Responding to an Upstart Wren

Thinking about the classics

A close friend has just started a new blog which can be found here, and is well worth a read. She is much more erudite than 'wot i is' but we often end up debating books and the arts world in general and so when she posted her take on reading what are deemed 'classic books' it made me think a lot and here is my partner post to the Wren's.

Reading the classics

Although attending the same school as the Wren I don’t have quite the same recollections regarding English lessons, the fruits of being in a different form and then following an arts track through the years perhaps?

I don’t think we had to keep a book journal, but I feel that if I had done so similar comments about reading age appropriate books would have come my way. The TARDIS may not have featured on my list (I confess I was scared by Doctor Who as a child and so would never have sought out books on the topic) but there were certainly books set in schools, space and an awful lot of teen books with a didactic environmental message. 

There weren’t any classics however. 

I don’t know why.  As a younger child I raced through books such as Black Beauty, Heidi, Little Women, Pollyanna, Wind in the Willows, The Railway Children, The Secret Garden etc., and then I repeatedly borrowed the more modern classics, by authors such as Arthur Ransome and Laura Ingalls Wilder, from the library. The language and style of these is as complicated as any contained in an adult classic novel so I don’t know why I didn’t naturally move on them.

When I did graduate on to books published for an adult market (not adult books, that’s another whole can of worms) I moved onto authors such as John Wyndham, and R F Delderfield before the more traditional teenage fare of Jilly Cooper and Virginia Andrews.  

I missed out the classics.

Like the Upstart Wren my GCSE English course didn’t introduce them to me, although my teacher did pick drama as our topic and I did meet Shakespeare (although I now realise that this was an abridged version and not the full play) and J B Priestley. 

Interestingly on asking my English teacher for book recommendations when stuck in a reading rut I don’t recall being pointed towards the classics at all – Gerald Durrell is the author who I know I discovered at this point. 

I didn’t continue with English past GCSE, focusing on languages – in which I enjoyed reading French and German classics, occasionally in the original language. 

Fast forward twenty years and I am now nearing completion of an MA in Shakespeare Studies. More interestingly I still haven’t read that many of what are considered classic novels. I always intend to but then get side tracked.  

So to many my reading does have a big hole in it. 

I love reading translations of classical Greek and Roman works, and also Elizabethan/Jacobean drama but then I skip forward about 300 years to my next love – rediscovered books from the early twentieth century. Publishers like Persephone Books and Virago are just made for me.  They  republish books, or authors, that were hugely popular in their day but have since slipped into obscurity. I don’t mean people like Nevil Shute (who I also like) but people like Elizabeth Bowen, R C Sherriff and then the well-known authors of children’s books like Richmal Crompton and Noel Streatfeild who also wrote for adults. 

I read an incredible amount of translated fiction, literary fiction and also narrative non-fiction. I  like reading historical books set in all eras so my avoidance of the classics seems even odder.  I’m not even that keen on TV adaptations of them, but the reasons for that is a post for another day! 

I do feel guilty for having this gaping hole in my literary life, I know I should read more of the classics and I don’t even have the excuse of ever being expected to read them and so rebelling against this edict.  But – and here is the big but READING SHOULD BE FUN, and although I do read a lot for improvement/education I do expect to enjoy what I read and so far that hasn’t been many of the classics. 

I will keep trying new ones but I feel my split personality when it comes to books will keep me either in antiquity or the near past, for some reason I seem to empathise with both settings far more than the period 1700-1900.

As my studies come to an end in the next few months I am hoping to have more time to respond to thought provoking blogs and statements from friends as well as statements in the press, but for now it will just be the Wren and the Bookworm replying to each other!

Reading Questions

Meme.

Mt friend Sam over at Books, Time and Silence posted this meme which he had found at Booking Through Thursday and I couldn't resist having a go myself.

1. Favorite childhood book?
My real favourite was a book called The Learning Tree. I got very excited when I found a copy at bootfair recently but when I tried to reread it I found it dire. It had a good environmental message but was so didactic. I hope I didn't make my parents read it aloud too often!

2. What are you reading right now?
I have several books on the go at the moment - Fahrenheit 451, a travel guide, a day by day diary of the German Occupation of Guernsey and the translation of an Arabic novel called The Proof of the Honey.

3. What books do you have on request at the library?
I have about 10 books on request at present, all are books that should be published in the next few weeks and they range from teen fiction through to histories of the Holocaust.

4. Bad book habit?
Buying too many!

5. What do you currently have checked out at the library?
I currently have one travel guide, 2 history books, 1 social science book, 1 book about the Second World War, 2 adult fiction titles and a junior fiction book.

6. Do you have an e-reader?
Yes - I have a beBook mini and iBooks on my phone.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?
I tend to have several on the go, usually one non fiction, one in my work bag and a novel. When I am on holiday I tend to read more books but only one at a time.

