This will be the second time I have participated in a Classics Club Spin. When I last participated, Peter Fleming’s Brazilian Adventure was the chosen book, which I read by the deadline (Dec. 31, 2013) and reviewed here. Now I will again list twenty classics, and on Monday, a number will be picked and I will have to read that book by July 7th. Since I’ve read two very long books lately, this list is going to avoid the chunkster titles of my Classics List. So here goes, alphabetically:
1. Bab: A Sub-Deb by Mary Roberts Rinehart [1916]
2. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery [1926]
3. Dispatches by Michael Herr [1977]
4. Dubliners by James Joyce [1914]
5. Excellent Women by Barbara Pym [1952]
6. Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway [1929]
7. The Good Earth by Pearl Buck [1931]
8. The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux [1975]
9. High Rising by Angela Thirkell [1933]
10. A House is Not a Home by Polly Adler [1953]
11. Keepers of the House by Shirley Ann Grau [1964]
12. Mariana by Monica Dickens [1940]
13. Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman [1947]
14. Original Letters from India by Eliza Fay [1925]
15. Penny Plain by Anna Buchan [1920]
16. Saplings by Noel Streatfeild [1945]
17. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby [1958]
18. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome [1889]
19. A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor [1977]
20. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard [1922]
Of these twenty books, I am most hoping for The Blue Castle or Penny Plain. The book I am most dreading is Farewell to Arms. I haven’t read Hemingway since high school, but I did not like him then and don’t think I will like him now. If it is indeed chosen, I will try to keep an open mind, but I do not have high hopes for that book.
A Good Stopping Point 
A Time of Gifts was an amazing read. I fell a little in love with Patrick 🙂
Great list! I hope you get one of the books that you are looking forward to.
I have to admit, I haven’t got the slightest idea about any of these titles :O
Hemingway seems to be very love and hate, but my own experience is that during schooltime I was pretty “meh” about him, but I read For Whom the Bell Tolls last year, and it was really good! I hope you get a nice title for the spin 🙂
Wow, what a unique list! I have some unknown books to check out now! Three Men in A Boat is a personal favourite; it is soooo funny! I know what you mean about Hemingway; once I tried to read The Sun Also Rises and hated it but I recently finished The Old Man and the Sea and really liked it. The experience has made me open to reading more of his works.
Have a great spin!
I enjoyed Dubliners when I read it. I plan to read A Farewell to Arms soon, but I’m dreading it a little bit. A unique list… good luck with it.
Interesting list, I haven’t read any of these! I hope the spin chooses a book you’ll enjoy. Good luck!
I haven’t read Farewell to Arms, but I’ve read other Hemingway. I liked his work.
The Good Earth is an amazing novel. I hope you like it (whether you read it for the spin or some other time.)
I’ve read A Farewell to Arms and didn’t hate it, but I don’t think Hemingway is my type of author. Three Men in a Boat is hilarious! I hope you get that one.
Brona – Aw! 🙂 I’ve read just a short essay by him, an excerpt from a later book, and I’m pretty sure I will enjoy Time of Gifts.
wanderingbookmark – Thanks!
Aiko – Yeah, I discovered that excluding the chunksters from my Spin List resulted in the omission of the more well-known books and authors from the list – like Trollope’s books, Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, Great Expectations, Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables.
Riv – I read The Sun Also Rises in high school and had the same kind of “meh” reaction, well it ranged from “meh” to dislike. We’ll see what happens if Farewell to Arms is chosen.
Cleo – Thanks! I have mostly other bloggers to thank for some of the lesser known works on the list. I’m looking forward to the comic read of Three Men in a Boat.
My Book Strings – Good to hear re: Dubliners. And thanks!
jessicabookworm – thanks!
Loni – My sister really liked The Good Earth when she read it in high school and it surprises me that I still haven’t read it yet.
Helen – I don’t think Hemingway is my kind of author either from what little I remember of reading him and also on what others have said about reading him. But Three Men in a Boat seems worth anticipating. 🙂
I enjoyed A Time of Gifts and Penny Plain, Excellent Women and High Rising are good comfort books. I hated Dubliners. It’s an interesting list, I hope to get around to joining in too.