Classic Review: A PASSAGE TO INDIA

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster was written in 1924 just as cracks in the British Empire were starting to occur. The story is set in a fictional city on the Ganges River, Chandrapore, and the nearby Marabar Caves, which are also fictional but based on the Barabar Caves in another part of India. The author may have visited these mysterious caves while visiting the country in the early 1920s. In the book, the characters can see from the colonial club the Marabar Hills, "a group of fists and fingers...thrust up through the soil." It is here, in the Marabar Caves, the climax of the story occurs. But I get a head of myself.

The story begins in the courtyard of a mosque when Mrs. Moore, newly arrived in India from Great Britain, meets Dr. Aziz, an Indian doctor who works at a local clinic. His warning that women are not allowed in the mosque offends the lady but causes the two to sit down together and have a conversation. This is the first conversation Mrs. Moore has had with an actual Indian and it sparks an interest for her to discover the real India, not just the colonial idea of India. 

Mrs. Moore journeyed to India as an chaperone for Adela Quested, a possible fiance for her son, Ronny, the city magistrate in Chandrapore. She was appalled by the way the British treated Indians, like they were second class citizens of lower intelligence. In their quests to see and know India a tea party, with actual Indians was arranged for the women. But even in this event the separation between the two cultures was very clear. So a trip to the Marabar Caves was arranged and who better to go with them than Dr. Aziz, now a friend of Mrs. Moore.

"[…] We're out here to do justice and keep the peace. Them's my sentiments. India isn't a drawing-room."

"Your sentiments are those of a god," [Mrs. Moore] said quietly, but it was his manner rather than his sentiments that annoyed her.

Trying to recover his temper, [Ronny] said, "India likes gods."

"And Englishmen like posing as gods." 

The journey to the caves is not easy and it requires a train trip to a nearby station and then a ride upon a elephant caravan to reach the caves. (See book cover, upper right.) Once there they find a series of caves which all look the same from the outside. Once inside the caves there is no light but the echo of any noise is deafening and terrifying. Later Mrs. Moore describes the echo as "boum." After exiting she insists she cannot/will not go into another cave, so Adela, Dr. Aziz, and the guide go on together. The three get separated for a few moments, lost in the maze of caves. When they emerge, Adela accuses Dr. Aziz of rape.

Shmoop summarizes it this way, "so, a girl walks into a cave...and an empire trembles." Indeed the rape trial and its after effects are felt throughout the country. Forster seemed to realize that India was a sitting on a powder keg and was getting ready to blow. By the 1920s the idea of independence was gaining momentum. In 1918 the Rowlatt Act was put in place which took away some key liberties from Indians, and in 1919 peaceful demonstrators were fired upon by the British and 500 people were killed. Forster taps into this tension, by upping the profile. He has a powerful attorney from Calcutta brought in to represent Dr. Aziz, a man unable to pay for such high powered representation. (The country is watching!) When Adela crumpled on the witness stand and recanted her accusation, the whole country erupted.

I have to admit I was pretty shocked by A Passage to India. I had expected a novel about colonization but I didn't expect a novel about the dark side of it. Whenever I read a classic novel which I know is/was often read in high school English classes, I always ask myself "why?" With A Passage to India I have a clear answer. It is an excellent novel to dissect all the horrors of colonization and the right of people to govern themselves as they see fit. There are so many themes which can be explored: justice, racial tension, religion, colonializations, power, individual autonomy, friendships, even weather.

I made the collage of book covers because each one of the covers tell a story worth exploring. I couldn't pick a favorite. The cover to the left, is the cover of the book I read, published in 1952, a reprinting from the original by Harcourt, Brace, and World. I found this antique copy in an old, dusty, used bookshop in Eastern Oregon, where my husband grew up. Inside the front cover was a name plate and Don, being Don, did a little exploration and thinks the original owner of the book was chiropractor from Portland. Inside was a newspaper clipping from The Wall Street Journal dated 2/3/88, about the Barabar Caves that served as the inspiration for the Marabar Caves in A Passage from India. The article was very interesting and led me to watch a documentary about a guy who visited the Barabar caves in India. I'd say based on both the article and documentary, don't make a trip to India to visit these caves. In addition, the book's first owner was a prolific underliner, adding some little notes written in the margins, all in pencil. I always find it fascinating to contemplate what others think is important in a book. And this actual volume was a treasure trove for me.

