Wait, what was I saying?
Oh. Right.
Anyway, we were sitting around until about 1 p.m. in our jammies talking about cabbages and kings and whether pigs have wings ... and about reading and classics. I realized that I have a handful of certifiable classics which I really want to read but that I keep acting as if the Reading Fairy is going to drop extra time and a book on my lap when I'll suddenly begin reading.
Bravely taking responsibility on myself, I made a list.
I love making lists. Don't you? And crossing things off them.
I'm super excited to begin The Brothers Karamazov. SUPER! EXCITED!
Then those lists came up in conversation over at A Good Story is Hard to Find so I put together an actual blog page. Which I'm sharing here.
So here are my "must reads" ... I may not get through all of them in 2012, but I will be trying to always be reading one of them despite other distractions. In no particular order.
(By the way, Scott is also making a list with a bit of a different twist. Check it out at his blog, Rivets and Trees.)
2012 Classics
- The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky (begun on Jan. 1 - dropped in a few weeks. Looking for either an audio version or a different translation as I just couldn't connect with that one, though I read 150 pages.)
- Bleak House- Dickens
- Middlemarch - Eliot
- Belly of Paris (Emile Zola)
- Last Call - Tim Powers (not a true classic, I know ... but still a "challenging" read which is what all these are for me)
- A Movable Feast - Hemingway
- The Four Quartets - T.S. Eliot
- Wuthering Heights
- Introduction to the Devout Life - St. Francis de Sales
- The Way of Perfection - St. Teresa of Avila
- The Sabbath - Abraham Heschel
- Introduction to Christianity - Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI)
- Joan of Arc - Mark Twain
- The Sand Pebbles
- Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury
- Fire and Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones
- Lark Rise - Flora Thompson
- A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bryson
- Keeping House: The Litany of Everyday Life - Margaret Kim Peterson
- On Pilgrimage - Jennifer Lash
- Twain's Feast - Beahrs
- Politically Incorrect Guide to English and American Literature
Finished January 30, 2012.
8 brave one(s) among us:
The Heschel book is lovely. You. Will. Like.
be sure to read the Pevear/Volkhonsky translation of Brothers K. They are sublime. Everything else is dishwater.
Could not get into Middlemarch. But Eliot. Ah, you should re-read Four Quartets every month!
Great list, Julie!
Middlemarch took Rose several months as she put it down a couple of times for a break and then would pick it back up again. However, she kept reading me choice tidbits and the expression on her face when she was talking about a character who was a saint toward the end ... I've never seen her look so enthused, joyful ... perhaps infused is the right word. Anyway, I wanted to see what put that look on her face. :-)
I always love T. S. Eliot, but do you know what I love more? Lists!! It looks like a great 2012!
You've never read Wuthering Heights? Goodness, that's a must and I can't imagine someone not enjoying that. Brothers K is awesome. I rank it in the top ten greatest works. Plus it's remarkably funny without it being obviously funny. A Movable Feast is one of Hemingway's best. And I agree with Margaret above on The Four Quartets. I read it frequently myself. In my opinion, it's the finest work of poetry in English in the 20th century.
I was surprised you included Twain's Joan of Arc in the religious readings. I've never read it and had assumed it was more of his satire. I looked it up and it's not. I may have to pick it up myself.
Jenny ... same here! Lists, glorious lists! :-D
Manny ... Rose told me the plot to Wuthering Heights as she read it and we both agreed it was the worst love story ever, which was what all modern commentary said that we'd seen. Then, recently I heard Joseph Pearce on Discerning Hearts podcast as part of his Great Literature series. He explained that it was Bronte's reaction to Shelley and the gang's Romance movement, specifically to their concept of love and marriage. Suddenly the book came into focus for both Rose and me and now I'm curious to read it.
Twain evidently revered St. Joan of Arc and this book has been hailed as a masterpiece. I think he researched it for 14 years? Though I may be wrong.
Some times the raw plot of a novel is not the most interesting part of the work. True, the plot of Wuthering Heights is probably like any other romance. But the characters are so distinct and intense. And the prose is really solid too. I also think that the way Emily Bronte disjoints the plot is creative and adds to the intensity, and I think contributes to the themes.
I have the (apparently abridged) audio version of Bryson's "A Short History..."; it's a great listen and is read by the author.
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