Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Classics Club Spin #9

It seems like it's been a long time between Spins.  My last one was a gem .........  Gulliver's Travels.  I can only hope to get a book this time that will live up to Gulliver.  He's going to be a hard act to follow.



As per usual, 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, 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.
  5. The challenge is to read that book by October 6th.


I used the random list organizer here to choose the 20 books from my master list.  So my list ended up looking like this:

  1. She Stoops to Conquer (1773) - Oliver Goldsmith
  2. Erewhon (1872) - Samuel Butler
  3. Bleak House (1852/53) - Charles Dickens 
  4. The Histories (450 - 420 B.C.) - Herodotus 
  5. Henry V (1599) - William Shakespeare
  6. We (1921) - Yevgeny Zamyatin
  7. The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) - Ann Radcliffe
  8. Wives and Daughters (1864/66) - Elizabeth Gaskell 
  9. The Prince (1513) - Niccolo Machiavelli 
  10. The History of Napoleon Buonoparte (1829) - John Gibson Lockhart
  11. Invisible Cities (1972) - Italo Calvino
  12. Twenty Years After (1845) - Alexandre Dumas
  13. Lives (75) - Plutarch
  14. Sense and Sensibility (1811) - Jane Austen 
  15. Dead Souls (1842) - Nikolai Gogol 
  16. That Hideous Strength (1945) - C.S. Lewis
  17. O Pioneers! (1913) - Willa Cather 
  18. The Moonstone (1868) - Wilkie Collins 
  19. The Waves (or other) 1931) - Virginia Woolf 
  20. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch (1962) - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

I must say that this is a pretty good list.  

Five books that I'm dreading to read:

1.  The Mysteries of Udolpho (for length and mindlessness)
2.  Invisible Cities (so far Calvino and I have yet to be properly introduced)
3.   
4.
5.


Five book that I can't wait to read:

1.  Bleak House
2.  The Histories by Herodotus
3.  Wives and Daughters 
4.  The Moonstone
5.  O Pioneers!

So we shall see what the spin will bring us in a week.  I have a good feeling about it.





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30 comments:

  1. o31 March 2015 at 12:14

    I just bought Erewhon last week! :)

    I love Sense and Sensibility and The Moonstone - they're the best ones on the list! As for Mysteries of Udolpho - *shudder*. I hope you don't get that, but I suppose you have to read it some time :p

    Wives and Daughters is on my immediate (well, immediate-ish) TBR so it'll be interesting to see what you make of it if you get it.

    I love a spin! Doing mine tomorrow. :)

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    1. Cleo31 March 2015 at 21:23

      I'm glad I postponed reading Udolpho ------ now I can treat it as a fluffy novel and perhaps have some fun with it. I can't wait to read The Moonstone.

      I'm already anticipating your Spin list. I know it'll be not only interesting but very eclectic!

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  2. Cat31 March 2015 at 12:22

    Great list although I hope you're spared Udolpho :-( - it goes on and on and on and was a DNF for me.

    Re Beowulf - yes, definitely a starter for that in May. I've been MIA in March but hope to get back into things very soon.

    Reading back through your posts I see you have been away too and I'm very sorry to hear of your mother's illness.

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    1. Cleo31 March 2015 at 21:24

      I'm so glad to hear from you again, Cat! Thanks for the condolences regarding my mom. She's doing as well as can be expected at the moment.

      I'll get the post for the Beowulf read-along up tomorrow.

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  3. *ೃ༄ Jillian31 March 2015 at 15:35

    No! The Mysteries of Udolpho is awesome! For a romantically inclined person who likes a lot of sighing! I do! I read it all during a 24-hour readathon. I scared myself in the mirror at 3a because I forgot that I wasn't in a doomed castle. Also -- Sense & Sensibility! :)

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    1. Cleo31 March 2015 at 21:21

      Perhaps you have to have the right expectations for Udolpho and I think I have the right mindset. I can imagine curling up in a hammock and spending the whole day reading! Fun!

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  4. Jean31 March 2015 at 19:49

    You've got some good stuff here! And a few things I'm not familiar with at all. I hope you get a good one!

    I should read Udolpho again, it's been about 20 years. (I read it on break, along with Lewis' Discarded Image, and I had the most INTERESTING dreams!)

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    1. Cleo31 March 2015 at 21:27

      Whoa! Pairing Udolpho with The Discarded Image would be rather a shock, I think!

      I can't believe I've listed something that you're unfamiliar with. I didn't think that was possible. :-) I always check your blog to find good books that I'm not familiar with.

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  5. Anonymous31 March 2015 at 22:02

    I love Bleak House...its one of my favorites....The Moonstone is one of the best whodunit....the list has quite a few "challenging" reads...I too cannot wait to see what you get!!

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    1. Cleo31 March 2015 at 22:16

      I'm so glad to hear good things about Bleak House. I think there's a read-along in June, so I'll be reading it again in any case.

      I felt I got off easy on this spin. I have books like City of God, Aristotle's Ethics, The History of the Pelopponesian War, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, etc on my list and I escaped all of those. Phew! The only problem is that I may get them all on my next list!

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  6. Jason C1 April 2015 at 06:07

    Sense and Sensibility is my favorite from your list. I see that you are reading it now, first time? I am hoping that you get #19 though. Your reaction to this novel is bound to be most interesting...