I rated the book with 4 stars, citing some confusing aspects of the plot as my reasons for not giving it highest marks. But it has aged well in my mind and I certainly understand why this book is considered a classic and why it is still recommended for all of us to read sometime before we die!

-Anne

Review: VINEGAR GIRL

Title: Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler 

Book Beginnings/First Line Friday quote:

Kate Battista was gardening out back when she heard the telephone ring in the kitchen. She straightened up and listened.

Friday56 quote:

She [Kate] didn't have the slightest idea what Mrs. Darling wanted to see her about. But then, she seldom did. The etiquette in this place was so mysterious! Or the customs, or conventions, or whatever ...Like, not showing strangers the soles of your feet or something.

Summary: Part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, Vinegar Girl is a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew. It is a "screwball comedy of manners that actually channels Jane Austen more than Shakespeare. It is clear that Tyler had fun with Vinegar Girl, and readers will too...A fizzy cocktail of a romantic comedy, far more sweet than acidic, about finding a mate who appreciates your idiosyncratic, principled self-- no taming necessary" (NPR).

Review: I hadn't heard of the Hogarth Shakespeare series until I selected Vinegar Girl from a list of choices for a Goodreads challenge. I made the choice for two reasons: 1. the book is short (237 pages) and 2. I usually like Anne Tyler's books. Not exactly solid reasons to make a choice, but so be it. 

I am not that familiar with The Taming of the Shrew. Back when I was in college I took a term of classes in London, taught by American professors. In addition to typical college classes, we often attended cultural programs and one evening the whole class went to see The Taming of the Shrew performed by the Royal Shakespeare company in the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End. I remember little of the storyline other than Katerina (Kate) was a fiesty, confident woman who was broken by a man. By evening's end I was hopping mad and one of the boys in my class made fun of me. You know how memories are...anyway, that memory is not much to go on. 

In Vinegar Girl, Kate is neurodivergent, never quite fitting in or understanding social conventions. (See quotes above.) Her father sets her up with his lab assistant, Pyotr, in hopes that the two will get married so Pyotr can get a green card and stay in the country, as his old visa is running out. (This storyline hasn't aged well the past ten years! Ahem.) Pyotr is also awkward and hard to understand. The two are a matched set, or so Kate's father thinks. Mostly comedy (and a little romance) ensues. It was a very silly story, actually, but I enjoyed it. Like most of Tyler's books Vinegar Girl is full of flawed, quirky, yet likeable characters -- my favorite kinds. A reviewer writing for Shelf Awareness assures us that "readers unfamiliar with The Taming of the Shrew will have no problem enjoying this novel, which is funny, fun-loving, and uplifting. Those who know the original will be intrigued by Tyler's rifts." 

Now I'm ready to tackle another Hogarth Shakespeare novel. Should I read Atwood's version of The Tempest or Jo Nesbo's Macbeth first? 

4 stars.

Anne

TTT: Quotes from Books I Read in 2025

Top Ten Tuesday: Quotes from Books I Read in 2025

____________________________________________

“All of history is one giant misunderstanding after another in a cacophony of voices, with the primary language, violence.”
― Daniel Nayeri, The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story

“You know how you can remember exactly when and where you read certain books? A great novel, a truly great one, not only captures a particular fictional experience, it alters and intensifies the way you experience your own life while you’re reading it. And it preserves it, like a time capsule.”
― Lily King, Heart the Lover

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”
― Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

“A pretty sight, a lady with a book.”
― Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle

“Words cast spells. You should know this as a writer. That's why it's called spelling, Labas.”
― Ocean Vuong, The Emperor of Gladness

“I came here to pray to God,” Ania screamed at me. “You pray to Money. You beg Money to grant you Land. You pray to Land to grant you Money. You are a convert to the gods of this country.”
― Karen Russell, The Antidote

“Grief is such a—oh, it is such a solitary thing; this is the terror of it, I think. It is like sliding down the outside of a really long glass building while nobody sees you.”
― Elizabeth Strout, Oh William!

