Classics Club Spin #43

It is time for the 43rd edition of the Classics Club Spin – List 20 books from my Classics Club “to be read” list by Sunday, February 8, 2026; the mods will then pick a random number, and I have until March 29 to read the corresponding book. (I’m not quite clear on the penalty for not completing it on time; I’ve never tested those waters.)

 

My spin list:

 

1. Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens

2. The Magus by John Fowles

3. The Long Winter (Little House #6) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

4. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

5. A Spy In The House Of Love by Anais Nin

6. The Ballad of the Sad Café by Carson McCullers

7. Grendel by John Gardner

8. Things Fall Apart  by Chinua Achebe

9. Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

10. Cool Hand Luke by Don Pearce

11. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

12. The Silver Sword (Escape from Warsaw) by Ian Serraillier

13. Post Office by Charles Bukowski

14. The Mask of Dimitrios by Eric Ambler

15. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

16. Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

17. The Ascent of Rum Doodle by W. E. Bowman

18. Kim by Rudyard Kipling

19. Casino Royale by Ian Fleming

20. The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper

 

I’m probably hoping for Lord Jim, but The Ascent of Rum Doodle would be fun too. I haven’t read McCullers in a while so Sad Café would be my third choice. I’m hoping for something NOT terribly long, so hoping against Dickens or Fowles, but I’ll take what I get. Cheers!

 

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Ball Four: 50th Anniversary Edition by Jim Bouton

 

You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time. ~ Jim Bouton

When Ball Four was published in 1970, it was scandalous; scandalous and revolutionary. The author, an aging knuckleball pitcher with the Seattle Pilots and a baseball insider, broke the rule of “what you see here stays here”. Bouton asserts…

I broke that rule, which makes me a deviant, sociologically speaking.

If Mickey Mantle had written Ball Four he would have gotten away with it. A relief pitcher on the Seattle Pilots has no business being a deviant.

It angered owners, umpires, sportswriters, coaches, and especially players. Bouton alleges that Pete Rose would scream at him from the opposing dugout…

F*&% you, Shakespeare!

He portrayed owners as cheap and disingenuous and coaches as detached and occasionally absurd.

Today Joe Schultz [manager of the Seattle Pilots] said, “Well, boys, it’s a round ball and a round bat and you got to hit it square.”

 

Any injury is beyond a manager’s control and he doesn’t like anything he can’t control. So if you’re out too long with an injury he gets angry at you. The logic is almost perfect.

And his teammates? I got the impression Bouton liked most of them. There were quirky, human, and mostly harmless, if not all of them Rhodes Scholars. There is some talk of off-field antics — mostly drinking and womanizing, and widespread amphetamine use, but for whatever foibles he revealed in his colleagues, Bouton spends at least as much time lampooning himself.

 

Like when he got called back up to the Major leagues, after a brief stint with the minor league Vancouver Mounties. 

I was back with the Seattle Pilots. Not only that, but I had an hour-and-a-half to get my ass to the clubhouse and into uniform. Not only that, right after the game we’re going on a road trip, first stop Minneapolis. Not only that, my suitcase has gone on ahead to Vancouver. Not only that, my hang-up suit bag is up there too and doesn’t even have my name on it. Not only that, I’m inordinately happy.

Or the time a fan asked…

“Hey Jim, how do you pitch to Frank Robinson?” I told him the truth. “Reluctantly,” I said

Even Bouton’s wife was not off-limits.

My wife actually believes that it’s possible, through concentration, to transfer strength from one person to another. She believes that during the game she transferred her strength to me and I pitched well. She is, of course, a nut.

I think the worst thing he did was to scuff a few hero images. In Bouton’s words…

I think we are all better off looking across at someone, rather than up.

Ironically, although Bouton’s tell-all baseball expose was the first, it wasn’t the last and some of the things he revealed about the Baseball heroes that angered them, like Mickey Mantle’s fondness for beer — GASP! — the players would later admit themselves in their own memoirs. Mick actually had a pretty decent post-baseball career selling Miller Lite. And Ball Four can hardly be considered “tell-all”. Pretty tame by today’s standards.

 

But he was pariah, and his baseball career would only last one more season, 1970. Not counting a short-lived, largely unsuccessful comeback with the Atlanta Braves in 1978.

