Classics Club Spin 2

Vasilly from 1330v has convinced me to participate in the Classic Club's Spin Challenge this year. Basically you list 20 classics you want to read and whatever random number they announce, you have to read it by July 1st.

My to-read list is really random, you guys. Actually I don't have a to-read list because that would require being organized. But here's what I have on my iPod and Kindle currently:

1. Moll Flanders
2. Gulliver's Travels
3. The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne
4. The Sheik by EM Hull
5. Daddy Long Legs Jean Webster
6. Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon
7. A Witch Shall be Born by Robert E Howard
8. Brideshead Revisited
9. Casino Royal
10. Joseph Vance by William de Morgan
11. When Ghost Meets Ghost by Wm de Morgan
12. Galusha the Magnificent by Joseph Crosby Lincoln
13. Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
14. Aucassin and Nicolette
15. A Desert Drama by Arthur Conan Doyle
16. The Faerie Queene Book 2
17. The House of the Vampyre by George Sylvester Viereck
18. The Virginian by Owen Wister
19. Shadows in Zamboula by Robert E. Howard
20. Red Nails by Robert E. Howard

I really hope they pick The Sheik because that book sounds awesome.

Edited to add: The number that was picked was 6, so I'll be reading Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon.


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TSS: The Germanic Horde

Have you ever watched old movies and noticed that the Germans are always the bad guys? If you're like me, you probably thought that was because of WWII; but actually the stereotype goes back much farther than that. There's one thing you can count on when you're reading Edwardian (c. 1900-1910) novels, and that's that everyone with a German accent is evil. This is true even of books that predate WWI by more than a decade. England viewed war with Germany as inevitable for more than a generation before it finally broke out in 1914, likely since the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, but possibly even as far back at the 1860s. The Franco-Prussian War, where Prussia defeated France handily in a matter of weeks and completely destroyed their military confidence, is likely the most important war no one has ever heard of; it led to the unification of the German states and set the stage for the debilitating Treaty of Versailles, in which France exacted long-waited revenge for losing the Franco-Prussian War.

Anyway, here is a list of books I've read recently where the Germans were evol:

Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers: A bourgeois employee of the Home Office goes on what he thinks will be a pleasure cruise around the Frisian Islands, only to discover a German plot to invade England through the North Sea. This is a great book!

Princess Maritza by Percy James Brebner: There is a name for these types of books and I totally forgot what it is. Basically it's like Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope: some British guy goes to a small Germanic state to save the woman he loves. This book was pretty bad, and it had a whole bunch of paranoia about how Germans want to take over the world.

The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart: I already told you guys the German is always the bad guy, right? Not to spoil anything, of course.

The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Bowen J. Tyler is trying to get a group of German and American sailors to work together so they can reach port, but someone keeps sabotaging the submarine. GUESS WHO IT IS.

The Green Rust by Edgar Wallace: This is probably the most hilarious case of Hun paranoia I've come across yet. Van Heerden is an evol German doctor, but he's not actually German--he's Dutch and was just born near the German border. I guess that's enough! Ahahaa.

Still, it does get slightly tiresome when EVERY German character turns out to be evil. Like really, people? You didn't get tired of that cliche after two or three or ten years? Drives me crazy.



Further Reading:

• Review: Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers
• Review: Princess Maritza by Percy James Brebner
• Review: The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart
• Review: The Land That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs

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Turn of the Century Salon

I just heard this morning from Becca at Lost In Books about a Turn of the Century Salon (kind of like The Sunday Salon, but about novels published between 1880-1930) hosted at November's Autumn. Naturally I can't pass up the opportunity to participate and I hope you will, too. Not pass on it, I mean.

ANYwhoooo, the opening month of January has some questions for participants to use to introduce themselves. Hi, my name is Tasha and...

What Classics have you read from the 1880s-1930s? What did you think of them?

I manage a classics book blog (called The Project Gutenberg Project), so a lot. Listing every book I've read from the turn of the century would be too much, but here are some highlights from last year:

• The Man Who Thursday by GK Chesterton (1910)-Definitely recommend! One of my favorite reads of the year.
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum (1900)-Delightful story. Not as streamlined as the movie, but very much worth the read.
• The Circular Study by Anna Katharine Green (1900)-AKG is crazy, y'all. I would say she was the Dan Brown of her time, but I don't want to insult Dan Brown.
• Mystery at Geneva: An Improbable Tale of Singular Happenings by Dame Rose Macaulay (1922)-This is a really odd book that at first seems like a mystery/spy thriller, but is actually a pretext for Macaulay to make fun politics, the news media, and gender roles. It's 80% total irony and has a really strange twist at the end that totally blindsided me. I actually enjoyed it, though I can see why it's a "forgotten classic."
• Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini (1921)-Another one of my favorite reads of 2012. I love everything about this book. French Revolution! Sword fights! Theater people! Twisty twists! I really don't know what to say if you haven't read this book.
• The Fortieth Door by Mary Hastings Bradley (1920)-This is an adventure/love story set in Egypt starring the dashing American archaeologist Jack Ryder and a Turkish virgin named Aimée. So just to recap: adventure, Egypt, archaeology, forbidden romance. It's a must-read.
• Beasts, Men, and Gods by Ferdinand Ossendowski (1922)-The memoir of a man during the Bolshevik Revolution who tries to escape to American by traveling through Siberia and China, only to be forced to detour through Mongolia. I'm not a huge fan of memoirs as a rule, but this one was incredible and amazing. This is one of the books I keep telling people to read and they never do. Missing out!
• A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder by James De Mille (1888)-This is a very strange book, probably the strangest book I read all year--and I read some pretty odd books, let me tell you. Anyway, I hated it. Much better to go with The Land That Time Forgot.
• The Mary Frances Cookbook by Jane Eayre Fryer (1912)-This is a children's cookbook that combines recipes with a story. IT IS THE CUTEST THING EVER. Seriously, the illustrations are precious and the story is really heartwarming. Plus now I know how to cook a steak, Edwardian-style! Yeehaw! Let me just get my wood-burning stove started up...
• The Man in Lower Ten by Mary Roberts Rinehart (1906)-This is another one of my favorite reads last year. It's a mystery about a man suspected of murder, but he didn't do it. So he has to find out who did! I loved all the characters and had a blast reading this book. It's soooo much fun.
• The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers (1903)-A spy novel set in the Frisian Island (north coast of Germany). Totally awesome characters, slightly claustrophobic atmosphere, and a really fun, fast read. Fun fact: Winston Churchill used this book as a model for actual British military actions.
• The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope (1894)-Okay, I didn't read this last year, but I have to include it because it's one of my favorite books of all time. There's romance, adventure, a great villain, mistaken identity and a castle. Definitely another must-read, only must-readier than any of these other books, mkay?

Wow, that's way too many novels. Sorry, went a little overboard there. Let's move on to another question, shall we?



Which authors do you love?

So far my favorite turn-of-the century authors are Mary Roberts Rinehart, Rafael Sabatini, and Anthony Hope. And I guess Anna Katharine Green, since I keep reading her even though I think her books are CRAZY. If you have recommendations based on that, let me know!



Which authors do you hope to learn more about?

This year I'm planning to read Joseph Vance by William de Morgan (on Melody's recommendation), and I'd like to read more classic mysteries (that's my thing). I'd really like to learn more about/read more books by Mary Roberts Rinehart, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Rafael Sabatini, Anthony Hope, and I'd like to read books by more female writers in general.



I am definitely looking forward to this salon and learning more from the other bloggers participating!



Further reading:

• "Turn of the Century Salon" at November's Autumn

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Novel Conspiracies

I heard about this article on Conspiracy Theories About Classic Characters at Bookarama and immediately got sucked in. They aren't really "conspiracy theories," more like reinterpretations--for example, Nick from The Great Gatsby is gay. Actually every character in the article is gay. Anyway, I immediately started thinking of my own "conspiracy theories," as you do.

Theory 1: Snape is Harry's father figure, not Dumbledore. I already wrote about this extensively in For the Love of Severus Snape, so I'm just going to leave it at that and let the original post stand.

Theory 2: Elinor Dashwood is in love with Willoughby. "ELINOR Dashwood?!" you're no doubt thinking. "But it's Marianne who's supposed to have fallen in love with Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility." You're right, voluble reader, Marianne did fall in love with wandering Willoughby. But I think Elinor did, too. I'm sure we can all agree that there is nothing attractive about Edward, and it's a well-known law of romance novels that opposites attract. Wouldn't it be natural for uptight, logical Elinor to develop a tendre for the romantic and brooding Willoughby, especially after learning Edward was already engaged? Who better to serve as Mr. Rebound than him? No wonder she didn't tell Marianne to pull herself together and stop acting pathetic after they learned Willoughby was engaged--she was glad her sister wasn't going to get him! And since it turns out he's really a beta male anyway (totally Sophia's bitch), Willoughby and Elinor are actually kind of perfect together.

Theory 3: Doctor Seward is actually mental. I find it very weird that Doctor Seward from Dracula lives in the asylum where he's a doctor. Who does that? You'd think he'd want to get away from his job... IF IT REALLY IS A JOB. How do we know he doesn't just THINK he's a doctor there and that the real doctors are humoring him to see if his delusion runs its course? After all, it seems like the only "work" he does is to natter into his phonograph, and he can take off whenever he wants. Very suspicious. His "mentor," Van Helsing, is probably Seward's psychiatrist, and he encourages the people at the asylum to accommodate Seward's illness by giving him employment. The whole thing with Lucy being a vampire and Arthur "thrusting his stake" into her was a delusion brought on by her rejection of Seward's marriage proposal.



Further Reading:

• "Conspiracy Theories About Classic Characters" by Emily Temple on Flavorwire
• "Friday Bookish Buzz: Looking for a Snow Day" on Book-a-rama
• "For the Love of Severus Snape" on Truth Beauty Freedom & Books

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