“It seems very American to expect grief to change something. Like a token you cash in. A formula. Grieve x amount, receive y amount of comfort. Work a day in the grief mines and get paid in tickets to the company store.”
― Kaveh Akbar, Martyr!

“I’ve heard grief described as love with nowhere to go.”
― Catherine Newman, Sandwich

“Books won't solve my problems, Harriet.'
'No, but they give your problems perspective. They allow your problems to breathe.”
― Monica Wood, How to Read a Book

-Anne

Review: WILD DARK SHORE

Title: Wild Dark Shore: a Novel by Charlotte McConaghy

Book Beginnings/First Line Friday quote:

Rowan. 

I have hated my mother for most of my life but it is her face I see as I drown.

Friday56 quote (page 68):

Dominic. 

I am conflicted as I turn off the bike and help Rowan climb off. Half of me despises her. For existing. For being here. For being any part of a stunt which might harm my children.

Summary: Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. The island is home to the world's largest seed bank, and was once full of researchers. But now the sea levels are rising and the Salts are the final inhabitants. Until, during a terrible storm, a woman mysteriously washes ashore. As the family helps nurse the woman back to health they discover she is keeping secrets from them. But that is okay since they are keeping secrets from her, too.

Review: Wild Dark Shore has a lot going on. Let's see if I can begin to explain the complexity of this story.

First, there is the message of climate change and a rising sea level. Shearwater Island, an imaginary place patterned after an actual Australian research spot, Macquarie Island, is home to the world's seed bank. Saving seeds in case we need them in the future due to rising temperatures and other catastrophic climate events. But now Shearwater is becoming a victim of what researchers were using the island to research. Soon the island will be under the sea and the seeds, if they can be saved, will need to be relocated elsewhere.

Secondly, there is the Salt family -- Dominic, the father, and his three children: Raff, Fen, and Orly. Dominic is the caretaker of the island and has lived on it for eight years, moving in soon after the death of his wife to cancer. The family is set to leave the island in six weeks and had hoped to help the last of the researchers pack up the seeds, preparing them for transport, but none of the researchers survived and someone cut the radio and any communication systems the island had to communicate with the outside world.

A mysterious woman, Rowan, washes ashore which throws everything into turmoil. How did she get to the island and why? It is an out of the way place, one would have to be aiming for the island to find it. Since communications are down, she is forced to live with the family and wait to be rescued along with the Salts. But in the meantime, she start snooping around to see if she can find her husband, a lead researcher on the island. Where did the researchers go? Who is buried in the newly dug graves? And why do the Salts all seems to be tangled up in some emotional mess, possibly connected to ghosts? As Rowan draws close to the family, and they to her, there seems to be a possible moment where a new family could be formed.

The mysteries of the island don't seem willing to unlock themselves until the last twenty pages or so of the text and then everything comes rushing out in a gush. I had to put the book down. It was too much to take in all at once. Wow. What an impactful book.

I have to admit I was a little frustrated with the book. There were so many mysteries one almost felt like they had to juggle all the details and be careful not to drop a ball along the way. The story is dribbled out by the five narrators. Each chapter narrated by one person. Both Dominic's and Rowan's chapters were told in first person (note the excerpts above). Talk about confusing. The other three narrators got their point of view expressed in third person, which wasn't as confusing. My favorite narrator was Oly, the nine-year-old boy, who had lived nearly his whole life on the island, and had spent his time soaking in all he could about science from hanging around the researchers. He knew so much about the seeds and where they were from and what kind of plants they grew. I found his chapters fascinating.

I think the book asks some really hard questions. Among them, the age old one: How then shall we live? The Salts were really struggling with decisions about the future. After Shearwater, with its rugged, pristine isolation, where would they fit in the world? I imagine many people will ask themselves this same question in our near future. Where will they fit when their homeland is no longer habitable?

Lots of questions. Few answers.

My rating: 4.25 stars.

-Anne

TTT: Books for Armchair Travelers

Top Ten Tuesday: Books for Armchair Travelers

No time or funds for exotic trips? No worries. 

