Tag: classics

The Classics Club Spin #18

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How time flies because it’s time for another Classics Club spin!   My progress with my Classics Club list has been, shall we say, modest because I keep getting tempted by new releases and blog tours.  So this is a great opportunity to focus on it and at least get one book from the list read in the near future.

The rules are simple:

  • Go to your blog
  • Pick twenty books that you’ve got left to read from your Classics Club List
  • Post that list, numbered 1-20, on your blog before Wednesday 1st August
  • That morning (1st August) The Classics Club will announce a number from 1-20. Go to the list of twenty books you posted, and select the book that corresponds to the number announced
  • The challenge is to read that book by 31st August .

Here’s my spin list.  My Classics Club list focused on women writers – with a few books by John Buchan thrown in – so my spin list reflects that.  I’ve chosen mainly books I already own so there’s no excuse not to read whatever is selected!

  1. The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
  2. The Dark Tide by Vera Brittain
  3. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
  4. Witch Wood by John Buchan
  5. Castle Gay by John Buchan
  6. Romola by George Eliot
  7. Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell
  8. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
  9. Heat and Dust by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
  10. Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann
  11. The Town House by Norah Lofts
  12. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
  13. A Garden of Earthly Delights by Joyce Carol Oates
  14. All Passion Spent by Vita Sackville-West
  15. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers
  16. Katherine by Anya Seton
  17. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
  18. Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor
  19. The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Armin
  20. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson

What would you be hoping for, or dreading, if you had my list? I’ll confess number 15 would be perfect for me as it’s one of my favourite books by Dorothy L. Sayers and I rarely get a chance to reread books these days. Dreading?  Hmm, I’m not going to say for fear of tempting fate…

Buchan of the Month: Greenmantle by John Buchan

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Buchan of the Month

GreenmantleAbout the Book

In Greenmantle (1916) Richard Hannay, hero of The Thirty-Nine Steps, travels across war-torn Europe in search of a German plot and an Islamic Messiah. He is joined by three more of Buchan’s heroes: Peter Pienaar, the old Boer Scout; John S. Blenkiron, the American determined to fight the Kaiser; and Sandy Arbuthnot, Greenmantle himself.

The intrepid four move in disguise through Germany to Constantinople and the Russian border to face their enemies: the grotesque Stumm and the evil beauty of Hilda von Einem.

Note: I read my personal copy of Greenmantle published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1950 but the details and links below are for an ebook  public domain edition available free on Amazon.  Other paperback editions are widely available.

Format: ebook (178 pp.)    Publisher:
Published: [1916]               Genre: Adventure, Thriller

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Greenmantle on Goodreads

 My Review

Greenmantle is the fourth book in my Buchan of the Month reading project.  For a spoiler-free introduction to Greenmantle, including details of its first publication and context, click here.  To find out more about the project and my reading list for 2018, click here.

Recovering from injuries sustained at the Battle of Loos, Richard Hannay is charged by Sir Walter Bullivant with investigating rumours of an uprising in the Muslim world.  It seems the Germans plan to use religion to help them win the war by causing Britain and its allies to divert troops from the Western Front. Hannay reluctantly accepts the case seeing it as a diversion from his true role leading his troops on the front line.

The action of the book moves from wartime Germany to Asia Minor as Hannay and his comrades seek to disrupt the plot.  This involves a perilous journey through enemy territory to meet up with his friend, Sandy Arbuthnot, in Constantinople.  Hannay and his other companions Peter Pienaar and John S. Blenkiron, have to outwit some formidable foes, including the thuggish Ulric von Stumm, Turkish army officer Rasta Bey and the charismatic but malevolent, Hilda von Einem.

It’s all terrific fun involving coded messages, a dying prophet, disguises and a secret band known as The Companions of the Rosy Hours as Hannay seeks to foil the dastardly plot.  However, there are also elements of real life events.  For example, the character of Sandy Arbuthnot is based on Buchan’s friend Aubrey Herbert – with a touch of Lawrence of Arabia thrown in.  It all comes to a climax in a vividly described battle scene, again inspired by actual events in the First World War.

Next month’s Buchan of the Month is A Lost Lady of Old Years, first published in 1899.

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In three words: Action-packed, thrilling, adventure

Try something similar…The Three Hostages by John Buchan

John BuchanAbout the Author

John Buchan (1875 – 1940) was an author, poet, lawyer, publisher, journalist, war correspondent, Member of Parliament, University Chancellor, keen angler and family man.  He was ennobled and, as Lord Tweedsmuir, became Governor-General of Canada.  In this role, he signed Canada’s entry into the Second World War.   Nowadays he is probably best known – maybe only known – as the author of The Thirty-Nine Steps.  However, in his lifetime he published over 100 books: fiction, poetry, short stories, biographies, memoirs and history.

You can find out more about John Buchan, his life and vast literary output by visiting The John Buchan Society website.