It’s time for another Classics Spin!
What is the spin?
It’s easy. At your blog, before next Friday, November 17th, create a post to list your choice of any twenty books 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 year (details to follow). Try to challenge yourself. For example, you could list five Classics Club books you are dreading/hesitant to read, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favorite author, re-reads, ancients — whatever you choose.)
On Friday, November 17th, 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 December 31, 2017. We’ll check in here in January to see who made it the whole way and finished their spin book!
All right, here’s my list…what will I get? And are you participating in the spin?
- The Ghost of Thomas Kempe – Penelope Lively
- Love – Elizabeth von Arnim
- A London Child of the 1870s – Molly Hughes
- Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes
- The Spire – William Golding
- The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
- The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
- The Good Soldier – Ford Madox Ford
- Invisible Man – Ralph Ellison
- One Fine Day – Mollie Panter-Downes
- Testament of Youth – Vera Brittain
- July’s People – Nadine Gordimer
- My Brilliant Career – Miles Franklin
- Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
- My Life and Hard Times – James Thurber
- The Seventh Raven – Peter Dickinson
- Dubliners – James Joyce
- Throwing Shadows – E.L. Konigsburg
- Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens
- Wise Children – Angela Carter
The Emerald City Book Review Archive 
If you haven’t read ‘The Ghost of Thomas Kempe’ or ‘Testament of Youth’ then I really hope you get one of those. At some point you might also want to read ‘Testament of Friendship’ about Vera Brittain’s friendship with Winifred Holtby. I think it is a remarkable picture of the interwar years.
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I would like to read that one as well, and also more of Winifred Holtby’s novels. (I’ve only read South Riding.)
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My wish for you is STRONGLY #11. It’s an incredible book. If you read that one, I’ll be reading A Diary from Dixie. 😀
Best of luck!
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I’ve never heard of that one, looks fascinating.
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I really, really hope you get One Fine Day. SUCH a beautifully written book
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So I hear from many quarters…
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And I hope you get Ford Maddox Ford. First read it for a class at Carleton and adored it. It’s still in heavy rotation on my re-reading list. (PS bonus: it’s a great BBC TV film from the 1980s, with Jeremy Brett as Ashburnham.)
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That’s been on my reading list for forever — never got to have it in a class.
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I see you like to live dangerously! Don Q., Chuzzlewit AND the Brothers — all super-long. Neat list!
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Hahaha … good thing I’m not aiming to read all three of them at the same time!
Speaking of long books, have you seen this proposed readalong of Les Miserables — one chapter per day? (Yes, there are 365.) I am tempted!
http://www.nicksenger.com/onecatholiclife/nonfiction-november-2017-week-2-book-pairing
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Good to see the number of non-European/American classics like Things Fall Apart on your list.
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It’s a goal of mine to read more of those, though so far my track record is not very good.
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I am going to participate.
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Great!
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I’d like to hear more about #10 or #2!
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I’d be very happy to get either of those. Elizabeth von Arnim is a favorite author, and I’ve heard so many good things about the Panter-Downes.
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I have had The Brothers Karamazov as a goal for this year. I am so curious about it, but the size is just so intimidating. Time is running out, so we shall see!
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I read it in high school but that was a looooong time ago. I’m really curious to see how I would experience it now.
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I wish Testament of Youth because it is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read, but because it;s #AusReadingMonth I also with you My Brilliant Career 🙂
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Either would be fine with me!
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Good luck with the Spin – I hope you enjoy the book you get 🙂
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I’m excited to let chance decide for me, since I’m having a hard time picking which book to read next.
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Another Testament of Youth fan here. Vera Brittain wrote a few excellent novels as well. I have Winifred Holtby’s A Crowded Street on my spin list and can certainly endorse the recommendation of Testament of Friendship. I really liked The Good Soldier as well. Good luck with whatever you get, and to all of us taking part.
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If only I could read 20 books at once…
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