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    1. Cleo1 April 2015 at 08:04

      I've read half of Sense and Sensibility before so I need to make it through the other half. Honestly, I hope I don't get another Woolf. Since I'm reading The Voyage Out, I think reading two Woolfs in a row would seriously reduce my tolerance for the second one. She really needs to be read and mulled over and then perhaps parts of the book re-read again and thought about some more, for a true appreciation. If I think about time constraints, I would prefer #2, #17 or #20. If I think about what I'd like to read, without consideration for anything else, I'd pick #4, #5, #6, #8 or #18.

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  7. Anonymous1 April 2015 at 06:42

    As always, a very interesting list. You can't go wrong with Austen or Wharton, though I'd be interested in a review of the Dumas.

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    1. Cleo1 April 2015 at 08:06

      It's been awhile since I've read Dumas and I really enjoy his rollicking style so that would certainly be a welcome choice. With my Austen Project, I'll get to Sense and Sensibility in any case, so that choice would make it rather easy for me. :-)

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  8. Lynn @ Smoke & Mirrors1 April 2015 at 07:07

    Solzhenitsyn! I read virtually everything he'd written in my teens. Really wonder how I would resonate with his writing now, some 40+ years later! I am interested in the Collins and Cather, too. You have quite a few listed with which I am unfamiliar. It will be interesting to see which one the spin will select for you!

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    1. Cleo1 April 2015 at 08:07

      Ah, you are my hero if you managed to get through The Gulag Archipelago! I'd love to read it but it's so daunting!! Collins and Cather would certainly be easy reads. I'm already anticipating the final choice!

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  9. Charity1 April 2015 at 11:51

    Great list! My daughter and I are reading Herodotus right now, and O Pioneers is next on our list (probably a weird follow-up...), so they didn't make my Spin list this time even though they've been on there for the last several Spins.

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    1. Cleo1 April 2015 at 12:24

      How are you and your daughter liking Herodotus? I can't wait to read his Histories! I read a couple of Willa Cathers close together a number of years ago but since then, I haven't read any. It's time to get back to reading one of her novels.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. Charity1 April 2015 at 14:41

      We're really enjoying it! It includes a cast of thousands, many with slightly altered names from the ones with which we're familiar and a couple that are amalgamations of several historical personages, so it's a little difficult to keep track of everyone, but the stories are quite interesting and some are downright funny. There's more accidental cannibalism than I'd expected, as well as a couple of very short sections that I've edited out while reading aloud to my nine-almost-ten-year-old; Herodotus would have been great at parties, I bet.

      I've never read any Willa Cather. I was torn between My Antonia and O Pioneers to start. I can't remember how I picked the latter.

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    3. Cleo1 April 2015 at 16:27

      That's so good to know. Now I want to read it even more! I'm very impressed that you're exposing your nine year old to such great literature. When he encounters classics in later on in life, he won't be intimidated by them at all!

      I've read My Antonia and loved it!! I also thoroughly enjoyed Death Comes to the Archbishop. O Pioneers! was a natural next read for me. I hope you enjoy Cather as much as I have!

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  10. Karen K.1 April 2015 at 21:24

    Bleak House and Wives & Daughters are two of my all-time FAVORITES. O Pioneers! is also excellent, and really short. Bleak House is definitely a time commitment. W&D is actually a surprisingly quick read. Good luck with the spin!

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    1. Cleo2 April 2015 at 07:44

      You've mentioned most of my hopeful picks, Karen! I think Fanda is doing a Bleak House read-along in June, so that will force me to read it, even if I don't get it for my spin. After a good break, it's time that I got back to Dickens. Thanks for the wishes!

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  11. Anonymous3 April 2015 at 02:18

    Impressive list...
    my top 3: Solzhenitsyn, Dickens, Shakespeare
    Hope you get what you like!

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    1. Cleo3 April 2015 at 07:50

      Funny, I've had Solzhenitsyn poking at my brain for awhile now, so I'd be very happy to get him. Thanks for the wishes!

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  12. Jenna @ Lost Generation Reader3 April 2015 at 07:38

    I've noticed a lot of people have Bleak House on their list this time around, and that makes me very happy. It's my favorite Dickens. There are many other great reads on here as well, so I'm sure you'll enjoy whatever you end up with. :)

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    1. Cleo3 April 2015 at 08:43

      Perhaps the Bleak House read-along is in the air! I must admit, I've been enjoying Trollope more than Dickens, but I have yet to read his "biggies": Bleak House, Great Expectations, Oliver Twist ...... so my mind may be changed. I hope you have a wonderful spin too!

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  13. Brona4 April 2015 at 18:29

    I love your 5 can't wait to read books too. I've read & loved them all except Wives & Daughters (but I recently read North and South & consider myself a Gaskell fan!)

    Good luck tomorrow

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    1. Cleo4 April 2015 at 22:28

      I can't believe that tomorrow is almost already upon us. Good luck to you too. I feel positive for both of us!

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  14. amanda @ simplerpastimes5 April 2015 at 16:20

    A couple big ones, but it looks like a great list! I have fond memories of reading The Moonstone many (eek...many already?!) years ago. I was half hoping the random number generator would place Wives and Daughters on my list, but it wasn't to be. Good luck and happy reading!

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    1. Cleo5 April 2015 at 20:50

      I'd be happy with The Moonstone. There's nothing I'm dreading with regard to brain power ---- it's more the length of some that's daunting and perhaps the style of Calvino. We will see tomorrow. Good luck to you, too!

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