Making Up For Lost Time...

I have a confession to make. I was not always the best of students. I don't know if it was because I was a part of Generation X and watched too much TV or if it had something to do with my dyslexia, but I have developed a deep regret that I didn't take the time while i was in school (especially High School) to really read all of the literature that my teachers were attempting to force upon me. In all honesty, I think that I really missed out on a lot by simply skimming most of the books (or not reading them at all). It was not until I was out of High School and then in college that I developed a love for reading. After college Dee and I married and moved to North Carolina where I never had time to read anything that I wanted. I was drowning in an unrealistic sea of required reading for my Master's degree......... (a drowning so severe that I feel as if I am just now (four years later) really recovering). Dee has always loved to read - a trait that I really admire in her - and I (because of her example) am attempting to go back and re-read many of the great classics that I have always heard about, but have never actually read. I don't have any system... just that I plan on picking the next book after I finish the current book from my favorite little used bookstore in the city. My only requirement is that the used copy has to be picked on the day I go into the shop, and that the book must be of some age (i.e. not a paperback!).

I started this new adventure with Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" while we were in the states this last summer/fall. I found it refreshing to be reading a book with great American / Southern flare while in the states. It was truly an exciting "can't put this down" book. No wonder it is a classic. I then read "Robinson Crusoe" by Daniel Defoe. I loved this tale of isolation and creativity on a deserted island. I found myself lost in the pages wondering if I would have been so inventive and methodical. I just finished reading Jules Verne's classic "A Journey to the Center of the Earth". This early sci-fi book was far beyond it's time, and I really appreciated that it paved the way for many of this centuries books and movies... but it was a hard read, and I found it a bit outlandish. For my new book - I have just picked up an old copy of "Little Women" by Louisa M. Alcott. Dee and some of my friends here think it is a bit funny that I am reading this one, but I am ready for a change in pace. I've read several adventure novels and now it is time to settle down with something a bit slower paced. Dee has assured me that I will love the book... especially the fact that they really are tiny women (Who would have guessed?). So... I am going to give it a go.