lately i've been thinking of all the wonderful people in my life--i definitely have more than my fair share. some have stayed around, others come and go, but all have enriched me so much and it makes me feel so happy to think of it. well, last night i was thinking about books, and i actually had the same feeling. a coworker of josh's, miki who i love, told him about this website, goodreads.com, and she said i would just love it. so she sent it to him, he sent it to me...and she was right! it's really fun, if you're a book lover like me. josh has been asking me forever to make a list of books i've read and rank them (he loves rankings--my numbers guy). those of you who know me, know i've read a lot, and the task seemed like too much. however, i must say i had the best time doing exactly that last night thanks to the
website. it is wonderful to think of all the amazing things i've read. i felt so lucky to have read them. i thought of how books i've read have influenced me, changed the way i thought, helped me understand something or someone completely out of my realm of experience. recently i read in cold blood and felt how little there was separating myself from this criminal put to death by the state--we're much the same. you read english patient, age of innocence, anna karenina--and you don't condone what they do--but you see the tragedy and the humanity. on and on and on...i feel so lucky that i've been able to read all of these things--some uplifting, some depressing, some informative, some entertaining. i thought of all my different reading kicks--i read all of jane austen, most of wallace stegner. i had a spurt of reading adventure/outdoors books like desert s
olitaire, into thin air, endurance, etc. i had a time where i was SICK of uppity british lit and read lots of american classics. i had a time where i only wanted non-fiction, and read ghandi, churchill, john adams. i had an asian kick--read wild swans, good earth. all in all, i've read tons of great books. i am not an elitist, but i am a literary snob, i admit it. i am very picky about what i'll read and who i'll take recommendations from--because there are a million books i'd like to read and i'll be lucky to have time to read a couple of hundred more before i die. plus, people have this ridiculous assumption that if a book is a "classic" that it's hard to read or not as good as the latest NYTimes best seller. not true! once a friend of mine said "janell, not everyone can read the books you do!" what? everyone can! i am not any smarter than anyone else. i don't automatically know all of the symbolism and deeper meanings. the difference with great literature is it is entertaining AND enriching. you enjoy it, and afterwards you have a deeper, richer understanding. right now--in school--i read for school only because i have so much of it. over my summer break i did read two fiction books and was reminded of how wonderful it is to get lost in a book. there's just nothing better. sometimes a good book is as wonderful and gratifying as your favorite person. sometimes it's even better.
lately i've been thinking of all the wonderful people in my life--i definitely have more than my fair share. some have stayed around, others come and go, but all have enriched me so much and it makes me feel so happy to think of it. well, last night i was thinking about books, and i actually had the same feeling. a coworker of josh's, miki who i love, told him about this website, goodreads.com, and she said i would just love it. so she sent it to him, he sent it to me...and she was right! it's really fun, if you're a book lover like me. josh has been asking me forever to make a list of books i've read and rank them (he loves rankings--my numbers guy). those of you who know me, know i've read a lot, and the task seemed like too much. however, i must say i had the best time doing exactly that last night thanks to the
website. it is wonderful to think of all the amazing things i've read. i felt so lucky to have read them. i thought of how books i've read have influenced me, changed the way i thought, helped me understand something or someone completely out of my realm of experience. recently i read in cold blood and felt how little there was separating myself from this criminal put to death by the state--we're much the same. you read english patient, age of innocence, anna karenina--and you don't condone what they do--but you see the tragedy and the humanity. on and on and on...i feel so lucky that i've been able to read all of these things--some uplifting, some depressing, some informative, some entertaining. i thought of all my different reading kicks--i read all of jane austen, most of wallace stegner. i had a spurt of reading adventure/outdoors books like desert s
olitaire, into thin air, endurance, etc. i had a time where i was SICK of uppity british lit and read lots of american classics. i had a time where i only wanted non-fiction, and read ghandi, churchill, john adams. i had an asian kick--read wild swans, good earth. all in all, i've read tons of great books. i am not an elitist, but i am a literary snob, i admit it. i am very picky about what i'll read and who i'll take recommendations from--because there are a million books i'd like to read and i'll be lucky to have time to read a couple of hundred more before i die. plus, people have this ridiculous assumption that if a book is a "classic" that it's hard to read or not as good as the latest NYTimes best seller. not true! once a friend of mine said "janell, not everyone can read the books you do!" what? everyone can! i am not any smarter than anyone else. i don't automatically know all of the symbolism and deeper meanings. the difference with great literature is it is entertaining AND enriching. you enjoy it, and afterwards you have a deeper, richer understanding. right now--in school--i read for school only because i have so much of it. over my summer break i did read two fiction books and was reminded of how wonderful it is to get lost in a book. there's just nothing better. sometimes a good book is as wonderful and gratifying as your favorite person. sometimes it's even better.
