The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #45

 

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) 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 16^th August 2026, 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 4^th October 2026 to read it.

This time, I only read the one book from my old list (Classics Spin #44) (The Hive). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
2. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
3. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
4. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
5. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
6. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
7. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
8. Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941
9. Zweig, Stefan "The Royal Game/Chess" (Schachnovelle) - 1942
10. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953
11. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
12. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
13. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
14. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
15. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
16. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
17. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
18. Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941
19. Zweig, Stefan "The Royal Game/Chess" (Schachnovelle) - 1942
20. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, we received #18:
Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941

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.

Cela, Camilo José "The Hive"

Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (Spanish: La colmena) - 1951

The Classicics Spin chose #9 from our list this month. Great, I thought, a Nobel Prize winner. Two birds with one stone.

Often, I find a new favourite author when I read a Nobel Prize winner. Was that the same this time? I don't think so. The book was alright but nothing too special. Apparently, this was his best, his most important novel.

It was a bit too much of a jumble for me. In German, we have a good word for that, "Kuddelmuddel". There were too many short stories that somehow had a connection but the break between one and the next was so large that you often didn't even remember who he was talking about. Yes, he wanted to show how much life in Spain during the Franco regime resembled a beehive. Unfortunately, he succeeded all too well in that.

Funnily enough, he mentions a book that has been published by F. Sempere & Co. in Valencia. I don't think he has any relation to the one in Carlos Ruiz Zafon's "Cemetery of Forgotten Books" series but I've been speculating whether it is or is not a coincidence. Now, Ruiz Zafón was a great Spanish author, one of my favourites.

Anyway, the story was distorted, the characters not very amiable, the whole book didn't give us a way to see into the lives. What a pity.

This appears on the cover of my book (translated):

"The morning rises ever so gradually. It crawls like a caterpillar across the hearts of the city’s men and women. Almost coaxingly, it taps against half-awakened gazes—gazes that never discover new horizons, new landscapes, or new settings. The morning—this eternally recurring morning—plays a little, seeking to alter the face of the city. It is a grave, a climbing pole, a beehive."

And this is the book description I found on the internet:

"The Hive presents a panoramic view of the degradation and sufferings of the lower-middle class in post-civil war Spain. Readers are introduced to over a hundred characters through a series of starkly rendered interlocking vignettes. Filled with violence, hunger, and compassion, The Hive captures the buzzing ambitions and set-backs of Spanish society under the rule of Franco."

Camilo José Cela received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1989 "for a rich and intensive prose, which with restrained compassion forms a challenging vision of man's vulnerability."

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

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.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #44

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) 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 17^th May 2026, 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 7^th July 2026 to read it.

This time, I only read the one book from my old list (Classics Spin #43) (Fathers and Sons). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
2. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
3. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
4. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
5. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
6. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
7. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
8. Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941
9. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
10. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953
11. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
12. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
13. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
14. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
15. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
16. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
17. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
18. Némirovsky, Irène "All Our Wordly Goods" (Les biens de ce monde) - 1941
19. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
20. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, we received #9:
Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951

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.

Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons"

Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Russian: Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862

I love Russian authors, as all my friends know. But I had never read a book by Turgenjew. So, I was happy that #2 was chosen for our classic spin this term.

Was it as good as most of the other Russian authors I read? Yes, it was. I loved reading about life in Russia in the middle of the nineteenth century, when times started to change, farmers got more freedom, serfdom started to be abolished and the whole order of society was questioned.

Almost any kind of character was described in this book, diffferent ages, different social status, different education, different housholds, town and countryside, students and farmers, parents and children, women and men (which doesn't happen often in those books).

According to Wikipedia, this is considered the first modern Russian novel. I can well believe that. Changes were coming and the author managed to put that situation to paper.

In any case, I can highly recommend this book. And not just to those who love classics and/or Russian literature.

From the back cover:

"Bazarov—a gifted, impatient, and caustic young man—has journeyed from school to the home of his friend Arkady Kirsanov. But soon Bazarov’s outspoken rejection of authority and social conventions touches off quarrels, misunderstandings, and romantic entanglements that will utterly transform the Kirsanov household and reflect the changes taking place across all of nineteenth-century Russia.

