If you joined the game last week, find number 1 on your CC Spin #19 List! That’s the CHUNKSTER you are challenged to read by 31st January, 2019.
We know it can be hard to stay on track and enthused about your Spin Book for the whole journey. We plan to provide support and encouragement to all our CC Spinners via twitter, fb, instagram and goodreads. We hope you can join us in cheering everyone on to finish another fabulous classics reading experience!
If you’re struggling with your book, let us know. We’ll do everything we can to help you through. Perhaps one of your new moderators has read it, or we can link you up with another Classics Clubber who has.
As always, the prize is the reading experience.
What’s Next?
Tell us below what your number 1 title is:
- Are you feeling thrilled, hesitant or ‘meh’ about your title?
- Check out our ‘Reviews By Members’ page for other Classic Clubbers who may have read your book recently. They may be able to help you if you hit a speedhump in your reading.
- Cheer on your fellow Clubbers.
- Take a pic of your book and pop it on Instagram or twitter.
- If you can — it would be fabulous if everyone posted about their Spin book by the 31st January, 2019.
- Then check back here to share your experience and add your review to our ‘Reviews By Members’ page.
Hashtag: #ccspin #ccwhatimreading
Believe it or not, but I have finished my book. Well, it is a thin one, Washington Square by Henry James. My review is here: https://thecontentreader.blogspot.com/2018/12/washington-square-by-henry-james.html
As I did not adapt my list to chunkster books, I will also read Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset, which I failed to finish last time. I have only read a few pages.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and a good Reading year to all of you.
LikeLike
I got The Earth by Emile Zola and I’m happy about that, especially as at the moment the 31st of January seems very far away.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Looks like I’ll be reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Really hoping to finish Rebecca first. I know it’s not long, but it is just dragging for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Rebecca dragged a bit for me, too, at times. It wasn’t the thriller I expected it to be. In the end, though, I was happy to finally have it read. Hope you can hang in there!
LikeLike
Me three. I preferred My Cousin Rachel.
LikeLike
I just read Rebecca last month. I hope you feel better about it by the end!
LikeLike
I didn’t get a long one, but going there with fear and trembling anyway, as I explain in my post: https://wordsandpeace.com/2018/11/29/the-classics-club-what-i-got-for-the-classics-spin-19/
I got A Moveable Feast by Hemingway
LikeLike
The Prince and the Pauper for me. So I’m also adding number 2, The Woman In White just to get my page count up.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Great idea! Love your dedication 🙂
LikeLike
To be honest, I think no matter which number I’d have got, I’d have looked forward to the book. In my #1 spot was The Tenant of Wildfell by Anne Bronte. Looking forward to it!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, that’s a favorite of mine! Enjoy. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s encouraging…thanks!😁
LikeLike
And mine too.
LikeLike
YAY! Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin!! And I’ll make this one work for the PopSugar 2019 (2-word title? or meant to read in 2018?) and ATY 2019 (book featuring a historical figure? book owned for at least 1 year but not yet read?) challenges!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So I failed to make a list and thus am not *really* participating in the spin, but I just picked up War & Peace as my next Classics Club read, so I’m with you in spirit as it’s quite a tome!
LikeLiked by 4 people
That works for me – good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lady Chatterley’s Lover for me. I’ve never read Lawrence so it should be interesting!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I seem to recall that there are 2 or 3 different versions/drafts of LCL – I wonder if any of our Clubbers have ever read all of them?
LikeLike
i ended up with a moderately sized novel – Oliver Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield which is the oldest book left on my list of 50…… https://bookertalk.com/2018/11/28/classic-club-spin-a-vicars-tale-awaits-me/
LikeLiked by 2 people
I read this one years ago back in school quite by accident…I recall liking it very much though I don’t remember details.
LikeLike
sometimes it’s hard to recall the details of a book unless it was truely a standout read
LikeLiked by 1 person
Noooo! Chekhov’s Major Plays… the only book on my list I didn’t want! Feeling intimidated.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ve watched a few Checkov plays over the years, but have never tried to read any – good luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I must have been trying to impress someone when I put this on my list! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll be spending quality time – lots of it – with Anthony Trollpe’s “Can You Forgive Her?” It’s listed at 848 pages, but has 38 of intro and 18 notes, so that’s “only’ 792 pages to go. Put that tea kettle on!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I was hoping for a Trollope but it was not to be…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
I only put one book on my list I didn’t really fancy and of course it came up. So I’m afraid I’m opting out. Hope others had more luck!
