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bronte sisters, charles dickens, douglas adams google doodle, edgar allan poe, george orwell, harper lee, j.r.r. tolkien, james fenimore cooper, jane austin, library, mark twain, neil gaiman, sherlock holmes
I stopped in at the library last week to return a couple of books. Whenever I’m at the library, I can’t resist taking a look at the new books that are available. While I was perusing the new books, I was surprised to find classic books mixed in. And not just a few classics. There were three books by the Bronte sisters, a Mark Twain, a few by Dickens, George Orwell’s “1984,” James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Last of the Mohicans,” and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” I may be missing some, but these are the ones I distinctly remember. Granted, each of these appeared to be a new copy, but new in the sense of literature they are not. What was curious about the situation was that there were so many that I actually noticed.
And, you know, they were kind of tempting. Every so often I get a hankering to read a classic novel, either to reread one I’ve read before or to try one I never got around to. One of my friends is currently rereading Sherlock Holmes, which he says is quaint. I recently reread Orwell’s “1984,” which was a psychologically terrifying as I remember it being. I’d like to read some Twain, Poe, and Austin. I’ve read a little Twain and a lot of Poe before, but never any Austin. Yeah, I’m a sinner, but at least I’ve seen the movie version of “Pride and Prejudice.”
I’m also curious about rereading Agatha Christie. I gobbled down acres of her novels when I was in late elementary school. They’re pretty skinny things and I wonder how formulaic they are. I sure felt sophisticated as a kid reading “adult” novels.
There are certain classics that I don’t have any desire to read. I was turned off of Dickens in the eighth grade when I was required to read “Great Expectations” by myself for an advanced reading class. For some reason I was the only advanced reader in my class, but another class had a whole bunch of advanced readers, who had the advantage of being able to discuss the book they were assigned. I never did finish “Great Expectations” and Dickens has been in my literary dust bin since.
Another author I don’t care to read is Douglas Adams. I know. Google is celebrating his 61st birthday with a special doodle today and I’m committing heresy, but I say this after having read the first book in “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” series. Frankly, I just didn’t like it and couldn’t bring myself to continue with the series. I also can’t read Tolkien. OMG, more heresy. It’s not that I want to dislike the works of these authors, but given my best attempts, they don’t move me. Now, I can read Neil Gaiman, who adores Adams’ writing, all day long.
Over to you. What classics do you want to revisit? Which ones did you love as a kid? And which ones have fallen into your literary dust bin?
Some months ago, I had the same same experience – not in a library but in a great book shop (in Mayence). In the last months I read several books of the authors you mentioned. I read following books:
– Marks Twains “Letters from Hawaii” (a great book for cold and stormy winter weather)
– and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” (a well written book of the same author, about somebody of the 19th or 20th century waking up in the century of King Arthur in England)
– Joseph Conrad’s “The Secret Agent”,written 100 years ago and in no means a spy novel, but a great description of time.
– “The Hitchhiker Trilogy” by Douglas Adams. It’s a book of great satire and irony – if you understand Douglas Adams’ kind of humour and be able to follow the plot (it’s often weird and sometimes really unclear, especially if you read it in a foreign language – it’s the only book I’ve read in English of the list).
The book “1984″ by George Orwell is laying on my bedside cabinet and hopefully I’m able to read it soon, as I loved reading Orwell’s book “Animal Farm” last year (I hold a presentation about this book last year in my English course).
parttimenerd – Your mention of Joseph Conrad reminded me that I have his “Heart of Darkness” on my nook, which is where I read Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” last year for the first time and really liked it. I hadn’t read it before because I thought it might be too scary. I also reread Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” last year. I bought the print version because I remember it being so good.
Thanks for sharing your classic reads.
I read another story of Joseph Conrad of the same topic of the book you mentioned, An Outpost of Progress, (and that was the reason why I bought the spy novel), as we had to read a collection of short stories in the English course for the final exams.
Another great short story included in this collection was “Shooting an Elephant” of George Orwell in which he covered his time in India.
I hope I’ll find some of the books you mentioned in the library (hopefully in the English library, as I like reading books in their mother tongue). Especially the last book seems to be worth reading.
Another book worth reading seems to be “The Sorrows of Young Werther” of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. I haven’t read it yet, but it lays on my nook for years…
I agree with you about Douglas Adams – I’ve never read any, just heard it Hitchhikers on the radio and could never get what all the fuss was about. It was just ‘okay’ in my view.
Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ I also thought was just okay when I first read it, but then I had to study it for some reason and when I read it again I could see how truly brilliant it was. Hmmm writing that makes me wonder if I should give Douglas Adams another go!
How right you are, Clare! Books are like that. Or maybe people are like that. Depending on when we read a book and where we are in our literary journey, some books seem brilliant on first read, but then fall flat later. And, of course, vice versa. Perhaps my first read of Hitchhikers was such that I just didn’t get it. Kind of like when I watched Monty Python as a kid. What is all this wild stuff happening on my screen? Puzzling and a little frightening if you’d asked my kid-self. Now that I’m an adult, I adore Monty Python. I’m not ready to jump back into Hitchhikers yet (too many other classics to read), but maybe I’ll return in the future and it’ll mean more to me.