Have You Read the Must-Reads?
The lovely Karine brought up a great idea: we should confess what we’ve read on the ‘must read books in 2006’ list,
and tell what we thought about them.
Here is the original entry, with Karine’s list.
The list, with my responses:
1. War and Peace: Could there be a more cliché suggestion for a must-read list? Yes, I read it. I didn’t hate it, though as far as the Russian greats go, I enjoy Dostoevsky and Gogol more than Tolstoy.
2. The Grapes of Wrath: I liked this one. I read it in high school, and after being exposed to the mind-numbing boredom that is The Pearl, Steinbeck nicely redeemed himself here. Plus, the Oakies reminded me of many of my relatives.
3. Pride and Prejudice: Oh, how I love those Austen creations! And Elizabeth is likely my favorite heroine of the genre. If you haven’t read this, get thee to a library now!
4. Great Expectations: I enjoyed this very much, though of course I’m a total Dickens whore. (hee.) Sweet Pip, and mean Estella, and the wonderfully wacky Miss Havisham…the cobweb-covered wedding cake still stands out in my mind as one of the most brilliant touches in literature.
5. The Brothers Karamazov: I almost read this one, but I had been on a recent Russian literature craze and needed a break. Did it have something to do with trapezes?
6. The House on Mango Street: Um…I never heard of this one. Is that bad?
7. 1984: Oh, boy. Was anyone ever not forced to read this one? Not bad, though I thought Winston was a wuss for being scared of rats. How are you going to escape a totalitarian society if you can’t even handle a few rodents, bud?
8. The Color Purple: A beautiful work. I read it so long ago, but remember how Walker managed to fuse together devastation and humor. The movie actually didn’t poo all over the book, for a change.
9. Madame Bovary: Poor Emma. Her husband was such a tool! No wonder she killed herself. But couldn’t she have done it more pleasantly?
10. Catch 22: I don’t think I ever read this one. It’s about war, right? I hate war stories.
11. Wuthering Heights: Oh, those wonderful Bronte sisters. Emily is actually my least favorite of the three. I enjoyed the book, though Catherine and Heathcliff both needed a good slap to stop their caterwauling.
12. The Moonstone: I never read this and probably won’t. I’m not big on detective stories, especially not when it has eleven (!) different narrators.
13. Treasure Island: I read this when I was a kid, and spent the summer looking for buried treasure. Of course.
14. Twelfth Night: This was okay, though I think The Merchant of Venice is a far superior Shakespeare comedy.
15. Redburn: Melville. That’s all I needed to know. Moving on.
16. The Awakening: Why does this sound so familiar? I swear I never read it…
17. The Joy Luck Club: Delightful, a fun read all the way through. The humor is there, but what makes it special is the love that shines through.
18. The Bell Jar: Oh, my. Sylvia was a determined young lady, wasn’t she? All that sticking of her head into ovens…she mostly failed in her suicide attempts but at least her hair was dry! Seriously, it was better than I thought it’d be. I have strange recollections though…I don’t remember any of the ‘big’ plot points or themes. The things I remember are Sylvia scamming her way out of a science (?) class, the gory IUD experience, and how good the chicken soup seemed.
19. The BFG: I haven’t read this, but I will. I love Dahl!
20. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings: I read this when I was very young, and remember crying about how life was so unfair to little girls.
21. The Magic Mountain: No.
22. Slaughterhouse-Five: I don’t think I read this one.
23. Little Women: Love, love, love it!!!! I have a tattered copy I re-read every few months. I always get sad because I know they’ll never write books like these ever again.
24. The Silmarillion: The what?
25. Atlas Shrugged ::rolls eyes:: This is one of those books people insist you have to read, though they can never offer any evidence why. (I think they’re just afraid to admit they didn’t understand it.) Much like The Fountainhead. Here’s a tip: Just because a book is boring, obscure, and torture to slog through, does NOT qualify it as great literature.
26. The Stranger: Ick! Get away from me, Camus! Go hand out with Beckett, who I hate almost as much as you!
27. Les Miserables: Good, though I always regretted my French wasn’t strong enough to read it in original form.
28. Don Quixote: I read this one…I think I liked it…
29. All Quiet on the Western Front: Never read it.
30. The Bible I read parts of it. When my mom made me. (Haha, Mom, God never did strike me with lightning! Nyah-nyah!)
Whew…okay: ‘fess up! Who did you love; who did you hate?
8 Comments
YAY!! Can you tell I was eagerly hoping for your list?
Catch 22 is about War, sorta… it’s a very odd sort of comedy. Not your traditional war story.
I’m about half-way through it and I’m not a huge fan of it, it’s very strange humor, but I know that some people would absolutely love it… I’d recommend reading the first couple chapters and if you enjoy it keep reading, cuz the rest of the book is more of the same quirkiness.
Lol, thanks for your thoughts on these books. I can only say I’ve read 1984, Catch 22, Treasure Island, The Joy Luck Club and The Bible.
House on Mango Street is by Hemingway, I believe. I read a chapter of it for class one time, and it was kinda weird. Which doesn’t really tell you anything, I suppose.
http://twins15.blogspot.com/
Read Pride and Prejudice over 5 times. Liked Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights, and Little Women. The Bible is best book ever written.
Thanks for the recommendation, Jesse!
twins: I agree about Hemingway.
Sasha: you have great taste. So maybe I should try to tackle the Bible..:)
Heather, that’s a good portion of the list..more than most people!
I haven’t read them all – maybe 50%? Loved Wuthering Heights – I think these should be added:
Jane Eyre
Cyrano de’bergerac
The Stand – excellent characterization!!!
Anything and everything written by Taylor Caldwell
I read Great Expectations in high school and enjoyed it so much that I bought it.
That probably makes me a nerd, at least from high school perspectives. (It’s been 7 years since I graduated.)
I also had to read A River Runs Through It when I was in Academic Superbowl (the school’s subject-based equivalent of Spellbowl) and it was great too. I rented the movie and found it very good.
I have 1984 as well and like it. I’ve also read the Bible.
I’ve taken to reading the classic versions of some childrens’ stories, like Winnie The Pooh and Alice in Wonderland, and I think they’re better than the Disney-fied versions, although admittedly, Disney followed the books fairly closely for those 2.
I also enjoy Edgar Allan Poe.