Fathers and Sons enraged the old and the young, reactionaries, romantics, and radicals alike when it was first published. At the same time, Turgenev won the acclaim of Flaubert, Maupassant, and Henry James for his craftsmanship as a writer and his psychological insight. Fathers and Sons is now considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century.

A timeless depiction of generational conflict during social upheaval, it vividly portrays the clash between the older Russian aristocracy and the youthful radicalism that foreshadowed the revolution to come—and offers modern-day readers much to reflect upon as they look around at their own tumultuous, ever changing world."

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.

Jane Austen Year 2025

As I mentioned before, as part of the commemoration of Jane Austen's 250th birthday, the Classics Club started a #Reading Austen project. We are reading a book by her every other month, and I want to do read something Austen-related by her in between.

Austen, Jane (Jane Austen in German)

January: "Sense & Sensibility" - Verstand & Gefühl/Sinn & Sinnlichkeit - 1811 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
February: Worsley, Lucy "Jane Austen at Home" - 2017
March: "Pride & Prejudice" - Stolz & Vorurteil - 1813 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
April: Bell, Catherine "Jane Austen and the Art of Words" (GE: Jane Austen und die Kunst der Worte) - 2021
May: "Mansfield Park" - Mansfield Park - 1814 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
June: Hornby, Gill "Miss Austen" - 2020
July: "Emma" - Emma - 1816 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
August: Sullivan, Margaret C. "The Jane Austen Handbook. A Sensible Yet Elegant Guide to Her World" - 2007
September: "Northanger Abbey" - Kloster Northanger - 1818 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen) 
October: Adkins, Roy & Lesley "Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England: How our ancestors lived two centuries ago" (aka "Jane Austen's England) - 2013
November: "Persuasion" - Überredung/Anne Elliot - 1817 (The Motherhood and Jane Austen)
December: Deresiewicz, William "A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter" - 2011

And there are, of course, hundreds of books about Jane Austen, her life, her novels, plus numerous "sequels" to the novels she wrote, written by contemporary authors. I am not a big fan of those kind of stories, so I'm not including any since I haven't read them.

Austen, Jane
"Lady Susan" - Lady Susan - 1795
"The Watsons" - Die Watsons - 1803/05
"Sanditon" - Sanditon - 1817
"Selected Letters. 1796-1817" - 1796-1817

Le Faye, Deirdre "Jane Austen. The World of Her Novels" - Jane Austen und ihre Zeit - 2002

Shields, Carol "Jane Austen. A Life" - 2001
Tomalin, Claire "Jane Austen - A Life" - 1997

Which Austen Heroine are You? 

Other books relating to her work:
Baker, Jo "Longbourn" - 2013

Birtwistle, Sue; Conklin, Susie "The Making of Pride and Prejudice" - 1995

Fowler, Karen Joy "The Jane Austen Book Club" - 2004
McCall Smith, Alexander "Emma. A Modern Retelling" - 2015

Pool, Daniel "What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew" - 1993
Rowlatt, Bee & Witwit, May "Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad. The True Story of an Unlikely Friendship" - 2010
Austen, Jane "The History of England: By a Partial, Prejudiced and Ignorant Historian" - 1791

You will find more posts where she has been mentioned here.

And there are some recommendations by friends:
Harman, Claire "Jane’s Fame - How Jane Austen Conquered the World"
Mullan, John "What Matters in Jane Austen? - Twenty Crucial Puzzles Solved"

And during the year, Captivated Reader found a YouTube link on PBS for a Jane Austen dance and general information about her life.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #43

 

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) 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 8^th February 2026, 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 29^th March 2026 to read it.

This time, I read two books from my old list (Classics Spin #42) (The Sound and the Fury" and "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II"). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
2. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
3. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
4. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
5. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
6. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
7. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
8. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
9. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
10. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953
11. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
12. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
13. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
14. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
15. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
16. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
17. Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
18. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
19. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
20. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, we received #2:
Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862

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.

Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury"

Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929

For the Classics Spin #42, we received #17 and this was my novel. When I revealed this to the other bloggers, I got a lot of comments that people did not like the book at all. But I was determined to like it. After all, I loved "Light in August" by the same author.

However, this is not comparable to the first of his books that I read. I think I agree with most of the other readers.

But let's get to the book.

