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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Top Ten Tuesday: Old Books


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Top Ten "Older" Books You Don't Want People To Forget About


I probably should mention Voltaire or Milton or Balzac (although say Balzac slowly - I giggle every time), but I'm not because other than some basic knowledge, I wasn't a fan.


1.) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The woman started writing this when she was 18 which is just amazing to me. Most people think of Frankenstein as the monster but Dr. Frankenstein created the monster. The honeymoon scene is brutal. She could give Stephen King a run for his money. In fact, I should re-read this during the Halloween season.

2.) Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. I think I was the only one in eleventh grade that loved this book. It's kind of like Days of Our Lives but without the crappy dialogue. (Hawthorne is probably rolling over in his grave right now.)

3.) And now Poe is rolling over in his grave because I mention him right after Hawthorne. They were not BFFs to say the least. All of Poe - and I mean all of him. My favorite is the classic The Tell-Tale Heart followed by The Black Cat and of course, The Cask of Amontillado.

4.) Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. This is a great classic story that I read most of on a rainy night back in college. Apart from that one crappy chapter where he uses all the math, this is a great piece of literature.

5.) Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Okay, I admit that I can't even remember when I read this but I remember the story and the Lilliputians.

6.) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. This is one of my favorite books of ALL time so that's why I added it. The dialogue, the mansion, the orphanage, the madness, Mr. Rochester, Grace Poole. Just read it!

7.) Little Women by Louis May Alcott. Every girl should read this. I just want to live at Orchard House forever.

8.) Heidi by Johann Spyri. Goats, goat cheese a young girl's friendship with a sickly Klara and a boy named Peter, goat's milk, the Grandfather, goat's milk, The Alps. Did I mention the milk and cheese?

9.) The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. A little later time frame but a reminder of WWII and the attempt at breaking that girl's spirit, Anne's diary is both courageous and honest, with a little humor thrown in.

10.) Well, I have to mention him. SHAKESPEARE! It's been a while (okay it's been almost a decade) since I've sat down and really re-read any of the plays although I know Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and King Lear very well. Back in college, my favorite was a "problem play" of "Mr. WillShake": Measure for Measure, but for the life of me, I can't remember why. Dammit. I am going to have to go back and read that.


"A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow."
— William Shakespeare

3 comments:

Kate @Midnight Book Girl said...

Wow, you dug deep for this one! I love Poe! If we have kids I am totally going to scare/annoy them by reading The Tell Tale Heart out loud every Halloween! Hmm, maybe the book club needs to take a field trip to Poe house...

Anonymous said...

I also felt like I was the only kid in my sophomore english class to like The Scarlett Letter. I own a couple of copies now, even.

And as always, Little Women is one of my favorites...and I didn't put it on my list! ACK!

lillylilac said...

I enjoyed the Diary of young girl by Anne Frank and Shakespeare as well.