Tuesday 1 July 2014

TTT - Classics I Want to Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and the Bookish
Each week a new topic is given and weeks topic is:

Top Ten Classics I Want to Read

I'm not a big classics person. I want to like them, I want to read them, I just kind of... don't. I think this is mostly due to being in school and having them feel more like homework than pleasure reading, which is kind of a downer. I'm just not that interested in reading anything written before 1980 if I'm not reading it for class. I'm pretty much the opposite of a book snob. That said, there are actually a lot of classics that I want to read. They'll just probably have to wait until after I graduate from university.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
I try to seek out classics written by women because I feel like the canon of "English Literature" skews heavily towards works written by men. I think that's dumb. I think the line that "there were no female writers in those days!!" is bullshit, because we clearly have proof that they existed. There have been female writers for as long as there have been male writers and anyone who claims otherwise is an idiot. Also, this story seems pretty interesting.

Les Misérables
This thing is ginormous. My best friend's mum lent it to me when I was in middle school (HA!) because I wanted to read it after discovering the incredible musical based on it. I think I read about thirty pages. Yeah. This is one book that I hope to read at some point before I die, but it's not something I particularly want to read, if that makes any sense.

Anna Karenina
I remember my mum read this when I was about fourteen or fifteen and I thought it looked really interesting, but I never picked it up because it seems quite daunting. I mean, it's nearly a thousand pages. Of dense 1800s language. Which I find difficult to read at the best of times. Anyway, I still plan to read this. One day.

The Great Gatsby
Another book that I feel like I should read, not that I really want to. It seems like everyone and their dog loves this book, but it just doesn't seem very appealing to me. I'm sure I'll enjoy it when I do read it, but it's not something that is high up on my list of reading priorities at the moment.

Rebecca
This book sounds amazing and I'm really surprised that I haven't actually read it yet. I've heard such incredible things about it and I want to experience it for myself soon. The plot alone sounds fascinating. I have a thing for books about domestic servants - maids, governesses, ladies' companions, the like. I think it's because they are everything I am not.

The Stranger
Okay, this one is a little bit unexpected. I've been wanting to read this since the intro philosophy class I took two summers ago (I did horribly in the class, but I did retain a thing or two). This book could either be incredible or dreadful, but I'll have to give it a chance in order to find out. I keep spotting it on the shelf at the library and not grabbing it because I'm just not mentally prepared for this book at the moment. It doesn't scream "summer read" to me...

1984
It's the book that pretty much birthed the entire dystopian genre, I kind of have to read it. I feel like I'm missing out on something important by not having read it yet. It needs to be fixed. Stat. Also, I really loved Animal Farm by the same author, so that's a good sign right?

The Bell Jar
I started reading this last summer and thought it was lovely, but just wasn't in the mood for it. I took a class about a year ago that was all about the lives of famous (usually tragic) writers, and Plath was one of the two women we studied. This book has been on my mental TBR for eons, but it definitely shifted up a few places after that class. She was by far the most interesting person we studied.

One Hundred Years of Solitude
I read a short story by Marquez for a class and thought it was really great, and I've heard that he does some incredible things with language and blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, which I'm totally down for. Judging by the description, this book isn't exactly my speed, but I'm willing to give it a shot nonetheless. Sometimes amazing books have mediocre or inaccurate descriptions. Just look at Salvage by Alexandra Duncan.

The Handmaid's Tale
I've tried to read this book two or three times but haven't had much success yet. I refuse to give up on it, though. It's everything I want out of a book, so why haven't I enjoyed it? I'm not sure, but I think I've just been in the wrong headspace for it when I've tried it in the past. I'm pretty sure I keep trying to read it during the summer and it's just not working for me. I desperately need to read this book though. It will happen. 

What are some of your favourite classics? Any additions you think I should add to my list? What are your thoughts on the books I've selected? Have you read them/do you want to?

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