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Saturday, January 31, 2009

Weekly Geeks 3- Very, very, late!









Last week Ali challenged us to think about the classics. She gave us four questions, and allowed us to mix and match.

1) How do you feel about classic literature?

I would like to tell you that I just love classic literature but I'm afraid that I am not a huge fan of it. Why? Because yes, I am intimidated by it. I don't get all the extra layers and subtleties that the author intends for you to uncover. I need to become a better reader that is for sure.

Which classics, if any, have you truly loved?

I've read Sense and Sensibility and truly truly loved it. Right now I'm reading Pride and Prejudice which is such a great read. I will be the first one to admit that I find these books much easier to understand and read because I've watched the movies several 100 times!! Next month I'll be trying my hand at Anna Karenina, but I've got a ton of stuff printed out to help me study this novel in more depth and to question things while I'm reading it. I hope that will help!!

Which would you recommend for someone who has very little experience reading older books?

I honestly don't think I can recommend one to anyone at this time seeing how my knowledge of the classics is still pretty limited.



3) Let's say you're vacationing with your dear cousin Myrtle, and she forgot to bring a book. The two of you venture into the hip independent bookstore around the corner, where she primly announces that she only reads classic literature. If you don't find her a book, she'll never let you get any reading done! What contemporary book/s with classic appeal would you pull off the shelf for her?

I would give her The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. For one thing if she's such a classics buff then she should recognize the story of Hamlet being played out within the pages of this chunky novel. Plus I'm sure that she will love all the underlying dynamics, questions, hauntings, the connection to The Jungle Book etc. that this book will bring to her attention. The added bonus...the book is pretty long so she should be good and quiet for a long time which means I will be able to get some serious reading done!!

4 comments:

  1. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't read ANY classic literature since my 'required' summer high school reading.

    You may have talked me into Pride & Prejudice the other day but I think I will see the movie first.

    I am almost done with the third book by Erynn Mangum. I love her easy, dialogue packed, funny writing style. She is very young in her early 20s. It is Christian chick lit though. Speaking of which, I just got 3 books by Laura Jensen Walker who also does Christian chick lit.

    Let me know if you have any chick-lit books you recommend. I have Confessions of A Shopaholic coming in audiobook (I belong to a club) for my commute. I read the other Kinsella books and a ton of Evanovich.

    Hope you are having a great weekend so far. By the way .... thought the GUILTY thing was funny. See, my blog caught ya. Hehehehe

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  2. Love your answer for cousin myrtle. The only classic I've read is P&P. I was assigned Odyssey, and I'm sure Hamlet and even Romeo & Juliet in HS but just didn't get 'em. I'd like to give them another try.

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  3. I do enjoy many of the classics, but like you say, I don't always get the little subtleties hidden in the text. Sometimes I wonder if those elements are really something the author intended in the first place and hoped a reader would notice, or just the work of literature students and scholars who disect just about everything they read (Twilight comes to mind although it's in no way a classic--people have dissected that series on levels I don't think the author every intended or expected). I've taken the attitude that reading a classic is like reading any other book. I read it for the same reason and hope to get out of it what I will. It can still be a bit intimidating to get started, but it helps me to think of a classic as just another book. I think analyzing and reading deep between the lines has its place, don't get me wrong. I just think that sometimes its best just the experience the book itself and worry about that other stuff if you decide later it's something you want to get into.

    I love Jane Austen's writing and the books I've read by her. I haven't yet read Sense and Sensibility, but I want to. I'm with you in that sometimes watching the movie of a classic helps me better understand the book.

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  4. I love Anna Karenina, and Jane Austen is my favourite author ever, so hopefully we have somewhat similar classics taste and you enjoy AK too. :)

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