Here are some books which will take you to those spots free of charge!

Italy:

 Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (Cinqueterre) 

 The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt (Venice)

Spain:

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Barcelona)

 To the Field of Stars: A Pilgrim's Journey to Santiago de Compostela by Kevin Codd (The Camino)

India and Sri Lanka:

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Malabar Coast of Southern India, in the state of Kerala)

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (Old Delhi and Kashmir) 

Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshananthan (Jaffna in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka)

The continent of Africa:

 The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré (Nigeria)

West With the Night by Beryl Markham (Kenya)

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

East Asia:

The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (Vietnam)

Pachinko by Min Lin Lee (South Korea)

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner (Cambodia)

The Man Who Loved China by Simon Winchester

Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips (Kamchatka, Eastern Russia)

Australia and New Zealand

Island Home by Tim Winton (Western Australia)

Wild Pork and Watercress by Barry Crump (New Zealand)

The Americas

In Darkness by Nick Lake (Haiti)

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende (Chile)

The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede (Newfoundland, Canada)

Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park by Conor Knighton (USA)

I could go on but will stop. I will also be taking notes on your lists to give me idea of good books to read about your reading around-the-world experiences.

-Anne

Sunday Salon -- ¡Mexico!

¡Mexico!

Weather: In Xcaret, Q.Roo, Mexico: 80 degrees and sunny yesterday. Here: 45 degrees and sunny today.

We just got back from a week-long vacation to Mexico on the Yucatán Peninsula near Cancún. Here are a few highlights of our week:

• Top left: We met up with two of my siblings, Tony and Kathy, and their spouses. In the photo we are finishing our meal in the Asian restaurant at the resort. In addition to two buffets on site, there were several specialty-themed restaurants (Mexican, Asian, Italian, Fish, etc.) which required reservations. I've never been to an all-inclusive resort before. I liked it a lot for the ease and convenience. During the days couples would split up and do whatever they wanted and then every evening we would get together for dinner and sometimes drinks and games afterwards. On Sunday, Feb. 7th, we all gathered at the Sports Bar on the resort site and watched the Superbowl together. They switched the audio to English but it didn't matter since it was so loud in the bar. There were a lot of noisy fans cheering for their favorite team. Since we are all from the West Coast of the US, we all cheered for the Seahawks. 
• Top center: This is the view from my lounge chair on many days as I laid under the palm trees near the sea. My husband preferred to lounge on the curtained beds next to my chair. I ended up reading almost a whole, big book (over 400 pages.) The temperatures in the shade were usually in the low 80s with a nice ocean breeze. Often we could see the adventurous souls who ventured out for parasailing, as they sailed by being pulled by boats. Books completed this week: The Guardian and a Thief by Marjan Kamali and The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante. I'm still currently reading the Wild Dark Shore by McConaghy. I'm listening to Vinegar Girl by Tyler.
• Top right: One afternoon we went to a nearby cenote, The Garden of Eden Cenote, for a refreshing outing. A cenote is a natural, water-filled sinkhole formed by the collapse of limestone bedrock, revealing an underlying, crystal-clear groundwater system. Derived from the Mayan word ts’ono’ot ("well"), these pools are predominantly found in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and were historically considered sacred, representing entrances to the underworld. In the photo you see me and Don sitting on a mossy rock watching little fish nibble at the dead skin on our feet and legs. This was my favorite activity of the trip...the cenote, not the fish.
• Middle left: I did a lot of bird watching. Pictured is the Great Kiskadee. Other new birds to me: the Great-tailed Grackle; a group of Ocellated Turkeys; several Tropical Mockingbirds; Yucatán Jays, they were everywhere around the cenote; the Common Squirrel-Cuckoo; I heard the Altamira Oriole and saw its woven, upside-down nest; Brown Pelicans; Black vultures. I also met the Harris Hawk who was working the resort with a handler to keep down the number of grackles who would harass us otherwise. Two other birds seen around the cenote which I've seen before -- an Anhinga pair and a Green Heron working the edges of the sinkhole.
• Center: Sunrise over the Caribbean Sea.
• Middle right: Ruins at Tulum, one of the last cities built and inhabited by Mayans, prominent during the 13th to 15th centuries. (Wiki)
• Bottom left: Nohuch Mul pyramid is the tallest structure in the Mayan ruins at Coba. My sister joined Don and I one day to explore the ruins at Coba and Tulum. Coba is very spread out so our guide (a beautiful Mayan woman) and Don rode bikes between sights, while Kathy and I were escorted around by pedicab. The Spaniards never found this location so it is more intact than many of the other Mayan settlements because it was abandoned about 1100 CE and the jungle had grown over it before the Europeans arrived. We could have climbed the pyramid, behind us in the photo, but that didn't sound fun to Kathy and I so Don didn't push it. (Wiki)
• Bottom middle: Spider monkeys. Signs everywhere at the resort implored people to not feed the animals, but the monkeys were opportunistic little thieves. If someone left their sliding glass door open even for a minute, they would race in and steal from the complimentary fruit bowl. The resort also had a bunch of coatimundis running around. They are raccoon-like. Agoutis, rodents which are like little capybaras. White-tailed deer and iguanas were everywhere.

