Brendan just presented me with The List. Of the 26 titles listed, there are four I haven't read at some point. Those are:
Ethan Frome
Cry the Beloved Country
Things Fall Apart
Poisonwood Bible
I can see the reason for the inclusion of the others, even though there are some on there I didn't actually like, The Great Gatsby, for one.
There are several on there that are not comfortable reads--as a matter of fact, most are not. I was interested to see a couple of modern interpretations of The Matter of Britain (King Arthur) on the list--The Once and Future King, as well as The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, and The Wicked Day, by Mary Stewart. She was considered a "fluff" writer when I was young. Glad to see her get a bit of respect, along with the stories of Arthur and his knights.
Ray Bradbury has two on the list, Fahrenheit 451, and Dandelion Wine, and Orwell's 1984 is there, as well. Thanks for the nod to science fiction; also a no-no when I was a kid.
The Lord of the Rings is there, and The Chronicles of Narnia, and, enigmatically, "any two of the Harry Potter series."
These join such respected works as:
The Scarlet Letter
Huckleberry Finn
Grapes of Wrath
Red Badge of Courage
All Quiet on the Western Front
and Edith Hamilton's Mythology.
It seems that the schools are trying to teach something of value, or values, after all.
I'm off to Half Price Books to stock up. I have all the King Arthur stuff, of course, and Huckleberry Finn, but haven't kept copies of the rest.
I'm also still searching for 14 sets of hot rollers and about 25 pairs of seamed stockings that have apparently vanished into thin air. This means working my way through a couple of storage units, a garage, and an attic or two.
Of the four books you haven't read I possess three of them (not Ethan Frome) and I haven't read them either. I've started the two African writers and I enjoy Kingsolver but I haven't read that one. To continue the African theme - I first read Kingsolver on an African holiday.
ReplyDeleteI've read very few African books. I did read that one about the South African boxer--can't remember the title at the moment. Maybe after coffee...
ReplyDeleteHi Ronni :-)
ReplyDeleteHannah here. I just found your blog today for the first time -- you go, girl! I read Poisonwood Bible and loved it. It's one of my top 10 all-time favorite books, and by far my favorite Kingsolver (of those I've read so far).
I'm not a huge fantasy book fan, but despite that I devoured the scifi you mentioned, the Tolkien books, the Narnia series, and all the Harry Potters -- if you haven't gotten to them yet, they're easy reads and highly recommended. Right now I'm reading Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, nonfiction about a physician practicing in Haiti. Excellent.
See you over on the other blog!
Hi, Hannah! Thanks for dropping in!
ReplyDeleteI have all the Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and more King Arthur than any one person should. I also have almost everything Robert Heinlein ever wrote (if I don't have it, my daughter does).
I love to read.
I really love books by Thomas Hardy. His descriptive prose is so beautiful. In one book, he talks about how much the people at that time had to actually walk everywhere everyday, so that they knew the trees not by sight but by the sound their leaves made when the wind clapped them together. That reminds me of being a kid and spending so much time in the woods on my grandparents' farm. He also wrote a poem about the Titanic, which is probably the best and most interesting poem I have ever seen about its sinking and fate.I can't find my copy of it this instant, but maybe you could look it up on the internet.
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