Okay, so I have my list. That has been decided. There could be lots of debate of the merits of some of the books on the list, but let’s just forego that, shall we? It’s THE LIST. We can debate it later perhaps.
After studying the list, I decided to mark the ones that I already had. I used to be an English major, so I had quite a few of them. (I DID buy them. I just didn’t read them.) In fact, I had 30 of the books on the list. In order to save some money in case this project went seriously wrong, I decided that I should read the ones already in my house first. I thought that was very responsible of me. Plus out of the 100 on the list, the ones in my house would have been the ones I was assigned in college and thus the reason for this project.
Even though I had narrowed the list down somewhat (to the ones I already owned), I couldn’t decide which book to start with. Subconsciously, there must have been a reason why I didn’t want to read it. Okay, there was the fact that I didn’t have time, but let’s face it people. Some of the books on this list are snorers!! If I was going to do this, I needed success. I needed to be able to finish the book I chose and not give up because it did not hold my interest as I suspect some of these books are going to do. I still couldn’t decide.
This is where my husband comes in, wonderful, encouraging man that he is!!! God love him! I told my husband of my intention, to read every book on the “100 List,” and he asked me: “Are you doing this because you want to or out of a sense of guilt?”
Wow! Loaded question. I sat for a minute and thought about it. It’s a little of both, I guess. I do feel the guilt of skating through Grad School, but do wish that I was more well read. I am an English Major, for Heaven’s sake. Everyone expects me to have read EVERYTHING.
Because I couldn’t decide, I asked him to pick out a novel for me to read. What does he pick??
After studying the list, I decided to mark the ones that I already had. I used to be an English major, so I had quite a few of them. (I DID buy them. I just didn’t read them.) In fact, I had 30 of the books on the list. In order to save some money in case this project went seriously wrong, I decided that I should read the ones already in my house first. I thought that was very responsible of me. Plus out of the 100 on the list, the ones in my house would have been the ones I was assigned in college and thus the reason for this project.
Even though I had narrowed the list down somewhat (to the ones I already owned), I couldn’t decide which book to start with. Subconsciously, there must have been a reason why I didn’t want to read it. Okay, there was the fact that I didn’t have time, but let’s face it people. Some of the books on this list are snorers!! If I was going to do this, I needed success. I needed to be able to finish the book I chose and not give up because it did not hold my interest as I suspect some of these books are going to do. I still couldn’t decide.
This is where my husband comes in, wonderful, encouraging man that he is!!! God love him! I told my husband of my intention, to read every book on the “100 List,” and he asked me: “Are you doing this because you want to or out of a sense of guilt?”
Wow! Loaded question. I sat for a minute and thought about it. It’s a little of both, I guess. I do feel the guilt of skating through Grad School, but do wish that I was more well read. I am an English Major, for Heaven’s sake. Everyone expects me to have read EVERYTHING.
Because I couldn’t decide, I asked him to pick out a novel for me to read. What does he pick??
War and Peace. I guess he wanted to find out if I was serious or not. WHATEVER!!!!
“I don’t own War and Peace,” I told him. “Pick one from the books that are starred. Those are books I already have!”
“I will buy it for you!” He says
“NO!!!! I want you to pick one from my list. Better yet, pick three and then I will pick one from those three.” I had him there. This way he couldn’t stick me with all the big ones right up front. Remember? I said I needed success right out of the starting blocks! So we went to the bookshelf where I keep all my college books (and his) and he started to peruse books for me. I, however, do not think he was looking at the covers or reading the backs. He was looking at the size. Darn him!
“I don’t own War and Peace,” I told him. “Pick one from the books that are starred. Those are books I already have!”
“I will buy it for you!” He says
“NO!!!! I want you to pick one from my list. Better yet, pick three and then I will pick one from those three.” I had him there. This way he couldn’t stick me with all the big ones right up front. Remember? I said I needed success right out of the starting blocks! So we went to the bookshelf where I keep all my college books (and his) and he started to peruse books for me. I, however, do not think he was looking at the covers or reading the backs. He was looking at the size. Darn him!
He choose:
--Native Son by Richard Wright
--Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
--An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser.
He did try and choose a whole bunch of weird things off our bookshelf, like About Behaviorism by B.F. Skinner, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics by Kant and a Quantum Chemistry book, none of which were mine or were literary by any means.
I chose Native Son.
--Native Son by Richard Wright
--Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
--An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser.
He did try and choose a whole bunch of weird things off our bookshelf, like About Behaviorism by B.F. Skinner, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics by Kant and a Quantum Chemistry book, none of which were mine or were literary by any means.
I chose Native Son.
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