Classics Spin #2!

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Since I don't have enough to read this June, the Classics Club is doing another spin.  Same rules as last time, and the number will come up on Monday the 20th.  We will then have until July 1 to finish whatever book lands in our various laps.


My list has 5 books I am nervous about, 5 I'm looking forward to, 5 I feel neutral about, and 5 chosen at random by random.org.  I mixed them up this time.  The only thing is that I have made a rule that none of them can be too long, since I'm already reading a 900-page Russian novel.  (Also The Red and the Black is going pretty slowly!)

  1. Home and the World, by R. Tagore
  2. Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, by Poe 
  3. Pensees, by Pascal 
  4. My Antonia, by Willa Cather
  5. The Custom of the Country, by Edith Wharton
  6. A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
  7. Why We Can't Wait, by MLK Jr. 
  8. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
  9. Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
  10. Faustus, by Marlowe
  11. Measure for Measure, by Shakespeare
  12. Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
  13. Muqaddimah, by Ibn Khaldun 
  14. The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot
  15. Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf
  16.  The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann
  17. Faust, by Goethe
  18. Niels Lyhne , by Jens Peter Jacobsen
  19. The Castle, by Kafka
  20. The Stranger, by Camus
So here is my list.  Those random ones will really get you, huh?  The Magic Mountain is longer and more intimidating than I would like for this round, and I don't know one thing about Muqaddimah.  Is it a poem?  Is it long or short? What?  (I just looked it up.  It's a history of life, the universe, and everything from the POV of the Islamic Golden Age.  Such a thing cannot possibly be short.  *faint*)  

Well, I guess it wouldn't be much fun if there was no risk involved!

Comments

  1. Tanya @ Moms Small VictoriesMay 14, 2013 at 10:21 AM

    Frankenstein is on my list too although I've heard mixed reviews about it. Good luck getting a book you are looking forward to! Here's my Classics Club Spin list if you'd like to stop by.

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  2. CatMay 14, 2013 at 2:06 PM

    Some of those random titles are interesting and sound rather daunting. With Middlemarch and Parade's End already on the go I'm also hoping for something short. Good luck with the spin!

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  3. ShelleyMay 14, 2013 at 7:48 PM

    There's a few on your list I've never heard of. That should make things fun! I just noticed your list of pages. I love how they are all bookish and then the last one is "How to make your own hand-dipped chocolates." The important things in life :)

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  4. JeanMay 14, 2013 at 9:19 PM

    Well, the key to a good life is balance, right? :)

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  5. FaithMay 15, 2013 at 9:24 AM

    A lot of these books would be too heavy for me. The Mill on the Floss is unremittingly depressing! And it is long too. I remember reading The Stranger back in my early twenties and it taking months to shake the desolation it made me feel. Ugh. More power to you but that there is some heavy, heavy lifting. I love, love, love Brideshead Revisited though. I might have to revisit that one. My Antonia is another favorite, though also rather sad at the end. You are going to have to focus on more cheerful things after you've conquered this list! (Oh and Frankenstein! Talk about bleak!!!)

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  6. JeanMay 15, 2013 at 9:55 AM

    Gee Faith, you're really making me look forward to this spin! Uh, thanks! :D Of course you are probably perfectly correct--I've never read any of those books and I don't really know what I'm getting into. I'll have to keep some super-fluffy things next to my bed to help me get through it...

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  7. FaithMay 16, 2013 at 7:27 AM

    Sorry! I was being a bit of a downer myself! Forgive me! But I definitely think you should have some Wodehouse on hand, just in case. Lol.

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  8. Roof Beam ReaderMay 16, 2013 at 12:37 PM

    I read A Streetcar Named Desire ealier this year for my TBR Pile Challenge and was so impressed - much, much better than I expected it to be (one of my favorites of the year so far, actually).

    And Willa Cather, oh, I adore her. Marlowe's Faustus is great, as is Brideshead Revisited. And I LOVE Vonnegut, although Slaughterhouse-Five isn't my favorite of his... it's up there, though.

    The Mill on the Floss was one of my first favorite pieces of literature, years ago when I started this journey it and The Mayor of Casterbridge were the texts that really caught my attention and fueled the fire. And I love Woolf! I used to hate her, sadly. But we're getting along much better these days.

    Anyway, long story short - your list is great! Good luck with the Spin. :)

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  9. JeanMay 16, 2013 at 1:35 PM

    Thanks Adam! Hm, I've never really considered reading Casterbridge. Probably ought to. I do like Eliot.

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  10. BronaMay 21, 2013 at 12:18 AM

    Stellaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

    That's all I know about A Streetcar Named Desire - the famous movie line.

    Good luck - it should be fun.

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  11. Roof Beam ReaderMay 21, 2013 at 7:42 AM

    Yes! Streetcar! Such a good book, though not a light read by any means, even though it is short.

    The movie was good, too - excellent cast BUT they ruined the ending and left out (barely alluded to) one of the most important elements, near the middle of the book. I definitely prefer the book to the movie... hope you like it!

    ReplyDelete

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