In one of the reviews (see here), I read "I appreciated the writer's skill a lot more than I enjoyed reading the novel." I think that hits the nail on its head. Another one compared it with "Look Homeward, Angel" which I could also agree on. Another Southern US writer whom you might only want to follow, if you are a Southerner yourself.

I'm sure you guessed it, this wasn't my favourite book of the year. But I appreciated having read it.

They mention "Ulysses" in the description. As you can see, I read that and said at the time "this is the most difficult book I have ever read". It still belongs on that list but I understood that better than this one. I also said "the longer I distance myself from this novel, the more it makes sense and the bigger an impact does it have on me." I doubt this will ever happen here but one can always hope.

I did understand the actions in the book but really didn't like a single character and couldn't follow any of their decisions.

It is also says in the description that "... in the next two sections ... the novel begins to reveal itself."

Nope, not really, it was still as confusing as before. If you're not a huge fan of stream of consciousness books, I wouldn't recommend it.

From the back cover:

"Ever since the first furore was created on its publication in 1929, The Sound and the Fury has been considered one of the key novels of this century. Although it is difficult, in the same way that Ulysses is difficult, it is rewarding. Few readers can fail to become absorbed in this imaginative creation of the degenerate und disintegrating Compson family.

Faulkner does not use characters as pawns in a plot: he is interested in minds and emotions, in the interaction of characters and the way incidents and events affect individuals and their relationships. This is done by dividing the novel into four sections: the first is 'told by an idiot' - Benjy, for whom time does not exist. It is in the next two sections, when the reader hears the tale told by Benjy's two brothers, that the novel begins to reveal itself.

In essence this is a novel about lovelessness - 'only an idiot has no grief; only a fool would forget it. What else is there in this world sharp enough to stick to your guts?' It is a novel about intense and passionate family relationships wherein there is no love, only self-centredness.

The cover shows a detail from 'The Scarecrow' by Andrew Wyeth in the National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington."

William Faulkner received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949 "for his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel."

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

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.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #42

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) 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 19^th October 2025, 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 21^st December 2025 to read it.

This time, I read two books from my old list (Classics Spin #41) ("Lysistrata"  and "Martin Chuzzlewit"). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
2. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
3. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
4. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
5. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
6. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
7. Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
8. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
9. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
10. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953
11. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
12. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
13. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
14. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
15. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
16. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
17. Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
18. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
19. Cela, Camilo José "The Hive" (La colmina) - 1951
20. Plaidy, Jean "The Sixth Wife: The Story of Katharine Parr" - 1953

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, the number that has been picked is #17. That means for me:
Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929

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.

Dickens, Charles "Martin Chuzzlewit"

Dickens, Charles "Martin Chuzzlewit. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit" - 1843-44 

I'm a huge fan of Charles Dickens and am glad I read this novel. But I wouldn't recommend it if you haven't read anything else by him. For me, this was one of his worst novels.

Too many characters, even though he was able to include many interesting names. This also meant that some things got lost, such as the main love story, which is what everything supposedly revolves around. But it's barely portrayed. We hardly see the couple together. Otherwise, too much confusion, chaos, one catastrophe after another.

I read somewhere that this is Dickens' most underrated book. I wouldn't say that; I think it landed exactly where it belongs, somewhere at the very bottom of all his fantastic books.

I recommend "David Copperfield" for starters.

From the back cover:

"Old Martin Chuzzlewit believes that greed is so endemic in his family that he disinherits his grandson and hinders his courtship of Mary Graham. As the intricacies of he plot develop the story passes from sunny comedy to the grimmest depths of criminal psychology. Domestic tyranny is tellingly depicted through the household of Mr Pecksniff and public villainy - leading to blackmail and  murder - revealed in the activities of the Anglo-Bengalee Disinterested Loan and Life Assurance Company...

A brilliant satire on selfishness and hypocrisy revolving around a stubborn young protagonist. Martin Chuzzlewit is also one of Dickens's comic masterpieces. Peopled with a cast of characters - including Mrs. Gamp, Poll Sweedlepipe, Montague Tigg and Chevy Slyme - unequalled elsewhere in his novels."

Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays"

Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Greek: Lysistrátē/Λυσιστράτη) - 411 BC

For the Classics Spin #41, we received #11 and this was my novel.

