I wasn't sure whether to participate in the Classics Club 'Classics Spin'. You could say I was on the fence. But now I am thoroughly off the fence, in the garden and raring to go. The challenge is to choice 20 books from your classics list that you have yet to read (no cheating...you've got to pick tricky ones too). On Monday (18th) the Club will post a number from 1-20 and you have to read whichever book is on that number by the 1st April. Do-able? I think so.
Five I'm dreading (please, no!)
1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
2. Animal Farm by George Orwell
3. What Maisie Knew by Henry James
4. Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
5. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Five I can't wait to read
6. Save me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald
7. The Moon and Sixpence by W Somerset Maugham
8. The Lifted Veil by George Eliot
9. Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald
10. Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Five neutral (aka books I need a kick up the backside to get cracking and read)
11. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
12. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
13. Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner
14. The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
15. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Five by authors I have never read
16. The Stranger by Albert Camus
17. Beloved by Toni Morrison
18. Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert
19. Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
20. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
I'm certainly keeping my fingers crossed that particular numbers won't be chosen (namely 1-5!) but in the spirit of reading I will read whichever book is chosen with much goodwill and general excitment.
Good luck to everyone who is taking part, I'm hoping no-one gets stuck with reading Ulysses or Pamela or anything equally terrifying!
The suspense is killing me...
Maaan, the top three of the books your dreading are all awesome! Or, at least, the top two are, and I really really want to read What Maisie Knew! I hope you get something you want anyway (I'm going to do this too and I'm faiirly positive I'm going to have to read Dickens!)
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty much hoping one of the books I'm dreading is the one I have to read. I treated myself to Lolita today just in case it does come up. Even if it doesn't I'm going to crack on with it soon. Can't put these things off forever!
DeleteGood luck with yours, Dickens is such a babe.
Animal Farm is pretty good, and easy too. Maybe if you get one you're dreading then you'll be happily surprised.
ReplyDeleteEven if Animal Farm doesn't get chosen I think I'm going to have to read that pretty soon, so many people are telling me it's good! I'm hoping that whatever I end up I'll be happily surprised. Thank you for commenting.
DeleteSince I'm your no. 9 follower, I hope no. 9 comes up...esp since it's a F Scott Fitzgerald (I've read 2 of his books this year).
ReplyDeletePS. Animal Farm is better than you think (and short)!
Thanks for following! I love The Great Gatsby and I'm really interested to compare his others to it...fingers crossed.
DeleteIn Cold Blood is AMAZING, and I can't wait to read Day of the Triffids. It's right at the top of Mount TBR right now! Animal Farm is short - and pretty easy to read - so you might be pleasantly surprised by that one. Hope that WHATEVER number comes up, you'll love the book you wind up reading! :)
ReplyDeleteThere is just something about Animal Farm I find really scary. I read 1984 when I was too young I think and it put me off Orwell in general. I'll be a happy chappy though if either In Cold Blood or Day of the Triffids come up. Thank you!
DeleteWow, great list! You have a lot of great ones for Modern March. It would be cool if you got number 6; I've never read anything by Zelda Fitzgerald. I, too, liked Animal Farm, and I hardly know anything about the history behind it.
ReplyDeleteI'm secretly wishing no. 6 comes up. I'm dying to read it but so many other books keep getting in the way!
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