Once upon a time I was an English major, but those days are far behind me. Now my classics gather dust and my reading has been a lot more contemporary and less deep. This has been on purpose as life has been interesting enough that I want to be entertained, not necessarily deep in thought. But now, I'm rethinking that and am considering dipping my toe back into the classics pool.
But what to start with? Old favorites like the Brontës and Dickens could be fun, but I should really stretch a bit. I started to read Hemingway, but he just makes me angry, I've thought of reading Melville but I'm afraid of falling to sleep.
Then I started thinking...well...what is a classic? If you look it up, you'll find definitions about timeless themes, broadening horizons, genre defining, etc. But basically, a classic is simply a really good book that stood the test of time. When The Godfather by Mario Puzo came out, it was just popular crime fiction, now it's on a Penguin list of must-read classics (100 must-read classics, as chosen by our readers).
I've really been getting into science fiction lately and I wondered...are those classics? A quick internet search tells me that Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Philip K. Dick are indeed considered classic authors. And then the mystery writers now include, besides the obvious Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, old favorites Dorothy L. Sayers, Erle Stanley Gardner, and Rex Stout.
Getting old apparently has some advantages in that classic authors are closer to home than I thought. So now, before I figure out what classic author I want to start with, I have to figure out the genre. Do I go back to Victorian literature, my favorite when I was getting a degree, or branch out into the newer titles?
Well, as I swivel my chair around to peer through the dust to the books, I have a plethora of options, and nothing narrows down. Hmmm...
Okay. I'm going with a Russian author, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, but I'm not sure if I'll stay with Russian authors after this, but still, I'm dusting it off and giving it a try, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
The plan in this blog is more for myself to keep track of my reading and what I think of it, but I would welcome anyone who wants to start a discussion about the books.
Until next time, I wish you joy and happiness!
- Janet