LikeLiked by 4 people
So, um. . . My number 1 is Chinua Achabe’s Things Fall Apart. Not the one I was rooting for. I was hoping for my #2 – The House of the Spirits or #3 – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings or #13 – One Hundred Years of Solitude.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Allrighty…I was about to protest, claiming something like the original rules didn’t say EVERY book on our spin list had to be a tome. That’s how I played it, had some thick ones on there and some not so much…leaving it to the luck of the spin. Buuut, I was wrong. You did say to “fill it” with chunksters…and I didn’t. So now I have guilt, cuz #1 which I was hoping for is a rather short novel, maybe even a novella; I haven’t counted the words yet. So what to do? I’m just gonna claim the Captain Barbosa rule and assert that the spin code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules. I’m gonna stick with my #1, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket the only complete novel by Edgar Allan Poe.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I got a classic author bio at #1 – John Matteson’s award winning book about Louisa May Alcott and her father, Eden’s Outcasts. It was a bit of a cheat as I half read it a couple of years ago, but the small font and her selfish father were doing my head in, so I put it aside.
Now I will have to finish…perhaps a quick reread of Little Women will sweeten the deal.
http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com/2018/11/cc-spin-19.html
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yay, I will be re-reading the wonderful Emma by Jane Austen 🙂
LikeLiked by 8 people
Lucky you! Will you watch a movie or TV version as well to supplement your reading?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brona, that sounds like a great idea! I did love the BBC’s 2009 TV series starring Romola Garai, so would be nice to re-watch that too.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I got Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens – one of the longest books on my list!
LikeLiked by 5 people
Just as well you have 10 weeks to read it 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
But it’s a great read. The beginning might be a bit slow but it certainly cranks up later
LikeLike
I had half chunksters and half not on my list. My number 1 was Go Tell it On the Mountain by James Baldwin. I’m so happy with that! It’s not exactly a chunkster, but I’m fine with that. 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
I loved Go Tell it On the Mountain. I have to say it is by far my favorite work of his. Happy reading!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I got Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. I’m definitely looking forward to it.
I put the shortest book on my chunkster list at number #1 and the longest at #20. But I thought about doing it the other way round. Whew!
LikeLiked by 4 people
Oh I love that book! It’s stunning.
LikeLike
My spin title is The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu and it was the book I was least looking forward to, simply because it’s 1,360 pages long. I’m so glad we have until the 31st of January to finish this spin read!
LikeLiked by 7 people
Good luck I have this waiting in the wings for my cc list 3….
LikeLike
I thought about adding this, but chickened out. Happy reading!
LikeLike
I’ve got Barbara Pym’s “The Sweet Dove Died” and I know it is rather dark and has more than a dash of bitters……
I always enjoy time with Barbara Pym, however.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Aaagh! Waily waily! I put Crime and Punishment at #1! What a jolly Christmas read, hm? I kind of wanted one of the huge folktale collections. OK, I can do this….
I tend to put titles I don’t want to read at #1, on the entirely unmathematical theory that 1 is somehow less likely to be chosen. I’m pretty sure this exact thing has happened to me in the Spin before.
LikeLiked by 7 people
Don’t worry, it is a great book, although not exactly a Christmas story.
LikeLike
Yes, this is the third time that #1 has been spun, and yes, I use an online random number selector!
Good luck.
LikeLiked by 2 people
See, and every freaking time I think “well they’ve already gotten 1 so *that* won’t happen again” because I am a doofus. I know what ‘random’ means, I swear!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I never expect 1 to get picked either. I know it’s not logical, but still.
LikeLike
Feeling partly relieved and partly slightly guilty that number 1 on my list was one of the shortest https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.com/2018/11/20/the-classics-club-spin-19/
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’m so excited to read Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche! This spin choice was serendipitous for me! You can read about why I use that word here: https://afondnessforreading.com/2018/11/27/currently-reading-my-spin-book/
LikeLiked by 3 people
My book is Greenmantle by John Buchan – delighted as it’s been on my TBR list for a few years and it will fit in nicely with my reading about WWI.
