I completely forgot about the need to post my classics club list before Monday/today. I have a great excuse though! On Saturday we welcomed a new addition to the family–

Meet Buddy!

Buddy’s full name is Buddy Fitzwilliam Tholak.

His middle name, Fitzwilliam, is–yes–a nod to Jane Austen. We had planned on giving our next dog an Austen related name, but Buddy already had a name, so now he also has a middle name. Buddy is tall, handsome, and dashing just like Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. And although Buddy didn’t come with an income exceeding £10,000 a year, he is already making our hearts grow 10, 000 times larger.

As I said above, I know I was supposed to have my list of 20 classics posted prior to the announcement of the spin number, but since I did not I am simply going to use my list from the last spin. This turns out to be kinda perfect because as you Classic Clubbers know #1 is the chosen number and #1 from my last list is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Kismet!

Here’s the last list and a link to that post so you don’t think I’m pulling a fast one:

1. Pride and Prejudice, Austen, 1813 <— The Chosen One for #CCspin #14
2. The House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne, 1851 
3. Carmilla, Le Fanu, 1872 
4. The Bostonians, James, 1886 
5. A Room with a View, Forster, 1908 
6. Maurice, Forster, 1914 
7. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce, 1916 
8. The Education of Henry Adams, Adams, 1918 
9. Winesburg, Ohio, Anderson, 1919 
10. So Big, Ferber, 1924 
11. The Magic Mountain, Mann, 1924 
12. The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck, 1939 
13. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Smith, 1943 
14. From Here to Eternity, Jones, 1951 
15. The Price of Salt, Highsmith, 1952  <— The Chosen One for #CCspin #13. My post on that book is here.

I don’t think I’ve read Pride and Prejudice before, but then I thought the same thing about Kate Chopin’s The Awakening which I read, or more accurately re-read, last month. I remembered starting The Awakening when I was in my 20s, but didn’t get into it and put it aside. However, as so many of the scenes were familiar to me, I must have gone back and read it as some point in the last 20 or 30 years. 

When I was a kid my grandmother and I once talked about her not remembering if she’d already read a particular book. I remember thinking she was just old and forgetful. Now I’m 50 and probably not all that much younger than she was when we had that conversation. I’m not calling myself old, but . . . time sure flies.

Anyway, the case of Pride and Prejudice will be different in that I’ve watched so many film adaptations of the novel that it might be difficult to tell if I’m recalling scenes from a movie version or a prior reading.

For now I’m off to find out what everyone else is reading for #CCspin 14 and hope to find someone who’ll be reading Pride and Prejudice.