Response to Big Books read

A person whose opinion I value highly has just pointed out to me the flaws of my reading of 46 books on the big books read list, and I think I should perhaps point out some things that will skew that data.

Of the 46 books on the list, only 28 of them I chose to read by myself. (yes, ONLY 28. I'm very strange like that) Some of them are children's books. Some of them were books I only read to acquaint myself with the movie, which was starring one of my favorite actors. (Anna Karenina, which I dislike thoroughly along with most of Tolstoy's work, springs to mind)

And certainly I thought there were a lot of books that I've really enjoyed and considered great literature that weren't on there, and some books that I didn't think were great literature were on there anyway. Edith Wharton was sadly not there- I love The Age of Innocence, and the fact that it won a Pulitzer could matter less to me. I think it's great, evocative writing.

On the issue of black authorship, I will be the first to admit that I am highly deficient in that subject, mainly because I have not been exposed to much of it. The only book I read by a black author in school was Beloved, by Toni Morrison, which, while a great work of writing, I didn't enjoy reading at all. I do not think I would ever be prompted to read one of her books again on my own because, simply put, the first one did not move me.

One author I'd be delighted to read more of is Ernest J. Gaines, whose Lesson Before Dying was a stirring and beautiful peice that, if memory serves, caused me to tear up a little. He is not on the list, but his book was brilliant. So also was his 'A Gathering of Old Men' which was a great piece and just a cool exercise in trying to piece together a narrative from the viewpoints of many different people. I read both of those books because a teacher recommended them to me after we read part of A Gathering of Old Men in a Creative writing class and I mentioned wanting to read the rest of it because the subject and style interested me.

Last Semester with Sister Mara we read an article about a white scholar doing academic work with Toni Morrison's work and her novel Sula kept coming up. Several interesting quotes were raised and I might, if my summer permits, read that. I've been on a memoir-non fiction streak so far; I read the last two of Frank McCourt's memoirs, Reading Lolita in Tehran (which was amazing) and am now trying (and failing) to get through Queen Bees and Wannabes, the book that inspired Mean Girls. The Bookseller of Kabul is another book that is on my list, along with anything else I'll pick up at the book rescue where I'm volunteering.

People often say "Don't judge a book by it's cover." Perhaps I should try "Don't judge a book by the picture on it's dust jacket."