I was going to resist the spin this time. I have too many books on the go and too many of them are atrociously difficult, or inordinately huge. But one of my goals for the year was to pare down my Classics Club list, so why on earth wouldn’t I participate in a spin?
With that said, I’m not shy to admit that I absolutely manipulated my list. Well, perhaps not completely, but I did change out about seven books for ones that I’m either currently reading, are shorter novels, or projects that I am struggling with (Shakespeare, that’s YOU!). Surprisingly, one of the manipulations was not The Faerie Queene.
The Rules for the spin are:
- Go to your blog.
- Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club list.
- Post that list, numbered 1 – 20, on your blog by next Monday.
- Monday morning, we’ll announce a number from 1 – 20. Go to the list of twenty books you posted and select the book that corresponds to the number we announce.
- The challenge is to read that book by August 1st.
I used the random list organizer here to choose the 20 books from my master list. Then I tweaked them, so my list ended up looking like this:
- Ivanhoe (1820) – Sir Walter Scott
- Far From the Madding Crowd (1874) – Thomas Hardy
- Framley Parsonage (1860-61) – Anthony Trollope
- 1984 (1949) – George Orwell
- The Fairie Queene (1590 – 1596) – Edmund Spenser
- Henry V (1599) – Wiliam Shakespeare
- The Histories (450-20 BC) – Herodotus
- Richard III (1592) – William Shakespeare
- Le Rêve (1888) – Emile Zola
- Tom Sawyer (1876) – Mark Twain
- The Good Soldier Svejk (1923) – Jaroslav Hasek
- The Silver Chalice (1952) – Thomas Costain
- A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and a Journal of a Tour
- The Lord of the Flies (1954) – William Golding
- The Red Bade of Courage (1895) – Steven Crane
- The Robe (1942) – Lloyd C. Douglas
- The Twelve Caesars (121) – Suetonius
- The Stranger (1942) – Albert Camus
- Tom Brown’s School Days (1857) – Thomas Hughes
- The Merchant of Venice (1596 – 1598) – William Shakespeare
While my intentions are good, if I don’t finish by August 1st, I won’t be surprised. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? And if I get a book I’m already reading, it will be more of a guarantee for success.
So let the spin begin!
Er…you are already reading the Faerie Queene and Henry V and The Histories??!!!!! Anyway, I am not doing the Spin this time….I am still playing catch up and I have a big PMP certification exam coming up so I cannot add anything more to my now spilleth over plate. However if you get anything interesting, I may join you for a read along! 🙂
I'm actually only reading The Faerie Queene, Ivanhoe and Framley Parsonage at the moment, and perhaps getting ready to dip my finger into Far From the Madding Crowd. The others are "really want tos" and there are a few shorter reads that, if I don't get, won't matter. Why does your last sentence not surprise me? 😉 We are two peas in a pod!
Best wishes for your exam!
I hope you get Le Rêve because it's excellent, The Good Soldier Svejk because I haven't read it yet and that's the one I'm most curious about, and Tom Brown's School Days because everyone has to read that at some point! A nice gentle read I think. I've got Tom Brown at Oxford on my CC list, but not my spin. Planned to maybe read it in the autumn.
The Twelve Caesars – if you don't get that I might join you in a readalong later on in the year, and I hope you *don't* get Herodotus because I definitely want to read-along with you and I literally do not have the time this summer! 😀
Good luck! 🙂
I applaud your ambition and the eclecticism of your list. I am not participating in the challenge, but I'm tempted either to join or to come up with my own. Such lists are like syllabi in that they keep me on task with goals to be achieved. Ah, the joys of being a perpetual student among all those books!
I still have to write a post for my last spin book, but it's always a good way to pick up a book I might otherwise put off for a while. Here's hoping you get a good one!
I'd like Le Rêve, but both The Good Soldier and Tom Brown sound good too. I'm glad to have your approval of Tom Brown ….. I've heard a couple of negative things about it .
Oh, these Greeks and Romans and Oh! for more time in the day! I hope I don't get The Twelve Caesars because it will change my focus but if I do get it, I can't say I'll be disappointed. 🙂
Thanks, R.T. One never stops learning …. or reading, hopefully …
I didn't get through my last spin book (although I did get through someone else's) and I don't have high hopes for this one, but nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?
1984 is an absolutely wonderful book. I have been meaning to read The Stranger for some time now — one of my friends is a massive Camus fan!
PS thanks for stopping by Ink, Inc.! 🙂
I think I read 1984 years ago, but honestly I can't remember. I read Camus' The Plague and really enjoyed it, although I must admit, I'm more interested in his The Myth of Sisyphus than The Stranger.
You're welcome! I'm now following you on Bloglovin'!