Number 20!
Last week I decided to take part in the fifth Classics Club Spin. The rules were simple – list twenty books from your Classics Club list, number them 1 to 20, and the number announced today (Monday) represents the book you have to read during February and March.
The number that has been selected is 20, which means the book I’ll be reading is:
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
I’m not sure how I feel about this…it’s not one of the titles on my list that I was hoping for, but I wasn’t dreading it either. This is the first of Trollope’s Palliser novels and my copy has been on my shelf unread for three or four years, waiting for me to finish the Barsetshire series. I read the last of the six Barsetshire novels last year so I now have no excuse not to read this one!
If you participated in the spin are you happy with your result?
She Reads Novels 
Sad to say I have yet to read an Anthony Trollope novel … I hope you enjoy reading this one!
Trollope is one of my favourite Victorian authors. I highly recommend his Chronicles of Barsetshire!
Am writing it down. Do you happen to know which book comes first? (I’ve been aware of Trollope and meaning to read him forever…but just haven’t gotten around to it, so here’s hoping this year is the year!)
The first in the series is The Warden, which is also the shortest so it’s a good way to get an idea of his writing style without committing to a longer book. Some people recommend starting with the second one, Barchester Towers, as it’s a better book, but I always prefer to start at the beginning!
I like starting at the beginning, too. (It’s probably the same thing in me that makes me want to read the book BEFORE I see the movie.) Anyway, thanks! The Warden it is. 🙂
An ex-BFF used to rate this very highly so I shall be interested to hear what you think!
I’ll be sure to post my thoughts on it when I’ve finished!
This novel has been on my TBR list for many, many years! Right now I have a copy on my Nook, but still haven’t gotten around to reading it. Am looking forward to your comments on the novel. Happy reading!
Thanks, Anna! I hope you get round to reading it one day too.
It’s not my favorite of the Palliser novels, but I enjoy it – I hope you do too.
I’m glad you like it even if it’s not a favourite!
I got Trollope too — He Knew He Was Right, which is a stand-alone, and a seriously long book, almost 900 pages (just a bit longer than Can You Forgive Her!) But it was also adapted into a BBC miniseries so I’ll use that for one of my Back to the Classics categories, the book that’s been adapted.
I still haven’t read any of the Pallisers, two of them are on my Classics Club list as well. Good luck with it and I look forward to your review!
I hope you enjoy He Knew He Was Right. I haven’t tried any of the stand-alones yet but I’m sure I will eventually.
I enjoyed this when I read it, though it is the only Trollope I’ve read so don’t have any others to compare it to!
I have read and enjoyed all six of his Barsetshire novels so I’ll be interested to see how this one compares.
Good luck with it! I’ve seen the BBC adaptation and was so annoyed by the main male character that I swore never to read the book.
Sorry to hear the male character was annoying. I haven’t seen the adaptation, but I hope he’ll be less irritating in the book!
Once you’ve fallen in love with the characters here you won’t be able to stop yourself going on and reading the other five Palliser novels. I hope you’re ready to be swept off your feet.
I can’t wait to be swept off my feet! I hope I’ll love them as much as the characters from the Barsetshire novels.