Crosslisting On The Endangered Species List

[ink_ling]

At my job, I shelve the "classics". In our system, the definition of "classic" is any piece of literature regularly assigned in a junior high, high school, or college English class

Comments

[fuchsiafalling]

the heart is a lonely hunter is in my top 5 EVER.

[ink_ling]

Yeah! I started reading it years ago -- in college -- and read about 100 pages, but then other projects forced me to put it aside. (I am terrible about finishing books once I lose momentum with them; my memory of events and tones cool.)

BUT, I was taken in by it immediately. I HAVE to finish it, especially with so many folks I truly trust loving it so much -- Beth and Brian and you, especially. :)

[dellwood]

In Cold Blood. Read it twice. Brilliant. Apparently Truman Capote was so awkward and geeky among the Kansas townfolk he used Carson McCullers to befriend them to get people to open up and tell their story. And apparently he had the hots for one of the killers as well.

Portrait of A Lady. Had to read it in college. Liked it.

The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter. Sitting on my pile right now of next books to read. Started it briefly last August. She was ?23 or 26 when she wrote it? Her talent at such a young age annoyed me so much I think I put it down. But looking forward to getting back to it. For some reason I like to read Southern authors when it's warm and humid.

I have got to read Tolstoy at some point before I die.

[ink_ling]

The opening style of In COld Blood has captured me every time I started it. It or my schedule mired down at some point in the middle every time, though. I am fascinated by all the speculation about Lee and Capote and their "collaborations". I want to take a road trip to Monroeville some day.

I've never gotten into James. Read mostly short stories. (Besides Daisy Miller.) But, I have always suspected there's an architectural subtlety I'd like to see unfold in his longer novels.

Me too! I usually get the itch to read Faulkner in the first of spring, the pitch of summer, or the outset of fall.

Yes. Tolstoy. Makes me think that I should probably read Proust, too. :: Sigh ::

[jerm_cell]

In my life there have been VERY few books I have read that I thought were a waste of time. Probably less than five out of god-knows-how-many hundreds. But Lesson Before Dying was one of them. It was predictable from beginning to end. I thought it was very, very overrated.
But these things are very subjective so don't let me talk you out of reading anything, but if you get very busy in the near future, put it near the bottom of your list.
MUCH better than that (and maybe you've already gotten to it) Death in Venice. It was Haunting.

[ink_ling]

Thanks for the head's up! I read The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by him and thought he had an interesting and deftly told take on race history in the U.S. So, that combined with the fact that he is increasingly canonized for reading -- at least here in Memphis -- made me curious as to what he might do in another of his books.

Yeah, I've read Death in Venice twice. Something about it bothers me. Maybe it's just that I, personally, am so removed from the concerns of the book that it's hard for me to get into -- what with the fascination with youth and pristine aesthetics. Seems I've -- since a child really -- had a taste built on the weathered and tried, more (though not exclusively) than the innocent and perfect.

You're making my head zing, though ... I need more non-Americans on this list!

[mehetabel]

[ink_ling]

One of my friends was actually pretty impressed with the document-style narrative of Dracula -- if I remember correctly. Basically, I wanted to read it at her recommendation.

Moby Dick? It will be a commitment, but I expect to be utterly floored by it.