Classics Club Spin #4

I completely forgot the second round of the popular Classics Club spin and never managed to fit in the book I ended up with in round 3 (Anna Karenina). So I’m hoping that this time around will be more successful. Here’s how it works… From our Classics Club list we have to choose 20 titles…

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classicsclub3I completely forgot the second round of the popular Classics Club spin and never managed to fit in the book I ended up with in round 3 (Anna Karenina). So I’m hoping that this time around will be more successful.

Here’s how it works…

From our Classics Club list we have to choose 20 titles spread across categories of those:

  • Five books we really really want to read
  • Five we are hesitant or nervous about reading
  • Five we are neutral about
  • Five free choice ( favourite author for example)

The choices need to be numbered 1-20. On Monday we get to know which number turned up in the spin and we have to read book corresponding book by January.

So here is my list…

  1. Evelina by Frances Burney
  2. Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
  3. Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
  4. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
  5. The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
  6. The invisible Man by H G Wells
  7. Scoop by Evelyn Waug
  8. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
  9.  L’Assommoire by Emile Zola
  10. The Power and the Glory by Grahame  Greene
  11. Half a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi  Adichie
  12. The Infinite Plan by Isabel Allende
  13. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
  14. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
  15. Candide by Voltaire
  16. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
  17. Old Gariot by Honore Balzac
  18. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  19. Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
  20. The Pursuit Of Love by Nancy Mitford

I suppose out of all of them the one that I would least like to have selected is Robinson Crusoe. I’m told my Mr BookerTalk that its a fantastic story but I’m just not convinced. Still, it’s a very important novel in the history of the genre so one I feel I really should tackle. But I’m really hoping to get Gaskell or Adichie.

10 responses to “Classics Club Spin #4”

  1. Brona Avatar
    Brona

    We share a couple of books this time around -good luck!

    Reply
    1. BookerTalk Avatar
      BookerTalk

      did you get what you wanted??

      Reply
  2. WordsAndPeace Avatar
    WordsAndPeace

    I’m not part of that Challenge, but I have already 9 of your list here. wait no, 8, I gave up on Mrs Dalloway!
    yes, Robinson Crusoe is awesome; then you could read Vendredi by Michel Tournier, a new look at Robinson Crusoe, very interesting writing.

    Reply
    1. BookerTalk Avatar
      BookerTalk

      that doesn’t fill me with great hope that you gave up on Mrs D. thanks for the tip on Vendredi. I looked it up on Amazon but the english version is out of stock. Maybe Abe books has it though, so will have to go looking tonight now you have intrigued me

      Reply
  3. Candiss Avatar
    Candiss

    I have Candide on my spin list, too. Of the other titles you list, I’ve only read Anna Karenina and The Canterbury Tales. I enjoyed both, although the language of TCT made it a bit of a slog, although often a surprisingly funny one.

    Good luck with your spin pick!

    Reply
  4. Karen K. Avatar
    Karen K.

    I’ve read Robinson Crusoe and it was okay. However, afterward I realized that my edition was actually abridged and was missing a few chapters at the end — it finished when Robinson was rescued, and there’s a bit more after that. Do check if that’s important to you.

    You do have some great stuff on your list — Wives and Daughters is just wonderful (also a great BBC miniseries adaptation); also The Pursuit of Love and L’Assommoire. I have The Old Curiosity Shop on my list as well and I am dreading it, it just sounds so dreary.

    Reply
  5. Nordie Avatar
    Nordie

    when you do get to read “Robinson Crusoe” you have to remember it’s a book of it’s time, and that isnt it great that most of us have come further than that (I found some of it to be rather racist with regards to Man Friday so would be interested in what you think when you get to it)

    Reply
    1. BookerTalk Avatar
      BookerTalk

      Im sure this text comes up a lot in post colonial literary criticism. Thanks for the tip…

      Reply
  6. Sunday Salon: A Yawn of a Day | BookerTalk

    […] other fun activity this week involved making a selection of books for the next round of the Classics Club Spin. I did the first of these earlier in the year and then […]

    Reply
  7. Sunday Salon: | BookerTalk

    […] other fun activity this week involved making a selection of books for the next round of the Classics Club Spin. I did the first of these earlier in the year and then […]

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