Monday, August 10, 2009

Books

I've come to the realization that I watch too much tv. It's ridiculous. It's insane. It's embarrassing. And I need to be stopped!!!

So, I decided that books need to come back into my life. When I was younger I could read a couple books a day. Hours upon hours I would spend reading. So much so that I am now the proud wearer of glasses. Well, at least that contributed to me needing glasses according to the doctor!

Now it's very easy for me to pick up a mystery novel and finish that in a day or two, but I wanted to challenge myself. I wanted to read books that were significant, recognizable, important, etc., so I decided to try reading books off the Time's 100 All-Time Best Novels list.

Here's the ones I've read so far (don't laugh at the small number- I'm embarrassed enough):

* Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (loved this book as a kid, read it several times)

*Lord of the Flies by William Golding (it disturbed me, 10th Grade Honors English)

*Native Son by Richard Wright (don't remember a lot about this book, 11th Grade Honors English)

*The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinback (sad story, the last chapters really stuck with me)

*The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Another 11th grade English read)

*Their Eyes Were Watching God (another 11th grade English read)

I've got a lot of reading to catch up on. Now, I know I'm not going to get through all 100 novels, because there will be certain books that I just do not care for, i.e. The Lord of the Rings. But I'm going to try my best to get through the majority of them. I might add a ticker to my sidebar- to help encourage me along.

I'm also supplementing the list with the BBC's Top 100 Best-Loved Novels. This list has a mixture of popular books, kids books and classics. I think when I need a break from the classics of the Time's list I might grab a book from here.

I've fared slightly better with this list:

*Harry Potter series (love them all, could read them over and over again)

* Jane Eyre

*Wuthering Heights (Heathcliff and Katherine- tragic)

*The Grapes of Wrath

*The Great Gatsby

*Of Mice and Men

*Memoirs of a Geisha (they fooled me- I thought it was a "real" story and not fiction)

*Lord of the Flies

All right friends- I'm off to finish A Passage to India.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Cool idea. Right now I'm reading the Twilight series, and I love it!

Move In Ready Home! said...

Wow! Read on girl. I would love to join in this adventure but I have far too many tv shows to catch up on...John and Kate Plus 8, Design Star, The Office. Hey, somebody's got to do it :)

lfb1992 said...

i LOVE the great gatsby & of mice and men!