Classics Club Spin #41

What is the spin?

At your blog, before Sunday, June 15 create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain "to be read" on your Classics Club list.

This is your Spin List.

You have to read one of these twenty books by the end of the spin period.

On Sunday, June 15, we'll post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by August 24, 2025.

For full details and to join in, visit the Classics Club blog here.

My list

1. The Empty House and Other Ghost Stories, Algernon Blackwood
2. The Human Chord, Algernon Blackwood
   
3. In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires, Raymond T. McNally, Radu R. Florescu
   
4. A Room with A View, E.M. Forster
   
5. Grendel, John Gardner
   
6. Orlando, Virginia Woolf
   
7. Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol
   
8. The Werewolf, Montague Summers
   
9. Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, Nikolai Gogol
   
10. The Collector, John Fowles
    
11. Viy, Nikolai Gogol
12. Vampires and Vampirism, Montague Summers
13. The Witch of Ravensworth, George Brewer
14. Some Dogmas of Religion, J.M.E. McTaggart
15. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
    
16. The Centaur, Algernon Blackwood
    
17. The Devils of Loudun, Aldous Huxley
    
18. The Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux
19. Taras Bulba, Nikolai Gogol
    
20. Hard Times, Charles Dickens

Click here to view my entire Classics Club list

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Cat Thursday - Kittens being kittens

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The Eulogist by Terry Gamble - Review

This was a very good historical novel. A story of Irish immigrants to America in the decades before the Civil War. A tale of family, of the inhumane enterprise of slavery, abolition, and of human nature. Olivia was a very likable character for me. I enjoyed her telling of the story and I appreciated her unwillingness to believe what everyone else believed when it came to religion. In a conversation with her future husband, he said this to her: "It is one thing to stand in opposition to Christianity as you have done. Another altogether to truly understand people too compromised to worry about the condition of their souls. If there is a God--and like you, I wonder--would He not want us to turn our efforts toward saving each other rather than madly fretting if we ourselves are saved?" Later on, her brother says this to her in a letter: "But it is in human flesh they mostly deal...the trading of which would curdle your blood. I tell you, Livvie. It's as if these people had no heart or mind or sense of pain. I would deny that this was the very country to which we came so long ago, and with the highest of expectations."

These are the stories we need to read and continue reading, lest we forget the horrors in history and the people who suffered so greatly.

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Cat Thursday - Cats are weird (4)

Welcome to the twice a month (on the second and fourth Thursday) feature that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite cat meme you may have come across, famous cat art, or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

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Cat Thursday - Mother's Day

Welcome to the twice a month (on the second and fourth Thursday) feature that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite cat meme you may have come across, famous cat art, or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

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Cat Thursday - Current Mood

Welcome to the twice a month (on the second and fourth Thursday) feature that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite cat meme you may have come across, famous cat art, or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

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Classics Club Spin #40 - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I actually finished my spin selection! Seemed like I wasn't going to, as I felt I was plodding along at the end.

I've had this book on my TBR for a long time. I am glad I finally read it. I've long been an Oscar Wilde fan. I was in his play, The Importance of Being Earnest in high school. 

Dorian Gray is a good novel. It raises questions about narcissism, morality, even the association of ugliness with aging (and with evil), and the old being less than. It also has one of my favorite quotes, "The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame." So true.

The only problem I had, and it's a minor one, were the long passage describing Dorian's interests, his fleeting passions, and Lord Henry's various monologues. Yet there's no denying that this is an excellent novel of Gothic fiction. 

I have seen two film adaptations of Dorian Gray. The 1945 and 2009 films. Both of them changed the story and I have to say I much preferred the book. Not really a surprise though, right? 

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Cat Thursday - Charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and, talent

Welcome to the twice a month (on the second and fourth Thursday) feature that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite cat meme you may have come across, famous cat art, or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

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Cat Thursday - It's all about the markings

Welcome to the twice a month (on the second and fourth Thursday) feature that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite cat meme you may have come across, famous cat art, or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

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Cat Thursday - Cats Being Cats

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Cat Thursday - Only cat parents truly understand

Welcome to the twice a month (on the second and fourth Thursday) feature that celebrates the wonders and often hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite cat meme you may have come across, famous cat art, or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! Share the link to your post with your comment below.

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