My bookish mates tend to have goals like “read one book per week” and “read more classics,” but when you are used to reading 200+ books per year, the vast majority of them classics, art books, or old forgotten things only of academic interest to those who love infuriating themselves with rubbish, it’s a tad hard to set challenging goals that aren’t absurd—you know, like reading 500 books per year, which isn’t possible to achieve unless you’re a) a speed-reader with a lot of time, b) a savant, or c) reading See Spot Run.
I don’t bring this up for bragging rights. The thing is, I was thinking, as I struggled to fall asleep last night, that it’d be a good idea to start finishing off all those unconquerable books that most people put off forever, whether it’s due to fear or hatred of old books or what have you. As a teacher in training, I want to make sure that I'm familiar with the world's greatest literature. My dilemma – if you could call being well-read a dilemma, or so joked a co-worker – is that I have read too many of them. I’ve knocked off The Odyssey, Moby-Dick, Great Expectations, and Paradise Lost so far this year, and later I’ll be reading Vanity Fair, Don Quixote, The Canterbury Tales, Anna Karenina, and a personal must-read, Aurora Leigh. I’m working on finishing the rest of Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series by the end of September; I’ve been reading five per month. I read at least one book by Dickens per month, and I’m doing the same with the rest of Eliot’s novels; Dickens will last into 2012, and I shall say farewell to Eliot in August.
Next year, I’ve Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Iliad on my list. Other than that, I’ve not a clue where to turn next. There MUST be some I’ve not read but have forgotten. There must be, but what are they? What do I do when there’s nothing left by Dickens, Zola, Eliot, Gaskell, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky? Where do I turn next? Dear readers of this blog, do you have any suggestions? Which “unconquerables” have you read and liked? What lesser-known classics do you love?
I'm probably not much of a help, because most of the books I want to avoid tend to be the 20th Century classics. I'm not big on the existentialists. At least not when high school students are made to read them.
ResponderEliminarI have the tendency of reading the books the period films I like are based on. Have you read Fielding or Sir Walter Scott? Somewhere I have Lorna Doone that I've been meaning to read. Alcott and Dumas both have a good size library, but I would imagine you've read some of those if you can get through 200 a year.
I hear you on the existentialists, Sarah. I’ve not read Fielding (I’ve since made a plan to tackle a lot of 18th century novels next year), but have read some Scott (Ivanhoe and The Bride of Lammermoor). Is there anything in particular you’d recommend by them? And you’ve been meaning to read Lorna Doone? Me too… for six years or so.
ResponderEliminarThanks so much! I completely forgot that Dumas père existed; I’ve never read any of his books, sadly. Do you have a favourite?
I've only read Ivanhoe. I had gotten a set of movies done between A&E and BBC (I think) that is the Romance Classics, and they are all based on literary works. It had Tom Jones, Lorna Doone and Ivanhoe, among others, so that gave me the urge to read those. Tom Jones was a bit difficult for me because of Squire Western. If you've seen it, basically Brian Blessed did a spot on delivery of how he's written. That's about the same amount of time I've been meaning to read Lorna Doone. One day...
ResponderEliminarI've read all five books in the Musketeer Saga, and what I realize now is an abridged 1980s version of The Count of Monte Cristo, and I really enjoyed all of those. But I mean to replace some of my yard or library sale copies with some to match the newer, unabridged ones, and reread them.