My book blogging has taken a big hit this year. Physically I continue to do well and I appreciate, so much, all the care and support everyone has shown me. I have figured out the best bed situation for my back, I am walking longer and faster with my cane and my knees seem to have righted themselves with a little patience and Ibuprofen. And now that I can sit at a desk I don’t have one, as the old one was a problem for my back and I have not been able to get to shops to try out desks while the remodeling is going on. But this is a happy dilemma that may be resolved next week. Fingers very crossed. So I read, but don’t post much.
I have relied on the Classics Club Spins to keep me on any kind of a writing track and I have done well with them this year. Spin #32 will take us into January, a new year and hopefully a better year not just for me, but for all.
For those who may not know the details of these Spins or the Classics Club in general you can go to their website. Simply put the CC is a community of classic literature lovers who blog about classics and share reviews. We each make a list of classics we’d like to read within five years and several times a year a Spin occurs where we make a list of 20 classics from that list and on a specific day, the spin gods will choose a number and the corresponding classic on our list is the one we read by a certain date. For this round the number will be chosen on Sunday, December 11 and the deadline for posting about it will be January 29, 2023.
Here is my list with no real preference this time.
RD Blackmore
1. Lorna Doone (1869)
Fanny Burney
2. Evelina (1778)
Willa Cather
3. Death Comes for the Archbishop (1927)
Gustave Flaubert
4. Madame Bovary (1856)
William Dean Howells
5. The Rise of Silas Lapham (1884)
Elizabeth Gaskell
6. Mary Barton (1848)
George Gissing
7. The Odd Women (1893) K
Thomas Hardy
8. Tess of the D’Urbervilles (1891)
9. The Major of Casterbridge (1886)
George Meredith
10. The Egoist (1879)
L.M. Montgomery
11. Emily of New Moon (1923)
Edith Nesbit
12. The Railway Children (1906)
Sir Walter Scott
13. Ivanhoe (1819)
John Steinbeck
14. Sweet Thursday (1954)
William Thackeray
15. Vanity Fair (1847)
HG Wells
16. The War in the Air (1908)
Emma Wolf
17. Other Things Being Equal (1892)
Virginia Woolf
18. The Voyage Out (1915) K
19. To the Lighthouse (1927)
Nonfiction
Mark Twain
20. Innocents Abroad (1869)
Relevant Obscurity 
Glad to hear things are improving for you, even if it is slowly slowly.
The Railway Children is a delightful story – perfect for this time of year. I wouldn’t wish Madame Bovary on anyone, but then I know some people who love it (shrugs) that’s what makes reading classics so interesting though.
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I would love to get the Railway Children. I never read it!
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Some great boos there. and also loads I haven’t read. Vanity Fair would be my pick, though Tess is such a wonderful book too. Hope you get a good one!
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I want to read Tess. It’s one of the few Hardys I haven’t read.
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Lots of my favourites here and also lots I haven’t read, Mary Barton might be my choice! I hope you get a good read to take you in to the New Year.
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Thank you, Jane. I am sure whatever I get I will like…I hope!
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I’m happy that at least you can do a bit of blogging again. Hopefully everything will be sorted out before new year (my fingers are crossed for you! ❤ ).
Hey, we both have Lorna Doone and Sweet Thursday on our lists! Yours are full of great books. I've read Evelina this year, and loved it! And I've just finished Nesbit's adult novel: The Lark, which is as good (or maybe better ?) as her Railway Children, you should try it!
Well, good luck and have fun with spin, Laurie! 🙂
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Thanks for the crossed fingers, Fanda. Mine are, too!🤞
Hey maybe we’ll get the same book!! I read Cannery Row just a few months ago, so I’d love to get Sweet Thursday.
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Ow, I hear ya!
I just saw Hardy and got happy. I haven’t read a Hardy in awhile, and I’m missing him.
Hope your adjustments work out for you. Living with pain is a constant challenge. 😦
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I like Hardy a lot and both of these I have never read.
Finding a desk that’s the right height feels like a big challenge. I have long legs and a short torso, so finding something that accommodates my knees and upper body has been an adventure!
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Wow, lots of great stuff here, especially long, luxurious reads. I loved Lorna Doone and Madame Bovary, and Evelina too. But also Emily of New Moon is nice, and the Railway Children….it’s too hard to pick!
Glad to hear you are feeling some better, and hoping to see you around more (even as I have taken the month off).
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I wouldn’t mind Evelina or Lorna Doone. They have been on my shelves forever. It’s always so exciting to see what will be picked.
Sometimes the blogging mojo just isn’t there, even when you’re perfectly healthy.
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