Since signing up for the Classics Club, I haven’t done quite as well as I might have hoped. I’ve read three of my 50 books (Agnes Grey by Charlotte Brontë, Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, and Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell), and only reviewed one of them. A review for Ruth is in the works; however, immediately after reading Metamorphosis, I decided that I will definitely have to read the original German text before I can review it, because I could clearly spot places where the translation was letting it down. Whilst that’s fine, and a good way to practice my rather rusty German, it is taking a while. I’ve even acquired many of the books I want to read (I recently moved flat, and my local Oxfam bookshop is now perilously close; also, I found out about the very generous Foyles loyalty scheme)–I just haven’t picked too many of them up.
In order to rectify that, I’m participating in the Classics Club Spin, which is far better described on their own blog. Below, I have to list 20 books that I have yet to read as part of the challenge. On August 11th, they will announce a number between 1 and 20, and I will then have to read that book by October. Sounds doable, right? Right. Here’s my spin list, as per their category suggestions.
5 books I’m dreading:
1) The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
2) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
3) Ulysses by James Joyce
4) Le Morte D’Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory
5) The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
5 books I can’t wait to read:
6) I, Claudius by Robert Graves
7) Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
8) Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
9) The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
10) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
5 books I’m neutral about:
11) The Professor by Charlotte Brontë
12) Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
13) The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
14) A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
15) The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
5 Penguin English Library editions that I want an excuse to buy*:
16) Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
17) Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
18) A Room with a View by EM Forster
19) Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
20) Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
I anticipate 11th August with excitement and trepidation, and a determination to finish The Great Gatsby before then. Here goes…
*All right, so this wasn’t one of their categories. They did say ‘free choice’, though…
louloureads 
I’ve cheated a little with my spin this time. If #5 comes up I will be off to a flying start. I read the first half of it for spin #5 over the New Year. I put it down for a little break, but haven’t got back to it yet….I’m not quite sure if I want this happen or not
Good luck with the rest of your choices though!
I’ve done something similar with my #1. I read the first few chapters several months ago, and disliked it so much that I gave it to my local charity shop so that I didn’t have to look at it any more–but I will persevere! Hope the spin goes well for you 🙂
Some great books on your list. Slaughterhouse-Five and The Handmaid’s Tale are two of my favourite books. Good luck with the spin, I can’t wait to see what number comes up.
I am really excited about both of them, and I think I will be getting to them soon even if they don’t come up in the spin. Thanks for your comment!
Cool list! Good luck! Hope you get one you want!
Thanks for stopping by. Happy reading!
Love your last category! Gaskell and Forster are among my favorites – good luck:-)
Ha, what good is the Classics Club if it doesn’t shamelessly enable my book-buying habit? 😉 Thanks for stopping by!
I’m reading Le Morte d’Arthur now and it’s not an easy read. I understand your dread with all that you’ve listed. 🙂 I’ve always wanted to read I,Claudius, and I really liked Daniel Deronda but it’s not a short book.
Have a great spin!
I, Claudius has been on my TBR since I was 17, but I had been completely unable to find a copy that didn’t have gratuitously naked women on it (Penguin Modern Classics, I’m looking at you). When I finally found the old Penguin orange paperback, which has no naked people on it at all, I was more excited than I can say. I know almost nothing about Daniel Deronda except for that it’s by George Eliot, who wrote Middlemarch and therefore occupies a very high place in my esteem.
Enjoy Le Morte d’Arthur (I admire your perseverance), and have a good spin 🙂