Roof Beam Reader
Adam Burgess
The Classics Club Spin #24
Update: The Spin has pulled #18. Blah.
Here’s a little confession: There have been 23 Classics Club Spins (soon to be 24), and I’m pretty sure that I’ve only ever finished one or two of them. What a terrible track record! Maybe I can adjust the percentage a little bit with this new one, eh?
What is the Spin?
It’s easy. At your blog, before next Sunday 9th August 2020, create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.This is your Spin List. You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period.
On Sunday 9th August, the Classics Club will post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by 30th September, 2020. I’ll come back and highlight the one that corresponds with that number on my list.
My Spin List.
- North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
- The Seraphim and Other Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
- Doveglion: Collected Poems by José García Villa
- Our Village by Mary Russell Mitford
- The Hanging on Union Square by H.T. Tsiang
- The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
- Middlemarch by George Eliot
- At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neill
- Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Paradise Lost by John Milton
- Kim by Rudyard Kipling
- The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade
- The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish
- The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
- Dead Souls by Nikolay Gogol
- Metamorphoses by Ovid
- Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
- A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Wish me luck!
Roof Beam Reader 
Hmm, have read 7 and only 1 (Marquez) of these remains on my tbr. I’ll have to see what else should be! If you want a little quick gratification, Heller’s Catch-22 is so short, easy and amusing. An easy cross off!
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Thanks! I read it back in high school (actually, a few of these are re-reads) but I barely remember it. I do remember it feeling a lot like that old “Who’s on first!?” stitch.
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I have the same track record with the spins. 😀 I’m feeling maniacal today, so I hope you get number 14. Ha ha and double ha!!! Okay just kidding. I hope you get number 7. X Good luck!!!!
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Of course you do. Lol I really want to read Little House, for some reason.
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I just read Little House out loud with my mother! That would be a good one. 🙂
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I wish you Dr Zhivago simply because I loved it so much.
Happy spinning 🙂
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I seem to remember The Mysteries of Udolpho appearing on one of your lists before! You’ve got some lovely reads here – I read At Swim Two Boys last year (I think) and just loved it!
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The Mysteries of Udolpho ends up on every one of my lists & I always pray not to get it! lol I’ve been meaning to read At Swim Two Boys for so long – really, probably 20+ years. It’s about time I get to it. Let’s hope that’s my #!
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Excellent list! Good luck!
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I loved North and South and Middlemarch — they are hefty long reads, but worth it (though I did find the first 100 pages of Middlemarch on the dry side; however, it’s really worth sticking with it because it’s just wonderful). Also really enjoyed The Blind Assassin. Little House would also be a fun read but it’s a bit cringey, parts have not aged well. But it would be a quick read if you have a lot on your schedule with school starting again. Good luck with your pick!
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I’m definitely hoping for something short so that I’m more likely to actually “win” my Spin this time, but let’s pretend I’ll go ahead and read whichever one comes up. 😀
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Just switch your final list after the fact so that the book you want wins. WHO IS TO KNOW? (Except me.)
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Ooh some wonderful books on this including my all time favourite, Middlemarch. If you end up with that one, just be aware it starts off very slowly. But stick with it and you’ll find all the people who have grand ambitions are given rude awakenings
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I do love George Eliot! Middlemarch is a favorite for a lot of people. I’m more of a Mill on the Floss kind of person, but I’ll approach again with an open mind (the last read of it did not go well.)
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what helped me was to look at the different themes:
– ambition and how it is thwarted
– marraige/love
– the desire for organisation
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We have the same track record for Spins. I’m pretty sure that the last one was the first one I finished.
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Which one did you manage to read?
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What an interesting list – very varied! I’m in the middle of Udolpho right now, and while it’s probably doable by the end of September, I wouldn’t actually wish it on you! (Nothing wrong with the book, it’s just a bit much to take in that quickly. 🙂 )
Little House on the Prairie is one I need to reread one of these days. I loved the series when I was little. Loved North and South, too, and One Hundred Years of Solitude. I don’t think I’ve ready any of the others (yet), but several are on my TBR list.
Good luck!
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Me too!! I’ve only ever finished one or two spins, but I finished the last one so I’m hoping to win again. Doctor Zhivago has always piqued my interest. I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts one One Hundred Years of Solitude. It’s a book I have mixed feelings about, though it was a page-turner and beautifully written.
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I’ve read three of these properly (and Little House multiple times) and bits of most others, including lots of Ovid in Latin. I liked North and South so much I had my book group read Wives and Daughters last month, which was not nearly as good. Good luck!
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good to see you for the Spin! 10 and 20 are fabulous. If you get 20, though be sure to print a genealogy of all the characters (easily found online): so many have the same names along the generations that it’s confusing, but with the family tree with you, it makes it so much easier. Here’s mine https://wordsandpeace.com/2020/08/06/the-classics-club-the-classics-spin-24/
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Good luck, Adam! I have just finished reading Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and thought it was a nice, light adventure, so that might be a good result to help you beat that dismal track record?! 😁
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Catch-22! I’ve never read it although it’s been on my radar for like over 50 years! I’ll be interested in what you think of it.
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Catch-22 was indeed blah for me. I’ve tried to get into it at least twice and finally decided to let it go (for the foreseeable future, anyway). I hope you end up enjoying it.
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Well, I was going to suggest putting in some modern classics…..lol Good luck!
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