  

  Here is one stealing our last apple.

  
  
• Bottom right: Don and I grabbed a last hour of sun before we left our Mexico resort and made our way home to Washington State.
• Thank you, Tony and Becky for making our Mexico trip possible!

Look who missed their grandparents and greeted us today:

The grandkids were excited by the kit we gave them to create an axolotl, in the Mexican art style, Alebrijes -- Alebrijes (ah-leh-bree-hehs) are the brightly colored, fantastical Mexican folk art creatures, often featuring mixed animal parts, carved from wood or made from papier-mâché. Originating in Mexico City in the 1930s by Pedro Linares, they are now iconic, intricately painted, whimsical figures primarily produced in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life!

Now. Time to get to the laundry and plan a trip to the grocery store.

-Anne

Review: ATMOSPHERE: A LOVE STORY

Title: Atmosphere: a Love Story by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Book Beginning/ First Line Friday quote:

Dec. 29, 1984                                                                                                                            Joan Goodwin gets to the Kennedy Space Center well before nine, and Houston is already airless and muggy.

Friday56 quote: 

Happiness is so hard to come by. I don't understand why anyone would begrudge anyway else for managing to find some of it.

Summary: 

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe. Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, creating complex protagonists, and telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love—this time among the stars. (Publisher)

Review: I loved Daisy Jones and the Six and disliked Malibu Rising both by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Though one would never know how I felt about the books by my ratings. I gave both of these books a rating of 4 stars. Ha! Therefore, I decided to read Atmosphere: a Love Story with a little trepidation. Would I love or dislike this one? Well, I'm happy to report, I loved this one.

Back in 1979, Joan Goodwin and Vanessa Ford are in the second class of potential female astronauts with NASA. They work hard and build a strong bond with the other members of their initiation class. Both of these women were tapped for their special skills -- Joan, astrophysics; Vanessa, for mechanics. The two form a strong bond and eventually fall in love. But during this time period being involved in a gay love affair would be a sure way to get fired, especially from such a organization as NASA. For this reason Joan and Vanessa have to keep their relationship a secret from everyone including their friends and family. When there is an accident in space the reality of their relationship verses the need to remain astronauts comes into focus.

When I sat with this story for a while after finishing the book, I determined that it advised me on an emotional level the validity of same-sex marriage. Everyone deserves to be loved and no one should dictate who others love. It was a powerful experience for me.

My rating: 4.5 stars

-Anne

TTT: If You Love These Books -- You Will Love Books

TTT: If You Love These Books, You Will Love These Books

                  If You Loved ...                                       You Will Probably Love This One...

-Anne

Review: THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN

Title: The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali

Book Beginning/ First Line Friday quote:

December 1981: I stood on the lacquered floor -- a small woman in black with a rectangular name badge on my chest. 

Friday56 quote: 

Lionesses. Us. Can't you see it, Ellie? Someday -- you and me -- we'll do great things. We'll live lives for ourselves. And we will help others. We are cubs now, maybe. But we will grow to be lionesses. Strong women who will make things happen.

