Wednesday 7 December 2022

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #32

    

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

On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 11th December 2022, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 29th of January 2023 to read it.

In the meantime, I read four  more books from my old list (Classics Spin #31) which I usually replace by some new ones. They are all in chronological order.

1.    Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411BC
2.    Voltaire "Candide, ou l'Optimisme" (Candide, or Optimism) - 1759
3.    Dickens, Charles "A Christmas Carol" - 1843
4.    Brontë, Charlotte "The Professor" - 1857
5.    Turgenjew, Iwan Sergejewitsch "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
6.    Suttner, Bertha von "Die Waffen nieder!" (Lay Down Your Arms! or Down with Weapons!) - 1889
7.    Mann, Heinrich "Der Untertan" (Man of Straw, The Patrioteer, or The Loyal Subject) - 1914
8.    Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
9.    Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
10.    Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
11.    Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
12.    Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
13.    Orwell, George "Down and Out in Paris and London: A Gritty Memoir on Life & Poverty in Two Cities" - 1933
14.    Canetti, Elias "Die Blendung" (Auto-da-Fé) - 1935
15.    Orwell, George "The Road to Wigan Pier" - 1937
16.    Némirovsky, Irène "Les Biens de ce monde" (All Our Wordly Goods) - 1941
17.    Mahfouz, Naguib "Midaq Alley" (Zuqaq El Midaq/زقاق المدق) - 1947
18.    Lagerkvist, Pär "Barabbas" (Barabbas) - 1950
19.    Kazantzakis, Nikos "The Last Temptation of Christ" (Ο τελευταίος πειρασμός/O telefteos pirasmos) - 1951
20.    Yates, Richard "Revolutionary Road" - 1961

This time, it's #6, so my novel is:
Suttner, Bertha von "Die Waffen nieder!" (Lay Down Your Arms! or Down with Weapons!) - 1889

If you want to take up the challenge, here is the post: The Classics Spin #32 

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.

14 comments:

  1. A great list! Some of my all-time favourite books are on this list, including Yates's Revolutionary Road and Bronte's The Professor, so I highly recommend!

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    1. Thanks, Diana, that sounds great. I will have to read them soon, then, if they don't get chosen.

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  2. I hope you draw The Last Temptation of Christ or Revolutionary Road.

    Spins are a fun way to choose your next book.

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    1. Thanks, Deb. You're the second person to recommend Revolutionary Road, that's very encouraging. The Last Temptation ... is the only book that is still left over from my initial 50 classic books that I listed when I joined. So, I will read that soon, no matter what.

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  3. Very interesting list, Marianne! I have only read A Christmas Carol, Candide, and A Farewell to Arms. There's a few unfamiliar titles/authors too. Whichever gets picked, have fun! :)

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    1. Thanks, Fanda. I don't think all of the authors are internationally known, so I'm not surprised. And A Christmas Carol would be a re-read for me. I absolutely love Dickens.

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  4. Only read 3 and 13 on your list but should be reading 'Wigan Pier' next year. I actually lived just 7 miles from the 'pier' for about 15 years and (briefly) went to college in Wigan a few years before going to University. Wigan is actually the nearest train station to where my family live so I'll be driven past Wigan pier next time I go home in the New Year!

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    1. Well, Kitten, if you lived close by, you will have to read it one day, I guess. I'll report once I've read it.

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  5. Of the ones on your list I've read, my favourite is Fathers and Sons, but there's some that are new to me and look interesting. Hope you get something fun!

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    1. Oh, thanks, Reese. I absolutely love Russian authors, so I'm really looking forward to it. As to the others, check out this space ... LOL

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  6. Which one are you hoping for? Or do you even care which one you get?

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    1. I don't really, Lark. I have bought them in the last couple of years because I wanted to read them, so, I will probably be happy with any that gets chosen. That way, I won't have to decide. ;)

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  7. Given the time of year you will be reading this sp[in, I hope you get A Christmas Carol :-)

    Happy Spinning!

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    1. I'm reading that anyway, so I'm not unhappy that I got another number.

      Thanks for doing this, Brona.

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