The luck of the draw…
The Classics Club is holding its 20th Spin, and my 7th. The idea is to list 20 of the books on your Classics Club list before next Monday, 22nd April. On that day, the Classics Club will post the winning number. The challenge is to read and review whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List, by 31st May, 2019.
Because I have a little batch of chunky classics for review from the lovely people at OWC which I must read over the next couple of months, I won’t be able to meet that deadline. But I’ve decided to join in anyway, with a view to reading my spin winner in July. At the moment my July schedule is empty-ish, so I’ve included lots of the longer books on my list this time. Now it’s all up to the luck of the draw…
* * * * *
1) The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper
2) Tender is the Night by F Scott Fitzgerald
3) For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
4) All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
5) The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw
6) Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
7) Sons and Lovers by DH Lawrence
8) Nada the Lily by H Rider Haggard
9) The African Queen by CS Forester
10) Cluny Brown by Margery Sharp
11) The House with the Green Shutters by George Douglas Brown
12) The New Road by Neil Munro
13) Cloud Howe by Lewis Grassic Gibbon
14) The Bull Calves by Naomi Mitchison
15) The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett
16) The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allinghaml
17) The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carré
18) Earth Abides by George R Stewart
19) On the Beach by Neville Shute
20) Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein
* * * * * * *
Lets go with #15. Dunnett is one of my wife’s
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Fave authors
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I’m kinda ashamed that I’ve never read any Dunnett so I’d be delighted if it comes up.
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Such a varied list! I have Cluny Brown on my tbr list which means I must have read a blog extolling it’s virtues although, sadly, I can’t remember whose it was.
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There was a little spate of people reviewing Cluny Brown a couple of years ago which is when I added it too. Heavenali, I think, and maybe Lady Fancifull – I’ll blame them anyway… 😉
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Tender is the Night because it’s a book that should be on my Classics Club list – and because it’s no.2 on your list it would mean I’d read Little Dorrit which is no.2 on my list. Or maybe The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, which I really liked and then I could read my no. 17 which is Oliver Twist.
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Well, I’d be happy with either of those and it always makes me happy to see anyone reading Dickens, so those seem like excellent choices! Admittedly Tender is the Night is very loooooong, but then so’s Little Dorrit, so that seems fair… 😉
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Parochial Scotsman that I am if it was me I’d be desperate for Cloud Howe to be the chosen number! It’s a great book though only if you’ve read Sunset Song first I think!
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How interesting, I just ordered the trilogy ‘ Scotts Quair’ yesterday after reading that Sunset Song was Nicola Sturgeon’s favourite book. I also bought it because a Scot’s friend had pushed ‘Cross Stitch’ on to me, which was much too long and repetitive for me (though I persevered), so this is going to be my return favour and I’m hoping it’s got more literary merit than the latter.
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Is Cross Stitch part of the Outlander series? If so, then I must say the Scots Quair is in an entirely different league. Its a true literary classic. The first volume, Sunset Song, would appear in almost any list of greatest Scottish novels, I think. I think you’re in for a real treat with it. I re-read Sunset Song a couple of years ago and was reminded just how great it is! Enjoy!
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Yes, Cross Stitch us the first in the Outlander series, happy to hear I’m going to be in for a treat!
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I hope it delivers. I’m with Nicola – my favourite Scottish book by a mile – all three books are great and together they’re wonderful!
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I re-read (and re-loved) Sunset Song a couple of years ago, so would love for Cloud Howe to come up and force me to read it before I’ve forgotten Sunset Song completely! I feel I read the whole trilogy back in my teens, but I really don’t remember either Cloud Howe or Grey Granite so maybe I didn’t. Or maybe it will all come back to me…
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Mansfield Park. Or The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. But preferably, whichever one on the list that is the longest. 😉
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Hahaha! I’d love either of those, but if you really want to be mean, you should be hoping The Young Lions comes up – 815 pages about WW2 from the Nazi perspective!!! (What was I thinking???)
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The Tiger in the Smoke because it would be on my list if it wasn’t number 14 in the series 😉
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Hahaha! I’m such a series-jumper! It would only be the second Campion for me, but they say it’s the best… 😉
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Hope you enjoy 😀
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This is a great list. You’ll get a win no matter what is spun.
