I started this little writing experiment in the hopes that it would jump start my other writing projects and give me an outlet for my many [loud and varied] opinions - sort of the Andy Rooney of books kind of thing [RIP Andy]. I've found a couple of difficulties, though, like:
I want to read EVERYTHING; and
I want to blog about EVERYTHING
Complete overload - and that's not how blog posts happen. They usually happen when I get so sick of seeing the reminder pop-up on my screen that I take my entire lunch to write something up and post - usually without proofing it or using the handy spellcheck button. And I call myself a semi-amateur-quasi-writer person! Shameful.
So, the thought came to me that I need a hook - something that will not only reel me into an organized state of mind, but will also reel in the readers. Thus, my brilliant idea about doing a whole year of reading and blogging about classic literature for 2012.
Once the idea was born, I quickly started to research, which is my most favorite phase of any project, and found that there are some books that are considered "classics" by everyone, and then there are those that may make some lists, but not others. What a bummer - no perfect instant list on the Internet just waiting to be found? Ah...what's a blogger to do, but create her own!
I'm not going to post my list right now because it is a work in progress, but I feel it safe to say that it is HUGE, and I really need to narrow it down - why does this seem familiar - oh yeah, that was my problem to begin with! I'm going to try to limit it to *gasp* 100 -125 books....*re-gasp* If that sounds enormous, then think on this - I started with 175, and it's been torture to strike some off the list. Okay, I haven't really struck any book off the list yet, and I get upset just thinking about taking any off - but I will! I must!
In any case, I've included on my list some absolutely non-negotiable classics like As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, as well as more contemporary critical and commercial successes like Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut. And it's not just adult lit, either. I'm also including young adult and children's literature! I'll be able to re-read some of my favorites like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White and The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, but the best thing about this whole plan is that I'll be sharing them with my kids at the same time - AND they won't grow up believing that Walt Disney wrote The Jungle Books! [Rudyard Kipling, and it wasn't even animated!]
To top it all off, I've created a twitter account, @Book_Love_Buzz so I can tweet the blogs and info about what's going to be the craziest, funniest, most chaotic and sentimental year-long classics quest, ever! [And that's not even the first month, people]
Meanwhile, back in 2011...
