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Summer Reading Lists, Part One
May 27, 2008

The elder Mini Maven told me last week that she planned to spend part of her most recent paycheck on "the Great Balls of Fire autographed bookgreat books, you know, like The Great Gatsby." 

I confess I laughed out loud. Quick, make a list of books with the word "great" in the title! Great Expectations , The Great Game, The Great Santini, All Creatures Great and Small, The Great Brain... Hmmmm. It peters out rather quickly.

How, I asked her, did she choose "the great books?"

Of course. She found a list on the Internet. It wasn't a bad list at all, and included many books without the word "great" in their titles...but it wasn't necessarily a list tailored to her interests, reading skills, or goals.

To me, that's a good thing. I hope my daughter starts working her way through this list and finds something that surprises her. I hope she finds something she hates, something she loves, something that scares her, something that keeps her up at night turning pages, and something that makes her throw a book across the room in disgust. 
Inspiring strong emotion and independent thought is what makes "the great books," well...great. 

It's that time of year again -- the post-Memorial Day Summer Reads time (I'll be back next week with a roundup of and look at some of the lists popping up in the media). Which five "great books" would you choose to recommend? 

Mine:

Persuasion by Jane Austen
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Posted by Bethanne Patrick on May 27, 2008 | Comments (6)


May 27, 2008
In response to: Summer Reading Lists, Part One
Walter Kovacs commented:

The Book Maven doesn't already have a copy of The Great Gatsby she could lend her Mini Maven? I'm shocked! I don't know if I can recommend just five great books. Narrowing great things down that far is pretty hard. But I do know I'd add Wuthering Heights and Tom Sawyer to your list.




May 27, 2008
In response to: Summer Reading Lists, Part One
Christine commented:

Pere Goriot Nicholas Nickleby The Color Purple Gone With the Wind The Sparrow




May 27, 2008
In response to: Summer Reading Lists, Part One
Charles commented:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass; Huckleberry Finn; The Grapes of Wrath; Treasure Island; Tess of the D'urbervilles. (I heartily applaud your choice of Vanity Fair - great book!)




May 27, 2008
In response to: Summer Reading Lists, Part One
Charles commented:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass; Huckleberry Finn; The Grapes of Wrath; Treasure Island; Tess of the D'urbervilles. (I heartily applaud your choice of Vanity Fair - great book!)




May 28, 2008
In response to: Summer Reading Lists, Part One
Katie commented:

1. The Scarlet Letter. 2. As I Lay Dying. 3. House of Mirth. 4. Catch-22. 5. A Room of One's Own. (in no particular order)




May 30, 2008
In response to: Summer Reading Lists, Part One
Helene H. commented:

1. er, Great Expectations (sorry!) 2. Mansfield Park 3. The Age of Innocence 4. David Copperfield 5. Jane Eyre





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