Saturday, January 24, 2009

Weekly Geeks 2009-03: Classics

It feels so good to be back participating in Dewey's Weekly Geeks! This week's assignment:

1) How do you feel about classic literature? Are you intimidated by it? Love it? Not sure because you never actually tried it? Don't get why anyone reads anything else? Which classics, if any, have you truly loved? Which would you recommend for someone who has very little experience reading older books? Go all out, sell us on it!

3) Let's say you're vacationing with your dear cousin Myrtle, and she forgot to bring a book. The two of you venture into the hip independent bookstore around the corner, where she primly announces that she only reads classic literature. If you don't find her a book, she'll never let you get any reading done! What contemporary book/s with classic appeal would you pull off the shelf for her?

I have to admit that it's rare for me to read a classic for fun. Being an English major I get assigned to read them often and I usually hate assigned reading. Not because of the material but because it's assigned, there's a deadline and a several-hundred word required essay involved. . .

There are classics I love like To Kill A Mockingbird, East of Eden, Of Mice and Men, The Bluest Eye, and The Tempest. I have little experience reading classics but being a blogger, you can't help but want to read them after reading the great reviews of your blogging friends. So I have books by Austen, Bronte, Wells, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Eliot, and others on my TBR list and shelves.

My cousin wouldn't be named Myrtle but probably something starting with a "T" because my mother and many aunts were going through a "T" phase in the 1970s and '80s, so all seven or eight of us girls have names that sound alike. . . That's another story I'll tell you guys one day. But if my cousin wanted me to find her a book that I think have classical appeal it would be The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I read it two years ago and it is still the only book that had me talking to myself about the plot and characters when I wasn't reading it.

5 comments:

Bernadette said...

Such a shame that reading a book for study seems to ruin it. But thanks for the tip about The Thirteenth Tale it looks like my kind of thing especially as there's a mystery element.

claire said...

I hope you have a blast with your soon-to-be-read classics!

Ali said...

Fine, we'll call your cousin Tyrtle.

I saw The Thirteenth Tale mentioned in someone else's answer, too--sounds like a good one!

Vasilly said...

Bernadette: My online book club, The Well-Read Ladies, are reading it for next month. You're welcome to join us.

http://wellreadladies.blogspot.com

Claire: Thanks!

Ali: I never thought of that! hahaha
Tyrtle it is! The Thirteenth Tale is a great read.

Iliana said...

I don't typically reach for classics either but I'm trying to change that as well. And, I think it's true that reading such enthusiastic reviews about classics from fellow book bloggers makes you want to read them more.