And the rules:
- 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 July 7th.
I used the random list organizer here to choose the 20 books from my master list. So my list ended up looking like this:
- Oedipus at Colonus (406 B.C.) - Sophocles
- Swann's Way (1913) - Marcel Proust
- Tartuffe (1669) - Molière
- The Canterbury Tales (1390s??) - Geoffrey Chaucer
- Le Rêve (1888) - Emile Zola
- The Well at the World's End (1896) - William Morris
- The Small House at Allington (1864) - Anthony Trollope
- O Pioneers! (1913) - Willa Cather
- Henry IV Part I (1597) - William Shakespeare
- The Man Who Was Thursday (1908) - G.K. Chesterton
- The Silver Chalice (1952) - Thomas Costain
- The Praise of Folly (1509) - Erasmus
- The Custom of the Country (1913) - Edith Wharton
- Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1607 - 1608) - William Shakespeare
- We (1921) - Yevgeny Zamyatin
- Persuasion (1818) - Jane Austen
- Lives (75) - Plutarch
- War and Peace (1869) - Leo Tolstoy
- Henry V (1599) - William Shakespeare
- The Pickwick Papers (1836 - 1837) - Charles Dickens
Five Books I'm Hesitant to Read
1. Swann's Way - Marcel Proust
2. Lives - Plutarch
3. The Cantebury Tales - Chaucer
4. ---------
5. ---------
Five Books I Can't Wait to Read
1. The Man Who Was Thursday - G.K. Chesterton
2. Persuasion - Jane Austen
3. Pericles, Prince of Tyre - Shakespeare
4. The Custom of the Country - Edith Wharton
5. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (to finish it!)
I really hope you get The Dream! It's remarkable. Can't wait to see what you make of it! I think I might re-read that this month... Just the mention of it makes me want to :)
ReplyDeleteSadly I'll have to substitute The Dream for Money if I get it. I just finished The Kill and enjoyed it but I was reading Madame Bovary at the time and I became sort of overloaded with adulterous relationship and perhaps didn't enjoy it as much as I would have if it hadn't been paired with Madame Bovary. However The Dream comes right after Money so I should be able to read both by July 7th.
DeleteActually, I've ordered Money - expecting it this week! :) Should be interesting, did not like the Vizetelly translation.
DeleteDecided when I re-read the RM series I'm going to read it in any order.
I liked The Kill. Do need to read Phaedra. Meant to do it *before* I read The Kill but never did :)
Even with the disturbing content, Zola's razor sharp characterizations and vivid descriptions cannot be praised enough.
DeleteWhile I'm reading RM in the published order, I'm getting the feeling that order does not really matter, but since it's my first time through, I'm going to stick to what I started with. However with, for example, the Chronicles of Narnia, I am a BIG advocate of published order; it think it gives the series a different feel and leaves the reader with a better understanding of the books.
I didn't read Phaedra either but it referred to it in the notes of The Kill so I was aware of it. I STILL need to get to Ovid's Metamorphoses ---- I have it slated for summer.
I don't think it does matter, but I wanted to read them in publication order when I first read them.
DeleteGot The Dream on my mind now - going to start it today, can't resist it! :)
There is a new spin? How exciting, I'll have to prepare my list tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI've not read any of the books on your list but We is a book I've wanted to try for a long time.
Hasn't this spin come up fast? I feel like we just finished the last one.
DeleteI've heard that We is a strange read but I would love to get it. I could count another book towards my Russian Lit challenge plus it would be a nice change of pace.
Thanks for stopping by, Sam!
Tartuffe is hilarious! It's such a fun read! I'm sure you'd enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Kayla! I know nothing about Tartuffe so thanks for the information. That makes me feel even more interested in reading it. I could use a good laugh about now! :-)
DeleteGood luck! I hope the spin gives you a book you enjoy. Persuasion is my favourite Jane Austen book so I would be hoping for that one!
ReplyDeleteI have heard SO many good things about Persuasion! I was put off it because I saw the movie with Amanda Root as Anne and I didn't really like her portrayal of the character. But with all these glowing reviews, it's become a must-read for me!
DeleteSwann's Way?? You are brave. Someday I will read Proust, but not in the next few years.
ReplyDeleteI very nearly put O Pioneers on my list. That would have been quite funny if we'd had 3 matches! And We is something else.
Ooo, I just noticed you have Well at the World's End. I have that on my tablet, and I found it sloooow going--I think I'm about a third of the way through but I kind of dropped it. If you get it I'll pick it back up!
DeleteI must read a little Proust before I die. ;-) And a "little" Proust turns out to be a lot, given the length of his writings.
