MY UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR IN COLLEGE WAS ENGLISH, but then I moved on to real life. I had real jobs dealing with real people. Not so my friend Maxwell, who never left the world of academia. He got his B.A., then he got his M.A., then he got his Ph.D. He became an English professor, his special area being Medieval Literature. Eventually, he became the head of the English Department at a large state university. He’s retired now, has been for a while, and on most days, a few hours following my solitary early AM walk, I go out again with Maxwell. My first walk is for the exercise; the second walk is for the company. But I have no interest in his guy Chaucer. He and I are usually feeding each other’s misgivings about the state of the country, discussing sports, or reminiscing about our real or pretended life’s adventures. We talk about books too, of course, which often is frustrating for me. I’ll say, I’m reading ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ by Dickens. Oh, I read that in high school, he’ll say. Or I’ll enthuse about the poetry of T. S. Eliot. Oh, I read him in high school, Maxwell tells me. So, now, if I mention something that I’m reading and he says nothing in response, I automatically assume that he read the damn thing in high school. And here I am, not getting to it until I’m over 80! It makes me question my teenaged priorities. Of course, I worked forty hours per week while I was in high school, so it’s a wonder that I ever graduated, let alone read any worthwhile literature. “Time and tide wait for no man” wrote Chaucer, so I guess I’m just playing catchup, which is better than falling further behind. Read on, MacDuff.
I am envious of you and Maxwell. In high school, I would come home and set my books (homework) on the dining room table. In the morning, they were still there in the exact same place. I am sure I had better things to do, and now I wish I could remember what those things were? I am guessing American Bandstand for one. Now in my senior years, I crave knowledge, but my vision says "you old fool"! So I purchased a CD player to listen to books on tape. Guess where it is? In the bottom drawer of my nightstand! "No fool like an old fool". jb
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Wisdom doesn't necessarily come from books; we all know people who haven't read many books but are very wise and shrewd. Life itself with its many varied experiences is the greatest teacher. Reading Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" in school and later on in life is totally different as I found out when I reread him during the Covid lockdowns. He is Henry's favorite author. As to Chaucer, I found that difficult going. I found Emily Dickinson's poetry very inspirational and was lucky to have a professor who was an expert on her teach a course.
I found this book very inspirational. I made a list of the books I wanted to read, then off I went.
Hi Henry, you surprise me again. We often make assumptions about people, and one I had made of you is that you have read pretty much everything there is out there that is worth reading, at least in terms of the classics. I knew you loved Dickens and when you stated a while back that you had discovered A Tale of Two Cities in a bookstore and were going to read it, what you really meant was that you were going to re-read it. I made a sort of New Year's resolution with myself a ways back to start reading more of the old classics that I never did get to, and Tale of Two Cities was first on my list, primarily from your influence. I am planning on reserving it from my local library as soon as I'm close to finishing my current book.
Terry
Part of my bibliophily is that I no longer visit libraries. If I'm going to take the time to read a recognizably good book (e.g. a "classic"), I want to keep it on my shelf to go back to whenever I feel like it. I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford buying books and I'm fast running out of shelf space. Also, I often markup passages for future reference.
Don't even think about that. I selected about sixty or so that I hadn't already read. Feel free to pick out only those that you think you'll enjoy or get something out of. The author who compiled the list writes wonderful profiles of each book, explaining why he selected them.
I like to support my local library, and I dread the day they become a thing of the past, as people abandon real books in favor of reading from laptops, tablets, and phones. We have a ridiculous number of books, and I've had to stop buying them for lack of space. I still hang on to a few classics, but they do tend to be large in size (i.e., Anna Karenina) so I have to limit it.
Terry