I had found this book a while ago in a used book sale. I am grateful for that because that way, I only paid €1 for it.

My edition included not just "Lysistrata" but also "The Acharnians" (Acharnes) and "The Clouds" (Nephelai).

As you can see in the description, they praise the author's "ribald humour". Ribald it was indeed but I couldn't find humour in that, it was far too rough, coarse and crude. Probably the times. I wouldn't be surprised if this book was on the banned book list in the States.

But the stories itself also weren't too interesting. I think one must see this and not read it. Someone told me that the play is indeed hilarious and that the costumes added a lot to that. Well, Aristophanes didn't explain that. LOL

Book Description:

"Writing at the time of political and social crisis in Athens, Aristophanes was an eloquent yet bawdy challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. The Achanians is a plea for peace set against the background of the long war with Sparta. In Lysistrata a band of women tap into the awesome power of sex in order to end a war. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were being challenged.

For this edition Alan Sommerstein has completely revised his translation of these three plays, bringing out the full nuances of Aristophanes’ ribald humour and intricate word play, with a new introduction explaining the historical and cultural background to the plays."

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.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #41

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) 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 15^th June 2025, 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 24^th August 2025 to read it.

This time, I read only the one book from my old list (Classics Spin #40) ("Madame Bovary"). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411 BC
2. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
3. Dickens, Charles "Martin Chuzzlewit. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit" (Leben und Abenteuer des Martin Chuszlewit) - 1843-44
4. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
5. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
6. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
7. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
8. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
9. Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
10. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
11. Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411 BC
12. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
13. Dickens, Charles "Martin Chuzzlewit. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit" (Leben und Abenteuer des Martin Chuszlewit) - 1843-44
14. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
15. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
16. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
17. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
18. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
19. Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
20. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, the number that has been picked is #11. That means for me:
Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411 BC

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.

Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary"

Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (French: Madame Bovary) - 1857

For the Classics Spin #40, we received #4 and this was my novel.

I have a love-hate relationship with French books. I love the French language. I absolutely love the books by Albert Camus, there are a few others I don't exactly dislike but, in general, they are not for me.

I had hoped that this one would be for me like my beloved English classics by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, the Brontës, etc. etc. But it was not to be.

What did I dislike about the novel? Not the story itself, it was quite interesting to follow the story of Emma, a young girl who marries a doctor but finds her life beside him completely boring so looks for excitement in other men. Or maybe it was the story. It was as boring as the life of the protagonist. So, maybe that's exactly what he was trying to show. Then he succeded. But not with me.

From the back cover:

"Madame Bovary is the debut novel of French writer Gustave Flaubert, published in 1856. The character lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. When the novel was first serialized in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, public prosecutors attacked the novel for obscenity. The resulting trial in January 1857 made the story notorious. After Flaubert's acquittal on 7 February 1857, Madame Bovary became a bestseller in April 1857 when it was published in two volumes. A seminal work of literary realism, the novel is now considered Flaubert's masterpiece, and one of the most influential literary works in history."

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.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #40

"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) 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 16^th February 2025, 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 11^th of April 2025 to read it.

This time, I read only the one book from my old list (Classics Spin #39) ("Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby"). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411 BC
2. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
3. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
4. Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (Madame Bovary) - 1857
5. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
6. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
7. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
8. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
9. Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
10. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
11. Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411 BC
12. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
13. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
14. Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (Madame Bovary) - 1857
15. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
16. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
17. Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
18. Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
19. Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
20. Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

So, the number has been picked and it is #4. That means for me:
Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (Madame Bovary) - 1857

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.

Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby"

Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39

For the Classics Spin #39, we received #3 and this was my novel.

I have read most of the books by Charles Dickens by now but there are still a few left. So, I was happy that this number got drawn. So, here was the chance to devour one more of his fabulous books.

And fabulous it was. It had everything a Dickens novel needs: villains and virtues, rogues and good people, a helicopter mother from the Georgian era, just a caleidoscope of people from his time with lots of intrigues. Not to forget the great names he gives his characters: The Cheerybles, The Crummles, Sir Mulberry Hawk, Newman Noggs, Peg Sliderskew, Wackford Squeers, one of them funnier than the last.

Of course, this is a novel against social injustice. And while we might think that is better today, some things never change.

