Here’s my list for another round of the Classics Club Spin Challenge, the top twenty classic novels I’d be happy to read. The Classics Club choose a number, and I’ll read the corresponding title.
My list is inspired by a number of things. There are the books I’ve always meant to read (Sanditon, Kim, My Antonia and something by Graham Greene). There are books I read long ago and want to know if I still like them as much as I did then (The Happy Foreigner, Open the Door, Frost in May, Cider With Rosie and The Group). Then there are books that have been knocking around on my bookcases gathering dust. These include books in the Virago Modern Classics collection that I picked up at a waterfront stall way back when and forgot to read (Company Parade, Full House, The Weather in the Streets). I’ve always particularly loved books from the inter-war years from a woman’s perspective and the Virago books of this era include some absolute gems. Hopefully, one or two will appear in the spins to come.
If the challenge proves half as much fun as narrowing down my selection, I’ll be quite happy. Here’s my list:
- Sanditon by Jane Austen, 1817
- Silas Marner by George Eliot, 1851
- North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, 1854
- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, 1859
- Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth Von Arnim, 1898
- Kim by Rudyard Kipling, 1901
- The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West, 1918
- My Antonia by Willa Cather, 1918
- The Happy Foreigner by Enid Bagnold, 1920
- Open the Door by Catherine Carswell, 1920
- Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield, 1930
- Frost in May by Antonia White, 1933
- Company Parade by Storm Jameson, 1934
- Full House by M J Farrell (Molly Keane), 1935
- The Weather in the Streets by Rosamond Lehmann, 1936
- Pomfrett Towers by Angela Thirkell, 1938
- Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, 1945
- The End of the Affair by Graham Greene, 1951
- Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee, 1959
- The Group by Mary McCarthy, 1963
Judith McKinnon 