If you are hosting anything for The Classics Club community in the coming weeks, please give a shout out below with the name of the event, the dates, a link (either to the event, or your blog), and any special rules. (Like, you must check in weekly or don’t take part — that sort of thing.)

If you’re on Twitter, please tweet your event to -

• @ourclassicsclub
• hashtag: #cceventsched

Please note:  This post is not intended as a replacement for the group schedule. This is just a way to keep people apprised of the events each month, so we get a little reminder. For this month, please tell us about any events you have planned for June and July.

If you want to submit something for the community schedule: This post does not count as a submission. This post is a way to communicate with your fellow clubbers. To submit an event to the moderators, please continue to go through the email process, and bear in mind your moderators retain the right to post events on the schedule at their discretion, as and if time permits. (For we are all crazy busy!)

Have ideas for future events but prefer someone else host them? Please share them in the comments! Maybe someone will take up the torch!

Also, remember we host The Classics Spin and our Sync Reads here at the club blog. We’d love for you to join in.

Good reading -

- The Club

“Reading (portrait of Edma Morisot).” Berthe Morisot, 1873.

Here’s a space to tell the club what you’re currently reading. You’re welcome to use the comments below.

We’re not including a Linky box because we want to encourage clubbers to meet here now and then, and talk together as a group.

No pressure, of course! But if you’re feeling social, here’s a space to tell us about your latest classic. As always, you are of course welcome to leave a link to your blog if you prefer to share there.

Twitter hashtag: #ccreadingupdate

- The Club

Click for details about the Spin.

We promised you a spin number this morning, and here it is! Your Spin Number is -

6.

If you joined the game last week, find number 6 on your Spin List! That’s the title you are challenged to read by July 1, 2013. We’ll toss a post up on July 1 to see who completed the game.

As always, the prize is the reading experience. Details here.

In case anyone asks — it would be awesome if everyone posted about their Spin book on July 1. But that’s not mandatory or anything. If you want to, though, have at it!

Check in below if you played. What’s your #6 title? Are you glad, hesitant, excited about your title? Do tell!

Twitter hashtag: #ccspin

- the Club

– spin posts so far -

Good morning, Clubbers!

It’s time for another Classics Spin for any who are interested. What is the spin?

It’s easy. At your blog, by next Monday, May 20, list your choice of any twenty books you’ve left to read from your Classics Club list – in a separate post.

This is your Spin List. You have to read one of these twenty books in May & June. (Details follow.) So, try to challenge yourself. 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.)

Next Monday, we’ll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List, by July 1. We’ll have a check in post for July, to see who made it the whole way and finished the spin book.

Do you have that?

• Go to your blog.
• Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club List.
• Try to challenge yourself: list five 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.)
• Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog by next Monday.
• Monday morning, we’ll announce a number from 1-20. Go to the list of twenty books you posted, and select the book that corresponds to the number we announce.
• The challenge is to read that book by July 1, even if it’s an icky one you dread reading! (No fair not listing any scary ones!)

Ha ha! All for fun, and of course, the “rules” are, as always, very relaxed. Really, you can make up your own rules. We don’t actually care.

So, today (any time this week) at your blog, you might post something like:

My Book Spin list for the Classics Club  -

1. Jane Eyre
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. Crime and Punishment
4. Oliver Twist
5. CLARISSA (yikes!)
6. Gone With the Wind
7. Ulysses (Ugh!)
8. Emerson’s Collected Essays
9. Richard III
10. The Iliad
11. Jude the Obscure
12. Leaves of Grass
13. The Monk
14. Dracula
15. The Importance of Being Earnest
16. Sense & Sensibility
17. The Tempest
18. The Diary of Anne Frank
19. Paradise Lost
20. Pilgrim’s Progress

(Obviously, YOU choose what books you want to list, in what order.)

Next Monday, we will announce a number from 1 through 20. When we announce it, go to your Spin list. Find that number, and read the book listed for that number by July 1.

So, if (for example) we announce #9 – if the above list was your Spin List, you’d have to read Richard III by July 1.

Make sense? Don’t get bogged down by rules and details! Free free to rebelliously break the rules at your leisure.

As always, the prize is the reading experience.

When we announce the number next Monday, come tell us your title — ha!

Anybody in? If so, you can link to your spin lists below. Happy week!

Twitter hashtag: #ccspin

- the Club

Sync #1 – The Classics Club

April 10 through May 30 – Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

– # –

All right, clubbers! It’s the halfway point for our first sync read, which is designed to be stress-free and place the focus on reading together, rather than completing assignments. (Unless that’s your thing.)

Are you reading? Weigh in below — chat, leave a link to your post if you wrote something, read quietly if you prefer to keep to yourself but love knowing you’re reading with others, even silently. Weigh in here and say nothing at your blog. Whatever suits your personality.

There is no Mr. Linky below because the point in this feature is to talk together in a central place, and list our blogs if it comes up. (Which is of course welcome.)

Tell us how your reading is going! If you know some background on Hurston you want to share, if you have read the novel before and are redipping with the group, if you feel sentimental about the read for any reason (maybe the book was a family member’s favorite), if you read it in college and want to try it again on your own, if you’ve never read it and don’t know what it’s about but it’s on your list so you’re reading it. If you like it, if you don’t like it, if you forgot to begin the book. Etc.

