Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Taking a Spin with The Classics Club



A game of chance from the The Classics Club - make a list of twenty unread titles from our list and on the 18th February one number will be chosen. The challenge is to read the book that corresponds to the number by April 1.

My Spin List

Five I want to read the most because other bloggers keep telling me how good they are.

1. Possession by A S Byatt
2. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
3. Germinal by Emile Zola
4. Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford
5. South Riding by Winifred Holtby

Five English lady authors I  expect to love 

6. Westwood by Stella Gibbons
7. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim
8. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
9. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
10. All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West

Five American male authors I don't expect to love

11. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
12. Washington Square by Henry James
13. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
14. The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington
15. The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Five that will drag me out of Victorian England

16. A Fine Balance by Rohantin Mistry
17. A House for Mr Biswas by V S Naipal
18. Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev
19.Wild Swans by Jung Chang
20. Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

Five by authors I haven't read before

21. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
22. East Lynne by Ellen Wood
23. The Odd Women by George Gissing
24. Helen by Maria Edgeworth
25. The Harp in the South by Ruth Park

Let the wheel spin!


22 comments:

  1. Ooh, I've read lots of books on your list. Let's see, Wives and Daughters is just wonderful, Germinal is a real page-turner. Enchanted April is just lovely. A Fine Balance is great too.

    And I have Wild Swans on my TBR challenge list and lots of people have commented how good it is. Happy reading!

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    1. You've just added to the blogger endorsements for 1-5.........keeping my fingers crossed it will be one of those.

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  2. Funny titles, specially the Americans not to be loved :)

    I've only read Oscar Wilde from your list, and am now reading "Germinal" (among other books); Karen is right - it is something special.

    Good luck with the draw!

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    1. I do plan to read Germinal this year so would be great if it came up now. I seem to have a problem connecting with American male authors although John Steinbeck did change my mind somewhat.

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    2. I agree, Steinbeck is very elegant. Personally I also like Faulkner but I understand he is not everyone's cup of tea/coffee/cococa. I haven't read Henry James but I very much want to see what "Portrait of a Lady" is about. I do have a good feeling about him :)

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    3. I haven't read Faulkner or HJ yet but the Classics Club is great for encouraging one to actually try an author - especially those you think you won't like.

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  3. I've read and loved a few of these and have some of them on my list to read. If the number for Wild Swans is picked I think it's a great book, but it's long and I couldn't read it by 1 April - it took me ages to read! I see some of your other books are long too - good luck!

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    1. Some of them are very short also - so all depends on the spin!

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  4. Nice to see an Australian classic on your list :-)
    It was voted into the Top 10 Australian books by ABC viewers last year. It certainly paints a very atmospheric picture of 1930's Surrey Hills.

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    1. I bought a copy at last year's book fair of all three in the trilogy and look forward to making a start reading them.

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  5. I love this idea and my list is going up on Saturday! Can't wait to see what I'll be reading next.

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    1. It is a great idea but the suspense is nail-biting stuff. Look forward to seeing your list.

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  6. I'd say that with your first ten books you'd be in such safe hands, but with the later books a little less so. I'd favour numbers 1, 2, 5 , 7 and 9, but I hope that whatever the number is you find another classic to love.

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    1. I'm hoping for one of the first ten but had to add some more challenging titles - fingers crossed!

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  7. I read Farewell to Arms a long time ago in secondary school and can't even remember any detail. Good luck, Cat.

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    1. I really don't think Hemingway will be to my liking but I have to try him sometime - maybe it will be sooner than I thought and it would fit into A Modern March.

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  8. I didn't expect to love Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove at all as I dislike westerns. My mom kept on insisting that this one was different and liked it more than I was expecting to. (although it still didn't change my opinion of westerns) Anyway, I hope it surpasses your expectations even if it isn't choosen for your classic spin.

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    1. It would at least be something very different from my usual choices which might be a good thing.

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  9. I certainly didn't love The House of the Seven Gables, but Washington Square was actually pretty readable (especially for Henry James). I want to read all 5 in your first group!

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  10. We got #14!! Which mean we'll be reading The Magnificent Ambersons together.

    I look forward to your reviews :-)

    Good luck!

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    1. Great - it's a book I know absolutely nothing about so looking forward to sharing the reading with you.

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