The latest Classics Club Spin has been announced. To join in, I choose twenty books from my classics list. On Sunday, 21st April, 2024, the Classics Club will post a number from 1 through 20. The goal is to read whatever book falls under that number on my Spin List by Sunday, 2nd June, 2024.
So, here is my list of 20 books for the spin...
- Patricia Highsmith – The Talented Mr.Ripley (1955)
- Shirley Jackson – We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)
- Madeleine L'Engle – A Wrinkle in Time (1962)
- William Shakespeare – Much Ado About Nothing (1598)
- Mary Shelley – Frankenstein (1818)
- John Steinbeck – Cannery Row (1945)
- William Thackeray – Vanity Fair (1848)
- Anthony Trollope – The Warden (1855)
- Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
- Virginia Woolf – Flush (1933)
- Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart (1958)
- Roald Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
- Charlotte Brontë – Jane Eyre (1847)
- Anne Brontë – Agnes Grey (1847)
- Albert Camus – The Stranger (1942)
- Lewis Carroll – Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865)
- Willa Cather – My Ántonia (1918)
- Kenneth Grahame – The Wind in the Willows (1908)
- Graham Greene – Our Man in Havana (1958)
- Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
This is the same list as I used last time, except for one change to eliminate the book that I read for the last spin, and add Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
Are there any of these you especially like... or dislike?
My top choice would be The Wind in the Willows.
24 comments:
I really enjoyed My Antonia when I read it (it was a spin for me!), but hope you get the Bradbury. I read Fahrenheit 451 in school, but finally started reading his other books in recent years. I think he and John Wyndham are two of my favorites in that genre.
Thanks for reading my list---see, I found you!
I've read several of these. I read Wrinkle in Time as an adult and loved it--would have hated it as a kid. My Antonia is amazing.Frankenstein was far better than I expected. It was one of my favorite books read that year..Things Fall Apart, Our Man in Havanna (Noel Coward was in the movie iic)--the only one I didn't like, and I seem to be the only one who doesn't, was Alice in Wonderland.
Oh, Tracy, you have some excellent books there. I remember very well the impression that Fahrenheit 451 made on me when I first read it. Things Fall Apart had an impact on me, too. And I've always liked Patricia Highsmith's ability to build psychological tension. Well, whichever one you get, I hope you'll enjoy it .
Kelly, I have not read anything by John Wyndham but I have read some books by Bradbury over the years. I think I read Fahrenheit 451 when I was much younger but not sure.
Lisa, Thanks for coming by and commenting. I have not been sure what to expect with Wrinkle in Time and Frankenstein, so glad to hear what you have to say about them. I think I must have read Alice in Wonderland when I was young, because we had a small set of classics that it included it, but I want to see what it is like as an adult.
Margot, I am a bit wary of anything Highsmith has written, as the books can be very tense. Things fall apart will be interesting, I don't know what to expect.
You have some wonderful books on your list - I particularly loved The Warden, Cannery Row and of course Jane Eyre. Hope you get something good.....
Any of those would be good, BookerTalk. I think I must have read Cannery Row years ago but since I can't remember it doesn't matter.
I've read quite a few of these, and my top choice for you would be Wind in the Willows.
I'm also a big fan of Wrinkle in Time.
Here's my list: https://readerbuzz.blogspot.com/2024/04/ah-its-time-for-another-classics-club.html
I just finished The Wind in the Willows and totally fell in love with it. Ratty and Mole and Toad are such fun characters. I also really love A Wrinkle in Time. Flush was cute, too. Hope you spin a good one! :D
I've never read The Wind in the Willows, and the one on your list I had the most fun with is nothing like it. I'm a Shirley Jackson fan, and I was completely taken by the world she creates in We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I can't imagine having the kind of mind that created that one. I don't think you can much go wrong with anything on the list, though.
Deb, If I don't get Wind in the Willows this time, I just need to go ahead and read it soon, and not wait for it to come up on a spin. A Wrinkle in Time would be a good option too.
Lark, All the books you mention would be fun to read (I hope). I don't know that much about A Wrinkle in Time. All of the books on my list would be good, but some would be more of a challenge to read.
Sam, I would be happy to get We Have Always Lived in the Castle but I am wary of it. Anything categorized as horror could be too tense for me, even though I know that there are different levels of horror. I have read short stories by Shirley Jackson that I like.
I agree, anything on this list would be a good choice.
I have a new staffer (alas, disappointing so far) who pronounces her name like the heroine of My Antonia (emphasis on the first syllable, ANT-ah-nee-ah).
I think you will like A Wrinkle in Time when you get to it. I have always meant to read Fahrenheit 451, especially after meeting Ray Bradbury, but have never got around to it.
Constance, thanks for mentioning that. I will now know how to pronounce Antonia in My Antonia, but it will take some getting used to.
I went to one of Ray Bradbury's lectures for a continuing education event in Santa Barbara when I was in my thirties, but it was not as good an experience as I had hoped because he and someone in the audience had an argument.
I'm late, so I already know the result. I love The Warden - it's one of my favourite books. I do hope you enjoy it!
FictionFan, The Warden is a good result for me because I was waiting to read this so I could read more books in the same series. I hope I enjoy it too.
I loved that whole series, then I read Trollope's Palliser series and loved that one even more. I hope you enjoy The Warden.
Katrina, I am glad to hear that. I will continue the series if I like The Warden, which I expect to. And I will check out the Palliser series too.
Hi Tracy, I look forward to your review of the Warden. Some great books on your classics club list. For me the standouts are Jane Eyre, Frankenstein and also Things Fall Apart which I wasn't sure what I would think about but it is a great novel and not very long.
I agree, Kathy, this is a good list of classics and I look forward to reading most of them. I am glad The Warden came up this time, because now I will know whether I want to find more books by Trollope when I go to the book sale later in the year.
I'd say it's a stretch to call Jackson's ...CASTLE as horror, albeit it is suspenseful. The Roald Dahl is more of a horror novel! (Dahl is a close correspondent to Highsmith in his approach to nearly everything.)
Interesting assortment of young readers' books...I read a good chunk of this list as a kid, though, for example, I've been Meaning To get to THINGS FALL APART for more than forty years.
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