"Outside a dog a book is man's best friend, inside a dog it is too dark to read!" -Groucho Marx========="The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." -Jane Austen========="I don’t believe in the kind of magic in my books. But I do believe something very magical can happen when you read a good book."-JK Rowling========"I spend a lot of time reading." -Bill Gates=========“Ahhh. Bed, book, kitten, sandwich. All one needed in life, really.” -Jacqueline Kelly=========

Monday, August 4, 2014

Classics Book Club Spin #7

It is time for the Classics Club Spin again! I have never joined this challenge before and hope that it inspires me to read more challenging books from my TBR list. To play, make a list of 20 books before next Monday, August 11. On that day, a number will be chosen, and your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to read the selected book by October 6. (No matter what, you win! For more details, visit the Classics Club blog).

The event hosts suggest making a list with 5 books you can't wait to read, 5 books you dread, and so on.

Here is my list. I am really hoping they don't pick #17. Ha!

1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
2. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
3. A Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
4. Middlemarch by George Eliot
5. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
6. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
7. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
8. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
9. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
10. Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
11. The Trial by Franz Kafka
12. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
13. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
14. Henderson the Rain King by Saul Bellow
15. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
16. Wild Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
17. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
18. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
19. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
20. Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Sign up and join me. On August 11th the number will be announced which will correspond with the classic book I will read before October 6th. You can create your list of 20 classic books and read that book or join me and read my "winning" book.


14 comments:

  1. I just finished your #17. Do you really not want to read it, or are you secretly hoping it's selected? :)

    -Kristin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kristin,
      I know that the book is something special but it freaks me out since I have never studied Magical Realism and I think I would need an English teacher to coach me through it. What did you think?

      Delete
    2. I liked it, but it took me a long time to get through and get into. Everything finally came together at the end, which was satisfying. Compared to other magical realism texts that I've read/seen, this was not the most bizarre, so I think you'd be fine. The most confusing part was that everyone had the same names. Thank goodness my copy had a family tree in the front. I had to reference that a lot.

      Delete
    3. Kristin,
      Thanks for letting me know that I need not be afraid of A Hundred Years of Solitude. If #17 is picked I will contact you so I can get the same edition you had (with the family tree.) How's your little one doing? Has it been a fun summer?

      Delete
  2. I hope you get #5! That's a tremendous book! Good luck. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is what I have heard. I've only read Steinbeck's short novels. Time to dig into the long ones.

      Delete
  3. You have some great books on your list! East of Eden is outstanding, but so are Middlemarch, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Death Comes for the Archbishop, and One Hundred Years of Solitude!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I bought Three Men in a Boat because it is supposed to be so funny yet I haven't even cracked it open. It doesn't usually make it onto "classics" lists but I added it since it was written in 1889.

      Delete
  4. The Spin is always fun! Death Comes for the Archbishop is a wonderful book, and I really like One Hundred Years of Solitude. Good luck with your list!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really like Willa Cather's My Antonia. Not sure why I didn't read more of her books. Many of these books have been on my virtual TBR pile since high school. It is time to start reading them. I'm really hoping for Middlemarch since it has been on my list longest, I think.

      Delete
  5. Welcome to your first CC spin - they're lots of fun and a great way to get another book read off your list.

    I try to match my list to fellow spinners - we have a couple of genres, but no direct matches this time (if 6 comes up I have fellow stream of consciousness author Joyce & if 10 spins up we share a French author:-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Number 5 is an all-time favorite, but I've loved many books on your list... though not 17 ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I absolutely LOVE Three Men in a Boat. It is hilarious!! Middlemarch is great, as is Mrs. Dalloway and Death Comes for the Archbishop. You have so many good ones on your list!

    I wish you the best in your first CC spin!

    ReplyDelete

I look forward to your comments and interactions! Join in the conversation.