Classics Club Spin #24 ~ and Here We Go A-Spinning!

Spinning dancer

We have another Spin in the works from the Classics Club and I’m joining in right under the wire!  I’m happy to report that I did finish my book for the last spin, Lord of the Flies in spite of not reviewing it yet.  Hopefully I can repeat that performance!

The Rules for the spin are:
  1. Go to your blog.
  2. Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club list.
  3. Post that list, numbered 1 – 20, on your blog by next Monday.
  4. Monday morning, the Classics Club will 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.
  5. The challenge is to read that book by June 1st.

I used the random list organizer here to choose the 20 books from my master list.  Here is my spin list:

  1. Crime and Punishment (1866) – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  2. News from Nowhere (1890) – William Morris
  3. Great Expectations (1860/61) – Charles Dickens
  4. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) – Victor Hugo
  5. Kidnapped (1886) – Robert Louis Stevenson
  6. The Romance of Tristan (c. 12th century) – Beroul
  7. Shirley (1849) – Charlotte Brontë
  8. Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1607-1608) – William Shakespeare
  9. 1984 (1949) – George Orwell
  10. One Day in the LIfe of Ivan Denisovitch (1962) – Alexander Solzhenitsyn
  11. Tevye the Dairyman and Moti the Cantor’s Son (1894) – Sholem Aleichem
  12. Heptaméron (1558) – Marguerite of Navarre
  13. The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) – Ann Radcliffe
  14. Gorgias (382 B.C.) – Plato
  15. The History of the Kings of Britain (1136) – Geoffrey Monmouth
  16. The Stranger (1942) – Albert Camus
  17. The Faerie Queene (1590-1596) – Edmund Spenser
  18. Revelations of Divine Love (1395) – Julian of Norwich
  19. Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864) – Jules Verne
  20. Bleak House (1852/53) – Charles Dickens

Cobweb Spin

Oooo, what a great draw!  If I get The Faerie Queene I might expire in a dead faint, but otherwise, any of these books would be welcome.  I’m especially drawn to Bleak House (I’ve heard it’s excellent), One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, The Mysteries of Udolpho (reading it now) and Crime and Punishment (time for another Dostoyevsky!).

Are there any books on my list that you can particularly recommend?  And what about you?  Are you joining in the Classics Club Spin?

The Classics Club

30 thoughts on “Classics Club Spin #24 ~ and Here We Go A-Spinning!

  1. What an interesting list. I’ve only read two of these, and of those, I think my preference would be 1984, though it seems a little grim for the present situation…
    I’m looking forward to seeing what you get.

  2. Nice list! Can’t wait to see which number is picked 🙂 I also want to read Crime and Punishment soon…there’s something about reading the Russians in wintertime though.

    • Well, maybe Crime and Punishment after Udolpho although I’ll be surprised if I finish by the end of this month. Stranger things have happened though. And I agree: reading Russian authors in wintertime is awesome!

  3. I got Tevye the Dairyman and Moti the Cantor’s Son by Sholem Aleichem in my list too! And Bleach House is my favourite Dickens! I am ignoring Spencer *******remembering our disastrous readalong******……so glad both of us are able to do this again, sister!

  4. Wow, what a great list! So much good stuff here. My poor 17yo is currently suffering through C&P for her upcoming senior English class. Bleak House is great. Lots of these are great! Yay, I’m glad you’re joining in!

    • Ya, I can understand that Dostoyevsky might be overwhelming for a 17 year old … for a 30 year old, for that matter. I do hope I get Bleak House. I started it once but had too many distractions. It definitely whetted my appetite though

  5. I’ve heard good things about Bleak House too (and intimidating things about the Faerie Queene). I’ve only read Great Expectations (so long ago I don’t remember much) and Udolpho (finished today!), but if I had this list I’d want Tristan (I’ve read a different version) or Journey to the Center of the Earth. But you probably can’t go wrong (well…other than Faerie Queene?). Enjoy!

    • Congratulations on finishing! I’m still plugging along. I’d like to get Journey to the Center of the Earth as it would be that mentally taxing. Yes, no Faerie Queens. I’m scared to look at the number.

  6. 1984…great timing….ugh, if Canada is anything like the US at the current moment. That’s a favorite of mine.

    I really like C&P.

    And there are a few here on my tbr:
    Hunchback
    Romance of Tristan
    Bleak House
    Journey to the Center if the Earth

    I couldn’t get through Monmouth, or whatever his name is.

    • Canada is not like the US fortunately. I don’t know what happened to you guys; you used to be like an admired older brother and now ….. But the whole world seems crazy to me. I had someone complement me the other day for having a reasonable discussion without getting emotional about it and it struck me that people are no longer able to govern themselves nor do they treat others very respectfully. It’s disappointing.

      I was surprised that you disliked so many of the WEM histories. I do need to get back on track with that.

  7. You have a great list, here! Selfishly, I’m hoping that you get “assigned” to read The Faerie Queene, but that’s also a little bit devious because it takes such time and attention. (Have you read it before?)

    • Hi Adam! How are things with you? Well, I must say I’m glad you’re not my teacher this spin-around. The Faerie Queene with my present load is not a happy thought. But we’ll see. All the best to you!

  8. Great Expectations is my favorite of all the Dickens novels I read so far. Although, Oliver Twist is probably a close second. But David Copperfield has stuck with ever since I read it. A Tale of Two Cities is probably my least favorite so far. I read The Faerie Queen a couple of years ago but I think I want to try to tackle that one again at some point. I have steered away from Crime and Punishment and don’t know if I really want to read it. But I may try to tackle it some day……

    • I started both Bleak House and Great Expectations when life interfered and I was drawn away although I was enjoying both of them. I like A Tale of Two Cities but the female characters in it were annoying. You read The Faerie Queene???!!! Wow! You belong to a select club. And if you read it again, you will be a true intellectual!

      • Bleak House is SO long. I don’t know if I want to tackle that one! LOL Don’t congratulate me yet on reading The Faerie Queene. I may have read it a few years ago but I don’t remember anything about it! Ha! Hence needing to read it again. It’s on my list to re-read.

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