It’s time for another Classics Club spin.
I am currently away from my computer. This is a hastily composed post on my phone, drenched in the beautiful warmth and sunshine of Far North Queensland. If you try, you may be able to smell the heady scent of tropical blooms & the earthy aroma of the rainforest mixed with the briny flavour of sea and sand. Strain a little harder and you might hear the lap of waves against the shore, and the sound of the breeze moving through the treetops. This land, where the forest meets the sea, is truly a magical paradise.
But I digress.
What is a CC Spin?
Simply, on Sunday the 18th September, a random number between 1-20 will be drawn. Match the number to the book on your list, then read said book before the 30th October. Full details on how to play are here.
My CC Spin #31:
- Frenchman’s Creek | Daphne Du Maurier
- Passing | Nella Larsen
- Agnes Grey | Anne Brontë
- Death of Ivan Ilyvich | Leo Tolstoy
- The Feast | Margaret Kennedy
- Night and Day | Virginia Woolf
- The Book of Tea | Kakuzo Okakura
- The White Guard | Mikhail Bulgakov
- Moll Flanders | Daniel Defoe
- Picture of Dorian Gray | Oscar Wilde
- The Key | Junichiro Tanizaki
- Hiroshima | John Hersey
- The Bell Jar | Sylvia Plath
- Voss | Patrick White
- 1788 | Watkin Tench
- Tender is the Night | F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Sound of Waves | Yukio Mishima
- Basil | Wilkie Collins
- Alexander’s Bridge | Willa Cather
- Pale Horse, Pale Rider | Katherine Porter
My Previous 30 Spin Results:
One book was a DNF as I lost it during a move.
Three were barely so-so reads and another couple were curiosities that didn’t really appeal to me but I could see their merits. The rest were delights. From the surprise packages to the known favourites.
I can’t wait to see what spin #31 brings me.
Click on each book cover to take you to my book response post.






























Happy Spinning!
- This post was written on the traditional lands of the Kuku Yalangi people (traditional owners of the Port Douglas Daintree region). This Reading Life acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are this land’s first storytellers.
I love Voss, but I think I would have struggled to read it in under a month… so I suspect that 13 would be an unlucky number for you….
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I tend to see these challenges as guidelines for my reading only! If Voss comes up I will make it fit into my AusReadingMonth schedule as well giving me plenty of time to read it 🤞🏼
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Smart move:)
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Nice list! I’m not familiar with everything, but lots of good names. 🙂
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I’ve started pulling books off my cc list 3 as number 2 only has a few books left in it. Which means we’re starting to get down some of the more obscure titles on my shelves!!
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Looks like you’ve got some good ones on your list.
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I hope so! It’s very disappointing when a classic title that has been lingering on my bookshelves for years, turns out to be a dud!!
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How true!
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Great list! Dorian Gray was a previous spin book for me. I’ve never heard of Night and Day, but as a Woolf fan, I added it to my list. My current list has Tender is the Night as well. It’s been too long since I read some Fitzgerald.
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I’m trying to read Woolf in chronological order – night & day was her second published novel. I like to think of my progress as slow but stately 😅
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I think your pace is perfect. You have to run your own race.
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I loved Frenchman’s Creek! And I liked Agnes Grey though I think Anne Bronte had come a long way by the time she wrote Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Hope you enjoy whatever book the spin picks for you!
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Love your digression so I’m off to find my own sound of lapping waves. Can’t match the rain forest smells though, damp Welsh earth will just have to do.
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I really enjoyed Passing (that’s Nella, not Netta) and Moll Flanders! Good luck with the spin!
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Thanks I’ll fix that typo!
Passing would also be good for novellas in November.
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Yes, along with her Quicksand. I read both of them as my edition had both included. I liked Passing better, though.
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Weirdly, I’ve only read the two grey-ish novels on your list, Anne Bronte’s Agnes Grey and Wilde’s Dorian Gray, though I have the Plath and the Fitzgerald patiently waiting their turn. Interesting to see what the Spin turns up for you. 🙂
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We recently saw a one woman show of Dorian Gray which was a tremendous post-modern interpretation/staging, so I hope this finally creates the opportunity to read it too!
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You’re location is the complete opposite of mine and I love the description! I’m imagining it completely.
Here in the Mojave desert, the weather has abruptly shifted into fall. Cool nights, warm dry days, the last weekends monsoon rains and the last few days warm sun has coaxed a green fuzz from the sand. And it all smells wonderful.
Can’t wait to see which book you read next!
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I’ve read five of the books on your list: Agnes Grey, Death of Ivan Ilyvich, Picture of Dorian Gray, The Bell Jar and Tender is the Night. From the books you read already, I have read seven, at least those that I can identify. My eyesight isn’t the best, sorry.
My CC Spin list.
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That’s a great list – good luck with the spin!
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The White Guard is on my spin list too, but at a different number. Good luck!
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Oh, you got Passing! That’s a good novel (and I’ll confess that I didn’t understand the ending). I’m reading Larsen’s other novel, Quicksand, right now.
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I think my edition has both stories in it….runs upstairs to check…no it doesn’t. Oh well, I am looking forward to getting into Passing, especially after reading The Vanishing Half a couple of years ago.
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