Roof Beam Reader
Adam Burgess
The Classics Spin #17! #ccspin
Even though I am one of the founders and moderators of The Classics Club, it has been quite some time since I’ve participated in a Classics Club Spin, one of the fun events we do a few times per year. I thought I would jump back in, this time, since I’m ahead of schedule on my own TBR Pile Challenge but way behind schedule in my Classics Club challenge list?
What is the Classics Spin? Essentially, clubbers choose twenty books from their classics club reading list and post them by the due date.Then, on “spin day,” a number between 1-20 is revealed, and that is the book you have to read before the deadline (usually the end of the following month). You can choose your books randomly, divide them by categories, or whatever. Part of the challenge, though, is to choose at least a few that you know you’re dreading, just in case this is the opportunity to nudge you toward it.
So, I went mostly with a “random” sort this time, but I did choose at least one book from each of the “centuries” represented on my main club list. Here are the twenty I’ve pulled to play with:
- The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
- At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neill
- The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
- The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade
- Kim by Rudyard Kipling
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (re-read)
- Eugénie Grandet – Honoré de Balzac
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- Paradise Lost by John Milton
- Dead Souls by Nikolay Gogol
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
- Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
- So Big by Edna Ferber
- Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Metamorphoses by Ovid
- The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
I guess I’m hoping for Number 3, Number 5, or Number 8 and probably most worried about Number 20, Number 19, and Number 13 – mostly because of how long they all are; but whatever happens, I’m ready to read! Let’s spin!
Roof Beam Reader 
Good luck. I am a raging failure at Spins so leaving this for now. I will live vicariously through yours.
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Haha. Well, I always run them but never participate.
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So Big was one of my earlier Spin books – it was so good! Eugenie Grandet was also a fav, \which is why I now have Pere Goriot on this spin.
Good luck 🙂
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Thanks, you too! Which are you hoping for from your own list?
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I’m hoping for one of the sci-fi picks – War of the Worlds or Day of the Triffids.
1. I haven’t read any sci-fi for ages and 2. they’re both short, which works well for me right now.
The Count of Monte Christo is one of the books we’re considering for our #slowread next year on the strength of how much we’re enjoying our #slowread of Les Mis so far this year. But you already know the joys of #slowreading with your Bible challenge.
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Interesting list, I’ve only read The Secret Garden. I was surprised that some of the books listed are less than 20 years old. Surely a bit early to call them classics? Does the club have a definition of the word?
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I haven’t read your number 3 – Joy Luck Club – but did read her later novel The Kitchen God’s Wife which I’m told is very similar. OK in parts but not great
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I’ve been reading Count of Monte Cristo at a pace of a chapter a day. I had thought about trying to add it here, but if it were chosen, I’d probably cry. Good luck! I hope you get one of your shorter ones!
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I was sooo close to adding The Mysteries of Udolfo to my list too! But I’m waiting…as I have a copy of it and know it’s long. And I’m in the early parts of Les Mis right now soooo 🙂 Excited to see which one we all get!
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Actually, in my opinion,The Count of MC is a fast fun read and oh so enjoyable. I am hoping you get the Blind Assassin – a top fave of mine (and another one that doesn’t seem as long as it is.) Best!
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I haven’t read The Secret Garden in years so I hope you get that one or Joy Luck Club, which is wonderful. I also loved The Good Earth, I’ve discussed it with three different book groups and it was universally loved each time.
I haven’t done any spins in a while but I can’t resist so I made up a new Classics Club list so I could play along (I gave up last year with six left out of 75). This time every single book on my list is from the TBR Pile so you inspired me for that also. Good luck with your spin!
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Indeed 8 is great!! I recently reread Paradise Lost, and Paradise Regained. Fantastic too. My list: https://wordsandpeace.com/2018/03/06/the-classics-club-the-classics-spin-17/
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