Thursday, June 16, 2011

What Books Are You Missing Out On?

People are always shocked when they've read a book that I haven't: "What do you mean you've never read (insert book title here)? It's a classic/best-seller/cult phenomenon." I can't tell you what a relief it was to finally read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee this year. While it was a good book, I'm mostly grateful I no longer have to explain to people why I'd never read it.

The truth is, there are a lot of amazing books published every year that I just don't have the time to get to. And then there are the millions of books published long before I was born--let alone before I could read--that I still haven't read. And while the vast majority of them I have no desire to read or have come to terms with the fact that I will never read, there are a couple I know I should read. I really want to read. I even have sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read.

Guilty Un-Reads:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Jungle Book by Ruyard Kipling
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
1984 by George Orwell
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Beloved by Toni Morrison

(I refuse to feel guilty about not reading a book that's been published in the last five years. Okay, I still feel guilty about a couple of them, but I try not to.)

So I'm trying to read up this year. I'm in the middle of The Phantom Tollbooth, and then I plan to delve into The Hobbit followed by The Great Gatsby. We'll see how many others I get through. Talking about "getting through" them probably isn't the best way to start...

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