As an English major, I've read a lot of books, including some classics, which I would have felt ok about skipping. However, it has come to the attention of some of my family and friends that I have not read all the books that perhaps I should have...specifically Grapes of Wrath. First of all, let me just say that there is simply not time in a high school and college education to read all of the classics, especially when they throw in history textbooks and other such books that consume a student's valuable time. Nevertheless, I am going to come clean once and for all. Here is a list of books that I am particularly ashamed to say I've never read:
Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
Les Miserables Victor Hugo
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
Lord of the Flies William Golding
Moby Dick Herman Melville
Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare (I know, I know...It's pitiful)
The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
The Last of the Mohicans James Fenimore Cooper
The Three Musketeers Alexandre Dumas
Treasure Island Robert Louis Stevenson
Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Beecher Stowe
These are not the only ones, either. These are just the top twelve books I feel embarrassed about missing. On the master list of 24 books, you'd also find things like Madame Bovary, but I seem to have mustered the courage to press forward in life without that one. So anyway, that's my confession. I'm a bad, bad English major.
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Dude, you haven't read Romeo and Juliet? How on earth did you manage that? I think I had to read that about three times in high school. As for Grapes of Wrath, it was okay, but not on my list of favorites. It was just pathetic that you didn't know who wrote it. Little Women is sappy. I haven't read the rest of them you list either, but the only ones I feel bad about not reading are Catcher in the Rye and Uncle Tom's Cabin.
As an English minor, I understand your dilemma. There are so many other books around than those on your list and so little time to read them because you're always trying to read the assigned reading!
So as for Romeo & Juliet--just go see the play.
Les Mis--Have you seen how long that sucker is?
Moby Dick--also long and really all you need to know is that the the first line is something like, "My name is Ahab."
Gone With the Wind and Little Women are sappy, but you should probably read them sometime in your life.
Lord of the Flies--gross.
I guess you should read Grapes of Wrath, but I liked some of Steinbeck's other books better.
Catcher in the Rye and Uncle Tom's Cabin are classics you should read.
Treasure Island's pretty good.
I think I read Mohicans and Musketeers, but maybe not.
Dude Mom (and no, I don't know why Claire's blog inspires me to start all of my comments with the word "dude"), the first line of Moby Dick is "Call me Ishmael". That one helped me win a scholarship :) We had to identify what book a bunch of first lines came from, and I managed to pull that one out of thin air.
Okay, let me set all of you guys straight. Of the 12 books you listed, I'd say that only six of them are true classics. They are:
Moby Dick--This is a great book full of symbolism if you like that kind of stuff plus a great story. BTW, mom was wrong...the first line is actually, "My name is Ishmael". Read this one.
Grapes of Wrath--This book is unforgettable even if it's one of the most depressing books ever written. John Steinbeck is a great author (I like to think of him as a Western author) and you should read all of his books.
Romeo & Juliet--It only takes three hours to read it. You should be working on reading all of the Shakespeare works anyway. I've always been interested in reading the original works for anything that becomes part of the popular culture.
Les Miserable--The only way to read this is to read the abridged version. I have the complete set and it is six volumes long. I think that Victor Hugo was being paid by the word.
Three Musketeers--Like Victorian novels, it takes a while to get into it, but once you paid the price this book is actually very enjoyable.
Uncle Tom's Cabin--Interesting read, if only because it puts you into the mind set of people around the Civil War. Northerners loved it, southerners hated it.
I'd say that the rest of your list fall short of the classics list but for some reason many of them seem to be on high school reading lists.
Gone with the Wind--If you like soap operas this is for you...I'd say that it's comparable to something that Danielle Steele writes.
Catcher in the Rye--It's interesting because it is about a coming of age novel with a liberated main character that likes to swear a lot for shock value. I think you could live without reading this.
Little Women--I've never read it because I was afraid someone would question my manhood. I suspect if you like Jane Austin or Emily Bronte, you'll love this one.
Treasure Island--This is actually a child's adventure book but I enjoyed it. You'll need to read it if you have a boy to get into that mind set.
Last of the Mohicans--Not a bad plot line if you can get through all of the verbiage that can put you to sleep in a second.
Lord of the Flies--I'm surprised they didn't make you read this in high school. I'd stop short of saying it's a classic but it has some interesting ideas about the "natural man or in this case boys". I thought it was very depressing.
Isn't great though, that you can read anything you want? Reading is one of the great pleasures of life. Enjoy.
OK dudes--Ishmael-Ahab...Whatever,
they're both in the book.
True, but the first line is still "Call me Ishmael", not "My name is Ishmael", and especially not "My name is Ahab".
Personally I think Moby should start "Call me Ahab", just because of the war between the man and the beast. Who cares if the white whale killed his leg or arm or whatever, you need to forgive.
"Lord of the Flies" - very gross. I'm sure everyone wants to read about brains spurting out all over a rock or flies swarming around a pig's head that is skewered on a pointed stake. Way gross.
As for "little women", I'd rather be climbing trees.
Now, "Les Miserables", that's a great book. course I only read the abridged version, under three hundred pages versus over one thousand.
"Grapes of Wrath" is certainly depressing. Just reading about the wind blowing all the valuable top soil away because of over farming and then trying to keep from starving by eating fat. Life shouldn't be so bad.
So Claire, don't worry about not reading these books. The only true classics are those you enjoying reading a second and maybe even a third time. Go English major!!!
Don't feel bad, I haven't read any of those books either. I think I tried to read "Lord of the Flies" once but it was disturbing. I much prefer to read books by current authors where they use current English. Sad and pathetic, yes, but at least I'm not put to sleep by the excessive use of words.
I'm not sure if I've read any of those either. It kind of seems like I've read Little Women, but that was probably just the movie I've seen.
Does it count for anything that I've heard of all of them? :)
Oh, and I will never read Lord of the Flies from what people have told me about it. Don't need sicko stuff in my head.
So, in my most humble opinion you didn't miss much by not reading grapes of wrath (boring) or the catcher in the rye (I just couldn't relate at all to it). Randomly, I really liked Lord of the Flies...it spoke to me :) Did you ever read Ethan Frome? Waste of time if you haven't...don't bother.
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