After seeing this challenge by The Classics Club shared by Annelies @ In Another Era, I couldn’t resist jumping in. I was hoping to read more classics this year, but so far I’ve only managed to read 4. Surely I can squeeze in one more before the year is over…
What is the spin?
Rules as shared by The Classics Club:
It’s easy. At your blog, before next Sunday 17th October, 2021, create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list.
This is your Spin List.
You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period.
Try to challenge yourself. For example, you could list five Classics Club books you have been putting off, five you can’t WAIT to read, five you are neutral about, and five free choice (favourite author, re-reads, ancients, non-fiction, books in translation — whatever you choose.)
On Sunday 17th, October, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by the 12th December, 2021. That’s an eight week reading window for this spin. You may like to stack your list with books that you know are do-able for you within that time frame.
I have to admit I have chosen shorter books from my to-read-list, with a few exceptions. At the end of the year, I’m wrapping up my yearly reading challenges, participating in Nanowrimo, and picking up seasonal reads, so I’m trying to be realistic. I do have a couple of classics to read for my Popsugar Challenge, but I’m not including those since I’ll be reading them anyway.
Let’s see what I’ve chosen!
(Link to Goodreads synopsis through book title.)
Five Classics I’ve Been Putting Off:
1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
3. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
4. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
5. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Five Classics I Can’t Wait to Read:
6. Crooked House by Agatha Christie
7. Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
8. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
9. The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
10. The Ghost Stories of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton
Five Classics Recently Added to My Shelf:
11. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie
12. Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton
13. A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean
14. Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
15. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Five Free Choice Classics:
16. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
17. Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
18. The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
19. Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’ Connor
20. Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
Will you be joining the Classics Club Spin Challenge? Have you read any of these? Let me know in the comments!
Happy Wandering!
You’ve shamed me, I thought I had read a lot of classics, but I have only read one from your list! Dr Jekll and Mr Hyde, it’s a pretty short book. I didn’t love it, but it was fine. I am just starting to read Mansfield Park (Austen), I’ve read all of her books once I finish this.
Haha! Yeah, I guess I’ve read more than I expected. I had to dig into some of the more obscure ones. 😃 Because Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is short is precisely why it’s on my list. 😉 And Mansfield Park is the last Austen novel I have to read, too! I’m supposed to read it for my reading challenge this year. I’m hoping to get to it next month. I’m excited and sad to get to it. I hope we both enjoy it! 😊
What a lovely list! I’ve read a few of these – Nine Stories, Franny & Zooey, and Dandelion Wine. Good luck!
Oh yay!! I saw you’re participating, too. I’ll have to jump over and see what you have planned.
I am not a great lover of classics, but I hope you enjoy whichever one comes up for you Dedra.
Classics can be a hit or miss for me sometimes. I definitely have to be in the mood for them. 😉 Thanks Carla!
I used to want to read The Bell Jar after reading Meg Wolitzer’s Behlzar. Then I just couldn’t do it because I know it’s super depressing.
Yeah… that’s why I’ve put if off for so long. But my daughter read it last year and she’s been bugging me to read it ever since. She said it’s beautifully written. At least it’s short, right?! 😉
I love your sub categories! I read 9 of these, #13 just last week
#2 is so fabulous! #6 was actually quite shocking to me (considering when it was written), of course I can’t tell you why without spoiling it.
Here is my list: https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/10/13/the-classics-club-the-classics-spin-28/
9!! That’s awesome! Now I’m even more excited about #’s 2, 6, or 13. I would be happy if any of those came up! 🙂
The bell jar is also on my list! And I didn’t like the Hemingway classic at all, although it was ages ago that I read it for school.
Neither one of those came up for me, so they’ll continue to sit on my tbr for the foreseeable future. 😉
The only one I’ve read from here is The Bell Jar which is great but a very intense read.
That’s what I’ve heard, which is why it keeps getting pushed down the tbr. 😉