 

Bouton’s career began in 1962 with the New York Yankees, culminating in a World Series championship. His rookie campaign was followed by two fantastic seasons in 63 and 64 (21 and 18 wins respectively), and the Yanks losing in the World Series both years. His performance tapered off after this, and led to his eventual trade to the expansion Seattle Pilots. Most of Ball Four covers that 1969 season with the Pilots, and late season trade to the Houston Astros. He played one more season with the Astros. In his initial seasons with the Yankees, Bouton had the normal arsenal: fastball, curve, change-up, etc. But by 68 he had lost the fastball, and was almost exclusively a knuckleballer. A knuckleball is not thrown hard, but it has little or no spin and moves erratically, making it difficult to hit.

 

The 1969 season of the Seattle Pilots, was their one-and-only season. The franchise then moved and became the Milwaukee Brewers. Seattle did not get another MLB franchise until 1977 when the Seattle Mariners debuted.

 

The 50th Anniversary Edition includes several updates: 10 years later, 20 years later, and 30 years later. There was no 40-year update. The updates are mostly about Bouton’s life after baseball, and the fallout he still dealt with over the book. He was never invited to Yankees Old-Timer Days, until 1998, when a letter from Bouton’s son Michael, on Father’s Day, to the New York Times admonished the Yankees to let bygones be bygones. The Yanks acquiesced and Bouton called it the best Father’s Day present ever. A perfect ending.

 

Read Michael's letter to the NY Times HERE. 

 

Jim Bouton died in 2019, the 50th anniversary of his year with the Seattle Pilots. At the time of his death, Ball Four was one of the best-selling sports books ever.

 

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The Adventure of Silver Blaze: a Sherlock Holmes short story by Arthur Conan Doyle

"The Adventure of Silver Blaze”¹ is a Sherlock Holmes short story from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes collection. According to The Annotated Sherlock Holmes², it was Holmes’ 29th case chronologically.

Silver Blaze is the favorite in the upcoming Wessex Cup. Just a week before the race, the horse comes up missing, and his trainer is brutally murdered. Silver Blaze, depicted here by Holmes illustrator Sydney Padget, is a fictional horse, sired by the real-life champion Isonomy.

One of my favorite parts is how Holmes gets Watson to assist him. Watson observes Holmes thinking, pacing, stewing for several days, when Holmes announces he is leaving to pursue a case. Watson volunteers…

I should be most happy to go down with you if I should not be in the way

And Holmes replies…

My dear Watson, you would confer a great favour upon me by coming. And I think that your time will not be mis-spent.

This sort of thing is becoming cliché between them. Holmes does not want to ask outright, but instead tempts Watson into volunteering. Once that is achieved, Holmes is gracious and happy to have Watson’s assistance. But I think Holmes is happy just to have Watson’s companionship. There is a heart in Sherlock Holmes.

Another bit that made me smile: Holmes is explaining that the case is somewhat muddled:

The tragedy has been so uncommon, so complete, and of such personal importance to so many people that we are suffering from a plethora of surmise, conjecture, and hypothesis.

As a word-nerd I loved this, because Holmes used “plethora” correctly. Of course he did; he’s Sherlock Holmes. But it is often misused. It does not simply mean a lot; no, it means a lot of something unwanted, but that is not quite precise yet. It means an OVER-abundance of something that would ordinarily be good but that in excessive quantities is undesirable. It is from the medical term “plethoric” where there are too many white blood cells. White blood cells are good, but too many of them can be fatal. Sorry to school, but it’s a pet peeve of mine, and it made me happy when Holmes used it so perfectly.

The mystery? I’m won’t spoil it. It was very good, with a most unusual culprit. The last couple Holmes’ adventures I’ve read were not great, so it was nice to read of Holmes back up to snuff. 

 

¹ A note about titles: When first published serially, many Sherlock Holmes short stories did not include the noun phrase “The Adventure of” as part of the title. It was only added later, in most cases, when the short stories were compiled into one of five collections: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes; The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, His Last Bow: Some Later Reminiscences of Sherlock Holms; and The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes. This short story was originally titled Silver Blaze, and later changed to "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" when it was published as part of The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

² The Annotated Sherlock Holmes attempts to put all of Sherlock Holmes’ cases into their proper, fictional, chronological order.

 

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The Classic Club 26 in 2026

     

1. When did you join The Classics Club?

May 2014

1.a How many titles have you read for the club so far?

50 for list #1  ç That right there, reddish brown text, that’s a hyperlink. Go ahead and click it. (sorry, you probably know that, but I’m desperate for blog stats)

75 for list #2  

50 for list #3

19 of 50 for list #4

Total of 194

 

2.  What classic are you planning to read next? Why?

Probably Loving by Henry Green. Cuz it’s next on my list.