DeleteI can't believe we even have two matches! I'm always kind of disappointed because I never seem to match with anyone but not this time!
Okay, I will let you know if #6 is picked. It's always nice to have some incentive to get through those reads that just seem to come to a dead stop. I have more than a few of those.
You have some wonderful - and some intimidating - books there. I'd love you to drawn the Custom of the Country, which I re-read last year and adore, but I hope you enjoy whichever book the spin gives you.
ReplyDeleteIsn't Wharton wonderful? I read her The House of Mirth last year and completely fell in love with her writing ……. her character development was masterful! I'd be thrilled to get The Custom of the Country!
DeleteI hope you get the book that you're hoping for! Thanks for visiting! :-)
I should have made my original list of 50 about 500 long, but that is another story. Toying with the idea of adding a few other list of 50 ;) [you know me].
ReplyDeleteI was not ready to see the spin post come up, last month was such a bust for me. However, to carry on I decided to list my shorter reads from the list and keep moving.
That's all you can do ….. keep reading! I was happy to see some of the books getting knocked off my DWS list. I assume that my Classics Club list will look similar at some point.
DeleteI'm going over to check out your spin post. (Don't forget St. Augustine!)
Your list really means business - so many fascinating books, as well as several requiring heavy reader investment. Kudos to you for having one of the most intense spin lists I've seen this time!
ReplyDeleteI hope you get a pick you'll love!
Thanks, Readthegamut! I've just read most of the lighter, easy reads, I guess, so now my list has no choice but to begin to look more intense. I would like to avoid Swann's Way but only because I have a heavy schedule; if my schedule was lighter, I wouldn't mind getting it. Monday I will know my fate! :-)
Deletewahoo! A new spin - thanks being so quick!! I'll join in soon.
ReplyDeleteI was rather quick, wasn't I? I always jump at the chance to read another classic.
DeleteI just realized that I not only read Plethora's book for the last spin, it was yours too. I'll be interested to see if we have any in common this time around.
I've read both your Henrys and I saw Pericles performed (though it was a weird interpretation). I should have put some Shakespeare on my list this spin....
ReplyDeleteYou must be a big Shakespeare fan, Loni! We have a Shakespeare festival close by. They perform 4 plays each year and alter the setting of one or two of them, so you could have The Taming of the Shrew in a 1960s setting. Personally I prefer the original settings.
DeleteI hope I get one of the Shakespeares. I am just itching to get back to reading his works but some other book always gets in the way. A spin choice would put me back on the right path!
Tartuffe!!!!!!! And then once you've finished it I'm going to send you the youtube link to watch the Kabuki film of it. It's kind of creepy.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I think I may have to read Tartuffe soon, even if it isn't a spin choice. I've heard to many good things about it. I'll remember to bug you once I've finished. You have my curiosity peaked!
DeleteYou're reading War and Peace. WOW. I hope I'll get as brave as that one day :)
ReplyDeleteI'm reading it but I'm kind of stuck at 90%, not because of difficulty or interest but simply because other books are taking precedent at the moment. Don't let it intimidate you too much; it's long but it's not too difficult. It helps to keep a list of characters while reading though.
DeleteI guess the likelihood of either of us getting Swann's Way or We is quite high :) War and Peace didn't make it to my spin list, but I'm planning to read it this year anyway. And Persuasion was a pleasant book.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised we had these two books in common; they are not your average classics that everyone reads.
DeleteAh, another positive recommendation for Persuasion! I don't know why I left off reading it for so long. If I don't get it for my spin choice, I'll perhaps slot it in for a summer read.
Oh wow, I remember reading Tartuffe when I was in high school! And as for the Pickwick Papers, it's definitely sitting in my cart on Amazon right now waiting to be ordered. Because of time constraints I tried not to put classic novels I own but are over 400 pages in length! There's a lot to be said for the shorter classic masterpiece! lol
ReplyDeleteI like your spin rule of less than 400 pages. I should adopt it considering somehow I usually end up reading tons of chunksters each year without even trying.
DeleteTartuffe is definitely moving up my TBR list even if I don't get it for the spin. It and Persuasion are the two books with the most "likes" yet!
War and Peace? Well aren't you a brave one!
ReplyDeleteHenry V and Persuasion are both in my top texts I've read so selfishly I hope you get one of those.
Good luck!
I would like it if War and Peace is chosen because it would force me to finish it!
DeleteA Shakespeare play would be very welcome too. I'm so pleased with my list this time. If I can avoid #2, I'd consider myself home-free!
Thanks for your wishes, Romanoir!