Reading List

I've been reading the Canterbury Tales over the last couple of days and have been thoroughly enjoying it. A few, selected tales were required reading in my twelveth grade British Literature class, but I remembered little of it. I got a used copy for a dollar at some point in my life, and discovered the book sitting in a stack of books that I've bought used and have yet to read. (This stack is some 40-50 books high). All I could remember of the Canterbury Tales was that our English teacher spoke some of the prologue in Middle English, one of the eight or nine languages he was fluent in (English, Middle English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Gaelic, Russian, I think). The other thing I remember about that class is that we watched Playboy's production of MacBeth (circa 1970?) during three class periods. I have no idea how that was legal. Lady MacBeth was portrayed by a former playmate, and a number of other busty semi-nude women were in the film. My professor giggled like a schoolgirl whenever there were topless women, which to me was more entertaining than the movie itself.

So, I've been enjoying the Canterbury Tales. It is an easy, fast read, yet there is a wide variety of vocabulary words. In the story, a number of people from a variety of professions pilgrimage to Canterbury. A contest is undertaken whereby each person tells four stories and the best story wins a prize. Chaucer does a good job of portraying each person and giving them a unique personality and writing from the perspective of many different people. There are stories of morality, references to the Bible, many dirty stories, stories told to defame another profession, stories told as jokes, and stories told with gravity. The bulk of the stories are only about ten pages, so it breaks the book up into smaller passages, too.

Reading this book made me think about other books I have enjoyed. I created a makeshift top ten reading list, plus a number of others that I have enjoyed.

1. Don Quixote--I've already decided that I'm going to re-read this one after I finish the Canterbury Tales. I was a little bored of the digressions that Cervantes had in the first book, and the digressions from the digressions, but the second book was well worth reading through it. William Faulkner used to read this book once a year. I may do that, too. For Christmas, Lana got me a lithograph of a Salvador Dali painting of Don Quixote on his trusty steed Rocinante. Reading this book, I wanted to become a knight-errant myself, defending my Dulcinea to the death with Sancho Panza by my side.

2. Moby Dick--I started reading this book twice, the third time was the charm. I got a large print, unabridged version of the book, so I wasn't reading size 4 font for 500 pages. This book was as much a study of whales and the whaling industry as it was a story about whalemen and the infamous White Whale. Even though Melville digresses from the story frequently to discuss various aspects of whaling, the digressions are still educating and entertaining, and the plot does not suffer for it. If you have ever wanted to read a book with chapters like "Chowder" and the chapter is three pages long and about the chowder that the character ate, then this book is for you.

I know Don Quixote and Moby Dick are numbers 1 and 2, not sure how to order 3-10.

3. A Clockwork Orange--What's it going to be then, eh? When I read this book I was into psychology and was dabbling in learning Russian. My liking of this book may have just been perfect timing. Either way, me and my droogs thought it was a malenky bit horrorshow.

4. Atlas Shrugged--Still not exactly sure who John Galt is. Is he a metaphor? A real person? A myth? A legend? A metalegend? A mythaphor? A real Galt myth? exactlyphor? A sure Johnmyth? who?

5. Mike's Corner--A small book of extremely short stories by Phish bassist Michael Gordon. Most self-destruct upon themselves similar to the comments about Atlas Shrugged. Some stories make you laugh, some make you cry from laughing too much, and some just leave you "not getting it".

6. A Tale of Two Cities--It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times. I either really like or really dislike Charles Dicken's work, unlike say, Ernest Hemingway, who I like as an author, yet feel lukewarm about the majority of his works. Oliver Twist was my favorite book at one time, but no longer. A Tale of Two Cities has a great story, many connections between characters, a great plot, and a slight twist at the end. When Sidney Carton sacrifices himself at the end, I got all tingly and stuff.

7. Cry, the Beloved Country--Alan Paton's story about an umfundisi, a pastor, that must leave his small village to find his son in Johannesberg, who I think committed a murder. I read this during my African literature phase in which I also read Things Fall Apart and The Poisonwood Bible. Roots is good, too.

8. Dandelion Wine--If there is a book to read before the beginning of summer, this is it. This book remembers what it was like to be a child and have the endless possibilities of summer in front of you. It's about that time in your life everything seems possible and pedestrian activites can hold special significance. In the book, the boy gets a new pair of shoes, something adults take for granted. The shoe salesman asks what they feel like. Antelopes? Gazelles? The kid believes he can do anything in these new shoes. Did you ever feel that way? I did.

9. The Stand--Although not my favorite Stephen King book, it is well written and ties into the Dark Tower series. The miniseries sucks. I found a hardcover unedited version for ten dollars at Borders once. Short of stealing the book, it was a steal. Just watch out for the Crimson King.

10. The Grapes of Wrath--Gotta give a shout out to my boy John Steinbeck. I've read this book three or four times. Kind of depressing, but good.

Some honorable mentions:

Some of these books just couldn't make the top-ten list, even though they are great books and won awards. Others are simply interesting for the material presented or are entertaining, even if they aren't very deep.

To Kill a Mockingbird--Harper Lee
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time--Mark Haddon I'll get your book back, Seth
Rainbow Six--Tom Clancy Got this one for a dollar at a garage sale
Count of Monte Cristo--Alexandre Dumas Only read 2/3 of it, but it was good, need to finish
Poisonwood Bible--Barbara Kingsolver
A Room with a View--E.M. Forster Read this one in college English
Alaska--James Michener A history of Alaska through various eras and characters
East of Eden--John Steinbeck
A Blistered Kind of Love--Angela & Duffy Ballard A story about walking the Pacific Crest Trail
The Dark Tower Series--Stephen King Didn't love books 6 or 7, so it didn't make top-10
Oliver Twist--Charles Dickens
The Lord of the Rings Series--J.R.R. Tolkien
Les Miserables--Victor Hugo

Suggestions for reading? I got some more used books the other day as part of a Christmas gift certificate. I got Babbitt, All the King's Men, and Billy Budd, among others.