 

3. Is there a book first published in 1926 that you plan to read this year?

Nope. This sort of makes me feel guilty, as if I should have one…but nope. How about 50 years ago? I may get to The Magus by John Fowles. I’ve been saving it for this year, so I wouldn’t get challenged on whether it’s a classic or not.

 

4. Classic author who has the most works on your club list? Or, classic author you’ve read the most works by?

Dickens: 12 read for the club. I plan to read all of Dickens’ novels, 3 to go, unless I decide to read Edwin Drood, then it's 4 to go, see question #16

 

5. If you could explore one author’s literary career from first publication to last — meaning you have never read this author and want to explore him or her by reading what s/he wrote in order of publication — who would you explore? Obviously this should be an author you haven’t yet read, since you can’t do this experiment on an author you’re already familiar with.  Or, which author’s work you arefamiliar with might it have been fun to approach this way?

Probably Stephen King, but I’ve already read The Stand and The Dark Tower series.

 

6. First classic you ever read?

Either The Hobbit or The Call of the Wild. Both sometime in 4th or 5th grade.

 

7. Favorite Children's Classic?

The Chronicles of Narnia, though I'm not quite certain I consider it Children's Lit. So if not Narnia, Winnie the Pooh.

 

8. Which classic is your most memorable classic to date? Why?

Most memorable? Not best?, not favorite? (those are not the same btw). Most memorable, perhaps…no, maybe…no...umm. THIS IS HARD! I’m gonna cheat. The Cellist of Sarajevo (not a classic), but MAN, was it powerful.

 

9. Least favorite classic? Why?

The Recognitions by William Gaddis. I sort of hated it. But I'm very pleased with my review. I usually hate doing bad reviews.

 

10. Favorite movie or TV adaption of a classic?

To Kill a Mockingbird is almost perfect.

 

11. Favorite biography about a classic author you’ve read, or the biography on a classic author you most want to read, if any?

I’d like to read a biography on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (The Little Prince). I remember searching once and didn’t find one; unbelievable right? If anyone knows of one, I’d be grateful for a recommendation.

 

12. Favorite classic author in translation? Do you have a favorite classics translator? What do you look for in a classic translations?

Either Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy. I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read: The Brothers Karamazov, Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot. Well, I didn’t care for The Idiot. I just look for a translator with good score on GR.

 

13. Do you have a favorite classic poet/poem, playwright/play? Why do you love it?

Kipling. Very versatile writer, and even when sticking just to poetry he is very diverse.

 

14. Which classic character most reminds you of yourself?

Tom Sawyer. As a child I was Tom Sawyer.

 

15. What is the oldest classic you have read or plan to read? Why?

Daphnis and Chloe by Longus (200AD), which was pretty good. I’ve also read The Tale of Genji which is sometimes called the oldest novel in the world, even though Daphnis and Chloe predates it by 800 years.

 

16. If a sudden announcement was made that 500 more pages had been discovered after the original “THE END” on a classic title you read and loved, which title would you be happiest to see continued?

I’m tempted to say Wives and Daughters because it is very good but unfinished. It is only barely unfinished. The great dilemma is overcome and a happy ending is ensured, so it’s not had to imagine the ending. So, for my real answer: The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Dickens. What could be worse than an unfinished mystery? I want to read all of Dickens’ novels, and most would say this is one of them, but it seems maddening to read an unfinished mystery. Recommendations?

 

17. Favorite edition (or series) of a classic you own, or wished you owned, if any?

First edition of The Little Prince. Runner up: Deliverance signed by the author James Dickey.

 

18. Do you reread classics? Why, or why not?

Very seldom. I’ve reread The Lord of the Rings at least 6 times, and I’ll reread it yet again someday. But other than that the only rereads are works I read before I started blogging. I will reread them to refresh my memory before writing my blog review. Otherwise, there are too many classics I've yet to read. It will be very rare that I reread.

 

19. Has there been a classic title you simply could not finish?

Nothing I couldn’t finish, because I am very stubborn. Once I start, I’m going to finish. I really wanted to quit In Search of Lost Time (longest novel in the world), but I read every word, and that is lost time I’ll never get back. There have been three that I did not finish, because I found them obscene. I don't want them burned, but I just don't want to read them.

 

20. Has there been a classic title you expected to dislike and ended up loving?

War and Peace.

 

21. List five fellow Classic Clubbers whose blogs you frequent. What makes you love their blogs?

This is a timely question. I’ve been thinking about this. I’ve been book-blogging for nearly 15 years. I used to get a lot of comments, but in the last year or so, I rarely get any. Lest that sound like a complaint, or worse a whine, I must also admit, that I rarely comment on other’s blogs anymore. It says in THE Old Book, "if a man has friends, he must himself be friendly…" Apologies for being a poor correspondent. I’ll try to do better in 2026. Now to answer:

 

With Freedom, Books, Flowers, and the Moon

The Edge of the Precipice

Readerbuzz

Reading, Writing, Working, Playing

Fanda Classiclit

 

Oh, and Anonymous. That guy cracks me up.

