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I'm participating in the Wednesday Quotes link-up hosted by Marsha at Always Write, and despite the link-up being titled WEDNESDAY Quotes, for crying in the sink, I almost never post mine on Wednesdays! It can't be helped at this point. Thankfully, the linky is open for several days, which helps me out. The prompt this week centers around Literature or Media that Inspires.
Although I've barely scratched the surface in reading the books that might be considered the greatest classic literature of all time, I certainly do enjoy a good book, and a well-told story can be very inspiring. Skillful, elegant writing is inspiring too, and the combination of a compelling story and masterful writing is what characterizes the books that we call Classics.
A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. ~Italo Calvino
A classic is a successful book that has survived the reaction of the next period or generation. Then it's safe, like a style in architecture or furniture. It's acquired a picturesque dignity to take the place of its fashion. . . " ~The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
With so many classics to choose from, which ones do you read? I've read some because they were assigned to me in school, and I've read a few more because I assigned them to my students! There's a few that I've read because I thought I should, but in general I read books ― classic or not so much ― because they interest me. They inspire my imagination or my thoughts in some way.
Classic literature is still something that hangs in the air like a song. ~Gilbert K. Chesterton
Good books tell the truth, even when they're about things that never have been and never will be. They're truthful in a different way. ~Stanislaw Lem
Fairy tales and other stories of heroes and romance help us understand love, courage, and the battle between good and evil. And inspire us to believe that truth and courage and love will triumph over wickedness and hate.
A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way. ~Caroline Gordon
Stories about other times and other places inspire us to consider other perspectives and perhaps to learn about history or about other cultures.
Some books leave us free and some books make us free. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Once you learn to read, you will be forever free. ~Frederick Douglass
If you can read, you can explore the world. You can learn almost anything you want to learn.
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. ~Dr. Seuss
I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! ― When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library. ~Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
What are some of my favorite books, or those I found most inspiring? I always have a tough time choosing favorites. I'll just list some that come to mind! Some of the classics that have really stuck with me for various reasons include (in no particular order):
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (everything by Austen, actually)
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Dracula - Bram Stoker
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
The Friendly Persuasion - Jessamyn West
Recent favorites:
The Crumbs Off Heaven's Table - D.M. Griffin
Remarkably Bright Creatures - Shelby Van Pelt
The Travelling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa
Hope Between the Pages - Pepper Basham
Favorite authors:
Pepper Basham
Connilynn Cossette
Michelle Griep
Anna Lee Huber
Hannah Linder
Deanna Raybourn
There's so many other authors, so many other books that I've loved, and I just can't name them all! I used to read so much more, but in the last couple years I've not been able to keep up the pace of reading that I'd like to. I don't have the same amount of time to read for some reason, and I don't read as quickly either, it seems. Anyway, if you are interested in my reading, you can see it over on my book blog, Just A Second
Wednesday Quotes 2024 is hosted by Marsha at Always Write. This post will be linked at #WQ #157: Literature/Media That Inspires/Washington's Birthday
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What no Bronte sisters? One of my favorites is The Picture of Dorian Gray, too. I read it in high school as well as college and just for fun sometimes. It is kind of funny to think about what makes a classic, isn't it? I haven't ever read Dracula or Frankenstein. I should give them a try as I love the movies...like that's a good enough reason.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these, Kym!
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I like Jane Eyre a lot, but it didn't make it into my top ten, I guess. And I hated Wuthering Heights. LOL I've heard that people tend to like one and hate the other. WH is beautiful writing, in my opinion, but I thoroughly disliked every character! Dracula is one of my favorites though.
DeleteThanks for stopping by and commenting!
It's funny you say that because I don't mind Jane Eyre, but it isn't one of my favorite books. What I love about Wuthering Heights (my favorite book of all time) is that I go through so many feelings about the characters as I read it. I love and pity Heathcliff at the beginning, loathe him in the middle, and love and pity him at the end. The same goes for Edgar Linton except the opposite. And, Cathy is atrocious, yet I sometimes can identify with her. I wonder if Emily ever understood how powerful her book was. Here's the thing that makes me love it even more. Every time I pick it up to read it, I hope and expect a different outcome. I don't know why that happens because this is the only book that has ever created that feeling in me. I am probably just weird!
DeleteI understand what you mean - I've felt that way about other books, that I somehow hope the outcome will be different when I re-read it. I tried to like Wuthering Heights, but so many characters with so few redeeming qualities just didn't do it for me. We all like different things!
DeleteYou always have the best quotes, Kym! I am impressed with your choices of classics. I have read most of them, but not The Friendly Persuasion - Jessamyn West. Your other favorites I haven't read. Like you I read many of the classics after I finished school. Many of them I read when I started blogging twelve years ago. Like you, I have trouble keeping up. Great post! :)
ReplyDeleteI hadn't even heard of The Friendly Persuasion until a few years ago when I first taught a Lit class and it was in the reading list, and I loved it. It's sort of a collection of short stories about a Quaker family in the mid 1800s. Such sweet characters and gentle humor.
DeleteEven though I always loved reading, there were quite a few books I was assigned during school that I just didn't have the perspective or maturity to enjoy at that age. I think the pressure to study and analyze literature and poetry kind of took the enjoyment out of it too, so when I taught my own kids and in the homeschool co-op, I tried to focus on the story above the effort to pick it apart and analyze the daylights out of it.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!