We’ll toss up our final post on May 30 for the finish. Subscribe to the comments below to follow the discussion.

(No spoilers beyond the halfway point in the book please!) – And it’s no pressure here! Feel free to weigh in in a week or nine months, if you like.

- The Club

(2013 Sync Schedule) / Twitter hashtag: #ccsyncread (so we can group chat!)

Here’s the question this month:

see future questions for this meme

Tell us about the classic book(s) you’re reading this month. You can post about what you’re looking forward to reading in May, or post thoughts-in-progress on your current read(s).

Feel free to answer over at your blog any time in May, and leave the link to your post in the Mister Linky widget below.

(Answers can be as thorough or brief as you like, but let’s share and connect, eh?)

Remember to check out this page for details! And then check out one another’s posts!

Twitter hashtag: #ccmeme

“Reading” – Auguste Renoir (1890-1895)

If you are hosting anything for The Classics Club community in the coming weeks, please give a shout out below with the name of the event, the dates, a link (either to the event, or your blog), and any special rules. (Like, you must check in weekly or don’t take part — that sort of thing.)

If you’re on Twitter, please tweet your event to -

• @ourclassicsclub
• hashtag: #cceventsched

Please note:  This post is not intended as a replacement for the group schedule. This is just a way to keep people apprised of the events each month, so we get a little reminder. For this month, please tell us about any events you have planned for May and June.

If you want to submit something for the community schedule: This post does not count as a submission. This post is a way to communicate with your fellow clubbers. To submit an event to the moderators, please continue to go through the email process, and bear in mind your moderators retain the right to post events on the schedule at their discretion, as and if time permits. (For we are all crazy busy!)

Have ideas for future events but prefer someone else host them? Please share them in the comments! Maybe someone will take up the torch!

Also, remember we host The Classics Spin and our Sync Reads here at the club blog. We’d love for you to join in.

Good reading -

- The Club

What is this? Click to find out.

Hi Clubbers! How’s the reading going? Check in with the group below!

Tell us about your project — or you! Introduce yourself. Chat.

Tell us what you’ve read, how you’re feeling about your progress, how much you love the classics or the community — any struggles, a favorite read so far. Really, whatever you feel like sharing!

Some people prefer writing an update at their own blog and linking it here in the comments. That’s fine, too.

Feel free to respond to one another in the comments below — ask questions, visit each other, tell us you are new to the club, planning to join the club — etc. This is a meet and greet.

If you’re having trouble with your list and need encouragement, say that! That’s understandable. We want new classics readers to join us, so there’s nothing wrong with arriving to this thread with all of the newness showing!  

(Please also note the “check-in” feature here is entirely voluntarily, intended for those who like weighing in with others in the group, and having a periodic place to reflect upon goals for the club. For some this feature would feel like an unwanted intrusion. Silent participation in this group is of course welcome!)

Thanks for all of your enthusiasm about this project!

New? Introduce yourself to the group on Twitter using hashtag #ccintroductions @ourclassicsclub. You can also introduce yourself here at the blog.

Twitter hashtag for reading check-ins: #ccreadingupdate

Note that if you’re on Twitter, you can also tweet your latest classic book reviews to the group using hashtag #ccbookreviews.

Sync #1 – The Classics Club

April 10 through May 30  – Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

– # –

All right, clubbers! Today is Day One of our first sync read, which is designed to be stress-free and place the focus on reading together, rather than completing assignments. (Unless that’s your thing.)

It’s also cleverly designed to keep your moderators from tearing out their hair doing research. So it’s about you, and the book. And you.

Are you reading? Weigh in below — chat, leave a link to your post if you wrote something, read quietly if you prefer to keep to yourself but love knowing you’re reading with others, even silently. Weigh in here and say nothing at your blog. Whatever suits your personality.

There is no Mr. Linky below because the point in this feature is to talk together in a central place, and list our blogs if it comes up. (Which is of course welcome.)

Tell us if you’re excited, if you know some background on Hurston you want to share, if you have read the novel before and plan to redip with the group, if you feel sentimental about the read for any reason (maybe the book was a family member’s favorite), if you read it in college and want to try it again on your own, if you’ve never read it and don’t know what it’s about but it’s on your list so you’re reading it. Etc.

We’ll toss up another post on May 7 to see how the read is going, and one more on May 30 for the finish. Subscribe to the comments below to follow the discussion.

(No spoilers please!) – And it’s no pressure here! Feel free to weigh in in a week or nine months, if you like.

- The Club

(2013 Sync Schedule) / Twitter hashtag: #ccsyncread (so we can group chat!)

Here’s the question this month, contributed by Payton from All Things Bright and Beautiful –who joined the club in March of 2012. Just a month after joining, Payton asked our comparatively small club (of about twenty-five members) a great question -

see future questions for this meme

“Who is hands-down the best literary hero, in your opinion? Likewise, who is the best heroine?”

This question was posed to the group at our founder’s blog back in April 2012, where the  club was originally hosted. Since we liked the question so much, we thought we’d revive it. Thanks, Payton!

Feel free to answer over at your blog any time in April, and leave the link to your post in the Mister Linky widget below.

(Answers can be as thorough or brief as you like, but let’s share and connect, eh?)

Remember to check out this page for details! And then check out one another’s posts!

Twitter hashtag: #ccmeme

“Reading” – Auguste Renoir (1890-1895)