Wednesday, May 5, 2010

This vs. That...and other really important stuff.

Sometimes I'm awake at 3am.  Here's what happened last night and in a fog I resolved to do a little something differently.

Last night, this brilliant woman I know posed the question on her Facebook status "Are you an Austen girl or a Bronte girl?"  Almost immediately there were folks from across the globe chiming in with very definite votes for one or the other.  Always loving to be surrounded by people with strong opinions, I was desperate to join in.  But I couldn't.  I was feeling more than a bit left out, kindof small and blush-in-my-cheeks embarrassed to think that the last 3,000 pages or so that I read had me debating the question "Edward or Jacob"... if you don't know, please, don't ask.  I'm ashamed enough already.

I consider myself a fairly intelligent person.  I've been places, done stuff, eaten there, read that, met them, seen those...blahblahblah.  There's always room for improvement, right?  Right.  I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself...after all, I did have Breitzman and Schurtz for HS English, but in many ways, it was downhill from there.  I read a bunch of stuff in college.  But I did alot of stuff in college that I wouldn't do now...like drink Coors Light and kiss New Yorkers.  Blech.  Shudder.  Not that I'm comparing Chaucer to skunky beer, but you get the point. 

In the interest of full disclosure, and because I've been thinking alot lately about the things we keep, here's what's piled beside my bed this week.  So I think I'm ready for a new stack on my nightstand.  The picture of the cute husband stays.  My children sleep through the night, concert season is nearly over, summer is knocking on my door, my major home projects are almost completed and I'm feeling the strong tug of some potential free time coming my way...even if it is only 20 minutes each night before my eyes slam shut from exhaustion.

So, if you're out there (and I know you're out there, you silent, hiding readers.  I know you're there, because my sitemeter tells me so, even if you're too shy to comment here and there.  Please do, I know you have things to say.)...where should I start?  If you could map out a journey (another trip I'm sure) through your favorite classics, where would you have me start?  Free reign.  If you tell me to read it...I will.  

7 comments:

  1. I just downloaded Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice for my Kindle. Now I'm looking for that free twenty minutes!

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  2. Bless me Father, for I have read Twilight. It's been 2 weeks since my last confession and every night I have impure thoughts of Edward and, sometimes, Jacob...

    I absolve you from your vampire sins. For your penance read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith, or (re)read "For Whom The Bell Tolls." Hemingway will purge your soul.

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  3. I'm tired of required reading. I'm sick of trying to live up to society's standards of what a well educated person should know/do.

    I want to learn how to hunt and skin woodland creatures and live in the wilderness for awhile wearing deerskin.

    I'll let you know how that works out for me. Does Facebook read smoke signals?

    Maria

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  4. I haven't read any of the vampire books, but, I've read the Harry Potter series a half dozen times or so.

    I am an Austen girl though. Bronte never really engaged me. I imagine your Edward is to my Mr. Darcy.

    I would vote you start with Austen's 'Pride and Prejudice.'

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  5. The sleeping beauty triolgy from anne rice. Trashy ertoic and very pyschological!

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  6. Water for the Elephants, I loved it. I can't remember the author and I packed all my books already.

    I personally am more partial to the Anne Rice Vampires myself...Love me some Louis.

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  7. I haven't read Bronte, but can safely say that Austen is worth investing in. I put my favorites at Pride & Prejudice, and Mansfield Park. I also recently received a book as a gift called "And God Created the Au Pair" which I found quite funny and highly recommend :)

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