A long time ago, I think I was a (sort of) active participant of the Classics Club. These days I am just trying to keep my reading going and hope that someday I can be at least a little bit ambitious (re: see pre-covid blogging days) again in other aspects of life. I came across a Tweet where someone mentioned there is a classics club spin coming this weekend. I am 'trying' to be more cognizant of my reading choices (still very much influenced by my mood of the moment which seems to change daily). I do want to get back to reading the 'Classics'.
I thought I might join in quietly on my own. For those actually involved, they are working from a beginning list of 50 classics and narrowing things down to twenty for the upcoming spin. The idea is to list the books and when the spin is made to match their number with the corresponding book on the list. I think it sounds like a fun idea. However, I am going to be rather loose with my idea of a 'Classic'. Some are more modern or contemporary or genre-inspired. But I think the are all classics in their own right. And I wanted to choose 20 books that have been on my mind or in piles close by.
So here goes, a random twenty books, one of which I shall pick up to begin reading this weekend (with the hope to finish by August 7. Okay rolling the dice, so to speak:
- Hamnet, Maggie O'Farell
- The Group, Mary McCarthy
- A Sport and a Pastime, James Salter
- White Teeth, Zadie Smith
- An Academic Question, Barbara Pym
- Break of Day, Colette
- Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson
- Cassandra at the Wedding, Dorothy Baker
- Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham
- A Lost Lady, Willa Cather
- A Game of Hide and Seek, Elizabeth Taylor
- Where Angels Fear to Tread, E.M. Forester
- Laura, Vera Caspary
- Voyage in the Dark, Jean Rhys
- Delta Wedding, Eudora Welty
- Voices in the Evening, Natalia Ginzburg
- Eva Trout, Elizabeth Bowen
- Good Behavior, Molly Keane
- The Member of the Wedding, Carson McCullers
- The Moviegoer, Walker Percy
So, we'll see where the spin lands! These all sound wonderful today, but my mood varies so much I hope that the book selected will prove to captivate me or keep me motivated to finish another classic this year (so far only one slim novel, and not his best by any means, by Wilkie Collins)!