The Classics Club Spin is beginning again.
- Pick twenty unread books from your list.
- Number them from one to twenty.
- On Monday a number will be drawn.
- That’s your book, to read by 6th October.
I’m going to do it.
And this time – after a couple of successful spins – I’m going to be brave. There’s a very big book in there that I haven’t put on a spin list before, and there are a couple that I think I might find difficult …..
Here’s my list:
Five that I’d read in translation
1. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (1857)
2. Doctor Glas by Hjalmar Söderberg (1905)
3. The Trial by Franz Kafka (1925)
4. Kristin Lavransdattir by Sigrid Undset (1922)
5. The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa (1958)
*****
Five that were published before Queen Victoria came to the throne
6. A Simple Story by Elizabeth Inchbold (1791)
7. The Coquette by Hannah W Foster (1797)
8. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (1814)
9. The Collegians by Gerard Griffin (1829)
10.Old Goriot by Honore Balzac (1835)
*****
Five that were published during her reign
11. A String of Pearls by Thomas Peskett Prest (1847)
12. Bleak House by Charles Dickens (1854)
13. The Odd Women by George Gissing (1893)
14. The Beth Book by Sarah Grand (1897)
15. Red Pottage by Mary Cholmondeley (1899)
*****
Five from five decades of the 20th century
16. Fidelity by Susan Glaspell (1915)
17. Anderby Wold by Winifred Holtby (1923)
18. The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann (1936)
19. The Far Cry by Emma Smith (1949)
20.The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West (1957)
*****
And now I must wait to see which number comes up on Monday …
Which number should I be hoping for? Which number should I hope to avoid?
Fleur in her World 
O dear I really didn’t like no 5 , Altho I know it’s supposed to be a masterpiece ….fingers crossed it’s not that one !
Really? It’s one of my own all time favorite books.
I know ….lots of people adore it …just didn’t do it for me ….
I like what I’ve read, but I drifted it away from it a few years ago and now I want to go back and try again. it does seem to be a book that people either love or don’t get on with at all, and one day I’ll find out which camp I fall into.
I guess Bleak House is the big book! It is a bit of a brick but I read in the 1980s and absolutely loved it. Of course I did have more reading time and stamina in those days! Nevertheless it’s a quite wonderful book. An intriguing list of books!
Bleak House is big, but it seems small next to Kristin Lavransdattir. I’d be pleased if number 12 comes up, because it feels like an autumn book to me.
What a great list! There are a few I’m not familiar with so I’ll have to investigate. The only one we have in common is The Leopard, but I put it at a different number. Kristin Lavransdatter is on my Classics Club list but I didn’t include it in the spin. I’m hoping for something shorter this time!
I haven’t been at all brave for recent spins, so it was definitely time. I liked the opening of Kristin Lavransdatter, and my thinking is that I can test it as three books and that won’t feel quite so intimidating.
I’d be curious to hear what you think of your number 20. Surprisingly, I liked The Old Man and the Sea when I recently read it, and All Quiet has made it onto my list of all-time favorites. You are very brave to put kristin Lavransdottir on the list. That is a doorstopper for sure.
I’ve begun mumber 20 and Kristin Lavransdatter, liked them both, so hopefully I have the momentum to carry me through!
I hope you get Mansfield Park – because I loved it haha – but it’s a love or hate Austen I think. Good luck, it’s always a good decision to be brave 🙂
It’s so long since I read mansfield Park that I can hardly remember it, so it’s definitley time I went back back to it. And hopefully it will be love.
We’ll be sharing Balzac if #10 spins up. I just finished Eugenie Grandet, so wouldn’t mind having another bite at Balzac.
I read MP last year as a reread – i went from having it at the bottom of my JA list, to moving it up the top with my other favourites 🙂
Good luck on Monday
I do want to read Balzac, so I would be very pleased if number 10 came up. Good luck with the spin!
If you haven’t read Bleak House then that would be top of my list. I think it is one of the great books of all time.
I haven’t but I do want to it, so I’ll get to it before to long, whether I’m spun there or not.
I would hope for Old Goriot by Honore Balzac or Kristin Lavransdattir by Sigrid Undset.
I would avoid Bleak House by Charles Dickens ( not because of the writing….but the size) Looks like a chore to read before 06 Oct!
Quite a list.
Madame Bovary and Bleak House will be a delight.
The Trial will be, well, a trial. My friend chose Kafka’s The Castle for our book club and we found it very tough going. I finished it but only because I made myself. It induced in me the feelings of anxiety and confusion which the main character is experiencing.
Will be interested to see which book you get.
The Trial is the book I look at and wonder why on earth I put it one the list, but I told myself I have to be brave. And if I really don’t get on with it or it isn’t the right moment I won’t be afraid to put it aside.
I’d love to re-read Madame Bovary, and I have been meaning to pick up B;eak Hose for such a long time. so I’d be delighted of either of their numbers came up.
I can only aspire to be as eclectic as you. Very neat! Now I know where to go for ideas for my second list!
I think my choice would be Balzac. I’ve read some Zola now, so it would be fun to do a comparison.
I hope you have a great spin!
I decided when the Classics Club started that I would allow each author one book to make the list as diverse as possible. My thinking was that when I was done I would know who I loved, who I didn’t and move forward from there. I’d be very happy if Balzac’s number came up, because I have been wanting to read him for ages.
I have Doctor Glas on my Spin List, as well. I’m a bit hesitant to read it but I’d be happy for the push to give it a try.
Good luck!
I’ve been hestitant too, but Doctor Glas is short and it seems to be well liked, so I wouldn’t be sorry either if I was given that push.