I don’t know why I’m doing this but here goes ….. from all four lists.
- 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 Sunday.
- Sunday 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 they announce.
- The challenge is to read that book by January 29, 2023 (but I say before the next spin).
I used the random list organizer here to choose the 20 books from my master list. Here is my spin list:
- Huckleberry Finn (1884) – Mark Twain
- Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731) – Bede
- The Romance of Tristan (c. 12th century) – Beroul
- Kidnapped (1886) – Robert Louis Stevenson
- Shirley (1849) – Charlotte Brontë
- Meditations (170-180) – Marcus Aurelius
- The Voyage of Argo (3rd century) – Apollonius of Rhodes
- A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1775) – Samuel Johnson
- The Professor (1857) – Charlotte Brontë
- The Twelve Ceasars (121) – Suetonius
- Works and Days (8th century) – Hesiod
- Crime and Punishment (1866) – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-1564) – François Rabelais
- Meno (4th century) – Plato
- Tom Sawyer (1876) – Mark Twain
- The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1886) – Robert Louis Stevenson
- On The Good Life (75 – 71 B.C.) – Marcus Tullius Cicero
- The City of God (426) – Augustine
- Letters (1st century) – Pliny the Younger
- The Faerie Queene (1590-1596) – Edmund Spenser
No Faerie Queene. Just no! The Good Life and Meno are short and I’d really like to get Meditations.
As with previous Spins, instead of doing a new post, I’m going to simply announce the winner below and, to make it easier to complete at least one book, I’m going to choose a book from my Guardians List, my Shakespeare Project and my Children’s Classics Project, with no deadline date, just a dedication to read.
Classics Club Winner: Meditations
Guardians Book List Winner: The Forever War
Shakespeare Winner: Henry VIII
Children’s List Winner: Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs
Other Spins:
Photo #1 courtesy of Anncapictures on Pixabay
Photo #2 courtesy of Ylanite on Pixabay
Photo #3 courtesy of K-e-k-u-l-é on Pixabay
Great list, Cleo! I’ve fallen off the “read the classics” bandwagon the last few years. I now have a new list ready for 2023. Also joining the #32 spin… why do you torture yourself with The Faerie Queen again? Ha! I’ve read 4 of your selections. Meditations and C&P are so good….but City of God, sounds exhausting. If I had to read it I would choose the audio book…just listen while doing other thing in the house!
I’m so glad to hear that you’re getting back to classics in 2023, Nancy!
I have to finish The Faerie Queene someday! I’m reading C.S. Lewis’ Letters and he finished it over a space of time so I need to make room for it. City of God I’m about halfway through and it’s interesting. It’s very different from his Confessions though.
Hope you’re doing well!!
Phew some of these would certainly be challenging . Hope the spin misses number 20 for you. Fir my list I’m hoping for number 10
I know! How did I get so many challenging ones? I’ve been thinking of re-vamping my main list but we’ll see. I’m hoping you get #1. Ruth was just beautiful, uplifting in a more spiritual way. Have a great spin!
I’m glad you did sign up!
The Meditations is a manageable size & pretty fascinating. Or if you got the Argonautica–I’ve got it at a different number–I’d read it anyway.
But City of God & Rabelais. Whew! Hope it’s something good.
Yes, I couldn’t resist, ha, ha! If you get Argonautica, I’m scrapping my choice and reading it too. Is Rabelais difficult or just long? It’s been on my list so long, I think I should read it sooner rather than later. Have an excellent spin!
Rabelais isn’t difficult, just long. And full of fart jokes. I read a somewhat condensed version once upon a time & there was still way more scatological humour than I was prepared for. Aristophanes, well OK. Rabelais, please enough! 😉
Lol! Thanks for the warning. It’s always good to be prepared for fart jokes. 😂
I saw that was The Meditations. You got what you wanted! Whose translation are you reading?
I have an old Classic Club edition which says the translation is from the Greek by George Long but updated by the Classic Club editors. I think I have another edition somewhere but I’m still unpacking. Did I tell you my house flooded and ruined a number of C.S. Lewis and G.K. Chesterton books, including first editions. It was terrible. But repairs have been made and my contents has just been delivered back. Which means that I’m unpacking books so what used to be easy to access, isn’t at the moment. Do you have any translation recommendations? Please help!
Oh, no! I hadn’t heard about your flooding. What a mess, I’m sure. Glad to hear it’s getting sorted, but ugh.
I read the Gregory Hays a few years ago–it’s from 2002–my copy is Modern Library. I thought it was very good & I remember it got good reviews.
Thanks for the sympathy. There are things in life that challenge you and you just have to get through them. Thankfully it wasn’t worse.
I just ordered the Gregory Hays one from the library. However, I found I also have an Oxford Classics edition translated by Robin Hard. I compared it to the old Classic Club edition (1945) and I actually like how the Classic Club edition reads better than the Oxford Classics edition. The word choice and structure is better and more sophisticated.
I know I’ve read something that George Long translated & thinking he was good, but when I looked to try to figure out what it was, I couldn’t. 😉 I’m pretty sure I haven’t read his Meditations, but I do have warm fuzzies about him…
I just loved The Romance of Tristan. My title included …and Iseult, and it was by Bedier. It was so good. And that also would be a quick read.
Hi Ruth! I retrieved your comment from spam. Did you read it during Jean’s Middle Ages challenge? I read Le Morte d’Arthur and then didn’t get to anything else but there are so many classics from this period that I want to read. Here’s hoping I get number 3!
Thanks for rescuing my comment. LOL. I think I was inspired to read it when I was on my Medieval kick in 2021, which fizzled out before the middle of the year. But Tristan was the first on my list, and it did not disappoint.
Oh, you definitely have some challenging ones–I agree, not the Faerie Queene! Either of the Twain are good (although I think of Tom Sawyer as more “fun” and Huckleberry Finn as more “important” – but that might be because I read the former on my own and the latter in high school American Lit). I’ve not read Kidnapped, but the other Stevenson I’ve read, including Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde have been nice quick reads – so I’m rooting for either of those or the Twain for you. Whatever you spin, I hope it’s one you enjoy!
Meditations won!! It was what I was hoping for. I’m so excited to spend some time with Marcus Aurelius! Now I just have to find my copy ….