A More Literate Future

I've realized lately (Ok, I've known it for a while) that I read a lot of crap.

I mean, it's not poorly-written crap. It's not inappropriate crap (or at least, not too innapropriate. Nothing more than PG or perhaps mild PG-13-ish stuff.)

I am snobby about the quality of the crap that I read. It has to have a well-thought out plot without any holes that makes sense in light of the characters. Characters have to have some depth and development, and I have to like at least one or two of them. Dialogue and situations have to either be humorous or very interesting.

I have never been able to make myself read classics. Well, I've read a few. Let's say that, once I actually bring myself to pick them up, I read them as voraciously as I read anything. But for some reason I have a mental block against classics, against literature that actually means something. I think it has something to do with the "veg" factor. When I pick up a book, I want to be entertained. I want my mind to be taken over. Quite often it's my therapy, my moment of escape (and thus, sometimes a somewhat unhealthy addiction.)

SO I end up reading highbrow crap. Stuff that is purely for entertainment, no matter how well-written it is, really doesn't redeem all that much. Let's just admit it.

Well, I want to be a writer. And I LOVE reading. When I read a novel that touches me deeply, I think about it for a long time. I compare it to events in my life. I talk about it with my husband. I think about what the Author might have intended, what message he or she is trying to send or portray and I'm intensely curious about how an author's life affects his or her writing, what the story says about society at the time it was written (or about the time period and situation portrayed.)

In short, I'm the sort of person who would LOVE to read classics, if only I could bring myself to do it.

SO my goal for this year: Bring myself to do it.

I've looked up a couple of lists. This one is "The 110 best books." Purely subjective, of course, but I looked over the list and agreed they were all books that I needed to read. A lot of them are more modern, which is a plus... it'll fill in the holes from this other list: "The top 100 books of all time." These are all classic novels... exactly what I was looking for. I'll be starting with these.

My goal is to read at least one book from these lists every week. And then blog-essay (blessay) about each one. I'm excited about it. I think it will be very educational. And hopefully it will help me shift my tastes a bit, until something truly worthwile becomes the thing that I like to veg with.

But... Elizabeth Peters. Anne Perry, Gayle Carson Levine, Meg Cabot and Sophie Kinsella--

you need not worry... you ladies will always be my heroin dealers of choice.

(rueful smile.)