For the past two years, I’ve been keeping an ongoing list on my blog of what books I’ve read throughout the year. This year, I added little codes like “authors new to me” or “YA novels.” You can see them in the borders of this blog.
I started it in 2005 as a lark, but I wound up really loving the exercise, and what I learned from it. Not only does it help me remember books I read and when I read them, but it helps me remember all the books I read MORE. I also like making myself accountable for reading more books. It’s one of my favorite things about keeping this blog. (On the other hand, I find I’m much lazier about updating which movies I’ve seen, so I probably won’t try that again next year.) Last year, I read 52 books, one for each week. This year, I made the same goal, and surpassed it. (We’ll see by how much on December 31st.)
For 2007, I think I’m adding an extra challenge to my “book a week” diet. More classics. Despite my literature degree, I find I have a big gaping hole in my education where certain classic novels belong, so I’ve slowly started making a list of Classic Novels I Never Read But Probably Should. Here’s the list so far:
Moby Dick
East of Eden
The Trial
Catch-22
The Catcher in the Rye
Jane Eyre
anything by Virginia Woolf
I’m sure I’ll add more as the year goes on. (I’m equally sure I’ll get suggestions and warnings here; feel free).
In addition to the classic novels, I already have a whole bunch of “on deck” books to read in the coming year. My TBR pile is pretty much out of control.
Somewhat later, I’ll be posting my thoughts on my favorite books of the year, and also, because it’s December and that makes me reflective, I’ll post about my thoughts, a year later, of books from 2005.
December 14th, 2006 at 9:03 am
East of Eden is a fantastic book. Unfortunately, I am not very versed in the classics, but E of E was a loaner from my brother who highly recommended it! I hope you enjoy it.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 9:20 am
Yes, East of Eden is, in my opinion, the best of the lot. Have you read So Big by Edna Ferber? It’s a delightful story written in the Early 1920’s and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1924. I think I’ve read it about 15 times. So incredibly profound.
Teri
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 9:34 am
I haven’t picked up a book to read in a while now. I’m so happy it’s Christmas because that means some new books to read!!
I have Mrs. Dalloway on my bookshelf if you’d like to borrow it sometime. Just let me know and I can drop it in the mail to you.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 9:34 am
I find that I can’t remember which classics I’ve read. Shocking, I know! I used to think I hadn’t read that many and then I was in a discussion with my boyfriend about it and suddenly realized I’ve read a ton (if I can remember them). But it does make me wonder why I can be so forgetful about them…
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 9:36 am
Moby Dick, East of Eden, and Catch 22 are totally worth it. Catcher in the Rye, The Trial, and Jane Eyre I liked too, but wouldn’t put on a must-read list. For Virginia Wolfe, you’d probably enjoy Mrs. Dalloway.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 9:46 am
East of Eden is GREAT. I read it in high school. And I love, love, love Virginia Woolf. Moby Dick was a snooze for me.
Have fun! I’m reading book #47 so I hope I can hit 50 books (my goal) this year.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Thanks, TJ! I’ll have to check it out.
Apparently, E of E is very popular around here.
Annie, you can send Dalloway along with the art you owe me… or was that the pic of Bilbo?
Max, I knew i’d have your vote for Steinbeck! When are we getting together? Also, for the blog readers that don’t know, Max has read probably more classics than anyone else that I know, with the possible exception of Harold Bloom. When we took our “western canon” curriculum together freshman year, she’d already read a lot of them.
I feel like I should read Eyre because it’s romance, and I haven’t.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 9:54 am
I was also a lit major, and the only books on your list that I did read are Jane Eyre (multiple times – love that book, but still think Tenant of Wildfell Hall was better – one of other Bronte’s wrote it), Catcher in the Rye, and a Virginia Woolf book (I think it was To the Lighthouse – obviously very memorable
). I have to confess I’ve never read a Jane Austen book. I keep planning to, but so many romances, so little time… Like you, my TBR pile has been piled high for months – and the freebies from RWA and from my editor do nothing to help matters.
As for tracking books, my friend keeps an excel spreadsheet where she tracks the letter grade and notes the publisher of the book.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 10:08 am
I agree that keeping a list of books read is helpful – been doing it for a few years. Now I’m gonna have to go back and see if I’m up to the book-per-week standard.
A pet peeve of mine – like yours on the abuse of “begging the question,” with which I am in total agreement – is that so few people get the title of “Moby-Dick” right. It has a hyphen, people.
Which reminds me of the time many years ago when I found a First Edition of M-D in the circulating stacks of Sterling Memorial Library at Yale (and yes, having sex in the stacks was already a tradition back in the ’60s…I also recall a session in the Jonathan Edwards College library, using a window seat overlooking the garden of a certain secret society…but I digress); I took the book down to the main desk and suggested it should be transferred to the Beinecke Rare Book Library. Oh, no, said the librarians – we don’t have enough circulating copies of M-D, so please put it back on the shelf.
So if you want to read the First Edition of M-D, you now know where to find it. (P.S. – it’s OK to skip some of the whaley/blubbery bits.)
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 10:08 am
First of all, I truly admire your book-a-week thing. You’ve inspired me to do the same.
Second, even though I was an English major, I, too, felt this big hole in my classics knowledge. A friend of mine taught high school English, and she gave me a list to get started–Count of Monte Cristo (which I know you love), East of Eden (I’m with all the people here–LOVED it), and everything by Charles Dickens.
