After more than a little hesitation, I've decided to take the The Classics Spin.
Here's how it works:
- Go to your blog.
- Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club List. Try to challenge yourself: list five you are dreading/hesitant to read, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favorite author, rereads, ancients — whatever you choose.)
- Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog by next Monday. (2/18)
- Monday morning, we’ll announce a number from 1-20. Go to the list of twenty books you posted, and select the book that corresponds to the number we announce.
- The challenge is to read that book by April 1, even if it’s an icky one you dread reading! (No fair not listing any scary ones!)
Sounds like fun, right? We'll see. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that numbers 6 -10 will not be chosen. After starting a Vanity Fair read-along this week, another chunksters by April 1 may be too much to handle. Here's my list:
Pick Me, Pick Me (books I want to read now)
1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
3. Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty
4. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne DuMaurier
5. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
Chunksters (nearly 500 pages or more)
6. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
7. Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
8. A Light in August by William Faulkner
9. Them by Joyce Carol Oates
10. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
Quickies (books under 300 pages)
11. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
12. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
13. Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
14. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
15. The Pearl by John Steinbeck
Favorite Authors
16. The Bunner Sisters by Edith Wharton
17. Cranford by Eizabeth Gaskell
18. They Were Sisters by Dorothy Whipple
19. The Winter of our Discontent by John Steinbeck
20. Imperial Women by Pearl S. Buck
So let's spin...or, take turn about the room!
UPDATE:
The spin number is 14. I will read The Picture of Dorian Gray by April 1.
I loved Lady Audley's Secret -- the definitive Victorian sensation novel! It's fairly long, but a fast read. Really fun. The Joy Luck Club is also wonderful. You have so many great books on the list!
ReplyDeleteKaren K. - I'm pretty sure it was your review that prompted me to add Lady Audley's Secret to my list. It's been on my kindle for almost a year now.
DeleteOne chunkster by April would be too much for me, so I'm impressed you're undertaking Vanity Fair. The only book on your list that I've read is Cranford and loved it! I'm looking forward to seeing what book you'll be reading!
ReplyDeleteWhitney - I finally discovered Elizabeth Gaskell last year with North and South. Cranford has been on my shelf for several years, so fits in with the TBR Double Dog Dare, too.
DeleteI absolutely loved Winter of Our Discontent. I have to confess, I am really anxious for them to pick the number so I can know which book I am going to be reading!
ReplyDeleteLorren Lemmons - I loved The Winter of Our Discontent when I read it in high school and am pretty certain it would hold much more meaning now. Only 24 hours to go now!
DeleteWhich much be because you know your books can be seen to their best advantage while they are walking (or something like that?) :) I've read at least one book in each of your four buckets...hope a good number comes up!
ReplyDeleteAudrey - Ha! Exactly... looking forward to tomorrow's number :-)
DeleteOut of the chunksters, I think Lady Audley and the Dreiser are fantastic. Actually, let me modify that. Lady Audley was completely enjoyable in a Wilkie Collins way, but didn't knock my socks off. Some have problems with Dreiser but I really loved An American Tragedy. And I could be wrong, but I feel like it takes place in upstate NY. Or maybe he starts there and then moves further east. At any rate, a fantastic book.
ReplyDeleteThomas - You're right, An American Tragedy is based on a crime that took place in the Adirondacks. The copy on my shelf has been there since high school. Of course, that was so long ago that the pages are brittle and yellow, and the print is WAY too small to read comfortably. If #10 is chosen, I'll have to turn to my kindle.
DeleteRead The Bell Jar right away. Today. Right now. It's wonderful. I liked Agnes Grey but The Tenant of Wildfall Hall is Anne's best work, if you ask me. I've read 6, 7 and 10 on your chunksters list and liked them all. I think 6 is the best of the three and you can really skip 10. It's good, but not great.
ReplyDeleteI've read all your quickies, they're all great books but The Pearl made me want to kill myself. Seriously. You could read Cranford afterwards as a sort of curative.
C.B. James - It's really ridiculous that The Bell Jar has been near the top of my tbr pile for so long. I WILL read it regardless!
DeleteYour comment reminded me that I never posted about The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but I read in a couple months ago loved it. In fact, it's my favorite Bronte novel yet and is the reason Agnes Grey landed in the first group.
I haven't read The Pearl since high school and, although I didn't hate it, it was not a favorite. I'm hoping for an experience similar to my reread of The Old Man and the Sea.
Oh lordy woman, you put five chunksters on your list?? I'll cross my fingers for you that 6-10 don't get picked!
ReplyDeleteLisa - I'm in big trouble of those numbers come up!!
DeleteThis sounds like so much fun! I'd love to do this but I just can't. I'm a mess...too many things going on that I have committed to, and I have been such a slow reader lately! Many of the books on your list are on my long-term one too. (And I loved My Cousin Rachel!)
ReplyDeleteSandy - Not sure what's going to happen if 8 or 10 get drawn...too many books started right now!
DeleteI really like the categories you've picked! If one of the chunksters is chosen, you could always host a read-along? :)
ReplyDeleteChinoiseries - Now there's an idea! ;-)
DeleteI'm so glad to have been alerted to the Vanity Fair readalong (via your blog) which I quickly signed up for yesterday. But, I don't think I can take a spin around the room with that chunkster waiting for me in the corner! Blessings to all who can take their chances.
ReplyDeleteBellezza - I'm SO happy you are joining us for Vanity Fair! As far as the spin goes, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a quickie ;-)
DeleteI will be in trouble if a chunkster comes up too! With Bleak House and Middlemarch on the go I've already had to forego Vanity Fair. Cranford is lovely and Lady Audley is fun - good luck with the draw. :-)
ReplyDeleteCat - LOL, why do we keep doing things like this!?
DeleteWhatever number is chosen, you know it will be a good read. Looks fun!
ReplyDeleteDeb Nance - I sure hope so!
DeleteLoved Bell Jar and Joy Luck Club - enjoy the challenge. My reading lately has been based on what I'm in the mood for.
ReplyDeleteDiane - Can you believe I've never read either of those books? I'll get to them soon even if those numbers aren't chosen.
DeleteExcept for The Bell Jar, which is on my dreading list, I concur with your Pick Me! list--My Cousin Rachel, in particular, is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the spin--and may your lucky number come up!
JaneGS - I think I did get lucky! Number 14 came up and I am very thankful it's a quickie (The Picture of Dorian Gray).
DeleteIt's fun seeing these lists now that I know what everyone will be reading. Yours is a short one and one I'd like to re-read one day. Enjoy! Such a fun idea.
ReplyDeleteI've heard SUCH good things about My Cousin Rachel lately.
Trish - Maybe My Cousin Rachel should be the next read-along ;-)
DeleteI listened to Dorian and thought it was solid. Have fun!
ReplyDeleteI am impressed that you are taking part in this it sounds fun, maybe one day. :)
ReplyDelete