And there was an excellent British TV series of Brideshead Revisited back in the 80s, starring Jeremy Irons in one of his early roles.
Also loved the film version of A Room With a View, with Maggie Smith and Helena Bonham Carter (long before she became Bellatrix Lestrange).
Read both books back then.
The CC Book Club read A Room with a View. I love that movie – it captured the book so well!
You’re right. We haven’t tackled a classic this year. We’ve talked about Frankenstein and decided to put it off till fall. It would work this time around as discussion starts on Oct. 1 (with Halloween around the corner).
And I want to reread Anne of Green Gables with this group one of these days.
I’ve never read Somerset Maugham, but for the past 6 months or so I’ve been renewing my Libby ebook Of Human Bondage, which someone or something inspired me to check out! I would love it if our book club chose it so I’d have a reason to read it! There seem to be a lot of copies available online with no competition.
It’s great to see the enthusiasm for a classic! I’ll take all the comments into consideration and pare down the list to a handful for ranked choice voting.
I chose five books for Ranked Choice Voting. It was tough! But these five all generated interest or positive comments above, and they are all very different from each other, so lots of variety. In alphabetical order:
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850, Dickens favorite and most autobiographical novel, with a cast of memorable characters. I chose this over Great Expectations, in case anyone has recently read the retread, Demon Copperhead.)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818, the Mother of Gothic and Science Fiction novels and a controversial morality tale)
Goodbye Mr. Chips by James Hilton (1934, a massive hit when published, has been adapted for radio, film, theatre and televsion)
and [duet]
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark (1961, a sharp and sometimes dark take on the “inspirational teacher” story, on the 100 Best Novels lists from The Guardian, BBC, Time and Modern Library)
How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn (1939, story of a tight-knit Welsh mining community, winner of the National Book Award and basis for the Academy Award-winning film)
Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham (1915, a powerful bildungsroman widely considered Maugham’s masterpiece, which deeply influenced many later authors)
Here is the ballot – please rank all five in order of interest!
And here is the Results tally, but remember, the listed “Winner” is not the true winner until all votes are in. But I like to post the Results link right away because it’s fun to watch the numbers grow and the titles shift place.
Good morning! Our 18 voters (I think that’s a record) have declared the winner to be the duet: Goodbye Mr. Chips by James Hilton and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.
Both books should be readily available; each is less than 150 pages. If you’re a Kindle user, Goodbye Mr. Chips is only 75 cents today on Amazon.
Looking forward to this combo! I’ll start a new thread.
the bizarre thing is that he claims he doesn’t like spice, and skips over a lot of it. He mostly reads sci fi, thrillers and philosophy and science nonfiction.
In the above new thread, I referenced The Guardian’s list of 100 Best Novels of All Time. The 100 best novels of all time | Fiction | The Guardian
Of course, such rankings are always open for debate, but note that four of our contenders for this round – David Copperfield, Age of Innocence, Frankenstein and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – made the list.
And previously, we have read these list titles together: Middlemarch (#1!), Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Wuthering Heights, Things Fall Apart and Wide Sargasso Sea. Well done, peeps! 
Somehow I accidently skipped past the whole choosing a book part of this thread! Oh well. I’ve read both the choices but so long ago I don’t remember them. But I think I enjoyed both at the time. Some day, I’ll tackle David Copperfield!
We can keep David Copperfield in mind for a future classics selection!
And what books are you reading in the interim? Please tell!
And as always many thanks to @Mary13 for herding cats through another discussion. I’m proud to be a part of this book club.
I’m always playing catch-up with my reading – I’m currently mid-way through James by Percival Everett, which everyone here has probably already read!
Just started Theo of Golden. And I’m on pause in the middle of Yesteryear, which had to go back to the library. Not sure when it’ll come around again, so maybe it will be like visiting the past when I finally get it.
So many good books now !
Read Yesteryear - oh take the ride with that one - finished in couple days - whew !
The Calamity Club- a yes 
for this one -
Now reading Mad Mabel - so far so good
I also thought Yesteryear was quite the ride. It might be a fun book for a future month — I think it would generate a LOT of discussion.
I am reading a dreadful collection of Latin American Sci-fi stories. Unfortunately the editor seems to have a political axe to grind, there must be better ones! Happily I’m really enjoying T. J. Klune’s The House on the Cerulean Sea which is a nice cozy fantasy. Such a pleasure to like all the characters! I’m also reading the Emily Wilson translation of The Odyssey which I last read more than 50 years ago in the Fitzgerald translation. I just saw the movie and it’s been interesting to see that despite all the criticism I think he got more right than I had originally thought. I’d really forgotten how the story begins at the end. I have definitely forgotten a lot!