This is an extra special, super-dooper CHUNKSTER edition of the Classics Club Spin. We challenge you to fill this spin list with 20 of those HUGE books you’ve been putting off reading because you didn’t have enough time. With this spin we are giving you the time – nearly 10 weeks in fact – to tackle one of those imposing tomes on your classics shelf.
- Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson shared Louisa May Alcott read with Michelle @True Book Addict
- 1788 by Watkin Tench
- A Dance to the Music of Time: Spring by Anthony Powell shared with Christina @Book Tapestry
- Basil by Wilkie Collins shared with @Booker Talk
- Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee shared with O @Quaint & Curious Volumes
- Night and Day by Virginia Woolf
- Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens shared with Jessica @The Bookworm Chronicles
- Alexander’s Bridge by Willa Cather
- The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki
- Petersburg by Andrei Bely
- Coonaroo by Katharine Susannah Prichard
- Letters on Life by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Lives of the Caesars by Suetonius
- Red Sky at Sunrise by Laurie Lee
- The Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin shared with Emma @Words and Peace
- Hiroshima by John Hersey shared with Anne @My Head is Full of Books
- Elizabeth Gaskell by Jenny Uglow
- Moby Dick by Herman Melville shared with Deb @Readerbuzz
- The Belly of Paris by Emile Zola
- Edith Wharton by Hermione Lee
CC Spin #1 (2013 #14) The Magnificent Ambersons with Cat @Tell Me A Story.
CC Spin #2 (2013 #6) Tess of the D’Urbervilles with JoAnn @Lakeside Musings & Several Four Many.
CC Spin #3 (2013 #4) My Cousin Rachel – hope to watch the movie soon.
CC Spin #4 (2014 #10) The Brothers Karamazov – I was flounderng about halfway through this chunkster, when I lost it during a move…serendipity, I say!
CC Spin #5 (2014 #20) The Odyssey with Plethora of Books – This one was a bit of a cheat as I had started it for another readalong, but was struggling to finish it. I added it to my cc list to motivate me. When no. 20 spun up it seemed like the gods had decreed it so!
CC Spin #6 (2014 #1) No Name by Wilkie Collins with Melbourne on My Mind.
CC Spin #7 (2014 #17) Silent Spring by Rachel Carson with Karen @Booker Talk – my first classic non-fiction spin.
CC Spin #8 (2015 #13) Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh – my one and only dud Spin read so far. Satire is not my thing.
CC Spin #9 (2015 #2) The Great World by David Malouf – my first Australian classic spin.
CC Spin #10 (2015 #5) A Far Cry From Kensington by Muriel Spark.
CC Spin #11 (2016 #19) So Big by Edna Ferber with Christy – we both experienced the joy of rediscovering a forgotten award winning classic.
CC Spin #12 (2016 #8) Dubliners by James Joyce – too depressing and hopeless for my state of mind at the time.
CC Spin #13 (2016 #15) The Catherine Wheel by Catherine Harrower – my second Aussie #ccspin classic.
CC Spin #14 (2016 #1) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnet
CC Spin #15 (2017 #12) Out of Africa by Karen Blixen – a disappointment in the end. The movie was better.
CC Spin #16 (2017 #4) The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield – a book that grew better with reflection & the passing of time.
CC Spin #17 (2018 #3) Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy reading with Tasheena @Dear Reader
CC Spin #18 (2018 #9) The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch – a curious choice with many, many layers and themes to explore.
bronasbooks.com 
Brona, I love how you try to match your books with other clubbers. Happy Spinning to you too!
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Impression reading through the years! A good varieté of Books on your present list. Good luck for spin 19..
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Great list. I'm most curious about Basil or Petersburg so I'm kind of rooting for one of those.
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I'll be reading Little Dorrit over Christmas, though not as part of the spin, so it would be fun if you got that one. The only other one on your list that I've read is Moby Dick, and I'll preserve a tactful silence on it… 😉 Hope you get a good one!
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Yes!! I see you have Moby Dick on your list!! Yes!! Fingers crossed. lol. Which are you most excited for? & Which are you hoping for?
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Oh, I liked Little Dorrit pretty well. Though I was suprised to find that it was her last name! Someday I'll put the Red Chamber on my list too….but I need more bravery first.
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I just read a great review for it – Joseph @Once Lost Wanderer – which encouraged me to include it on this list, then when I spotted that Emma also had it one her list, the decision was made for me!!
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I'm thinking I will be reading Moby Dick next year regardless of the spin, but it would be a handy pick.I put Eden's Outcasts on the list as a bit of a cheat – I'm halfway through it, but struggling to get the motivation to finish – a spin might do the trick. But the one I really want to read this time is Little Dorrit.
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My plan for Moby Dick is to combine it with the free podcast readalong with well known people, which I'm hoping will make it more palatable. But Little Dorrit is my wish.
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I'm keen to read another Collins, it's been several years since the last one.Petersburg came to me via a customer recommendation at work, so I'm curious to see what the rave review was about.
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My coffee is hot…my croissant is crunchybut my spirit is low. Dreading making a chunkster list.But a promise is a promise \” …be a more active member of CClub\”I am impressed with your list …and list of many others (Reese)Now I just have to take \”pen to paper\” and get the list done!End of rant…
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If the idea of chunksters is too much, then be kind to yourself & only list books you really want to read over the winter. Rules are made to be broken 😉
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I've stepped up to the plate!Taken the responsibility for something that needs to be done.A promise is a promise!My is is ready!
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We've got Cao Xueqin, Moby Dick, and Hermione Lee in common :)Suetonius – loved him! That one's great fun!I've joined every spin BUT I've not completed every spin – far from it I'm afraid, probably managed to complete about half of the ones I've done, possibly less actually 🙂
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I'm sorry for missing you out of the every spin numbers O, I'll rectify that :-)And I'll see if I can make some of our reads match as well.
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Ah, don't apologise, you didn't have to add me, I've hardly ever completed them 🙂 I'm always impressed you manage each and every one of them – your record is stellar 🙂
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If it's #15…don't go with the Billion page version. Even with the extra month, you'll never finish in time.
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Fingers crossed for #3 and we can read Powell together!
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I love seeing all the biographies on your list! And kudos for you for your dedication to the club over the years.
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I'd love a good excuse to get stuck into this series 🙂
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What a diverse list! Maybe we will get 1 and share Louisa, though I think the number one rarely gets picked in a random draw. I could be wrong though. lol Good luck to you!
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Curiously this is the third time that #1 has been selected for the spin! I'm glad this is giving me a chance to finish a book lurking way too long on my half read pile, but it feels a little stale after so long.
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I love biographies of writers, so I hope this is interesting. Sometimes one just get stuck, and it is difficult to start again. Maybe the spin is the push to finish it. Good luck!
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Well, looks like I was wrong about the odds of 1 being randomly chosen. lol Well, Little Women is a favorite and it is a good book to read at Christmas time too. Happy Reading!
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Yes, I will have to do a quick skim read of the first part of the bio to bring me up to speed before getting stuck in properly!
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Your spin book looks very interesting! I look forward to hearing about it. Happy reading!
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