Amy and I were at the local library branch yesterday and I confessed to her that I had never read any Tolstoy. She was incredulous. The truth is there are a lot of "great books" that I haven't read. Of the great 19th century novels, I have never read Moby Dick, Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Last of the Mohicans, Huck Finn, Little Women, anything by Jane Austen, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Of the 20th century novels, I have not read anything by Hemmingway or Steinbeck, Faulkner or D.H. Lawrence. I should be embarrassed by this, but I am not. Many people read these books in their teens or early 20s. During those years, I read mostly science fiction. I hope to read these great books eventually. I will read them for pleasure and I won't have to write a paper about them.
Check out the 100 best novels recommended by the board of the Modern Library. I have read 14 of these. (http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html)
OK, I have called myself out. What "great books" have you not read. I have read Hamlet, how about you?
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This definitely calls for a "classics" book club. I have not read Tolstoy. I tried to start AK recently but got sidetracked. Other classics I haven't read were "All Quiet on the Western Front," "Portnoy's Complaint," anything by Jane Austen, and also nothing by Dumas...and I feel like I should have read "Sound and the Fury" (what a title!) a long time ago but never have.
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