Summary: Set in Tehran, Iran in the years 1950-1980, The Lion Women of Tehran tells the story of two girls who meet when they are in primary school and then follows the ins and outs of their lives and their friendship as they grow and change. There is Ellie who is raised to be a princess, to fulfill her mother's ideal of what a young woman can become -- a pampered wife and mother herself. And there is Homa who is raised by a communist father and a mother who loves to cook. She dreams big of what a woman's life could be outside the cultural norms. Both girls are brilliant and work hard at their studies. One day, while in college with the political turmoil roiling through the country, an innocent slip of the tongue leads to a betrayal that will have lifelong consequences. The novel is full of love and courage, "and is a sweeping exploration of how profoundly we are shaped by those we meet when we are young" (Publisher).

Review: The Lion Women of Tehran was a book club selection for January's meeting. Every woman in the club liked the book, which rarely happens, yet no one spoke of it in gushing, rhapsodic terms. It was a good, but not clutch-the-book-to your-chest-and-sigh good book. The publisher compares this book to The Kite Runner, set during the same time period in Iraq. But I argued this book, though very impactful, did not have the same emotional punch as its predecessor. One thing we all agreed upon, the book really highlights food and Iranian cuisine well. The descriptions of the food in the book made all of our mouths water. I wanted to try everything.

It was an excellent club choice, however, because there was so much to discuss about women's rights and how women have fared throughout history at the hands of men involved in extreme, fanatical wings of religions. Homa, who fights for women's rights in Tehran, because women are not allowed to keep their children if they get divorced in the 1960s, is shocked when the government is overthrown in the late 1970s and women are sent packing back to the middle ages, requiring women to cover themselves, not allowing most women to even work outside the home. Here we are in 2020s USA, and we can feel these same breezes blowing on our cheeks. Our grandmothers won the right to vote. Our mothers won the right for women to use contraceptives and to have equitable division of property and children after divorces. Now we are being threatened by Christian Nationalists, currently in charge of our government, that women will need to revert to old family values -- staying home and raising children -- which all they purport women are good for! See what I mean? We had a lot to discuss.

One woman reviewer on Goodreads said this about The Lion Women of Tehran:

While this novel didn't deliver the emotional punch I was expecting it to, it does fulfill its promise at providing a story filled with feminine courage and moral fortitude. Ellie and Homa are good examples of what women have always been fighting for and will continue to do so, especially in places where it is dangerous to do so. 3.5 stars

I agree with her estimation of the book. I liked the feminine courage and moral fortitude of the story. I liked the message of about important good friends are for us. I gave it 4 stars.

-Anne

Classics Club Spin #43

It is time for another Classics Club Spin. 

The spin happens on Sunday, February 8th. At that time a number will be announced and I will have until March 29th to finish that book. All you have to do, if you want to join in, is create a numbered list of 20 classics you still want to read and wait for the announcement, then commence reading.

My One-Big-Book of 2026 is Moby-Dick, so I honestly hope to have that book win the spin. I also have my own copies of Madame Bovary, The Good Earth, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes so those books would be a cinch for me to start. We'll see where the spinner stops.

CC Spin # 43

1. The Good Earth by Buck

2.   The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov

3.      Death Comes for the Archbishop by Cather

4.      Don Quioxides by de Cervantes*

5.      The Cherry Orchard by Chekhov

6.      Heart of Darkness by Conrad*

7.      The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle

8.      Invisible Man by Ellison*

9.      Madame Bovary by Flaubert*

10. The Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne

11. The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway

12. Siddhartha by Hesse

13. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Highsmith

14. On the Road by Kerouac

15. Elmer Gantry by Sinclair

16. Moby Dick by Melville*

17. Midnight’s Children by Rushdie*

18. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Sparks

19. Dracula by Stoker*

20. Scoop by Waugh

*Books in the top 30 classic books list.

And the number is…. 

2!

So I will be reading The Master and Margarita.   Here is a summary of what I can expect: A humorous look at life in the Soviet Union during the 1930s. It wasn’t published until after the author’s death. 

-Anne