On Saturday I decided to take part in the tenth 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 before 23rd October 2015.
The number that has been selected this time is 5, which means the book I’ll be reading is:
The Glass-Blowers by Daphne du Maurier
I couldn’t be happier with this result as Daphne du Maurier is one of my favourite authors. I have been working my way through all of her novels over the last few years and this is one of only four that I still have left to read.
Here is the synopsis (taken from Goodreads):
The world of the glass-blowers has its own traditions, it’s own language – and its own rules. ‘If you marry into glass’ Pierre Labbe warns his daughter, ‘you will say goodbye to everything familiar, and enter a closed world’. But crashing into this world comes the violence and terror of the French Revolution, against which the family struggles to survive.
Years later, Sophie Duval reveals to her long-lost nephew the tragic story of a family of master craftsmen in eighteenth-century France. Drawing on her own family’s tale of tradition and sorrow, Daphne du Maurier weaves an unforgettable saga of beauty, war, and family.
Have you read this book? Did you enjoy it?
If you’re taking part in the spin too, I hope you’ve got a book you’re happy with!
She Reads Novels 
Oh, yours will be a lot more fun than mine. I got the Selected Poems of Robert Frost.
Maybe you’ll enjoy your book more than you’re expecting to. I don’t think I could read a whole book of poetry at once – I would have to dip in and out of it between reading other books.
That’s what I think is going to be hard. In the spin instructions, they suggest you organize your choices a certain way. I know we’ve had a number come up from the first five at least once if not twice lately, so I was hoping the choice would come from one of the other sets of five.
I’d call that an excellent result – it’s years since I read the book, but I remember loving it.
I’m glad to hear that. I do have high hopes for it as I haven’t read a book by Daphne du Maurier yet that I haven’t enjoyed.
I’d love to read more Daphne Du Maurier. This one sounds very interesting with the glass-blowing connection; I’m always fascinated by books about arcane arts and crafts. Can’t wait to see what you think of it. And Robert Frost is wonderful too!
I’ve actually read another book about glass-blowing this year (The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato) but it was set in Venice, so I’m intrigued by the French setting of this one. I love reading about unusual crafts too!
I think yours may be less melodramatic than mine – The Old Curiosity Shop!
I haven’t read The Old Curiosity Shop (although I have attempted it once or twice) but I did watch an adaptation of it a few years ago. I think you can expect plenty of melodrama!
I’m happy to hear you are so excited about your spin book. I haven’t read this book, but it sounds very interesting. Enjoy! I got Three Men in a Boat, which I am happy with as well.
Thank you! I’ll be interested to hear what you think of Three Men in a Boat. I read it a few years ago and thought it was hilarious!
Like I said back on the Classics Blog – I have the Glass Blowers as Number 7 on my list. My number 5 is The Canterbury Tales. This is NOT going to be fun, I tell you!!!!
Good luck with The Canterbury Tales! I wasn’t brave enough to include it on my own Classics Club list, but I think I would like to read it one day. Maybe you’ll get The Glass-Blowers next time there’s a spin.
Aw congratulations, you got the perfect result. I love Daphne du Maurier too. I haven’t read The Glass-Blowers. I hope you enjoy it. I like the sound of the French setting. My result was a Sherlock Holmes novel 🙂
The two du Maurier novels on my list were the ones I was hoping for most, as it’s been a while since I last read any of her books. I hope you enjoy the Sherlock Holmes book!
Do you know, I think this must be the only one of her full length novels that I haven’t read. I shall be fascinated to see if you convince me that I should put that right. Everything else I read as an impressionable teenager and it is many many years since I could make that claim!
I only read two of du Maurier’s novels as a teenager – Rebecca and Jamaica Inn – and for some reason it never occurred to me to look for any of her others until just a few years ago. Fortunately I am still enjoying her books as an adult!
Have you read ‘The House on the Strand’? I set it for Summer School a couple of years ago and it stood up to re-reading really well. I can definitely recommend it.
Yes, The House on the Strand is one of my favourites! I’m glad to hear it stands up to re-reading. I think the only du Maurier novels I still haven’t read are The Glass-Blowers, Frenchman’s Creek and Mary Anne (and Castle Dor, though I know that one is partly Arthur Quiller-Crouch).
I haven’t read it, although I love du Maurier it’s one of the few I haven’t got around to. Can’t wait to find out what you think of it.
I’ve enjoyed everything else I’ve read by du Maurier and I like the sound of this one, so I’m very happy with my spin result!
Just like you, I have only read Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, but I certainly want to read more. Might squeeze a Du Maurier book in by the end of the year. I will investigate my mums shelf of them!