5 comments:
You've read Anna Karenina? Whoa...you're good. I have that one on my list. I tried to read it in 1993 but gave up after about 100 pages. It gives too much mundane details. But it was written before TV, so what else were Russians to do during their long winters except read the wonderfully long Russian novels?
I love books like you. I didn't really enjoy reading until I was 21, though. If I could relive my childhood, I would have read more books! But I didn't know what I liked and didn't like until I was about 28. It was at that age, after reading a commercial fiction novel ("Storming Heaven") that I realized that I don't really like commercial fiction. I have only four exceptions: Michael Crichton, John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks, and Dan Brown.
But, if it's not published in trade paperback, then I won't read it. I'm not a fan of mass market paperback (the kinds you find in grocery stores). Yeah...I'm a literary snob too.
i LOVE anna karenina--it's the detail that i love about russian lit (my favorite genre).
i love this post and i makes me want to read more. unfortunately, i'm a very slow reader and have to be selective. i almost feel like i have to absorb every word as if i'm experiencing it in real life timescale.
i think the opposite of what your non-classic reading friend said. i tried to read harry potter out of social obligation (i was a 6th grade teacher) and it was like choking down a box of saltines.
the only thing i had a hard time with about goodreads.com is that i didn't know what to base my star ratings on. creativity? poignency? interest level? language? i ultimately decided to base it on the meaning/message/interest level. for example, i gave 100 years of solitude low stars, because although it is creative, somewhat interesting and well written, i just didn't connect with it or get anything out of it.
anyway, thanks for the invite. love the site and am determined to read some of your favorites.
nick--have you read any christopher buckley? he's commercial fiction, which i don't love period--you know i give you a hard time about crichton and grisham even though they are great entertainers. buckley is in the same category as them--except he writes about politics. i just read his "thank you for smoking" (a lot of people have seen the movie.) i liked it, didn't love it--but i think you'd enjoy it a lot.
b--i felt the same way about the ratings! some were beautifully written but just didn't ring with me, others of my favorite books weren't always the best written, or had boring parts (like les miserables, and gandhi's autobiography). i just tried to approximate, and rated highest books that really influenced me, and tried to give 5's only to the best of the best (in my mind), but still wasn't always comfortable with the rankings.
and EVERYONE should read anna karenina. i loved it. one of the great epics like gone with the wind, and poisonwood bible. you cry when it's over.
Janell-loved reading your most recent posts!! i agree, I don't have much time for reading, so I don't actually want to read just anything. Actually our library did a huge push on some classics. The first one they started with was "To Kill a Mockingbird". I had never read it because we didn't really read any classics in school....Anyways, they had presentation by the women who played "Scout" in the movie. They also had all kinds of other discussions and activities related to the book. They also rented a movie theatre and played the movie for free. For the kids, they did a craft project that you would have seen the kids in the south in that time period do. Anyways....rambling....but it really was a fun month of activities. I LOVED the book and was sad when it was over. Since then...I've been reading mostly "Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet" and other such goofy children's books. Except I recently read a really great children's book about chinese weddings. You've inspired me...I am blogging about it!! Miss you!!!
hey janell, I hadn't read these for a while because I couldn't remember where in the heck this page was. Anywho, you sure are better at staying frequent now. Way to go. Look forward to more. Goodnight.
Love lis
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