Reading For Fun.. Literature for the Mind.

Well, now that I am officially off to Jacksonville University in August to start completeing my BA in English, I thought I'd re-vamp my "To Read" list. I just finished "His Dark Materials" trilogy by Pullman and am now completely ready for when the movie of The Golden Compass finally arrives; nervous but ready.

So after you finish a great book it's hard to choose the next. I mean, what if it isn't nearly as good? What if it lets me down? Even if a book is a completely different genre it can still not be the same quality as the last book you've read. When in doubt I always seem to go back to my favorite author. Not really because he's so terribly good at it, but his books make me work for the ending. Of course I'm talking about Umberto Eco.

Over the last few years I had sort of dropped out of literature to battle health problems and depression. I really didn't believe books would ever intrigue me again. However, one summer semester at Broome Community College changed everything for me. Our teacher, not really wanting to spend the next 8 weeks blathering on about examples in a text book decided that we were all going to buy the book "Baudolino" and us that as our text. I found myself completely entranced by all the hidden references, and words I would have to underline and come back to. This book actually forced me to keep a pencil and sometimes even a notebook in hand to mark something or copy a quote down that I found fantastic, or at least warranting a second look.

' This is literature,' I remember thinking. And it wasn't the kind of literature tha tyou read for readings sake. It was that plus the added bonus of WANTING to read it and remember things, and go back to them several times. Some people may find it tedious to constantly have to be looking up words while reading a book, but I relished the experience. Never before had my mind been so tested. I WANTED to understand it all. I am by no means an above average reader, but something about Eco's novels pulls me in and won't let me escape until I've read the story as fully as I am capable.

And knowing this I have re-vamped my reading list in order of how I'll probably read them. If you read this, and want to recommend something please do comment.

The List:

Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
Wicked - Gregory Maguire
The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul - Douglas Adams
Enchantment - Orson Scott
Foucaults Pendulum - Umberto Eco
Salmon of Doubt - Douglas Adams
Kafka By the Shore - Haruki Murakami
1984 - George Orwell
Wraeththu - can't remember author off hand.

End.