Welcome to all of you stopping by courtesy of the awesome Book Blogger Hop, sponsored by Crazy-For-Books. Feel free to take off your shoes, plop down in a cushy armchair, and take a look around. It is my quest to read the Modern Library's Board's List of the Top 100 Books from the last century. Believe it or not, I am 30 books in, and still alive!Crazy-For-Books asks us Hop participants this week if we like to listen to music while we read. I used to do this a lot when I was younger. I remember listening to Def Leppard's Pyromania while I was reading Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff in middle school. Don't ask how I came up with that combo. Now as I get older, I've discovered that I am losing the ability to concentrate on anything longer than a segment on TMZ about Snooki from Jersey Shore getting arrested....so as a result, I can't read, listen to music, pat my stomach and chew gum at the same time anymore. I do, however, get these goofy hairs that sprout out of my chin every now and then, so this getting older thing isn't all THAT bad. :)
Take a look around the site, and I have a question for all of you stopping by. How do you feel about reading the classics, and what is the last classic book you read?
Thanks for coming by!!!
Hi! Thanks for your comments on my blog. I see you decided to go backwards as well for the same reasons! Makes perfect sense to me, but saving the "best for last" and not skipping books I know I'll hate. But that has just made reading the books I hate a very slow process! I really don't think any could possibly be worse than The Ginger Man, though!
ReplyDeleteI'm visiting from the hop this week but am a follower already :). I was just reading your post to the right, about reading the top 100 list.
ReplyDeleteI need to click on the link but do you happen to know if the books are inclusive of Random House publishing, or are all publisher's included? Interesting that the list link is a RH site. This doesn't mean the books aren't great, just wondering if RH top 100. Enjoy your reading!
Hello!
ReplyDeleteI'm stopping by from "The Hop" and thrilled to find someone who is reading something other than YA/Fantasy/Romance. It's slim-picken's. ;)
I'm a new follower, excited to see how your journey goes, and where it takes you. I'm working on the 2006 List of "1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die." I'm only about 96 books into it, and they've updated the list a few times since I started, but I'll keep plugging away just the same.
Happy Reading & Happy Hopping!
hi! New follower thanks to the hop.
ReplyDeleteDef Leppard while reading! Impressive :)
funny!
ReplyDeleteI read lots of classics and find them fascinating - it is always interesting to determine for oneself if it is worthy of the good press or boring enough to gouge out one's eyes. Last great classic read: Grapes of Wrath.
@ Alli...You are so right on. The Ginger Man was garbage.
ReplyDelete@ Mari...even though the ML list is through Random House, I do not think even one of the books I've read are from Random House, or Modern Library. I have read that the books selected for the list have to be from Random House, though, which has caused some literary criticism of how the books that made the list were picked. Are they really the best of last century, or the best of Random House? Good question.
@ Roof...I am laughing so hard right now. I know the first time I went to the Hop I got a complex about how I have to be the only woman in America NOT reading a YA paranormal fantasy book. And then I snapped myself out of it and went back to my list. :) We non YA ladies gotta stick together!
@ Wallace...even more impressive back then, I could read AND sing along at the same time.
@ Kelly and Euphoria...thanks for hopping by!
@ Leah...right on. It's so subjective what a "classic" really is, and every book will speak differently to every reader. I think people mistakenly and sadly label all the boring books they HAD to read in high school as classics. What I am most looking fwd to with some of the re-reads I have to do on the list coming up are books I read in high school, and seeing if I still feel the same about them as an adult as I did back then.
Thanks to everyone for swinging by! Come back soon! :)
"Chip Of A Star" by Chatham County Line always makes me think of Neil Gaiman's Stardust.
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday. Come see how I listen to music when I read.
I love to read books others have found to be excellent. I admire your ability to stick with books, liked or hated....I find myself giving up on books that do not appeal to me very easily.
ReplyDeleteI am now a follower. I hope you will stop by my blog. www.readerbuzz.blogspot.com
Hello! Happy to meet you via the Book Blogger Hop!
ReplyDeleteHmm, the last classic book I read. Pride and Prejudice.....for the 3rd time in my life.
Why yes -- I do enjoy the classics. And I've enjoyed seeing the list you're working through. I may have to check out the Alexandria quartet once I finish the Buru quartet (which seems to have lost steam by the third book, much like the quartet you're reading). BTW, I just read The Right Stuff: Illustrated a couple weeks ago--it's even better with pictures. I didn't listen to it with music, though; I'd be too distracted.
ReplyDeleteLast classic I've read? Depends on your definition. For the past month it could be Lieutenant Hornblower (excellent), The African Queen (decent), All's Well That Ends Well (a play, and not one that ended that well), or Brave New World (slow start, but not easily forgotten).
Mome...was not aware there was an illustrated version of "The Right Stuff". Excuse me while I run to the store this instant and buy it! Seriously, there was nothing more I wanted to be at that age than an astronaut. I've re-read the book as an adult and really enjoyed it. And of course you can't beat the movie. Ed Harris is THE world's greatest John Glenn.
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