Jump to content

Reading all of the classics in chronological order!


Recommended Posts

Gentle readers,

 

Sadly, I have CDO - which is like OCD - but with all of the letters in the correct alphabetical order - the way they should be! :blush:

 

One tell-tale symptom is that many years ago I set myself the task of reading all of the [Penguin] classics in chronological order.

 

Short story long - I started at the epic of Gilgamesh ~3000 BC and am currently working my way through the Complete works of Aristotle, ~384 BC having before read every major classic in between: Plato, Aristophones, Homer, Aristophanes, Sophocles, Xenophon, Herodatus, Hindu Myths, Gathas of Zaroaster, The Bible, etc.

 

Am I the only tragic bookworm with such a compulsive affliction/addiction - or are there other CDOs out there too?

 

Please advise..:lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, wow! What a challenge! I'm not so CDO as you are, although pretty much everything that can be alphabetised in my flat has been aranged so.

 

I did consider doing a decades challenge where I read a classic from each year in any given decade in the order they were published, though at present I don't have time to dedicate mhyself to that challenge, it's one I plan to do at some point. Would that count?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gentle readers,

 

Sadly, I have CDO - which is like OCD - but with all of the letters in the correct alphabetical order - the way they should be! :lol:

 

Lol - that made me laugh.

Seriously - good luck. That's quite a challenge - but I'm sure it will be very rewarding. There'll be some great books in there, as well as some very obscure less interesting ones.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, wow! What a challenge! I'm not so CDO as you are, although pretty much everything that can be alphabetised in my flat has been aranged so.

 

I did consider doing a decades challenge where I read a classic from each year in any given decade in the order they were published, though at present I don't have time to dedicate mhyself to that challenge, it's one I plan to do at some point. Would that count?

Of course it counts!

I like to see how things develop - what comes after what, what might have influenced what.

So reading over a year or decade is a bit like that too.

Enjoy it - but watch out that you don't catch CDO!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lol - that made me laugh.

Seriously - good luck. That's quite a challenge - but I'm sure it will be very rewarding. There'll be some great books in there, as well as some very obscure less interesting ones.

It is quite a challenge - some works by Xenophon, for instance were so obscure and out of print that I had to order second hand copies from remote bookstores across the globe.

 

Demosthenes - whom I am reading after Aristotle - looks like my bookseller Rosy and I will have to track down using a pith helmet and torch! Something out of print in America - but we will get our orations or bust!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really, I would expect someone with CDO to read the classics in Alphabetical order! :thud:Now there's a challenge! Seriously, though, best of luck with that! Definately know that's one challenge I wouldn't be up for! :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow Tuesday, I really have to applaud you - very commendable - and that is a "mountain" of literature, as you say. The question is though, are you enjoying the books?:lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What—what, I ask!—are you going to do if a work is discovered and published but dates to a year preceding your position on the reading timeline?

 

The answer should be obvious: a true CDO will go right back to the epic of Gilgamesh and start all over again. :friends0:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...