Earlier in the week, I shared a post with my list of books for the newest Classics Club Spin challenge (see it here), and today, this spin’s number was announced. (For those keeping track, it’s CCSpin #42, and for me personally, #14!)

Hosted by The Classics Club blog, the Classics Club Spin is a reading adventure where participants come up with a list of classics they’d like to read, number them 1 to 20, and then read the book that corresponds to the “spin” number that comes up.

For CCSpin #42, the lucky number is:

And that means I’ll be reading:

My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
Published 1901

Synopsis:

‘The fierce, irreverent novel of aspiration and rebellion that is both a cornerstone of Australian literature and a feminist classic

Miles Franklin began the candid, passionate, and contrary My Brilliant Career when she was only sixteen, intending it to be the Australian answer to Jane Eyre . But the book she produced-a thinly veiled autobiographical novel about a young girl hungering for life and love in the outback-so scandalized her country upon its appearance in 1901 that she insisted it not be published again until ten years after her death.

And from another edition:

Trapped on her parents’ farm in the hardscrabble Australian outback, sixteen-year-old Sybylla Melvyn loves the bush but not the toil it brings. She longs for refinement, and most of all she longs to achieve great things.

Suddenly she falls under the gaze of wealthy, handsome Harry Beecham and finds herself choosing between the conventional path of marriage and her plans for a ‘brilliant career’.

My Brilliant Career has been on my to-read list for a few years now. I don’t recall exactly how I first came across this book, but I believe it’s thanks to stumbling across it on someone else’s blog! I’m always up for exploring more Australian fiction, and this early 20th century classic sounds like a book that’s right up my alley

For my 2025 spins, I’ve been focusing on 20th century literature — inspired by a reading challenge to read (at least) one book from each decade of the century. My Brilliant Career was originally published in 1901, and helps me check off one of my remaining decades!

I’m excited to start My Brilliant Career — probably in a few weeks, after I finish up a few more ARCs for upcoming new releases. The deadline to finish this spin book is December 21st, which gives me plenty of time. I’ll be back with my reaction before then.

What do you think of my spin result this time around?

Here’s my list of 20 titles for Classics Club Spin #42:

1. The House on the Strand by Daphne DuMaurier
2. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
3. A Damsel in Distress by P. G. Wodehouse
4. The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart
5. This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart
6. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
7. White Fang by Jack London
8. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
9. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
10. The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
11. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
12. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
13. The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
14. Frederica by Georgette Heyer
15. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West
16. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
17. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin
18. A Damsel in Distress by P. G. Wodehouse
19. The House on the Strand by Daphne DuMaurier
20. My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin

My previous Classics Club Spin books:

Are you participating in this Classics Club Spin? If so, what book will you be reading?