LikeLiked by 7 people
Hope you enjoy it – terrific fun. If you haven’t read it already his Mr. Standfast is also set in WW1…one of my favourites.
LikeLike
I JUST read Greenmantle! It was kind of fun, but also a lot like living in Captain Hastings’ head. I read it for WWI too 🙂
LikeLike
My spin title is one that’s been on my shelf for a while, Sula by Toni Morrison. I will probably read another one from my spin list by Morrison too!
LikeLiked by 5 people
I’ve got Toni Morrison as well! But mine is Song of Solomon. Enjoy!
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ve seen that one at my library but told myself to read the ones I have first. You’ll have to let me know what you think about it when you finish. I’ll look for your review
LikeLike
I’ll be reading IVANHOE by Walter Scott and finishing up Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon.
LikeLiked by 6 people
I got To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf!
LikeLiked by 8 people
I loved this book. Hope you will like it too.
LikeLike
So far, so good!
LikeLike
I’m super excited to dive into Emily Wilson’s new translation of The Odyssey! I was trying to do a slow read with it but that wasn’t working out very well.
LikeLiked by 9 people
I loved that translation, but I just gobbled it up like candy. Enjoy!
LikeLike
I loved the Odyssey and have heard good things about Wilson translation. Enjoy!
LikeLike
After Fiction Fan talked about Dickens at Christmas I was starting to hope for A Tale of Two Cities, but no it’s The Mysteries of Udolpho for me!
LikeLiked by 7 people
I really want to read Udolpho before I read Northanger Abbey. A friend told me it would be a good idea since it’s Austens satire of the Gothic genre?
LikeLiked by 2 people
Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto is the granddaddy of the Gothick genre, worth reading to see where it all started and also not as long as Udolpho I believe!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. I’ll look it up!
LikeLike
Oh, Otranto is WAY shorter than Udolpho. With bonus of giant pieces of armor falling out of the sky! Mind you, Udolpho has its own joys…:)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Maybe I should read both (although I have neither book)
LikeLike
That’s exactly my thinking too!
LikeLiked by 1 person
My commiserations. I could not abide this book, and gave up on it half way through. The promised gothic element was a bit under-stated
LikeLiked by 1 person
Mine isn’t really a classic but it’s part of classical ed and a chunkster! Susan Wise Bauer’s A History of the Ancient World. I’m up for it!
LikeLike
I shall be reading Anna Karenina. Oh my. How many pages is that? A thousand or thereabouts?
LikeLiked by 10 people
Crikey! Good Luck!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my! You can do it! It took me 2 months f read War and Peace which is probably one reason I haven’t picked up AK. I read it with some buddies and that was really what kept me going
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s long but it is such a great story. (And easier than War & Peace.) Hope you like it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
but it’s so good!
LikeLike
OK #1 it is.
But while I was waiting, I read the next classic on my list (Chattering Courtesans, by Lucian)
So everything gets bumped up by one space, so my new #1 is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.
LikeLiked by 8 people
My spin book is Cassandra at the Wedding, by Dorothy Dodds Baker. I am so happy! 🙂
LikeLiked by 8 people
Number 1! Imagine. It is Washington Square by Henry James. No chunkster, but I might add Kristin Lavransdottir which I failed to read last time. My post: https://thecontentreader.blogspot.com/2018/11/my-lucky-spin-number-is.html
LikeLike
And my spin title is Shirley by Charlotte Brontë! I’m conflicted about this as my heart is both sinking at the thought of tackling such serious matter over the Christmas period but also excited to be sampling another Brontë title! I shall, of course, be letting you know how I’m getting on. Thanks for setting up this particular spin!
LikeLiked by 8 people
I have been struggling with Shirley for a long time. I am now down to one chapter a day, just to be able to finish it. I have read everything else by the Brontës, so feel I want to read this one as well, although totally uninteresting. Sorry, I don’t want to encourage you. I do know people who enjoy it! Hope you will as well.
LikeLike
Not discouraged at all, Lisbeth, I knew it wasn’t supposed to be an easy read, but I’m vaguely interested in this historical period so am keen to slot in the narrative with what I remember from my history! 🙂
LikeLike