Today’s blog is about a "classics" challenge I've set for myself. Here’s the backstory - so get a cup of cocoa and put your slippers on and join me on this trip down memory lane....
Okay so it wasn’t actually all that long ago (maybe 5 or 6 years ago). I realised that I was missing out on a lot of amazing books that i’d written off as boring, old and not at all relevant to today’s society or people. Maybe it was through a movie or a discussion or two with friends about these books in question that made me decide to open my mind and try something new. I, the chick-lit-fantasy-paranormal-loving bookworm was going to try and tackle ..... the classics! Okay take a breath I know thats a bit of a shock to a lot of people.
I’ll be the first to admit, I really didn’t like shakespeare in high school and I struggled to comprehend a lot of the language, but despite all this I took a deep breath and cracked open my first classic of my challenge - Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The scarlet letter”. I was blown away by how poetic and beautiful the language was. Yes I did watch the movie first to help me understand it a little better (does that count as cheating?).
Its like a pringle...once you popped you can’t stop! I was hooked, I read jane eyre by Bronte, Dracula by Stoker, The Crucible by Arthur. I admired the courage and strength of Alcott’s “Little women” and for the first time ever discovered the fascination and wonder of Anne of Green Gables. I guess you could say I was hooked, well and truly.
There’s still so many amazing classics out there that I want to read, and I know i’ll get there, one book at a time.
Some of the books left in my challenge to read are:
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (I started it a few years ago and never got around to finishing it!)
Emma by Jane Austen (yes I started this about 3yrs ago and just haven’t gotten around to finishing it - oops! i’ll get there)
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
So readers I ask you this, what “classics” do you want to read?? or alternatively do you have any more suggestions for me to add to my list? Throw me a comment!
