Monday 13 November 2017

#CCSpin 16

I'm sure you all know by now how much I love a Classics Club Spin. I can proudly say that I have participated in all 16. At the end of a really, really heart-breaking week, to suddenly discover #cc spin posts popping up all over the place in my neglected feedly feed, helped to lighten the gloom.

Thank you dear Classics Clubbers for such a timely and much needed boost to my morale!


For details on how to join in a #CCSpin, click on the link here.
The main thing you need to know though, is to compile your list of 20 books by this Friday - the 17th November.

On that day a number will be randomly selected.
That's the book you read.

You have until the 31st of December to finish your book and review it.

Join in the fun by visiting the other players and commenting on their lists.
It's a great way to meet like-minded bloggers and explode your TBR classics wishlist!

My previous spins have been mostly successful and/or enjoyable.
I've also made my own fun by trying to read my books with other Classic Clubbers during many 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 - hope to watch the movie soon.

#4 The Brothers Karamazov - I floundered about halfway through this chunkster, then I lost the book when we moved two years ago...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 cc 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 Karen @Booker Talk - my first classic non-fiction spin.

#8 Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh - 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 - we both experienced the joy of rediscovering a forgotten award winning classic.

#12 Dubliners by James Joyce - too depressing and hopeless for my state of mind at the time.

#13 The Catherine Wheel by Catherine Harrower - my second Aussie #ccspin classic.

#14 The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnet - it's weird how books remind you not only of the time or place within the book but also the time and place where you read them. This spin book was read one weekend whilst visiting my father-in-law. Seeing this cover on my list today made me tear up straight away and took me back to the lovely weekend we all enjoyed together last year.

#15 Out of Africa by Karen Blixen - a disappointment in the end. The movie was better.

#16 The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield.

Now that my Classics Club List is finally getting smaller, it is also getting harder for me to match all 20 books with another reader.

If you spot a match with your list, please let me know before the magic number is selected on Friday, I can then tweek my list to suit.


1. Villette by Charlotte Bronte

2. Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis

3. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath with Elley the Book Otter

4. The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield

5. How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn with Katrina @Reading Record Blog

6. This Side of Paradise by F Scott Fitzgerald with Jillian @In Her Books

7. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

8. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe with Laurie @Relevant Obscurity

9. The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck with Elley the Book Otter

10. Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

11. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde with Amanda @Simpler Pastimes

12. Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac

13. Indiana by George Sand

14. Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington with Jillian @In Her Books

15. A Game of Hide and Seek by Elizabeth Taylor

16. The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather with Allison @Climbing Mount To Be Read

17. War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells

18. The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope

19. Corinne by Stael

20. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Friday: The lucky spin number is 4 which means that I'll be reading my oh so pretty VMC designer edition copy of The Diary of a Provincial Lady. After the month I've had, I cannot tell you how delighted I am the I have spun such a beautiful, charming, gentle book to ease me into the Christmas.

How did you fare?

24 comments:

  1. Sniff, no matches. (I've read and loved Robinson Crusoe, and The Picture of Dorian Gray, so those I know you'll love.)

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    1. I used to be able to match every single book, but with the last couple of spins I've been lucky if I match half. I confess I'm hoping for a slim volume this spin....

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  2. Tess was such a great novel... glad we got to share that one! I'm not doing the spin this time, but plan to read Persuasion in December. Good luck.

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    1. Sorry you won't be with us this spin JoAnn - perhaps your spin could have Persuasion at every number :-D

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    2. Ha ha!! There's an idea ;-)

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  3. I've never heard of Villette! I'll need to look that one up. SO many good ones on your list! I haven't read any Virginia Wolfe yet so may need to add her to 2018 lists :) Can't wait to see what you get!

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    1. I'm attempting to read Woolf in chronological order to help me adjust to her use of stream of consciousness in the later books.
      Night and Day is second in line. I really enjoyed A Voyage Out and have high hops for the next.

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    2. What a great idea for Woolf! :D

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  4. That's an interesting list, I've only read seven of them.

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  5. No matches sadly, but I hope you get a goodie anyway - my picks from your list would be either The War of the Worlds (short!)or The Way We Live Now, which I enjoyed several years ago, before I began blogging and reviewing. Have a good spin!

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    1. I'm secretly hoping for The War of the Worlds as every time I put it on a spin, people keep telling me how good it is.

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  6. wow, nice twist! Sorry no match, I have one by Virginia Wolf, but not that one: https://wordsandpeace.com/2017/11/08/the-classics-club-the-classics-spin-16/

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  7. Oh I sure will!

    But if you get War of the Worlds I will not be too disappointed. That is a great book and not what most people think, especially if they have seen any films.

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  8. I'm in, too. I selected my books from those I have lying around the house.

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  9. Sorry to hear about your week! Hope you find some good reading material to give your heart a lift :)

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  10. Even though we share two titles, I want you to get #1, because I love Charlotte Bronte. :) If you do, I'm reading the British Fanny Kemble's journal about a year she spent living on her husband's plantation in Georgia in the late 1830s. The publication of the journal (which critiqued the Southern system) did not please her husband...

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  11. This is such a cool "challenge"! I need some help to find some encouragement to read more classics. Maybe I should do this. Oh so tempting!! Anyway, can't wait to hear what you end up reading as there are lots of great titles on here!

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  12. Fantastic list! I loved Villette and Diary of a Provincial Lady is charming and hilarious. Night and Day is on my main CC list but not my spin list. Happy reading!

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    1. Glad to have another positive shout out for DoPL now that it has spun my way :-)

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  13. Good luck on your spin!
    I wish This Side of Paradise would win, cause I really curious what otehrs would think of it.
    I haven't read it, but some says it's rather depressing (hopefully in a good way!).
    But if #11 win, you'd have a good time, I loved The Picture of Dorian Gray!

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  14. Anonymous18/11/17

    Have fun reading, Brona. I know we've both been waiting for another Spin, and it looks like we both got lucky. I'll be reading The Secret Garden.

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    1. What a lovely spin for you - I had The Secret Garden a couple of spins ago, although I found that my childhood memories didn't quite live up to an adult rereading...

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  15. I would have loved to read Diary with you, but I already did it this year. I must say I did not find it so extremely hilarious (I prefer Wodehouse), but it is a light and fun read. Enjoy!

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    1. Excellent - a light and fun read is exactly what I need right now! I'll check out your review post (if you have one) when I finish the book :-)

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