So many books...
I've grown tired of the book I'm reading. (Charles Dickens's Bleak House.) I'm actually not tired of it, but the BBC did such a great miniseries of it that even though I want to read the original, I know what happens and have those images very firmly in my mind. So I was trying to figure out what to read next. There are so many choices!
Then it occurred to me: Years ago, I had the idea of finding a "Best 100 Novels of All Time" list and reading all of them. I think I had been bemoaning the idea that I wasn't well-read enough and there were serious gaps in my reading. Since I'm a stickler for reading things in order, I found a list that was done chronologically and promptly set to. It started with the Illiad and the Odyssey, which in uninspiring translations were completely uninteresting to my high-school self. Needless to say, I never finished that list.
Today I decided to start again. There are quite a few lists out there. The Modern Library came up with a "100 Best Novels" of the 20th century in 1998 that looks fascinating. But I wanted something covering more time and more types of novels. Then I found The Guardian's list. Hooray, it's just what I wanted. Any list that combines The Wind in the Willows, Charlotte's Web, and The BFG alongside Don Quixote, Gulliver's Travels, and Anna Karenina is right up my alley.
Then it occurred to me: Years ago, I had the idea of finding a "Best 100 Novels of All Time" list and reading all of them. I think I had been bemoaning the idea that I wasn't well-read enough and there were serious gaps in my reading. Since I'm a stickler for reading things in order, I found a list that was done chronologically and promptly set to. It started with the Illiad and the Odyssey, which in uninspiring translations were completely uninteresting to my high-school self. Needless to say, I never finished that list.
Today I decided to start again. There are quite a few lists out there. The Modern Library came up with a "100 Best Novels" of the 20th century in 1998 that looks fascinating. But I wanted something covering more time and more types of novels. Then I found The Guardian's list. Hooray, it's just what I wanted. Any list that combines The Wind in the Willows, Charlotte's Web, and The BFG alongside Don Quixote, Gulliver's Travels, and Anna Karenina is right up my alley.