I have made it a priority to read the Classics lately. Through my teen years I often had a difficult time grasping the messages and themes in most classic novels. I remember practically gluing my eyes open to get through A Tale Of Two Cities in 7th grade. During my college years, my appreciation for good, solid, timeless literature was born. The only problem then was that I had a deadline and on average read 800-1000 pages per week. Needless to say, I did not have the luxury of savoring the material.
I do have more time now but recognize that I still have to make reading a priority or it just doesn't happen. Raising young children is emotionally and often physically draining. I find reading is the perfect anecdote to alleviate stress and calm my often frazzled self.
Here is my list of favorites (in order):
1. East of Eden By: John Steinbeck
(fyi: This one is sexually explicit--I can't remember how or why exactly but I just remember it is. Is it bad that it's my number one?! oops.)
2. Anna Karenina By: Leo Tolstoy
(tough to put this in the number 2 spot)
3. Frankenstein By: Mary Shelley
(I know, I know...read it before you judge it, though--Mary was only 16 when she wrote this masterpiece!)
4. Wuthering Heights By: Emily Bronte
(She was the Bronte sister to publish only one book...she chose quality over quantity)
5. Les Miserables By: Victor Hugo
(I am not ashamed to admit I read the abridged version--the full text is a beast)
6. Jane Eyre By: Charlotte Bronte
On my list to read:
The Count of Monte Cristo By: Alexander Dumas
Middlemarch By: George Eliot
1984 By: George Orwell
Happy Reading :)
Painting by: Charles Edward Perugini
8 comments:
I love you. Your a great wife. Happy reading.
How sweet Brandon!
Great suggestions, I will definitely pick up the Steinbeck one...not because it is sexually explicit though (wink wink). Us Mormons have to get our naughty in somewhere.
Oh yeah, I was totally listening to your playlist full blast on my computer as I painted our office for hours by myself. I was thinking about you the whole time, thinking "This song is soooo Joan!" and I loved it...then I thought it was weird that I was thinking about you so much while painting...but in a good not weird way. We haven't even seen each other in almost five years! five years?! Thank heavens for blogs.
k, I'm done now.
Yay for Joan! You little book worm, you. The library called the other day to say the book I requested is available and I can't even remember what it is! HA! How sad is that! Guess I better brush up on my books too. Oh well... another day. xoxo
Sweet post! Thanks! East of Eden... nice book. I'm really wanting to read Wuthering Heights, but yeah, time... I struggle getting it. I need more!!! If you can figure out how to fix that let me know please.
I've actually been on the same classic literature kick as well-I'm reading Les Mis. And the counte of monte cristo is wonderful, make sure you read the unabridge version (at least that's the advice someone had given me) I've been reading children classics as well. And you didn't miss the boat. I just started telling people who don't see me often that I'm pregnant-19 weeks.
LOVE LOVE LOVE East of Eden. I'm glad it's your number one. My BFF recommended it to me and I couldn't put it down . . . I think it's Steinbeck at his best. Thanks for the list.
Clicked over here from Bloom--and just had to tell you that I love Middlemarch! Another great one along similar lines is Thackeray's Vanity Fair.
I'm always so happy to find a fellow classics-lover! I think the real reason why I got my master's in English was just so I could get credit for reading all the time. :-)
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