I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WRITTEN LANGUAGE!
Text books, essays, poems, short stories, scriptures, the back of the cereal box, you name it!
It is strange to think about...what are words anyway? Symbolic representations of sounds, that are symbolic symbols of objects, or emotions, or ideas. They have the power to make us laugh, cry, fear, swell with pride, and think out side ourselves. If you can read, you can travel around the world. If you can read, you can experience other people's lives. If you can read, you can teach yourself to do anything, from cook a gourmet meal, to build a boat out of a few sticks and a rain poncho. Writing can convey thoughts and ideas that no other medium can. It is so powerful!
Lately I have had a little more time than usual to read for pleasure and it made me realize how much I miss my books. Recently, a few people have asked me for good books to read over the summer so I thought I'd share some of my favorites here, and tell you why I love them so much.
1) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is probably my favorite book of all time. I think I've read it about 10 times, and am starting to have parts of it memorized. It is an apologetically romantic book, with an openly cheesy ending. But I'm OK with that, because along the way, it discusses morality, Christianity, faith, family, and a million things in between, with out feeling like a sermon.
2) If you are looking for something just plain fun, try the Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters. It is a series of mysteries focusing on Egyptologists Amelia Peabody, and Radcliffe Emerson. The books are so so so fun! They are great "escapist" stories, if you just want to get away from reality for a few hours.
3) I have a feeling lots of people will hate me for saying this, but Walden by Henry David Thoreau is absolutely beautiful. I know, I had to read it in high school too, and I hated it. Then I started to feel guilty about judging poor Henry so harshly and gave it another chance. When I was left on my own to interpret it how I wanted to, I found it to be philosophical, with out being heavy handed. Lovely!
4) If you like things a little darker, try Brahms Stoker's Dracula. It has kind of an abrupt ending, but it is super intense. The twilight series is total lame-sauce compared to this book.
5) One of the first things I remember is my dad reading us To Kill A Mocking Bird. Everyone should hear that book read by someone with a southern accent. I didn't appreciate the whole story, though until I was much older. It is really simple, but that is what makes it profound. It is the world seen through a child's eyes. Children have a way putting things in perspective.
6) The Great Gatsby...oh boy, this is one of my other most favorite books ever. It's a pretty fast read, but it will make you stop and think. It is what Cory likes to call an "onion book." There are so many layers. Depending on your mood when you read it, it can be a totally different story each time you open it.
7) If you haven't read any of E. B. White's work, you are totally missing out. There are of course his classic children's stories; The Trumpet of the Swan, Charlotte's Web, Stewart Little. Those are all great, heart warming books. I didn't know until I was a junior in high school that he was also a quite famous columnist and essayist in his day. I read a collection of his essays called One Man's Meat for an assignment and fell in love. He is so optimistic and straight forward. His ideas and style are so unique, and yet so simple and obvious. It makes you think, but is uplifting at the same time.
8) Farenheit 451 is, ironically, a book about a future where books are against the law. It is totally thought provoking, and a little scary. The characters are great, the style is easy, and it won't take you long to get through.
2 comments:
My favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird, I have read it so many times. I also really like The Great Gatsby. I plan on reading The Picture of Dorian Gray this summer, heard of it? I have never read it, but it sounds interesting.
Oh! I should have included Dorian Gray. It is so good! You will love it.
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