I count George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss as one of my all-time favorites, so I was eager to start Scenes of Clerical Life as my Spin #38 pick for Classics Club Challenge. I was also fortunate to find the Librivox Recording by Bruce Pirie (available in Podcast formats too) and it was so good — highly recommended!
Scenes of Clerical Life has 3 stories, each one progressively longer and more impactful.
Several months ago, I had decided to participate in the Classics Club Challenge and signed up with a bucket list of 100 classic literature books that I wanted to read. Occasionally, a random number is also generated by by the hosts at The Classics Club, and you can play along by reading that entry number from your chosen list. Rules are here.
This is my first CC Spin, and the Lucky Spin Number this time around is …
On my list, entry #17 is Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot (1857). If I remember correctly, I chose this book because Eliot seems to have had a difficult relationship with her father and she has reflected some of that tension in this book. Plus, Eliot is one of my favorite all-time authors.
Not a very promising book cover, that. But let’s see…
Are you participating in CC Spin #38, or generally in the Classics Club Challenge this year?
I have decided to sign up for The Classics Club reading challenge this year. Based on this sign-up post and this FAQs post, we can choose our own criteria for what maketh a “classic” and then we have to make a list of 100 classics that we want to read – not immediately – but over the next 5 years.
For my own “classics” criteria, I’m going with a mixed bag of books famous in a specific genre* OR any books published before 1974 (i.e. more than 50 years ago). Here follows the list!
Is “tri-monthly” the right word? June, July, August — loads of books and shows that I discovered and even liked (wonder of wonders)! Interestingly, in pretty much all of these, I also found that the blurb or the trailer had been misleading. Here’s a (long post) wrap up.
A rather strange and underrated historical fantasy work set in the 1880s involving a “road trip” from New York to Scotland. The journalist heroine sets out to help her odd brother (and also escape her marriage). Then she finds herself embroiled in a blackmail plot and with her young nephew and niece in tow. This book really defies genre and age groupings. The suspense is slow to build-up, the “fantasy” part is very, very subtle. I even thought there was some LGBTQ representation in this 1976 book. Also historically accurate, as can be expected from Aiken.
A very quirky new adaptation of one of Agatha Christie’s more complex mysteries. This cryptic question changes every time: Why didn’t they ask Evans? Why didn’t they ask Evans? Why didn’t they ask Evans? Wait at least till Episode 2 for the show to really get going.
I shortlisted reading plans at the start of this month, and I am already reworking those! This time, I have my eyes on Back to the Classics Challenge hosted by Karen at Books and Chocolate. There are 12 prompts, and the cut-off year is 1972. I have a *tentative* reading list in mind — no idea if I’ll actually stick to these picks, but I had a field day putting these together.
In the last week of October, I probably read more books than in the past 3 months. So I’m really hoping that my reading/ blogging blues are finally over. There’s a lot to record and catch-up with, all those blogposts that I missed — still need to get up to speed there! In the meantime, here’s a bunch a mini-reviews / reading wrap-up for October 2021.
About The Forgotten Garden
Published: 2008
Book Tropes: Foundlings, Time Hops, Family Secrets, Mysterious Houses, Australia
Recommended for fans of: Susanna Kearsley, Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, Possession by A. S. Byatt, The Thirteenth Tale by by Diane Setterfield
Forgotten Garden was the first book that I decided to read from my Fall 2021 Reading List — since that was the book most people recommended! It turned out to be a very engrossing read, and managed to get me out of my reader’s block.
Book/ Series: A Midsummer Tempest by Poul Anderson (Operation Otherworld Series Book #3, but can be read as standalone)
Published: 1974
Book Tropes: Alternative English History/ Fantasy
Recommended for fans of: Shakespeare (esp. The Tempest and A Midsummer Night’s Dream), R.L. Stevenson (esp. The Black Arrow)
Awards: 1975 Mythopoeic Award
Some time back, LibraryThing recommended A Midsummer Tempest for those who like Shakespeare’s plays, steampunk, the old adventure classics and medieval English history. I’ll second that recommendation, as long as you are certain that this blend is exactly what you’re looking for.
It’s time for #6degrees. Start with the monthly read, add six books, and see where you end up. The 6 Degrees of Separation Meme is hosted every month at Books are my Favorite and Best.
Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher is the book for August 2021. Which makes me take on the very obvious route of epistolary books. Not my favorite format, but here’s the list for six books on red letter days.
Lavinia by Ursula K. Le Guin
Published: 2008
Awards: Locus Award (2009)
Book Tropes: Roman mythology retelling/ Trojan War
Lavinia was the last bride of the Trojan hero, Aeneas. Aeneas was immortalized in Virgil’s ancient epic (29-19 B.C.), but Lavinia barely got any mention other than as the shy, blushing princess of Latinium. Lavinia is angry with Virgil for that. Virgil and Lavinia end up having a conversation across Time about this oversight.
The end result is that Virgil realizes his poem didn’t do her justice. He focused on women like Camilla and Dido and Creusa, but left out Lavinia! After all, when the Trojans (led by the notorious Paris of Troy) were completely battered by Melenaus’s Spartan army, it was Lavinia who gave them shelter in her homeland.