read more classic books

So I’m crossing it off my list. Since I never made it a “concrete” goal, I think it is time for it to come off.

So many more to read, so maybe I’ll come up with a concrete list one of these days!

Read “Mary Poppins” and “Through the Looking Glass”. Yay!

When I was a kid, I loved the “Hallmark Hall of Fame” movie version of this book. Loved it so much that I asked for it for Christmas when I was a teenager. (And got it!)

But I’ve only just now finished the book. So lovely! I truly enjoyed the descriptions of the characters, and how they played on each other’s strengths and weaknesses to make each other better people. It was fun “watching” Mary transform from sallow and sour to lively and enjoyable, and Collin from sickly and depressed to hopeful and strong.

And trying to read the Yorkshire accents was fun!

I love Roald Dahl…read “James and the Giant Peach” several times. But I’ve just finally read “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and really enjoyed it. So outrageous and wicked, yet joyfully mad!

Loved this book! It is so obvious why it is a classic. It appeals to children and their sense of adventure and romance. And yet, it is so obviously geared toward adults in its wry observations about “heartless” children.

The language could at times be cumbersome, mostly because of the time when it was written, but Oh! what language! The imagery of the Neverland, of fairies, of the kiss on Mrs. Darling’s lips that Wendy could never quite catch, it was all so wonderful. I was delighed at every turn by Peter’s rash cockiness, and laughed out loud multiple times at Tinker Bell’s impulsive, irrational behavior, and the way fairies could only feel one emotion at once.

If you haven’t read this book, read this book. It is a joy. Read it out loud with someone you love, young or old.

I began reading “Dracula” nearly two years ago, but due to a change in life’s circumstances, never finished. I picked it up a week ago, and have already finished reading this classic tale of horror. The first reading was done aloud, reading with my husband so we could experience the same moments at the same time.

This time, I reread silently all that we had read, and we completed the book aloud together yesterday.

An incredible tale of imagination. At times I found the language cumbersome, but the ideas and images it presented were worth it. I got a tremendous amount of amusement from Stoker’s written form of dialects and accents, which were difficult to read out loud, but almost easier to read out loud that to read silently and understand.

I would argue from my experience that this book is one better experienced in silent reading, for then your imagination can fill in the gruesome images and the heart wrenching screams in a way that it cannot when focused on listening to a voice. The book contains many powerful discriptions of horror, of fear, and of love and honor. The first killing of a vampire was an incredibly memorable one, with honorable men so in love with the creature and so horrified by it. Another is a scene when one person, “infected” by the blood of the vampire. Though her heart be pure, her body is not, and the scream that comes from her when she learns that she is no longer “clean” is a powerful scene indeed.

I noticed one phrase in the book which has been assimilated into modern language, and I wonder if it was the first time this phrase was used…much more powerful in this book than in life. “If looks could kill…” in response to the maleficence and hatred in the face of a vampire upon being trapped.

Definitely a book worth reading, and one that I enjoyed “rereading” so much as I did. In this day of film, it is hard to feel the same suspense from a book, but I couldn’t wait to continue turning the pages.

I’m really enjoying it. I got through about half if it over a year ago, and I’m rereading it all so I don’t feel so lost. The journal style is fun to read, and the suspense really is good, even after “Dracula” has been so parodied.

found list of classics for Grades K-12
http://www.kidsource.com/-/timeless.html

list of 167 classics
http://www.eagleforum.org/-/list.html

college bound reading list
http://als.lib.wi.us/Collegebound.html