It's that time again!
Time to take our classics club list out for a spin.
On Monday 7th March a number between 1-20 will be selected. To join in simply read the chosen book between now and May 2nd.
I love it every time I see the Spin post pop up.
I love seeing what everyone else is reading and I love preparing a new list.
My previous spins have been mostly successful and/or enjoyable. I've also enjoyed reading along with other Classic Clubbers during most of the spins:
#1 The Magnificent Ambersons with Cat @Tell Me A Story.
#2 Tess of the D'Urbervilles with JoAnn @Lakeside Musings & Several Four Many.
#3 My Cousin Rachel.
#4 The Brothers Karamazov with Bree who also read a Dostoyevsky novel for this spin. I gave up on this chunkster about halfway through, then I lost the bok during our move earlier in the year...serendipity, I say!
#5 The Odyssey with Plethora of Books. This one was a bit of a cheat as I had started it for another readalong, but struggled to finish. I added it to my list to motivate me to finish it. When no. 20 spun up it seemed like the gods had decreed it so!
#6 No Name by Wilkie Collins with Melbourne on My Mind.
#7 Silent Spring by Rachel Carson with Booker Talk - my first classic non-fiction spin.
#8 Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh has been my one and only dud Spin read so far.
#9 The Great World by David Malouf my first Australian classic spin.
#10 A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark.
#11 So Big by Edna Ferber with Christy where we experienced the joys of rediscovering a forgotten award winning classic.
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I seem to have ended up with a few chunksters on this list, so I hope the spin will be kind to me (fingers, toes and eyes crossed)
- A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor (shared author with Juliana @The Blank Garden)
- Villette by Charlotte Bronte (reading with Cleo @Classical Carousel)
- Poor Miss Finch by Wilkie Collins (shared author with What Me Read)
- This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Death in Venice by Thomas Mann (reading with cirtnecce)
- Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
- Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (reading with Jean @Howling Frog)
- Dubliners by James Joyce (shared author with Elspeth @The Content Reader)
- Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy (reading with Lois @You Me and A Cup of Tea & shared author with Christina @The Ardent Reader)
- One of Ours by Willa Cather (reading with Shelley @Book Clutter)
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
- Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens (reading with Karen @Books and Chocolate)
- Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (reading with Lois @You Me and A Cup of Tea)
- Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (reading with Laurie @Relevant Obscurity)
- Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo (reading with Karen @Books and Chocolate)
- Stoner by John Williams (reading with Care's Books and Pies)
- The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope (reading with Care's Books and Pies)
- Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell (shared author with Helen @She Reads Novels)
- The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
- The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf (reading with Margaret @Books Please)
If you have a book or author that you share with me & I've missed mentioning you, please let me know in the comments below and I will rectify the situation asap!
Happy Spinning!
Elspeth is reading a Joyce too. She'll be tackling The Portrait of an Artist of a Young Man. I suspect it will be handy having someone to discuss Joyce's writing style with.
What was your lucky spin book?
Happy Spinning!
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Later:
The lucky spin number is 8.
Which means that I'm reading The Dubliners by James Joyce. It will be my first Joyce - at least it's a slim start.
Dubliners was completed in '05, but British & Irish publishers & printers found it so offensive & immoral it was suppressed. It finally came out in London in '14, just as Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man began to appear in the journal Egoist under Ezra Pound's auspices. The 1st three stories might be incidents from a draft of Portrait of the Artist & many of the characters who figure in Ulysses 1st appear here, but this isn't a book of interest only because of its relationship to Joyce's life & mature work. It's one of the great story collections in the English language--a brilliant, unflinching, often tragic portrait of early 20th-century Dublin. The book, which begins & ends with a death, moves from "stories of my childhood" thru tales of public life. Its larger purpose, Joyce said, was as a moral history of Ireland.
Elspeth is reading a Joyce too. She'll be tackling The Portrait of an Artist of a Young Man. I suspect it will be handy having someone to discuss Joyce's writing style with.
What was your lucky spin book?
Oh my, that is a great list and how nice that you have shared so many books in the past. I wish you/us well come Monday, whatever the number!
ReplyDeleteOh, I hope you get number 2! ;-) I love how you structure your spin so much, that a couple of times I've unofficially done CC read-alongs. The Voyage Out was really quite good if you're in a Woolf-mood and you can't go wrong with Gaskell. I'm anticipating Monday to see what books will be coming to us all. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd we've loved having you along. It was thanks to you that I finally finished The Odyssey after I got stuck half-way.
DeleteThe Voyage Out will help me with Ali's #Woolfalong, but I'm hoping for something easier I must confess.
We share This Side of Paradise. Lots of great titles on your list. I LOVE STONER. Good luck. :)
ReplyDeleteI love how you arrange to read along with somebody! Though Imust admit that if #7 comes up we will both be in a bit of trouble. :)
ReplyDeleteYup! I'll be very to glad to have a reading buddy for no. 7!!
DeleteAnd 5,13,14,15 & 20!!
I love the idea of reading along the Spin! Love Gaskell...you cannot go wrong with her. I am kind of dubious about Hugo...here's a buy 1, get 1 free offer:)...if you get The Picture of Dorian Gray, I will give you company. I tried reading it a couple of times, but somehow I have not made much of a headway!
ReplyDeleteI'll take you up on the Picture of Dorian Gray offer. I've seen plays by Wilde but never read any of his books.
ReplyDeleteOh, good grief ...... such temptation!!! I'll join you both if it comes up ......... I've read it once before and absolutely hated it until about ⅔ through but when I finished, it became one of my favourites.
DeleteThat's an interesting list. I've read some of them and particularly liked Poor Miss Finch, Stoner and Don Quixote (which I found surprisingly easy to read despite the length). I hope the spin gives you something you're happy with on Monday!
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you are sharing books with so many people. Great motivation. Good luck on Monday!
ReplyDeleteOh, I like the way you've arranged this to share reads with others. That must take some work to make the list, but it must be so much fun to read with somebody. Good luck and enjoy!
ReplyDeleteWe'll know soon which number comes up! Whatever it is I hope you'll enjoy the book and maybe we can read The Voyage Out at the same time!
ReplyDeleteHave fun with Dubliners! I liked the parts of it that I've read.
ReplyDeleteThe Dubliners is a GREAT book to read for the Classics club spin! You are so lucky!
ReplyDeleteI was feeling a little nervous about Joyce but you and TJ have set my mind at ease - thank you :-)
DeleteNothing to be nervous about....just notice little things: character's gestures, descriptions of character's neighborhood (travelling from the poor to affluent secton of town) and try to find a link in the story with the title! I loved the book.
DeleteI have never had enough nerve to read Joyce. I hope you enjoy it, or at least understand it. My Spin book: The Age of Innocence
ReplyDelete