Why? Different reasons for each one. Similar world view in some cases, contrasting tastes in other cases which give me pause to my very opinionated opinions. But in all of these a similar diet of classics.

 

22. If you’ve ever participated in a readalong on a classic, tell us about the experience? If you’ve participated in more than one, what’s the very best experience? the best title you’ve completed? a fond memory? a good friend made?

I tried one once, and there were just two of us. The organizer quit before halfway done.

 

23. If you could appeal for a readalong with others for any classic title, which title would you name? Why?

I’m not really interested in a readalong. Don’t ask why.

 

24. What are your favorite bits about being a part of The Classics Club?

The Bookstore discount.

 

25. What would like to see more of (or less of) on The Classics Club?

I got nothing. So, instead I’ll just say THANK YOU! To the mods for keeping it going. Great job…seriously. And thanks for this questionnaire, lots of fun.

 

26. Question you wish was on this questionnaire? (Ask and answer it!)

Who is your favorite Transcendental Movement novelist of young-adult extraterrestrial mythology written in Romantic Period prose? Millard Fillmore of course. 

 

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2025 Reading Year in Review

 2025 

  

I read 21 individual works: 12 novels/novellas; 1 short story collection, 1 Sherlock Holmes short story; 1 Biography; 1 Christian non-fiction; 1 other non-fiction, 3 Christmas reads; and The Bible: New American Standard Bible.

 

 

Novels:

Wizard and Glass: The Dark Tower #4 by Stephen King

Wolves of the Calla: The Dark Tower #5 by Stephen King

Song of Susannah: The Dark Tower #6 by Stephen King

The Dark Tower:The Dark Tower #7 by Stephen King

Rabbit, Run by John Updike

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather

Skellig by David Almond

Tinker, Tailor,Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen

The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

 

Short Story Collection:

They Shoot Canoes Don’t They? by Patrick F. McManus

 

Sherlock Holmes short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle:

The Adventureof Wisteria Lodge

 

Biographies:

The Last Founding Father: James Monroe a Nation’s Call to Greatness

     By Harlow Giles Unger

 

Christian Non-Fiction

All of Grace by Charles H. Spurgeon

 

Other Non-Fiction:

Surely You’re Joking Mr. Feynman by Richard P. Feynman

 

Christmas reads:

The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Anderson

The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

 

Reading Challenges:

What’s in a Name? 2025

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Chistmas Tales 2025

The Magi honored the Christ child with three gifts. 

In honor of the magi, I read three Christmas tales each December.

 

The Little Match Girl by Hans Chistian Anderson, 1845

 

The very short story of a poor girl selling matches, cold and shoeless, New Year’s Eve in some great European city. It felt like London, but perhaps Anderson envisioned Copenhagen. The little match girl hasn’t sold any matches and she knows her fathter will beat her if she doesn't. In despairing cold, she lights a match to warm herself and in the comfort of the flame she sees a sumptuous feast. She lights another and sees a family gathering around a beautiful Christmas tree. She lights another and sees her dear Grandmother, the only soul who ever loved her. To preserve the reverie, she lights the whole bundle of matches and is lost in the warmth of her Grandmother's love and the vision becomes reality when she is released from all suffering by the one who knows what it is to find no welcome on a winter night.

 

It is a bittersweet tale, very reminiscent of The Beggar Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree by Dostoevsky, 1876. Perhaps Dostoevsky borrowed a bit from Anderson.

 

 

The Family under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson, 1858

     Illustrated by Garth Williams

 

Armand is a hobo, roaming the streets of Paris, Christmastime very early 1900s. He is a very contented hobo with a carefree life of no work and no responsibility. He tells a friend… 

“I can’t abide children,” grumped Armand. “Starlings they are. Witless, twittering, little pests.”

His friend, kindly old Mireli… 

…shook her finger at him. “You think you don’t like children,” she said, “but it is only that you are afraid of them. You’re afraid the sly little things will steal your heart if they find out you have one.”

Forshadowing, that.

 

Armand seeks refuge in a favorite spot under a particular bridge only to find it occupied by three little “starlings”: Suzy, Evelyn, and Paul, and even a dog who "should be white" named Jojo. I bet you can’t guess what happens.

