I figured it out the other day -- I'm 33 years old, and I have spent almost exactly two-thirds of my life in school (at least part time). My first reaction as I write that sentence is to question the wisdom of all that higher education, and the next one is to try not to calculate how much it has all cost me.
I was thinking of this the other night as I wandered through the bookstore, wishing that I could take time out from my busy life (and, let's be honest - I probably could take time away from my TV-watching and Pathwords-playing) to just wind my way through the stacks of books, choosing the books that I want to read most, rather than the materials and assignments prescribed by my program of study.
That got me thinking - what would my chosen "curriculum" be? What are the books I've read that have been most influential on the way I think or how I look at life? What would be next - the things I've always wanted to read but not made time for, or new stuff on the horizon?
Here are some of the books/works I've read that had the biggest impact on me, in no particular order:
- 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein
- Absolom, Absolom by William Faulkner
- The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
- Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
- The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
- To Life! by Harold Kushner
- The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
- As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
- Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
- To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
- Persuasion by Jane Austen
- Countless works of William Shakespeare
- "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Eliot
- "Evening Hawk" by Robert Penn Warren
- The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields
- The Lonely Planet Guides to Europe and the U.K.
- The Stand by Stephen King
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin
- Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding (I admit it! I loved it!)
These are just a few. I'm sure I could (and will) think of many more as my workday brain defrosts and delves deeper into my academic and pleasure-reading past. I'm amazed, as I make this list, how many of these books I remember loving and being influenced by - but I have lost touch with so many of them that I'm not sure I could recall many of the particulars. Wouldn't it be great to be able to make the time to re-read all your old favorites with a new perspective and appreciation?
In addition to a long trip down memory lane, I find myself craving new reading material that isn't either a grad school requirement, a work-related book, or pregnancy guide. Here are some of things I'd like to add to my own "curriculum" in the future. (Suggestions are helpful!)
- A fresh, inspiring biography
- A (somewhat objective) history of politics and violence in the Middle East
- A science fiction series anywhere close to as well-written and textured as LOTR
- An intrigue escape-type novel that's not too masculine, too feminine or too hokey
- A light, fun read, a la Bridget Jones, that is actually well written and innovative
- Anything that makes me want to set aside my current life and take one more stab at being a professional writer!!
I would love to hear what is on everyone else's "Bookshelf Curriculum."
5 comments:
For a light, fun read, I'd recommend some Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About a Boy, etc).
Not biography, but "Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson is a good historical novel. In the same vein, "Gates of Fire" by Pressfield is excellent.
Finally, I recommend "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote to everyone. Just about the most brilliant writing I've ever read.
Great list. Some others to add (for me, anyway):
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Collected Stories of Peter Taylor, Peter Taylor
The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara
All the King's Men, Robert Penn Warren
The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler
Forty Stories, Anton Chekov
Parliament of Whores, P.J. O'Rourke
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
I loved "The Stand," too. I still reread it occasionally. In the same "doomsday" mode, "Warday" by Strieber and Kunetka is good as well as "Alas, Babylon" (Pat Frank, I think)- a real classic.
"The Time Traveler's Wife" is really good - I could hardly put it down. While not quite in the same league as Tolkien, the Julin May series that includes "Jack the Bodiless" is very good.
I agree with so much of your list, though of course there are some I haven't read and others I would add. Peggy would be gratified to see that you included Atlas Shrugged (though I personally would have to say that I prefer Ayn Rand's We the Living).
A good fantasy series, with the bonus of being set in the medieval world, is Lloyd Alexander's Taran Wanderer series. It's written for young adults, but children in our family from 8 or 10 to 60 (ahem!) have loved it.
A good companion to Kate Chopin, is Charlotte Perkins Gilman, especially The Yellow Wallpaper.
And, harking back to your December blog on Simon Wiesenthal, I'm sure you'd agree with me that Elie Wiesel's Night is a must-read-over-and-over.
Of course, Willy S. is at the top of my list as well, both plays (especially Lear) and sonnets, but his main rival for that spot is Chaucer. Not only are the Tales just plain, good, rolicking fun to read, but they also are a real window into the personalities we still find in our midst. And his poetry's not bad either.
For light, fun reads, I always look for a medieval murder mystery, especially something with Brother Caedfal (Ellis Peters) or Owen Archer (Candace Robb). They're like peanuts to me--I can't eat just one! (Unfortunately, I’ve read them all and have to be satisfied with periodic re-reads.) And for slightly heavier fun reading, still set in medieval times, I have to go back every so often to Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth (the sequel, World Without End, isn't quite as satisfying, to me). And Edward Rutherford's Sarum: the Novel of England is especially satisfying to any anglophile. I finally had to buy new copies of those because I had worn my old ones out!
From all the unforgettable books I read in my Great Books curriculum at Mercer, the three I re-read the most often are Henry Adams autobiography (his Chartres is absolutely amazing, too!), Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Ilych, and Kafka's Metamorphosis (though, truth be told, I will read anything by Kafka). They have become touchstones for me when I face life’s Big Ponderous Questions.
I also always recommend Orwell's 1984 to students--and anyone else who's never read it. It's amazing how prescient he was in 1948.
I think my favorite reference book, though it's really hard to choose just one, is Walter Kaufmann's Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre. One doesn’t have to be an existentialist to glean wisdom and understanding from it.
The last one I'll mention is one that I've read literally dozens of times in the last 30-something years, and I love it each time just as much as the time before: Hilary Knight's Where's Wallace? I think I sent a copy to you or Eric one about a million years ago for a birthday or Christmas gift.
I enjoyed reading your list and hope some of the works I’ve suggested will invite you to cozy up with them!
I'll close with a favorite short poem, one that surely applies to you as much as anyone I know:
Who Has Known Heights
by Mary Brent Whiteside
Who has known heights and depths shall not again
Know peace -- not as the calm heart knows
Low, ivied walls; a garden close;
And though he tread the humble ways of men
He shall not speak the common tongue again.
Who has known heights shall bear forever more
An incommunicable thing;
That hurts his heart, as if a wing
Beat at the portal, challenging;
And yet, lured by the gleam his vision wore --
Who once has trodden stars seeks peace no more.
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I remember the Where's Wallace you sent us... it was one of my favorites, too. My favorite children's (and adult's) story of all time is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.
I can't wait to read so many of these recommendations!!
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