Wednesday 18 November 2020

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #25

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new books there, especially French ones.

For a while, she published posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, before next Sunday 22nd November 2020, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. On Sunday 22nd November, they'll post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until the end (Saturday 30th) of January 2021 to read it.

In the meantime, I read five more books from my old list (Classics Spin #24) which I replaced by some new ones. They are all in chronological order.

1.    Austen, Jane "Sanditon" - 1817
2.    Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Italienische Reise" (Italian Journey aka Letters from Italy) - 1817
3.    Eichendorff, Joseph von "Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts und andere Novellen" (Life of a Good-For-Nothing) - 1826
4.    Gogol, Nikolai (Никола́й Васи́льевич Го́голь, Nikolay Vasilyevich Gogol) "The Overcoat" (Шинель) - 1842
5.    Douglass, Frederick "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" - 1845
6.    Sand, George "Fadette" (aka Fanchon, the Cricket) (La Petite Fadette) - 1849
7.    Keller, Gottfried "Novellen" (Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe u.a.) "Novellas" (A Village Romeo and Juliet and others) - 1855/56
8.    Eliot, George "Silas Marner" (Silas Marner) - 1861
9.    Jacobs, Harriet Ann (Linda Brent) "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl" - 1861
10.    Rhoides, Emmanuel (Emmanuel Roidis) "The Curious History of Pope Joan" (Papissa Ioanna) - 1866
11.    Twain, Mark "A Tramp Abroad" - 1880
12.    Storm, Theodor "The Rider on the White Horse" (Der Schimmelreiter und andere Erzählungen) - 1888
13.    Van Dyke, Henry "The Story of the Other Wise Man" - 1896
14.    Hubbard, Fra Elbert "A Message to Garcia" - 1899 - The Classics Spin #25
15.    Frost, Robert "A Boy’s Will" and "North of Boston" - 1913+1914
16.    Mann, Thomas "A Man and his Dog" (Herr und Hund. Ein Idyll) - 1918
17.    Christie, Agatha "Hercule Poirot. The Complete Short Stories" - 1923-61
18.    Martin, Catherine "The Incredible Journey" - 1923
19.    Ford, Ford Maddox "Parade's End" (Tetraology: Some Do Not, No More Parades, A Man Could Stand Up, Last Post) - 1924-28
20.    Mandelstam, Ossip "The Din of Time" (Шум времени/Shum vremeni) - 1925

If you want to take up the challenge, here is the post: The Classics Spin #25 

"This is your Spin List. 

You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period.

Try to challenge yourself. For example, you could list five Classics Club books you have been putting off, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favourite author, re-reads, ancients, non-fiction, books in translation - whatever you choose.)

On Sunday 22nd November, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by 30th January, 2021. Yes, you read that correctly! The 30th January 2021. You have almost 9 weeks to read your next CC Spin book. So why not load your list with those chunksters you’ve been putting off forever?

We’ll check in here on the 30th January 2021 to see who made it the whole way and finished their spin book!"

The reason I've been putting off reading them is because my TBR pile is so huge. I love classics, I want to read them, and I love how I actually read more classic books than before.

I will add the chosen number once it's published. I will also add every other book I read afterwards with a link to the spin.

Here are all the books on my original Classics Club list.
And here is a list of all the books I read with the Classics Spin.

11 comments:

  1. I plan to do this spin. I am posting my list tomorrow. Which one do you hope to read?

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    1. Honestly, I really don't know. I have a huge TBR pile but want to read all of the books on it first, so I'm glad somebody makes that decision for me this time. ;)

      I'm looking forward to your list.

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  2. I was just last night thinking of how to fit a George Elliott book into my reading plan.

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    1. Well, there you go. ;) Which one are you reading? I have read a few and loved them all.

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    2. I have The Mill on the Floss in my eBook library.

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    3. I've read that. Great novel, like anything I have read by George Elliott so far. Enjoy.

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  3. Interesting and varied list. I saw the TV adaptation of Sandition and absolutely loved it. Sorry there was not a second season. The ending asked for it. I should also read the book of course.
    Goethe, Gogol and Mann are favourites, Christie as well. Funny enough I have hardly read anything by her, just seen a lot of TV and film adaptations.
    I have read The Good Soldier by Ford Maddox Ford which I liked.
    "The Story of the Other Wise Man" by Van Dyke, Henry, sounds like something I would like. Good luck with your spin, which I now know is Hubbard, Fra Elbert "A Message to Garcia". I got Jung's Die Beziehungen zwischen dem Ich und dem Unbewußten. Not the easiest but it has been on my TBR list for a very long time. And it is a thin book.
    Love Henry James, but have not read Daisy Miller yet. I have Stendhal on my shelves, always wanted to read it. However, every time I take it out of the shelf it is sooo thick and has such small characters. I should have read it when I was younger. Or I might just download it. An e-book has better options when it comes to letter sizes.

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    1. I loved how you commented on many of my books on the list and will go back to it when I am reading those.
      Sandition, the series is still on my TBW (to be watched) list, I love classic adaptations on TV. And it has so many great cast members. Of course, since the book already has no end, they couldn't go on writing more than that one end.
      Christie. Same as you, I haven't read much by her but I have started the Poirot book. I'm just reading one short story at the time. Maybe I'll finish in 2021. ����
      Fra Hubbard. A very, very short story. But I'm also reading Karl Marx, so I should be alright with the time-frame. A similar problem to your Stendhal, thick and very small print. And you might be right there, an e-book is better for the size but I still can't get used to it.
      Daisy Miller is a nice read, it you love Henry James, you will certainly like it.

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  4. I'm so thrilled you discovered The Classics Club thanks to me!
    Enjoy your spin #25, I had actually never heard of this author, and haven't even seen the movies based on that book

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    1. That's what our blogs are for, I think, to inspire others, to give them ideas about what to read and also to find that inspiration yourself. I have always loved classics. In our international book club, I always said we read at least one classic book a year. Though there were some who would not have wanted it, in the end they enjoyed some of them, as well.

      I had never heard of Fra Hubbard before, nor have I watched the movies. I think my husband got it from a colleague who distributed it in the office or something.

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    2. And thanks again for the introduction to this. I love it.

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