 

It is a sweet tale with surprising adventures, and a happy Christmas ending.

 

The illustrations, including the cover seen here, by Williams are marvelous.

 

 

The worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, 1972 

 

The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. 

So this children’s novel begins as narrated by Beth Bradley, a grade school classmate of Imogene Herdman, the notorious ringleader of the Herdman children. They steal, swear, smoke, set fires, and bully the other children and some adults. Beth’s mother is the reluctant director of the annual Christmas pageant, which is doomed to be the worst ever when the Herdmans volunteer for the lead roles. No one else volunteers under threat of violence by the Herdmans. Imogene herself will play the Virgin Mary.

 

There is of course, outrage and thoughts to abandon the pageant, but perhaps miraculously, the show goes on, and although decidedly unorthodox, there is a powerful and poignant ending that makes it the best pageant ever.

 

It is a marvelous tale, comic enough to make me laugh out loud, but oh — there is something so much more profound, so much more glorious.

But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. ~ Matthew 19:14

 

 

Merry Christmas

          ~ The Wanderer

 

May you be blessed with

the spirit of the season, which is Peace,

the gladness of the season, which is Hope,

and the heart of the season, which is Love

 

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A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, 1989 (novel #249)

I am a Christian because of Owen Meany. ~ John Wheelwright

A Prayer for Owen Meany is a coming-of-age story that is clearly personal for Irving, yet with themes that should resonate with many: friendship, fate, childhood-trauma, disillusionment, and faith. More than anything else it is Owen Meany’s life and testimony to the idea that everything happens for a reason.

 

In the opening paragraph, narrator John Wheelwright reveals some astonishing things about his friend Owen. According to John, Owen…

had a “wrecked voice”

was “the smallest person I ever knew”

was “the instrument of my mother’s death”

and was “the reason I believe in God”

Owen and John were best friends, indeed each other’s only friend, growing up in Gravesend, New Hampshire. Most of the novel is John’s childhood and young adult memories from the 1950s – 60s New Hampshire, with occasional flash-forwards to his current life in Canada, 1987.

 

Owen is an unusual child: small and with an unnatural high-pitched voice, which Irving always denotes by putting Owen’s dialogue in all-caps. (not yelling, just distinctly Owen Meany’s voice). Owen’s unimpressive physical traits are offset by a highly intelligent and perceptive mind.

 

Several events in Owen’s life convince him that he is fated, or more precisely, chosen by God for an extraordinary purpose. Some of these epiphanies are vague, some are crystal clear, such as the precise date of his own death. Owen develops several puzzling obsessions, such as practicing a basketball shot over and over, for years, with John. Neither were basketball players, and the shot would not have been lawful in any regard, and yet Owen is obsessed with perfecting the shot in under three seconds.

 

All these quirks are quite out of character for Owen and puzzling to John, but John obliges as he has become accustomed to Owen’s eccentricities. Owen never reveals all that he knows — or believes? — about his destiny, but John begins to realize that Owen is convinced about his fate and calling.

 

At first, I just thought Owen was a little nuts. Along with John I slowly realized he was a man on a mission. According to John…

…on the subject of predestination, Owen Meany would accuse Calvin of bad faith. 

And… 

I know that Owen didn’t believe in coincidences. Owen Meany believed that “coincidence” was a stupid, shallow refuge sought by stupid, shallow people…

Irving’s narration, via John is vivid and accessible. The characters are hopelessly flawed and believable, with the possible exception of Owen, who is intended to be extraordinary. Irving paints a quaint picture of a small-town New England where everybody knows everyone, and the slightly annoying issue that they know everyone’s business too.

 

John Wheelwright is in many ways autobiographical, but Irving has stated the character is a “what-if” version of himself. John is boring, even to himself, but he has Owen, and according to John… 

Owen Meany was enough excitement for a lifetime.

That’s the good stuff. But Irving does something during the flash-forward sections that I didn’t like. John, and I presume Irving by proxy, makes political commentary on the United States late 1980s. I didn’t feel it was relevant or necessary to the story; nor was it compelling. I believe the author has the right to use his novel in this way, and I have the right to not like it. I didn’t like it. I found it hypocritical when John accused a historical person of “bullying patriotism” and more so when John admitted that he possessed a “shallow, superficial” understanding” of world affairs, but not such that it stopped him from his own intellectual bullying.

 

Overall, it was an enjoyable read. I’m taking off half a star for the politicization.

 

My rating: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

 

 

This novel satisfies the “First and Last Name” category (the title must contain a first and last name) in the What’s in a Name? 2025 challenge.

 

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