll have read by this time next year. Time well spent!
I’m excited for this new challenge as well! I have done the last two years and have found some great books in categories I never would have tried for myself. The January pick will have to come from my library. We live in a rural area and I don’t know of any local bookstores. I’d probably have to drive a couple hours to find one. But luckily, my little library just got a new donation of classic books, so I’ll look into those.
I didn’t think about people not having access to a good used bookshop. Great idea to utilize your local library! An online used bookseller could also work–I’ve found some great vintage books on Etsy.
Not sure if anyone else said this, if you want to read John Moore go to your local library and ask them to place an ILL request. Some universities have copies, and they would send it over for you to borrow. If they ask you why you want to borrow it say it is for research purposes. Some ILLs are restricted to this.
Good idea.
So excited about my reads for your challenge! My January category is already met! https://silviacachia.wordpress.com/2025/01/03/classics-reading-challenge-2025-january-12blue-gentle-challenge/
Thank you for sharing! What an interesting pick! I’m intrigued.
I sent you an email that got bounced from your server. Can you check it out? Thanks. This was today January 7
Got it!
This sounds like fun! I was already planning to read Doctor Zhivago for February, so that will work for the challenge. I’m considering The Song of the Lark for March…unless a recommendation on your upcoming blog post sounds more interesting. For April, my first thought was a reread of Time and Again, but I see it was published in 1970. Maybe Washington Square? Or Vera Caspary’s Laura? (I saw the movie Laura years ago; didn’t know it was based on a book.) I’m leaning toward The Decameron for December. Now I just have to figure out the other months.
I really enjoyed the movie of Laura, and I’ve wanted to read the book! Thanks for that reminder. You can read Time and Again if you want to bend the rules a little!
I’m not sure what happened to my last attempt at a comment – it would have been at least a week ago. Anyway… I signed up, or at least I think I did, and I picked “Dream of the Red Chamber” as my January book. I figured out that this translation does not include the 40 (out of a possible maximum 120) apocryphal chapters at the end, so I do wonder what I may be missing, but I’ve also heard that those are often left out in translations. I just passed the halfway point in it, and I’m enjoying it. In part, because I am now getting the references that were made to it in Barry Hughart’s “Story of the Stone”, the second book in his trilogy that started with “Bridge of Birds” and which is based on an ancient China that ‘never was, but should have been’. For February, I plan on “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich”.
On another matter, have I missed seeing a post on the Shakespeare challenge? I’m interested for sure!
I’m just slow at replying to comments this week! It looks like your Shakespeare sign up didn’t go through, so I’ve manually added you. Glad you’re joining! That’s a nice unusual pick for your January read! Did you know that there’s a couple of miniseries adaptations of it? 1987 and 2010, I think. Not sure where to watch them but maybe you can hunt them down! I’ve never heard of Story of the Stone, so I will have to look that up.
I heard there were a few adaptations for “Dream of the Red Chamber”, but more of the commentary I saw focused on that it’s an entire field of study that people can specialize in – “redology”, I think. I’m not sure I could devote my life/career to a single book!
Barry Hughart falls just after the cutoff for traditional classics definitions, being a 1980s author, but in the particular fantasy genre I think his works predate most of the modern styles and could be labeled as classics. They have a strong historical setting, tempered with the conceit that mythology is real in this version of ancient China. His first work, “Bridge of Birds”, is an award winner I think. The style itself is in conversation with historical writing, but has a lot of deliberate anachronisms and humor thrown in (ex. there is a chapter early in that is titled “A brief interlude for murder”).
Am I behind for Shakespeare? I’m ready to start, I just didn’t want to pick a play at random if there’s an expected order.
Yes, I’ve heard of Redology! I will have to tell my husband about the Hughart books, too. He reads more fantasy than I do (not that I don’t like it, he’s just read more widely there). For Shakespeare most of us are on week 3–Comedy of Errors. We’ve done Twelfth Night and King John. (I’m actually still finishing King John, though…that’s why we have makeup/break weeks!) Did you get the PDF document with the plan? I will email it to you separately right now in case you didn’t get the welcome email.
Hi Elsie,
I wasn’t sure where would be best to post this, but since one of the monthly challenges is a Jane Austen novel, I thought blog readers might find it interesting.
Not sure if the link will work, but there’s an article over at BBC Culture on why Jane Austen’s sister destroyed her letters:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20250129-the-mystery-of-why-jane-austens-letters-were-destroyed-by-her-own-sister
It references a miniseries that is already airing in the UK, and premieres on Masterpiece on May 4. I’ve already put it on my calendar!
Thanks, this is a perfect spot to share it, and the link came though! I’ll post it in our Facebook group, too.
I found this challenge in 2023 when I wanted to push myself into reading classics and I’ve been hooked ever since. I read North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell for the January challenge this year and am going to try The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (a short Tolstoy…this will be my first!) for February and I’m very excited!
Thank you for putting this challenge together each year, Elsie! You have opened my eyes to a LOT of classics that I probably never would have found otherwise.
I do have one question – last year there was a printable pdf for the challenge that I loved filling out every month. Did I miss that this year, or is there not one this year?
Looking forward to another great year of discovering classics with you!
I’m so, so glad the challenges have put more classics in your life! Time reading a classic is time well spent (as a general and pretty reliable rule)! Ivan Illyich is a great Tolstoy to start with, and thought-provoking. The reading challenge printable can be accessed through the Rare Books Room. Check any email newsletter from me, and near the bottom of the email you’ll find the link and password for that. This year I just put the checklist in blank (without the prompts typed out), so it can be used for any year. That way if there’s any years that I’m just swamped around the holidays–like happened this year–no one will have to wait on me for the new printable!