Obviously, a lot happens in the story, much of it is already given in the synopsis, so I wouldn't want to add to that in order not to spoil it for the first-time readers. Therefore, I finish with a quote from Oscar Wilde (in "The Importance of Being Earnest"): "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means".

From the back cover:

"When Nicholas Nickleby is left penniless after his father's death, he appeals to his wealthy uncle to help him find work and to protect his mother and sister. But Ralph Nickleby proves both hard-hearted and unscrupulous, and Nicholas finds himself forced to make his own way in the world. His adventures gave Dickens the opportunity to portray an extraordinary gallery of rogues and eccentrics, such as Wackford Squeers, the tyrannical headmaster of Dotheboys Hall, a school for unwanted boys; the slow-witted orphan Smike, rescued by Nicholas; and the gloriously theatrical Mr. and Mrs. Crummles and their daughter, the 'infant phenomenon'. Like many of Dickens's novels, Nicholas Nickleby is characterised by his outrage at cruelty and social injustice, but it is also a flamboyantly exuberant work, revealing his comic genius at its most unerring."

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.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #39

 

"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 20^th October 2024, 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 18^th of December 2024 to read it.

This time, I read only the one book from my old list (Classics Spin #38) ("Cannery Row"). But there are always some new books that I can add to my challenge. The books are all in chronological order.

1. Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411 BC
2. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
3. Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39
4. Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias" - 1848
5. Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (Madame Bovary) - 1857
6. Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
7. Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
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. Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
14. Némirovsky, Irène "Les biens de ce monde" (All Our Wordly Goods) - 1941
15. Cela, Camilo José "The Family of Pascal Duarte" (La Familia Duarte) - 1942
16. Zweig, Stefan "Schachnovelle" (The Royal Game/Chess) - 1942
17. Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946
18. Huxley, Aldous "Ape and Essence" - 1948
19. Hemingway, Ernest "Across the River and into the Trees" - 1950
20. Simenon, Georges "Maigret's Memoirs" (Les mémoires de Maigret) - 1951

#3 was picked this time, so for me it's:
Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

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.

Steinbeck, John "Cannery Row"

Steinbeck, John "Cannery Row" - 1945

For the Classics Spin #38, we received #17 and this was my novel.

I have read several John Steinbeck novels and loved them all. With this one, I was expecting something along the line of "The Grapes of Wrath", some story about the people who lived during the Great Depression and how they managed. Instead, I read about a group of unruly people whom I couldn't care for.

I'm sure you have read novels where your thoughts did not stay with the plot. Where you had to go back and read whole paragraphs over and over again. I had this with this story, well, I wouldn't even call it a story. It was an amalgamation of characters who couldn't bring together one decent idea.

I have heard several times that this is a funny novel. I cannot agree with that. I didn't see any humour in it. Sorry.

From the back cover:

"Unburdened by the material necessities of the more fortunate, the denizens of Cannery Row discover rewards unknown in more traditional society. Henri the painter sorts through junk lots for pieces of wood to incorporate into the boat he is building, while the girls from Dora Flood’s bordello venture out now and then to enjoy a bit of sunshine. Lee Chong stocks his grocery with almost anything a man could want, and Doc, a young marine biologist who ministers to sick puppies and unhappy souls, unexpectedly finds true love. Cannery Row is just a few blocks long, but the story it harbors is suffused with warmth, understanding, and a great fund of human values. First published in 1945, Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as it is - both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. John Steinbeck draws on his memories of the real inhabitants of Monterey, California, and interweaves their stories in this world where only the fittest survive - creating what is at once one of his most humorous and poignant works. In Cannery Row, John Steinbeck returns to the setting of Tortilla Flat to create another evocative portrait of life as it is lived by those who unabashedly put the highest value on the intangibles - human warmth, camaraderie, and love."

John Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962 "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humour and keen social perception".

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #38

"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 21^st July 2024, 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 22^nd of September 2024 to read it.

This time, I read two books from my old list (Classics Spin #37) ("Growth of the Soil" and "Rebecca"). But there are always some new books that I can add to my challenge. The books are all in chronological order.

