Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Book Lottery

I'm going to try this exercise from the Classics Club -- they call it a Spin.  You make a list of 20 books from what you're planning to read, and then they assign a number, and you read that number and blog about it. "For example, you could list five Classics Club books 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)."
 
Somewhat trepidation:
1. Samuel Richardson: Pamela
2. James Thomson: The Speedy Extinction of Evil and Misery
3. Tales of the Elders of Ireland
4. Francis Godwin: The Man in the Moone
5. Thomas Browne: Pseudodoxia Epidemica

Looking forward to:
6. J.B. Priestley, Benighted
7. Anne Fuller: The Convent
8. George Gissing: New Grub Street
9. Eliza Haywood: The Adventures of Eovaii
10. Arthur Machen: The White People and Other Stories

Most outside my usual genres:
11. Harper Lee: To Kill a Mockingbird
12. Amos Tutuola: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts
13. Herman Melville: Bartleby the Scrivener
14. Tang Xianxu: The Peony Pavilion
15. Petronius: The Satyricon

Nonfiction:
16. Thorstein Veblen: The Theory of the Leisure Class
17. The Letters of Abelard and Heloise
18.  Anna Murphy Jameson: Shakespeare's Heroines, or Characteristics of Women
19. Tacitus: Agricola and Germania
20. A. E. Waite: The Holy Grail

So I'll find out the lucky winner next Monday!

UPDATE: And the winner is: A. E. Waite, The Holy Grail. So I'd better get Interlibrary Loaning.

I am currently reading The Buccaneers, by Edith Wharton, at home, and I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith, on my lunch breaks. With some breaks for Chester Hines.

4 comments:

  1. Wow! You have some listed that I've never even heard of. I see some investigation is in order. ;-) If the number 1 came up would you be in shock? I want to read Pamela but the length is intimidating. Tacitus would be interesting.

    I Capture the Castle is a wonderful read and Wharton's writing is Wow! I was blown away by her House of Mirth and I really need to read more of her works.

    Good luck with your Spin Challenge!

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  2. Pamela is very daunting to me because I've tried to read it before and found it VERY dull, so I always dropped it. However, I've read Samuel Richardson's other books and loved them. So that's one I'm determined to read, but kind of dread trying again. :)

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  3. I am very fond of To Kill a Mockingbird (my son is named Atticus) and I Capture the Castle is an absolute favorite!

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  4. To Kill a Mockingbird is wonderful! I hope you love that when you come to it.

    Don't be afraid of Pamela - I admit it's not awesome (Clarissa is far better), but it's not as scary as it seems :)

    I'll be interested to see what you make of George Gissing - he's an author I've been meaning to read for a while but haven't got to yet.

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