True confessions time...well, maybe just one... or a category of sorts. These are books that everyone would assume that I have read...but I haven't. I was a voracious reader as a child (gives me a vocabulary that includes "voracious") and could read several books in a day.By the fifth grade I read Michener (Hawaii...and really I only recall the the part about the creation of the islands...it is entirely possible I never finished it!). And a good bit of Shakespeare... And so it may surprise my family and friends to know that there are several classic novels that I never bothered to pick up.
Though it is entirely possible that I wrote a book report on several of them (and gotten As). (I know that "As" is the plural of one A. But it looks better as "A's". However, I know that is wrong and to honor my apostrophe watching friend Michelle - I shall leave it as it is.)
That rabbit trail almost derailed my confession.
I'm currently finishing "The Help" - a character in it reads "To Kill a Mockingbird" (has to get it brought to her from the white library). And I was struck (again...) with the fact that I've never read it. So, I'm taking a copy to the beach and reading it.
And - knowing that I can polish off a book at the beach in about a day - I am trying to decide what other classic literature I skipped (or forgot) that I would like to take along. I understand that there is a building in town with books...and they just loan them out! Remarkable.
So - here is a list of books that I don't remember reading...that people seem to think are pretty good: Gone with the Wind (yeah...Karen...breathe...I never saw the movie either. And frankly my dear, didn't give a damn. But maybe I should!); Catcher in the Rye (I understand it is not about baseball or bakeries...); Pride and Prejudice (scrolling through her works on Amazon...don't think I ever gave old Jane Austen a shot.)
Wow...pulled up a couple of lists of "the top books everyone should read" (oh Mighty Google...)...I didn't read a LOT of them...what the heck?
I DO remember the book "51 Sycamore Lane". It was about a kid who thought a lady in his neighborhood was a spy. And she had a chicken. And I remember a book about a house that was secretly heated by a volcano in the basement...(and found it by deep and time consuming research! The Finches' Fabulous Furnace!! {which - Michelle will be pleased to see - uses both the correct pluralization AND possession of the Finch family!!})
Okay - so, now that secret is out. What is the ONE book that you think I should not miss? Maybe I've read it...looks like chances are likely - I have not. (oh...but I have read the Bible...so think of something else.)
Meanwhile...I have a new Archie comic. Catch you later.
Pride and Prejudice. I also think you might consider buying, renting, borrowing or otherwise obtaining the 6 hour A&E production with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. They go together very, very well - read then watch. Although this is a combination that can be watch then read - that way you have some amazing images in your head. Either way - combine the two somehow. Once in while the visual media gets it right.
ReplyDeletebooks books books, yeah yeah... but a new archie comic. LOVE that!!
ReplyDeleteJack and I have copies of both 51 Sycamore Lane AND the Finches Fabulous Furnace... though now that i think of it we may have passed them on to the Smallshaw boys - some terrific readers!
ReplyDeleteHemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" is one of my favorites and Steinbeck's The Pearl. Pick up the Reader's Digest condensed versions of any of these. OR Classic audio books... those are always good. The Secret Garden, and yes, read Jane Austen and while you're at it, pick up the Bronte sister's Wuthering Heights OR Jane Eyre. Oh... so much to read!