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I’ve tried hard not to include any that I hate the idea of this time, after opting out last time in disgruntlement… 😉
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Good idea. Life is too short for disgruntling books. Who was the heroine who said they prefer to be ‘gruntled’ in their choices? Someone… I forget who.
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Oops, missed this comment – sorry! I don’t remember a heroine saying that, but PG Wodehouse said something along the lines of “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” 😀
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It was probably PG Wodehouse. I’m keen to use ‘gruntled’ aloud in a conversation. If I make pancakes for breakfast, it might be possible 🙂
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Hahaha! If you send me some pancakes, I’ll be gruntled too – might even be combobulated…
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Hang on a tic while I check the dictionary!
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😂
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You have some great titles here, FictionFan! I think you’ll be glad you read any of them that come up. I hope you get The Spy Who…, because it’s such a fine piece of writing (well, I think it is) or the Allingham – also excellent. I’ll be interested to know which one comes up!
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I’d love to get either The Spy Who or the Allingham, but I’m beginning to run out of all the shorter ones on my list leaving all the massive ones behind, so it might be good if one of those came up! I reckon I’ll read the Le Carré soon either way though, just because I want to… what a daredevil I can be! 😉
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Definitely Tiger in the Smoke for me.
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I think it’s the shortest one, so I could live with that! Though I need to read all the massive ones at some point, so maybe I should hope for one of them… 😱
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The Spy Who Came in from the Cold or Mansfield Park or For Whom The Bell Tolls !!!
Fab post of some amazing books1
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Three great choices – I’d love for any of those to come up! Mansfield Park would be a long overdue re-read of a book I love, but the other two would be new reads for me. Fingers crossed! 😀
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Tiger, Spy or Mansfield! I’ve read Mansfield, so I’ll be interested in your review on that or the others.
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Tiger in the Smoke seems to be getting most votes, and Spy’s doing well too! I’d love to read any of these three – Mansfield Park would be a long overdue re-read, but the other two would be new to me. As usual, I haven’t seen the film of Mansfield Park, but I seem to remember not being tempted by the various clips and reviews when it came out…
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BTW: I wasn’t a huge fan of the film adaptation of Mansfield Park. Just throwing that out there. 😀
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I love The Game of Kings and I enjoyed Cluny Brown too and Mansfield Park, although it’s not my favourite Austen novel. There are some books on your list that I know nothing about though, and I would like you to get one of those so I can find out more about them. 🙂
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Haha – those will be the Scottish classics – even I haven’t heard of some of them! 😉 I’d love to get The Game of Kings – I really want to read it, so a push from the Classics Club gods would be nice. I’m not so sure Cluny Brown will work for me, but we’ll see. And I’m one of the minority who loves Mansfield Park – one of my favourite Austens and long overdue for a re-read!
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I’ll probably be your only commenter pulling for #20! My husband absolutely loves the film version and was disappointed when he read the book. I’m not a big fan of the film, so it’s kept me from wanting to read the book. Maybe you could sway me one way or another with your review.
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Well, I’m glad to see a vote for one of the sci-fi books – hardly any of my blog buddies read sci-fi! I haven’t read much Heinlein but have liked what I have read, so fingers crossed. I can’t remember if I’ve seen the film (and don’t want to remind myself of the plot in case the book comes up in the spin), but for some reason I keep confusing it in my mind with Galaxy Quest… 😂
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FF, I wasn’t a huge fan of Tender is the Night … To be fair though, I wasn’t a huge fan of any of Fitzgerald’s novels lol! Although I appreciated them as beautifully written, important works of literature and social commentary. On the other hand, I did enjoy Mansfield Park. Fanny is not my favourite Austen heroine, but it was still a lovely read.
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I read Tender is the Night just after I first read Gatsby as a young thing. Gatsby blew me away, but I seem to remember not loving Tender in the same way. The fact that I’ve never re-read it almost speaks for itself! I’m intrigued enough to find out what my adult self thinks of it, but I don’t have overly high expectations of it, in truth. I love Mansfield Park though – it’s actually one of my favourite Austens and long overdue for a re-read… 😀
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I’ve only read 2 of your list, Tender is the Night and Mansfield Park. Liked the Fitzgerald, loved the Austen. I’d like to see you read the LeCarre (#17) because I’m curious about it.
