The latest Classics Club Spin has been announced. To join in, I choose twenty books from my classics list that are still unread. On Sunday, February 16th, 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 April 11th, 2025.
So, here is my list of 20 books for the spin...
- Edna Ferber – Show Boat (1926)
- Patricia Highsmith – The Talented Mr.Ripley (1955)
- Madeleine L'Engle – A Wrinkle in Time (1962)
- William Shakespeare – Much Ado About Nothing (1598)
- Mary Shelley – Frankenstein (1818)
- John Steinbeck – Cannery Row (1945)
- Oscar Wilde – The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890)
- William Thackeray – Vanity Fair (1848)
- Virginia Woolf – Flush (1933)
- Chinua Achebe – Things Fall Apart (1958)
- Roald Dahl – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964)
- Charlotte Brontë – Jane Eyre (1847)
- Muriel Spark – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)
- Graham Greene – Our Man in Havana (1958)
- Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451 (1953)
- Dashiell Hammett – Red Harvest (1929)
- Christopher Isherwood – Goodbye to Berlin (1939)
- Dorothy L. Sayers – The Nine Tailors (1934)
- Robert Louis Stevenson – The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)
- James Thurber – The 13 Clocks (1950)
The first 15 books on this list were on my last Spin list. But I have swapped out some books on the last list for others from my Classics list, so the last 5 books are new ones.
The two books I would most like to be selected from my list are A Wrinkle in Time by L'Engle or Cannery Row by Steinbeck. Although I am sure that The Talented Mr. Ripley by Highsmith will be too tense for me, I would like to finally read that one. However, any books on my list would be fine.
20 comments:
I read and thoroughly enjoyed our man in Havana just a couple of weeks ago, so I hope you get that one! But whatever you get, I hope it's one you enjoy!
Fiction Fan, Our Man in Havana would be a good one. I have it on the Kindle and I would rather read a paper copy but one of my goals is to read more ebooks. One of my spin results last year was The Quiet American and it was very good.
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood sounds good. I have never read him but I must make a plan to do so. I did read The Talented Mr. Ripley a long time ago. It is dark. I hope you get to read either Frankenstein, Jane Eyre or Things Fall Apart. They are all excellent. And I must check out The Portrait of Dorian Gray.
You do like the classic mysteries! Can't beat those authors in this genre
Hmmm...which one to root for. Jane Eyre, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or The Portrait of Dorian Gray would likely be my 'picks' (if I were doing the picking - ha!). Good luck!
I've actually read ten of the books on your list. The two I do want to read and haven't yet are The Talented Mr. Ripley and Thirteen Clocks. (And I recently watched Showboat again; I love Howard Keel's voice. Though I understand the book has a sadder ending than the movie does.)
Ten for me also. I keep trying to read RED HARVEST since Megan (along with Scott Frank) are working on a series of it for Netflix. But I find it impenetrable. I know people have a high regard for it so I will keep trying.
I've read several of these and one of them is on my list, too. We did the Thurber and the Sayers in our book club. One I liked, the other not so much. I think I would pick the Bradbury for you. I haven't read it since school (eons ago) and should read it again. I hope you enjoy whatever you get!
Kelly, I have read both the Sayers and the Thurber, but I wanted to reread them both. Some people love The Nine Tailors, some don't like it at all, and I want to see what I think of it now. The Thurber would be the shortest and easiest but I did not really understand it the first time I read it, so I hope to have some insight this time I read it.
I specifically put Vanity Fair at #8 on my list to match the number on your list, so if I do read it, it will be at the same time (generally as you do). I expect it would be a long slow read for me.
I have also read Fahrenheit 451 but it was so long ago I don't remember anything. I have several copies but they are all paperbacks and small print...
Patti, I don't remember why I put RED HARVEST on my list (back in 2018). I have read other books by Hammett but I think that RED HARVEST is much more hard-boiled that I had realized. At around 200 pages, I am hoping I can finish it whenever I do read it.
It is exciting that Megan is working on an adaptation of Red Harvest. It sounds like a good project for her talents.
Kathy, the three you suggest would all be good and I have nice copies of all of them, which is a bonus. I think that The Talented Mr. Ripley will be too dark for me, but still I want to try it.
You are right, Harvee, I am partial to classic mysteries. When I started blogging a large number of the mysteries I read were from the 1930s through the 1960s, although I would not consider them all classics. Now I try to read more genres and more contemporary books than in the past.
I wonder what you'll think of Things Fall Apart if that's the book you get, Tracy. I remember it had quite an impact on me. And Patricia Highsmith was so good at building psychological suspense; if you get that one, I really hope you'll enjoy it. The rest of your choices look very interesting, too. You have some good 'uns there.
All of the three you noted would be good, Kay. Two of those I am sure I must have read but not sure: Jane Eyre and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I remember nothing about Jane Eyre and the Roald Dahl is familiar through the film version. The genre of The Portrait of Dorian Gray (horror / gothic / fantasy) is not my favorite which may be why I have not read it before, but I am curious about it.
Lark, my husband and I have watched the 1936 version of Showboat starring Irene Dunne and Allan Jones many times. That is probably why I put Showboat on my classics list. I also have Giant by Ferber on my Classics list.
Margot, I think Things Fall Apart has been on my Spin Lists since the first one I did and it never gets picked. I think that means I should just go ahead and read it.
On the other hand, I am a little bit scared of reading The Talented Mr. Ripley so I keep putting it off.
I remember greatly enjoying The Thirteen Clocks. I'd like to read that one again. Good luck!
Deb, I look forward to reading The Thirteen Clocks again someday.
I have just seen the announcement of the number for this spin and it is 4, so I will be reading Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. I have never read Shakespeare 's plays, so this will be a new experience for me.
I'm thinking you're slated to read Shakespeare since I checked the number on the Classics site. I don't know that particular play well but I hope you enjoy it.
Susan, I will be reading Much Ado About Nothing. I am not very knowledgeable about Shakespeare's plays in general, but my son and husband both like Shakespeare, and we have watched a lots of the adaptations. We have two different versions of this one on disc, one directed by Branagh, one directed by Joss Whedon, and we have watched both of them more than once.
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