I haven’t done one of these in a while. Basically I list twenty books from the fifty I challenged myself with when I joined the Classics Club in 2012. Then next Monday, the organizers will pick the random number and that will be the book to read in December/January.
We’ll go with these categories:
Five oldest books left on my list:
1.The Oresteia by Aeschylus [458 B.C.]
2. The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling by Henry Fielding [1749]
3. Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott [1819]
4. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens [1860]
5. Framley Parsonage by Anthony Trollope [1861]
Five most recent books left on the list:
6. The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen [1978]
7. Dispatches by Michael Herr [1977]
8. A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor [1977]
9. The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux [1975]
10. This House of Brede by Rumer Godden [1969]
Five classic travel narratives in addition to the three already listed above:
11. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard [1922]
12. Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck [1962]
13. A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush by Eric Newby [1958]
14. Original Letters from India by Eliza Fay [1925]
15. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome [1889]
Four books from the 1920’s
16. The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery [1926]
17. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis [1920]
18. Penny Plain by Anna Buchan [1920]
19. So Big by Edna Ferber [1924]
And a final book for no particular reason:
20. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion [1968]
A Good Stopping Point 
I’ve read seven books on your list, a few of them I’ve never even heard of, which makes it very interesting. I loved Travels with Charley.
It is pretty amazing with these classics lists that I’ll look at other bloggers’ lists and see titles and authors I’ve never heard of.
Nice varied list. The Oresteia, now that takes me back! I am fascinated about The Blue Castle, having just finished the last of the Emily and Anne books. I will be interested to see how she writes for adults.
Thanks for stopping by my blog 🙂
I re-read the first of the Anne series last year and really enjoyed it. Strangely, the book I know best by L.M. Montgomery is A Tangled Web, which is a standalone, but still set in P.E.I. unlike The Blue Castle which I think is the only one she wrote that is not set on the island.
Ohhh Patrick Leigh Fermor! I adored his story, at times a little too….. can’t find the word, but you’ll know what I mean, but I loved him and I loved what he did – such an amazing journey at such a time.
We also share So Big on our spin, so if 19 comes around, we’ll be reading together 🙂
happy spin
Now I’m curious to see what you mean about Fermor’s book. I’ve only read a short excerpt of The Broken Road that had been placed in a travel anthology. It gave me a good taste – evocative of a bygone world.
Oh how fun that we share the same book in the same spot on the list! I don’t even remember what So Big is about anymore, just that at some point, I read a review and said, I want to read this.
Christy we got So Big!
It ended up on my list because it’s a Pulitzer Prize winning book and a women writer (for my Classic Women’s Literature challenge).
But I hope you find time to read Fermor at some point soon too – it is extraordinary.
I hope you get The Blue Castle just because it sounds like it must be cheery! If you get that, I’ll get Green Darkness, which satisfies me. 🙂 Good luck!
Go #16! The Blue Castle is one of the books I’m especially hoping for this go-round. I haven’t read anything by Anya Seton, though I think Katherine is somewhere on my extensive to-read list . . .
The Blue Castle has a really cheesy cover, but it’s quite delightful, it would be a fun holiday read. I also loved Travels With Charley, which was my first Steinbeck. Three Men in a Boat isn’t really a travel narrative so much as a series of funny stories linked together while three friends are on a boat trip — imagine Bertie Wooster and two equally idiotic friends, but with a fox terrier instead of Jeeves. It’s really funny though, one of my favorites, and there’s a brilliant audiobook by Naxos narrated by Martin Jarvis who just nails it.
Ha, you caught me! I knew I was stretching it by calling Three Men in a Boat a travel narrative, but needed one more to make five, and was like what the hey, they travel up a river and back. 🙂
I’d be happy with virtually all of the list (though some are a little daunting in size), but The Blue Castle is one of a few that I’m really hoping for.
I just finished reading East of Eden and loved it, so Travels with Charley would be a great Steinbeck follow-up. Thanks for stopping by!
I have read and enjoyed both Ivanhoe and Great Expectations. I have some Dickens on my list which I’d be happy to get. Good luck for Monday – I hope you get something you enjoy 🙂
I pretty much would be happy with any of the picks in this post, which is a good place to be. On the master list, there is only one book I don’t think I’ll like and that is a Hemingway novel, Farewell to Arms. I’m trying to give Hemingway a fair shake since I haven’t read him since high school, but I am not optimistic.
I’m spinning this time, too. Hope you get Framley Parsonage and can continue with the Barsetshire Chronicles. Travels with Charley is also a favorite. Good luck Monday!
I definitely wouldn’t mind Framley Parsonage! And Travels with Charley seems to be the one most-read and praised of my list, which is always a good sign.
Good luck with this! You have some great books on your list, as well as some that I’m not familiar with. Three Men in a Boat is hilarious and I enjoyed Ivanhoe and Framley Parsonage too.
I feel like I can’t go wrong with a Trollope novel, that’s for sure. I’ve been meaning to get around to Ivanhoe and Three Men in a Boat for ages (though I suppose that’s true for a lot of the classics on my list).
Oh, absolutely #1! I love Greek drama …. excitement, power, shock, love, murder ….. it has it all. Otherwise #15 is a wonderful book. Jerome is so funny and to top it off, his descriptions of the English countryside are charming.
Best of luck on your spin!
It’s been a long time since I’ve read Greek drama so I’m a leetle bit nervous about #1 but also would be excited for the challenge. Thanks for stopping by!
I vote for The Blue Castle! I love that book and it is SO underappreciated. And if not that one, I vote for In This House of Brede, which not nearly enough of my blogging friends have read. What a great book. I want to reread it this Christmas.
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