I have to say, it’s Dickens I learned the most from. The fact that he was writing those as serials–and that everyone from scholars to shipyard workers couldn’t wait to find out if Little Nell lived–made a huge impression on me. To be both literary and accessible is a real feat.
Plus, he was enormously productive, and I want that, too. So if you haven’t read everything by Dickens, include that, please. You’ll be inspired, too.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 10:21 am
Hmmm, I’m looking at my beautiful illustrated boxed heritage 1940s edition of Moby Dick, and the title does not have a hyphen.
It is titled exactly as follows:
MOBY DICK; or The Whale
Perhaps subsequent editions dropped the hyphen in the title becuase the whale’s name in the text does not have a hyphen? Who knows… Maybe because the movie had no hyphen, mush like rereleasing books with the movie poster on the cover.
I have read some Dickens — a whole book of sketches, a bunch of novellas, Great Expectations,Martin Chuzzlewit, Two Cities…but it hasn’t been since high school.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 10:27 am
Catch 22 is required reading around my house. I don’t think one can properly assume the rank of adulthood without the understanding of the world it brings.
Which isn’t to say that people don’t do okay without it…but I suspect they think the world makes sense. Wrong.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Hmmm. If I begin reading a long book now and finish it during the first week of January, will that count as a 2007 read?
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 11:20 am
I loved Thackery’s Vanity Fair. You might add that if you haven’t had a chance. It is like a classic YA
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 11:33 am
I LOVE Catch-22. I keep multiple copies so I can hand it to people. I know it’s about War, but when I read it I was in High School and I saw a lot of similarities.
East of Eden is also fantastic. I also like the movie version with James Dean.
I hate Kafka, but something about The Trail stuck with me, so I can’t say I wish I’d never read it.
I read Virginia Woolf’s Orlando and enjoyed it well enough.
And I could never get far in Jane Eyre.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Have you ever read E.M. Forster’s A Room With a View? It’s absolutely beautiful and a must-add to your list.
I followed your lead this year and kept track. I’m up to 40 books, so I fear I’ll fall short, but I like seeing what I’ve read throughout the year and I think I’ll do it again.
= )
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Oh, a book a week is a great idea! I’m going to try that. I’m an English-literature major and my list of classics that I’ve read is a bit lacking, as well.
Happy Holidays!
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
I loved Moby Dick (hyphen or no hypen…my copy has no hyphen either and it’s 20 years old at least.) I didn’t expect to, that’s for sure, but Melville was a damned good writer. His “Bartleby the Scrivener” will remain one of my favorite short stories forever…even my husband, a most non-literary type, will say, “I prefer not to” when I ask him to take out the garbage.
I have no classics to offer you…I swore that once I quit teaching, I would never ever read another classic again. Nine years later, I’ve held true. Maybe you’ll inspire me to change my mind.
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 2:04 pm
I also followed Diana’s lead with keeping tabs of the books I’ve read this year (on my blog even). I haven’t updated it in a while but I think I’m now up to 48ish. Too close to give up – I’ll have to kick it into gear. With the holidays coming up I’ll get lots and lots and lots of reading done! Yay!
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 3:51 pm
Some of my favorite classics aren’t orginally in English. Love the Latin American authors, like Garcia Marquez, Allende etc. My all time favorite is One Hundred Years of Solitude. Reading it out loud is lots of fun…
Glenn recommends Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens. I remember him staying up reading in bed after work and laughing a lot during this one.
Elizabeth
[Reply]
December 14th, 2006 at 6:46 pm
I think your ‘Books I’ve Read’ column is a great idea–I even considered adding a similar column to my own blog, but then got lazy and forgot about it.
I’d like to remember what all I’ve read in a year, but lately, my reading is falling waaay behind. I admire you for keeping up with reading a book in a week!
[Reply]
December 15th, 2006 at 12:18 pm
East of Eden is a great book, and the movie is a lot of fun as well. Pretty much the definition of a family epic. Catch-22 is also very good, although for very different reasons. However, it took me a very long time to get through – it’s not hard, but I found it to be a slow read. Nothing really happens in the plot, which is the point of the book. Catcher in the Rye is totally worth reading, as is Frannie and Zooey one of his other (lesser-known) books. I find Franny a bit more sympathetic than Holden though.
And my copy of Moby-Dick does have a hyphen – 1976 edition reprinted in 2003.
[Reply]
December 15th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
I read Franny and Zooey last year. The main thing I took from it was that they NEVER STOPPED SMOKING. Jeez, Zooey was smoking in the firckin bathtub.
[Reply]
December 15th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Definitely read East of Eden and Jane Eyre. LOVE both.
Not sure I’d recommend Moby Dick. I read it in my twenties and found it dry then.
I have a collection of classics (100 of them) and petered out about halfway through reading them. The Shakespeare tragedies did it to me, even though I far prefer the tragedies to the histories. I made it through the damn histories, I made it through Darwin and Moby Dick, why can’t I make it through the tragedies? I’ve read half of them before, in university–maybe that’s why.
I’m now telling myself if I read just one play at a time instead of the whole lot I can go to another classic inbetween. Using this theory, Moliere has sat on my nightstand for a month while I do I my romance “market survey” reading, which is about all my brain can absorb right now. I tell myself that when my kids leave home and I have more personal writing time, THEN I’ll have more brain energy to devote to reading the classics again.
It’s nice to fool myself.
Cindy
[Reply]