Classics Club Spin #45

I’m not sure why I keep doing these Spins. I’m overloaded with book-commitments, but it at least reminds me of the lists of books I want to read. And I’m also late for the Classics Club Spin #45. But better late than never.

Using my Classics Club list, I’m going to hope for something not too taxing. At least I’ve finished The Grapes of Wrath and Tom Sawyer recently so my list is getting shorter.

The Rules for the Classics Club Spin #45 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 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 the book by October 4, 2026

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

The History of the Kings of Britain (1136) – Geoffrey Monmouth
A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and a Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1775) – Samuel Johnson
Gargantua and Pantagruel (1532-1564) – François Rabelais
Second Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1898) – Jerome K. Jerome
Letters (1st century) – Pliny the Younger
Lives (75) – Plutarch
Richard III (1592) – William Shakespeare
News from Nowhere (1890) – William Morris
The Mabinogion (1350 – 1410)
Tom Brown’s School Days (1857) – Thomas Hughes
The City of God (426) – Augustine
The Gallic Wars (58 – 49 B.C.) – Caesar
Kidnapped (1886) – Robert Louis Stevenson
The Observations of Henry (1901) – Jerome K. Jerome
Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1607-1608) – William Shakespeare
The Forsyte Saga (1906-21) – John Galsworthy
Troilus & Criseyde (1382-86) – Geoffrey Chaucer
The Good Soldier Svejk (1923) – Jaroslav Hasek
The Republic (380 B.C.) – Plato
Wives and Daughters (1864/66) – Elizabeth Gaskell

As with previous Spins, instead of producing 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 Projectand my Children’s Classics Project, with no deadline date, just a dedication to read at least one of them by the deadline.

And the winning number was 18 ! The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hasek is the winner. Well, I must admit I had started this one but it’s been gathering dust. Initially, I thought it was amusing but with one goofy scene after another, it began to wear on me. Heavens, the book is 752 pages. 752 pages of dumb foolishness is rather overwhelming. But I’ll dig it out and get started again.