Tag: Classics Club Spin

Classics Club Spin Result

Published on by Margaret10 Comments

The spin number in The Classics Club Spin is number …

which for me is The Complete Parker Pyne Private Eye by Agatha Christie, a collection of all 14 Parker Pyne short stories. The challenge is to read and review it by 29th March, 2026.

A brand new omnibus that features the complete adventures of Agatha Christie’s loveable ‘heart specialist’ Mr Parker Pyne. ‘Are you happy? If not, consult Mr Parker Pyne, 17 Richmond Street. ‘ The above advert has appeared on countless occasions in the the personal column of The Times, courtesy of the hero of Agatha Christie’s numerous, romantically-inclined mysteries. Plump and bald, Christopher Pyne (although he is always referred to as J Parker Pyne) is a retired civil servant. Having worked as a government employee for 35 years, during which time he tirelessly compiled statistics, Pyne decides to set himself up as a ‘heart specialist’. Renting a London office and hiring the ferociously efficient Miss Felicity Lemon (who would go on to work for Mr Hercule Poirot!), Pyne sets about solving marital and romantic problems with the help of some extraordinary role-playing…

Classics Club Spin

Published on by Margaret11 Comments

Before next Sunday,8th February, 2026 create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain on your Classics Club list. On that day the Classics Club will post the winning number. The challenge is to read and review whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by 29th March, 2026.

Here’s my list:

  1. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  2. The Complete Parker Pyne by Agatha Christie
  3. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
  4. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
  5. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
  6. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
  7. The Time of Angels by Iris Murdoch
  8. I’ll Never be Young Again by Daphne du Maurier
  9. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
  10. The Go Between by L P Hartley
  11. The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
  12. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  13. Daisy Miller by Henry James
  14. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
  15. Friends and Heroes by Olivia Manning
  16. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
  17. Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym
  18. Maigret’s Doubts by Georges Simenon
  19. Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark
  20. The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

 Which one would you like to see win?

The Classics Club Spin Result

Published on by Margaret7 Comments

The spin number in The Classics Club Spin is number …

which for me is

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault

The rules of the Spin are that this is the book for me to read by 21 December 2025.

Synopsis from Amazon

In the first novel of her stunning trilogy, Mary Renault vividly imagines the life of Alexander the Great, the charismatic leader whose drive and ambition created a legend

Alexander’s beauty, strength and defiance were apparent from birth, but his boyhood honed those gifts into the makings of a king. His mother and father, Olympias and King Philip of Macedon, fought each other for their son’s loyalty, teaching Alexander politics and vengeance from the cradle. Hephaistion’s love taught him trust, while Aristotle’s tutoring provoked his mind and Homer’s Iliad fuelled his aspirations. At age twelve, he killed his first man in battle; at sixteen, he became regent; at eighteen, commander of Macedon’s cavalry; and by the time his father was murdered, Alexander’s skills had grown to match his fiery ambition.

I read Mary Renault’s Theseus books, The Bull Must Die and The King from the Sea years ago and loved them, so I’m looking forward to reading Fire from Heaven and hoping I’ll love it too.

Did you take part in the Classics Spin? What will you be reading?

Classics Club Spin

Published on by Margaret19 Comments

Before next Sunday, 19th October, 2025 create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain on your Classics Club list. On that day the Classics Club will post the winning number. The challenge is to read and review whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by the 21st December, 2025.

Here’s my list:

  1. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  2. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
  3. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
  4. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
  5. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
  6. The Time of Angels by Iris Murdoch
  7. I’ll Never be Young Again by Daphne du Maurier
  8. The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
  9. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
  10. The Go Between by L P Hartley
  11. The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
  12. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  13. Daisy Miller by Henry James
  14. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
  15. Friends and Heroes by Olivia Manning
  16. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
  17. Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault
  18. The Night Manager by John le Carre
  19. Maigret’s Doubts by Georges Simenon
  20. Loitering with Intent by Muriel Spark

 Which one would you like to see win?

The Classics Club Spin Result

Published on by Margaret11 Comments

The spin number in The Classics Club Spin is number …

Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

The rules of the Spin are that this is the book for me to read by 24 August 2025.

Synopsis from Amazon

Gripping, terrifying, an unputdownable read. Discover Graham Greene’s most iconic novel.

A gang war is raging through the dark underworld of Brighton. Seventeen-year-old Pinkie, malign and ruthless, has killed a man. Believing he can escape retribution, he is unprepared for the courageous, life-embracing Ida Arnold. Greene’s gripping thriller exposes a world of loneliness and fear, of life lived on the ‘dangerous edge of things.’

In this gripping, terrifying, and unputdownable read, discover Greene’s iconic tale of the razor-wielding Pinkie.

This has been on my Spin List for some while now, so it’s about time I read it.

“Why does this bleak, seething and anarchic novel still resonate? Its energy and power is that of the rebellious adolescent, foreshadowing the rise of the cult of youth in the latter part of the 20th century.”—The Guardian

Did you take part in the Classics Spin? What will you be reading?

Classics Club Spin

Published on by Margaret15 Comments

Before next Sunday, 15 June 2025 create a post that lists twenty books of your choice that remain “to be read” on your Classics Club list. On that day the Classics Club will post a number from 1 through 20. The challenge is to read whatever book falls under that number on your Spin List by the 24 August 2025.

Here’s my list:

Here’s my list:

  1. Emma by Jane Austen (a re-read)
  2. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
  3. The Case of the Gilded Fly by Edmund Crispin
  4. Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens
  5. Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
  6. The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle
  7. Friends and Heroes by Olivia Manning
  8. The Birds and other short stories by Daphne du Maurier
  9. I’ll Never be Young Again by Daphne du Maurier
  10. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
  11. Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
  12. The Go Between by L P Hartley
  13. The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
  14. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  15. Daisy Miller by Henry James
  16. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
  17. Friends and Heroes by Olivia Manning
  18. Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
  19. Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault
  20. Chess by Stefan Zweig