Monday, Monday, so good to me. I woke up early, drank a cup of coffee, and basked in the frigid pre-autumn air. This is witchy season, and I am here for it.

A couple of months ago, I started this weekly book challenge hosted by E. @ Local Bee Hunter’s Nook called #5OnMyTBR, and I really enjoyed the exercise. It occurs every Monday when they post about 5 books on their TBR.

This week’s theme is Classics. Now, I know that classics is a very subjective and weirdly objective concept, so I am going to stick to it. As someone who was an English major in my past life, I find it hard to get into classics now as an “adult” after having been scarred by Chaucer, Shakespeare, and the like (mostly scarred by the Americans – I hated classic American lit. Take that, Twain.) However, some linger on my TBR as being somehow different, and potentially something I can read happily.

---

1. A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster

• Why I’m Excited: This is one of those books I swore up and down for years that I’d already read, then it was on a book club list for AFAReads, and I realized I hadn’t. For all his white dudeness, E.M. Forster was pretty awesome. He was a gay man in the closet that wrote a whole bunch of stuff poking fun at the system. How can you beat it?

---

2. Conjure Wife, by Fritz Lieber

• Why I’m Excited: Honestly, I am more apprehensive than anything. This has good bones – all women are witches, man is confused by this but learns to accept his wife for who she is and that magic is real. But, there is a lot of sexism because it is from the male lens. I do like the horror undertones, and many women reviewers that I have respect for were able to read this and enjoy it.

---

3. Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman

• Why I’m Excited: Us Long Island New Yorkers love us some Walt. His birthplace is one of those school trips that you look forward to, and you end up sitting in a forest or having sex and thinking, “I could write like Walt.” Here was a boldly bisexual man that stood with people of all walks of life. He was a hedonist, a humanist, and I feel guilty that his anthology has been sitting on my shelf unread for ages.

---

4. My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier

• Why I’m Excited: One of my favorite classics ever is Rebecca, and I generally just love all things gothic. I actually didn’t even know that My Cousin Rachel existed (whoops!) until I saw the trailed for the movie adaptation with Rachel Weisz (who I love), and I have been excited to read this ever since. A lot of people have mixed feelings about this one, but I have a feeling it will be good for me.

---

5. Howards End, by E.M. Forster

• Why I’m Excited: Another Forster that I swore I read and hadn’t. Also, I feel no shame for doubling up here. Howards End is another one I didn’t think of until I saw the trailed for the miniseries that came out recently, with Hayley Atwell and Matthew Macfadyen (swoon). Someone called Forster the Jane Austen of the 20th century, and I love it.

---

That’s all for this week, folks! Come chat with me – any thoughts?