1.    Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411 BC
2.    Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
3.    Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39
4.    Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias" - 1848
5.    Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (Madame Bovary) - 1857
6.    Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
7.    Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
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.   Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
14.   Némirovsky, Irène "Les biens de ce monde" (All Our Wordly Goods) - 1941
15.   Cela, Camilo José "The Family of Pascal Duarte" (La Familia Duarte) - 1942
16.   Zweig, Stefan "Schachnovelle" (The Royal Game/Chess) - 1942
17.   Steinbeck, John "Cannery Row" - 1945
18.   Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946
19.   Huxley, Aldous "Ape and Essence" - 1948
20.   Hemingway, Ernest "Across the River and into the Trees" - 1950

#17 was picked this time, so for me it's:
Steinbeck, John "Cannery Row" - 1945

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

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.

Hamsun, Knut "Growth of the Soil"

Hamsun, Knut "Growth of the Soil" (Norwegian: Markens Grøde) - 1917

For the Classics Spin #37, we received #8 and this was my novel.

So far, I have only read one book by Knut Hamsun, "Pan". That was part of our international book club. One of our members was from Norway, and Knut Hamsun was her favourite author. I liked "Pan", it's a great novel and probably a good one for a book club since it's not too large.

"Growth of the Soil" was just as great. Apparently, this gained him the Nobel Prize for Literature. You can tell that the author loves nature and what it does for us. In this case, Isak, the protagonist, comes to an area where nobody lives and which seems hard to farm. He makes something of it and becomes one of the richest man in the area after some others follow.

It's not just the story, it's the way the people are described, their hard work, their love of nature, their will to become more, also those who don't agree with that style of life.

It's a quiet story, a calming story. An epic story about a time long gone.

From the back cover:

"The epic novel of man and nature that won its author the Nobel Prize in Literature, in the first new English translation in more than ninety years

When it was first published in 1917, Growth of the Soil was immediately recognized as a masterpiece. More than one-hundred years later it still remains a transporting literary experience. In the story of Isak, who leaves his village to clear a homestead and raise a family amid the untilled tracts of the Norwegian back country, Knut Hamsun evokes the elemental bond between humans and the land. Newly translated by the acclaimed Hamsun scholar Sverre Lyngstad, Hamsun's novel is a work of preternatural calm, stern beauty, and biblical power - and the crowning achievement of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century."

Knut Hamsun received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 "for his monumental work, 'Growth of the Soil'". 

I contribute to this page: Read the Nobels and you can find all my blogs about Nobel Prize winning authors and their books here.

The Classics Club: The Classics Spin #37

         

"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 21^st April 2024, 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 2^nd of June 2024 to read it.

This time, I read three books from my old list (Classics Spin #36). But there are always some new books that I can add to my challenge. The books are all in chronological order.

1.    Aristophanes "Lysistrata and Other Plays" (Lysistrata) - 411 BC
2.    Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von "Urfaust. Faust Fragment. Faust I. Faust II" (Faust) - 1772-1808
3.    Dickens, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" - 1838/39
4.    Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias" - 1848
5.    Flaubert, Gustave "Madame Bovary" (Madame Bovary) - 1857
6.    Turgenev, Ivan "Fathers and Sons" (Отцы и дети/Otzy i deti) - 1862
7.    Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
8.    Hamsun, Knut "Growth of the Soil" (Markens Grøde/Segen der Erde) - 1917
9.    Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
10.   Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
11.   Faulkner, William "The Sound and the Fury" - 1929
12.   Hemingway, Ernest "A Farewell to Arms" - 1929
13.   Meigs, Cornelia "Invincible Louisa" - 1933
14.   Du Maurier, Daphne "Rebecca" - 1938
15.   Krleža, Miroslav "On the Edge of Reason" (Na rubu pameti) - 1938
16.   Némirovsky, Irène "Les biens de ce monde" (All Our Wordly Goods) - 1941
17.   Cela, Camilo José "The Family of Pascal Duarte" (La Familia Duarte) - 1942
18.   Zweig, Stefan "Schachnovelle" (The Royal Game/Chess) - 1942
19.   Wilde, Oscar "Only Dull People Are Brilliant at Breakfast" - 1946
20.   Huxley, Aldous "Ape and Essence" - 1948

This is a great idea for all of us who want to read more classics. Go ahead, get your own list. I can't wait to see what I get to read this time.

This time, it's #8, so my novel is:
Hamsun, Knut "Growth of the Soil" (Markens Grøde) - 1917

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.