Friday 3 June 2016

#CCSpin 13

Here we go again!

It's time for our next CC Spin book with the Classics Club (click on link for rules and conditions).

I can proudly say that I have participated in every single spin. And I'm not going to let a crazy, hectic schedule make me miss this one!

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  I gave up on this chunkster about halfway through, then I lost the book when we moved last 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.

#12 Dubliners by James Joyce was too depressing and hopeless for my current state of mind.

#13  The Catherine Wheel by Catherine Harrower

Out of curiosity I checked what the previous spin results were.

We've had 14, 6, 4, 10, 20, 1, 17, 13, 2, 5, 19 and 8.
Seven even numbers, five odd.
Six double digits and six singles.

I have a lot on in the coming months, so my reading plans feature slim volumes and trying to get through some of my TBR's.

Winter has also arrived with a vengeance in little old Sydney town. Gusty, wild, woolly winds and rain are predicted for this weekend.

Mr Books and I are doing dry June (we have too many dinner dates, gatherings and get togethers in July to make dry July a reasonable thing this year). I suspect my chocolate and green tea consumption may spike in June instead!

The first seven titles in my list are already books selected for my #20booksofsummer (or winter) reading challenge. 

For the rest, I've included books to help my #woolfalong reading plans, my Australian Women Writer's challenge, Austen in August and Paris in July.


1. The Tragedy of Korosko by Arthur Conan Doyle 

2. Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene

3. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
Reading with Jessica @The Bookworm Chronicles

4. Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Reading with Rebecca @Randy Runt of a Reader

6. On the Beach by Neville Shute

18. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Reading with @Crafts4others

8. Diary of a Nobody by George and Weddon Grossmith

9. Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac

10. Picture of Dorian Gray by Osacr Wilde

11. Stoner by John Williams

12. This Side of Paradise by F Scott Fitzgerald

13. A Glass of Blessings by Barbara Pym

14. The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

15. The Catherine Wheel by Elizabeth Harrower


Twenty-five-year-old Clemency James has moved from Sydney to a chilly bedsit on the other side of the world. During the day she studies for the bar by correspondence; in the evenings she gives French lessons to earn a meagre wage. When she meets Christian, a charismatic would-be actor, she can see he’s trouble—not least because he’s involved with an older woman who has children. She is drawn to him nonetheless: drawn into his world of unpayable debts and wild promises.

First published in 1960, The Catherine Wheel
 is Elizabeth Harrower’s third novel and the only one of her books not set in Australia. In it she turns her unflinching gaze on the grim realities of 1950s London, and the madness that can infect couples.



16. War of the Worlds by H G Wells
Reading with Jessica @The Bookworm Chronicles

17. Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
Reading with Rebecca @Randy Runt of a Reader

7. The Silver Sword by Ian Serralier

19. The Sun King by Nancy Mitford

20. Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 

I may jiggle and tweak the numbers around a little between now and Monday if it means I can readalong with a fellow clubber once again.

Happy Spinning!

7 comments:

  1. I've chosen The Gambler of Dtostoyevsky for this spin, and I have to admit that I dread the posibility of having to read it.

    My list: http://thereadingarmchair.blogspot.gr/2016/06/the-classics-club-spin-13.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4/6/16

    Spin! Good luck....hope you get a winner.
    I don't see a Nobel on the list, why?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm needing something a bit easier at the moment....

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  3. Anonymous5/6/16

    "Breath" is the shortest play ever written. It lasts a total of 35 seconds. Boom! Samuel Beckett is done! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmmm I've now seen two tremendous, surreal Beckett plays - Waiting for Godot and Endgame - I feel that is enough contact with Beckett for me :-)

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    2. Anonymous7/6/16

      I always thought he was strange...Irish man writing in French.
      Not looking forward to his plays long or short! Good luck with the nr 15 on the spin!

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  4. The Wind in the Willows is amazing, I loved that book!

    I'll be interested in seeing what you make of The Sun King by Nancy Mitford - I've heard of it but not read it.

    I *think* I've joined in all the spins but I certainly haven't completed all the titles. Probably only a quarter of them to be honest! :)

    ReplyDelete

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