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Ha! I’ve read those two before and that almost exactly sums up my reaction to them too! But it’s decades since I read Tender is the Night, so I’m intrigued enough to find out if I appreciate it more now than I did when I was a young’un. Or less, of course! I’d love the Le Carré to come up – I really want to get to that one soon… 😀
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Cloud Howe – no. 13. Unlucky for some but for me that would give me Memories of a Fox-Hunting Man which – having at one time been rather scared to tackle it – I’m now looking forward to 🙂
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I’d love for Cloud Howe to come up, since it’s now a couple of years since I read the first in the trilogy, Sunset Song, and with my memory I really need to read the other two volumes soonish! I read Fox-Hunting Man way back in my teens and… well, being totally honest, remember nothing about it whatsoever, not even whether I enjoyed it or not! Hope that helps! 😉
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Number 11 because I love green shutters and I don’t know anything about this book!
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Haha – great reason! I know nothing about it myself except that it regularly appears on lists of “Great Scottish Novels”. But I’ve been enjoying the Scottish novels on my list, so I’ll be quite happy if it comes up… 😀
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You could always ‘cheat’ by adding the OWC titles to your spin (I wont tell!)
But as a good Aussie I wish you On the Beach this spin so you can spend some time in Melbourne…before the world ends!
Happy spinning!
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Haha – I thought about doing that but realised I could end up with Middlemarch PLUS some other 800-page tome!! 😉 I’d really like to read On the Beach, so good choice! Hopefully the world will stagger on till I get through my whole list… 😉
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I’m going to vote for Tender is the Night but so many sounds perfect! Yay!
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I’d be quite happy for Tender is the Night to come up, so good choice! But I’m looking forward to (nearly) all of these… 😀
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I’d say Cluny Brown only because it’s linger on my kindle unread. I’m not sure I’ll do a spin list this time around since I’ve already committed to a chunky read from my list for May and June (in my recent post).
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At least Cluny Brown is one of the shorter ones on my list, so I’ll be quite happy if it comes up. Yes, that was my problem too – I’ve committed to reading Middlemarch and a couple of other fairly substantial classics over May/June so simply couldn’t fit another one in. Maybe you could do the same as me, and delay reading the selected book till July?
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If you saw my last post won’t be able to do that, delay the longer read. 😉
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I had to give up on The Tiger in the Smoke – I got halfway and just lost the plot completely. You do have some others though that are much better.
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Oops, missed this comment – sorry! Hmm… I must admit I’ve never been an Allingham fan so it won’t surprise me if I have the same reaction to The Tiger in the Smoke, but several people have recommended it to me as one of her best. However, my spin came up as On the Beach, so The Tiger can return to the TBR for the moment… 🙂
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On the Beach I remember enjoying very much. In fact I bought it again last year in a charity shop…..
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Oh, that’s good to know! Certainly everyone who’s read it seems to be recommending it, so I’m looking forward to it even more now… 😀
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there’s another by him that I thought chilling – Airframe.Just don’t read it before a flight….
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I haven’t heard of that one – I shall investigate! Nothing could make me more scared of flying anyway… 😀
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I’m a Mansfield Park fan, so I’d vote for that except I’d actually really like to read The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – I don’t know why I don’t ever think to order it from the library! Realistically, I probably won’t get my spin title read before the end of May either, but it’s always so much fun to participate anyways. I hope you get one you love!
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Well, it turned out well for me with Nevil Shute’s On the Beach, but I still want to fit The Spy Who Came in from the Cold in soon. I’m a Mansfield Park fan too, and think it’s probably her most underrated book – I’m looking forward to re-reading it whenever I get time. I love the spins too, even though I think this is the first time they’ve picked a book that I’ve felt enthusiastic about! Hope we both enjoy our selections… 😀
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OMG I haven’t read A SINGLE ONE OF THESE BOOKS!!! So any book that wins will still be educational for me-silver lining!
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Hahaha! Well, you’ll be being educated about On the Beach this time – hurrah! The first time the spin has spun me one I actually want to read for ages!!
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Oh that’s nice!
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