Idaho Commission for Libraries

Well, it’s that time of year again: time for the dreaded New Year’s Resolution. I actually don’t mind making resolutions, because I purposely keep them easy to I can actually achieve them and not feel bad about myself (things like cleaning the storage room of my house or don’t kill my sister if she comes to live with me). My favorite resolutions to make, however, are about the books I will read.

First of all, let me tell you how much I truly dislike classics. Maybe it’s because of my slight ADHD, but I like plot and action more than talking and character development. As my mother puts it, "Just get to the chase scene." And I don’t know if you’ve noticed this or not, but there is a LOT of talking in the classics. A lot. Sometimes the paragraphs go on for pages and that’s when I reach my screaming point.

So on the cusp of 2006, when I was trying to decide what I needed to change, I realized that as a potential librarian (I had not yet graduated), I was surprisingly unread. I had never read books like Moby Dick or Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I bypassed authors like Jane Austen and Pearl S. Buck when I was at the library getting my next book. Well, this was all going to change.

I geared myself up, but it wasn’t until June when I was able to convince myself that reading a classic was a great idea. I decided to start with a fairly well-known one: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I’m proud to say it only took me two weeks (usually I can get through a novel I like in about five days). It was a little tough, and honestly, the only reason I was able to get through it at all was because I’ve seen every movie adaptation of the book (thank you, Colin Firth!). Hey, I thought, that wasn’t so bad. You can do this!

And then I decided to surpass my goal of reading just one classic book, and I picked up Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. I figured since I’ve been to Monterey Bay, it would make the book easier to read. Let me tell you, it didn’t. It took me a whole month to read that *bleep* book. I almost quit like 20 times, but managed to convince myself that I would be a better person for it for trying (apparently I like to lie to myself). I was SO happy when I finished with that book (it’s incredibly plotless), and I asked myself, Do I want to go through this again? It reminded me of high school, when I had been forced to read The Scarlet Letter (seriously?! What the crap was up with the Custom House part of the book? It had nothing to do with anything. I seriously wanted to shoot Hawthorne), The Old Man and the Sea (seriously?! The old man just talked to his hand for the whole flippin’ book!), and The Grapes of Wrath (seriously?! Could Steinbeck stay on the plot for more than just one chapter at a time?!).

In 2007, however, I didn’t have a choice. For our Library’s book club, we tagged along with Ada Community Library and participated in their Big Read. The book chosen was My Antonia by Willa Cather. Oh great, I thought. Just poke my eyes out now. So I sat my butt down and read it… and it was surprisingly not bad. It got me so excited that I decided to read another classic, The Turn of the Screw (it was meh. The ending could have used some work. The movie was much better. Again, thank you Colin Firth!).

So that brings me up to this year: what do I read? I’ve already got one planned; we’re tagging along with Ada again and reading The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett for the Big Read. I’ve got some other options, and I wanted your input on what I should read:

• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• Or are is there anything else you think I should suffer through, I mean read?

Thanks for your help! And Happy Reading!
Beth