How literature comes again to the rescue: A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift, 1729
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
1.09.2012
A year to visit the classics
As I write this I am also watching the first episode of the second season for Downton Abbey on PBS. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the first four episodes last year and I am anticipating much the same for this season. I highly recommend the series. God bless PBS for actually making movies and shows that I actually have a desire to watch (because Hollywood sure isn't!)
So what I am thinking of doing this year is reading some classics that I didn't have the opportunity to tackle during my school days. After being forced to read specific works during school courses, I disliked looking too closely at the literary canon. In fact I shunned it. I purposely avoided anything that looked more than 50 years old after I graduated.
Now I believe I am ready to return to those authors and novels that are part of the literary canon. I want some wildly romantic stuff. I want darkness and treachery. I want saucy language. I want uptight drawing room conversations. I want farmers, kings, and merchants. I want peasants, ladies, and brats. Anything with a broad vocabulary will suffice!
Authors I'd like to tackle:
1. George Eliot.
2. Sir Walter Scott.
3. Alexandre Dumas.
4. Mary Shelley.
5. Charles Dickens.
6. Jonathan Swift.
7. Thomas Hardy.
There are quite a few books under those names which I have not yet read. And, maybe I'll even revisit those I read a long time ago.
It would be noticeable that I did not post Melville on my list. Why? Because I would rather stick a fork in my eye than read such dry, ponderous amounts of nothing. I made it through my entire set of schooling without having had to pick up Moby Dick--a fact of which I am immensely proud! And, unless the planet goes spinning off into the void, I never will.
I think I will start with Ivanhoe.
So what I am thinking of doing this year is reading some classics that I didn't have the opportunity to tackle during my school days. After being forced to read specific works during school courses, I disliked looking too closely at the literary canon. In fact I shunned it. I purposely avoided anything that looked more than 50 years old after I graduated.
Now I believe I am ready to return to those authors and novels that are part of the literary canon. I want some wildly romantic stuff. I want darkness and treachery. I want saucy language. I want uptight drawing room conversations. I want farmers, kings, and merchants. I want peasants, ladies, and brats. Anything with a broad vocabulary will suffice!
Authors I'd like to tackle:
1. George Eliot.
2. Sir Walter Scott.
3. Alexandre Dumas.
4. Mary Shelley.
5. Charles Dickens.
6. Jonathan Swift.
7. Thomas Hardy.
There are quite a few books under those names which I have not yet read. And, maybe I'll even revisit those I read a long time ago.
It would be noticeable that I did not post Melville on my list. Why? Because I would rather stick a fork in my eye than read such dry, ponderous amounts of nothing. I made it through my entire set of schooling without having had to pick up Moby Dick--a fact of which I am immensely proud! And, unless the planet goes spinning off into the void, I never will.
I think I will start with Ivanhoe.
1.02.2012
Oh, snow.
Yesterday, the temperature dropped all day and we had a smattering of snow and rain which caused a lot of slide off accidents on the roads. And today, I woke to find this...
While it is not the end of the world, it is enough to make me put on a sweater and snuggle in a blanket! What a good day for hot cocoa...
And a good book! I pledged to read 40 books this year for Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge. I managed 42 last year (my goal was 40) so I feel it is solid goal to aim for. I'd like to hit 50, but I'll consider that a bonus.
I've got the second, third, and fourth audiobook in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I just finished the first book, The Eye of the World, before Christmas. Those should kick off my challenge quite nicely. There are a total of 11 before Jordan died and the series is being closed out by Brandon Sanderson who has completed two novels and a third is due out some time this year. That should cover at least 13 of my 40.
Robin Hobb also has a Rain Wild Chronicle book coming out this February. I am jumping up and down for this like a little girl!
OK. Off to do some writing...
PS. You will note that my camera still thinks it is yesterday. Apparently it was having far too much fun on New Year's to consider a new date...
While it is not the end of the world, it is enough to make me put on a sweater and snuggle in a blanket! What a good day for hot cocoa...
And a good book! I pledged to read 40 books this year for Goodreads 2012 Reading Challenge. I managed 42 last year (my goal was 40) so I feel it is solid goal to aim for. I'd like to hit 50, but I'll consider that a bonus.
I've got the second, third, and fourth audiobook in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. I just finished the first book, The Eye of the World, before Christmas. Those should kick off my challenge quite nicely. There are a total of 11 before Jordan died and the series is being closed out by Brandon Sanderson who has completed two novels and a third is due out some time this year. That should cover at least 13 of my 40.
Robin Hobb also has a Rain Wild Chronicle book coming out this February. I am jumping up and down for this like a little girl!
OK. Off to do some writing...
PS. You will note that my camera still thinks it is yesterday. Apparently it was having far too much fun on New Year's to consider a new date...
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