Classics Club Spin #19!

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Oh, how I love a Spin, and boy I could sure use one right now.  So let's do it!  The newly-renovated Classics Club is hosting a special chunkster edition of its Spin:

On Tuesday 27th November, 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 31st January, 2019. 

Yes, you read that date correctly: the 31st January 2019!

This is an extra special, super-dooper CHUNKSTER edition of the Classics Club Spin. We challenge you to fill this spin list with 20 of those HUGE books you’ve been putting off reading because you didn’t have enough time. With this spin we are giving you the time  – nearly 10 weeks in fact – to tackle one of those imposing tomes on your classics shelf.

This is an excellent plan.  I usually put very few chunksters on my Spin lists because the time is short (but I always put a few, because Danger is my middle name!).  So here is my Terrifying Chunkster Spin List:
  1. Crime and Punishment, by Dostoyevsky
  2. Dred, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
  3. The Adventures of Roderick Random, by Tobias Smollett 
  4. Tales of the Narts (Ossetian myths) 
  5. The Female Quixote, by Charlotte Lennox 
  6. Light of Truth, by Ida B. Wells
  7. Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
  8. Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo
  9. The Journal of a Tour Through the Hebrides, by Boswell
  10. Demons, by Dostoyevsky
  11. Lorna Doone, by R. D. Blackmore
  12. Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange (Medieval Arabic stories)
  13. Our Mutual Friend, by Charles Dickens 
  14. Stories by Walter de la Mare (v. 1)
  15. Sky Loom (a collection of Native American myths)
  16. The Claverings, by Anthony Trollope  
  17. And Quiet Flows the Don, by Sholokov
  18. The Golden Bough, by James Frazer
  19. Russian Folktales collected by Afanas'ev (v. 1)
  20. The Bride of Lammermoor, by Sir Walter Scott 
I can see that I've been neglecting Victorian novelists, Russian, and folktale collections!  Long live the Spin!


Comments

  1. Fanda ClassiclitNovember 19, 2018 at 10:41 PM

    I wish 13 will be the number, as Our Mutual Friend is one of my favorites (it's also one of Dickens best novels).

    But I'm also curious about Lorna Doone. I have saw it in the library the other day, but was very intimidated by the thickness.

    Anyway... have fun with any chunkster you'd get to read.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. BronaNovember 20, 2018 at 2:03 AM

    I hope you don't get Les Mis - as much as I'm loving it, I'm glad I'm doing it a chapter a day. Trying to read it in 10 weeks would be a HUGE challenge!
    The Grapes of Wrath is the only other one on your list I've read & since I much preferred East of Eden, I don't wish you that one either!

    I hope your blogging activity means that things have calmed down some in your area again. Thinking of you every time we hear any news down our way xo

    ReplyDelete
  3. Margaret @ BooksPleaseNovember 20, 2018 at 6:31 AM

    I've read The Grapes of Wrath and Les Miserables - both took ages but I enjoyed all of Steinbeck's book whereas there are great chunks of Les Mis that are boring and tedious. It would be a huge challenge as Brona says to read it in 10 weeks.Our Mutual Friend would be a good choice. I hope you enjoy whichever one is drawn.

    ReplyDelete
  4. JeanNovember 20, 2018 at 7:15 AM

    I am *terrified* of Les Mis, I think that's my scariest pick! I've read Grapes of Wrath before (cough20+ years ago) and I liked it despite my dumb anti-Steinbeck bias, so I won't mind that one. I guess I should read East of Eden, I never have. Lorna Doone is indeed pretty intimidating, but I'm assuming it will be fairly exciting? Dunno.

    Things have calmed down some, and we're entering long-term recovery/housing work, which will take months and years. The fire isn't out yet but the fighters are doing tremendously and it's supposed to rain tonight.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AllisonNovember 20, 2018 at 7:27 AM

    Wow, there are quite a few chunksters on your list. I hope you get a compelling one! I, too, tend to put all my shorter books on my spin list. And now my list is short enough that I can't do that! I told myself after the last spin that I was going to make a point to read some of the chunky books before we had another spin so at least they wouldn't be there! Good luck with your spin!

    ReplyDelete
  6. RisaNovember 21, 2018 at 5:30 AM

    Many of these are unfamiliar titles, but those that are, are indeed chunksters!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzNovember 22, 2018 at 5:11 AM

    I always imagine that you must see my list to be much like the list you had in third grade...you must have read all the widely known classics and are now concentrating on the more obscure ones. That's what I imagine.

    Good luck with the spin!

    ReplyDelete
  8. JeanNovember 22, 2018 at 8:01 AM

    Ahahaha, your list has Don Quixote AND Moby-Dick! I have no intention of ever reading Moby-Dick! No, I cannot say that I have read all the widely-known classics. I just have eclectic tastes. :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. oNovember 23, 2018 at 12:58 PM

    For the first time ever I've heard of over half of these! :)

    Interested to see what you think of The Female Quixote - not read that myself yet, keep meaning to.

    Boswell's great fun - from what I remember it's pretty much a collection of funny things Johnson said (Johnson's account is, of course, far more serious!).

    Grapes of Wrath and Les Mis - LOVE.

    Russian Folktales - as you know I loved reading Afanasyev. Only read a few from that anthology I'm reading. Will have to get more of him, he's great :)

    Oh, and Tales of the Marvellous and News of the Strange is on my CC list too :)

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  10. JeanNovember 23, 2018 at 4:37 PM

    Oh, fun, I didn't know you had the Tales on your list, too. I'm kind of hoping for it. But also the Afanasyev -- since I often buy serious folktale collections at work, there are two volumes of his work waiting for me!

    ReplyDelete
  11. JosephNovember 24, 2018 at 2:08 PM

    Nice. I hadn't even heard of most of these. More for the TBR. I'll watch for your review.

    ReplyDelete
  12. amanda @ simplerpastimesNovember 26, 2018 at 5:20 PM

    Wow, your list is much braver than mine! I didn't dare put Les Miserables on; there's no way I'd finish that in only two months, at least not based on how long it's taking me to read classics lately. I did quite enjoy Grapes of Wrath when I read that, though. Whichever spins, enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  13. UnknownNovember 27, 2018 at 6:08 AM

    I read Grapes of Wrath last year and although it's not my favorite Steinbeck after a while I came to care about the families and what Steinbeck was portraying in this book. East of Eden is still my favorite but this one isn't too far behind

    ReplyDelete

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