8. Have your reading habits changed since starting a blog?
I think about the books I read for longer but I don't choose books with the blog in mind.

9. Least favorite book you read this year (so far?)
House of Special Purpose - John Boyne. I wish he'd stop messing around with history in his books. He is considered such a good writer that his books are being studied and I worry that his versions of the past will soon become accepted as true despite their terrible inaccuracies.

10. Favorite book you’ve read this year?
Adult novel - The Help by Katherine Stockett

Teen novel - Matched by Ally Condie

Children's Book - the very advance copy of Suzanne LaFleurs new book

11. How often do you read out of your comfort zone?
All the time, but a lot more at present as I prepare for our Banned Books event at work.

12. What is your reading comfort zone?
I'm not sure I know this as I read so much and so widely. I don't like very scary books or gory books and crime often leaves me cold but apart from that if it is written I'll read it.

13. Can you read on the bus?
Nope

14. Favorite place to read?
On a sun lounger somewhere warm and sunny! When at home curled up on the sofa or in bed.

15. What is your policy on book lending?
Hmm tricky this one as when I've read something and loved it I want everyone to read it BUT if I've really loved it I can't part with it.

16. Do you ever dog-ear books?
*whispers* yes

17. Do you ever write in the margins of your books?
No, if I am making notes for an essay/presentation I write longhand notes as I am reading.

18. Not even with text books?
Nope

19. What is your favorite language to read in?
English, I can read a little in French and German but it takes me so long that English is easier.

20. What makes you love a book?
Good characters, something that makes me think, something that moves me, reading it at the right time in the right place.

21. What will inspire you to recommend a book?
If I've loved a book I will try to find the right person to recommend it to, Sometimes if I've disliked a book I'll want to get someone else to read it to see if my objections are general or personal.

22. Favorite genre?
1920s school stories, historical fiction, some fantasy

23. Genre you rarely read (but wish you did?)
Sci-Fi - I love 'hard' sci-fi rather than speculative but I find one book every so often satisfies this.

Favorite biography?
Usually the last one I've read!

25. Have you ever read a self-help book?
Probably but the genre does nothing for me

26. Favorite cookbook?
I have three Vefa's Kitchen, 1080 Recipes, and Madhur Jaffrey's Curry Bible.

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?
Guernica by Dave Boling as it has led me to read loads more about the Spanish Civil War, a conflict I'm ashamed to say I knew nothing about.

28. Favorite reading snack?

Probably chocolate but I often get so engrossed in the book that I lose track of where I am so don't event snack.

29. Name a case in which hype ruined your reading experience.
Working in the book trade for so long I got used to ignoring the hype around books. Harry Potter became a full on experience as each book launch had to be bigger and better than the last but luckily for me that increased my enjoyment of the wait for the books and I still enjoyed them once I had recovered enough to read them.

30. How often do you agree with critics about a book?
Some and some.

31. How do you feel about giving bad/negative reviews?
That is a hard one, usually review very personally so if I haven't liked a book I say why *I* didn't like it rather than anything else. I do remember writing a scathing chapter about a book/author in my MA Dissertation and then the author coming into the shop to sign books which was awkward, although of course they couldn't know what I'd been writing the day before!

32. If you could read in a foreign language, which language would you chose?
There are so many good translations out there that I'd rather read them than struggle to read a translation.

33. Most intimidating book you’ve ever read?
Some of the reference tomes I read for my MA. I love children's literature but found some of the theory around them hard going.

34. Most intimidating book you’re too nervous to begin?
I'll generally try anything but I do have a mental block when it comes to Watership Down and Catch-22. I can't get past the first few pages of either novel.

35. Favorite Poet?
I'm not a poetry fan but the First World War poets were amazing.

36. How many books do you usually have checked out of the library at any given time?
Around 10

37. How often have you returned book to the library unread?
I often borrow books for the library to see if I like them before buying so I read a lot of the starts of novels but don't always finish them!

38. Favorite fictional character?
This changes all the time but the books I turn to time and again are the Tortall Books by Tamora Pierce

39. Favorite fictional villain?
Again this changes as often as my mood but I have a soft spot (if that is the right phrase for a villain) for Lord Voldemort

40. Books I’m most likely to bring on vacation?
Anything, but in quantity.

41. The longest I’ve gone without reading.
Probably no more than a day

42. Name a book that you could/would not finish.
Catch-22 and Watership Down spring to mind but I have got better at abandoning books I'm not enjoying.

43. What distracts you easily when you’re reading?
If I'm reading on my iPhone or laptop then the Internet distracts as I keep looking things up as I read. If I'm in bed it is probably sleep!

44. Favorite film adaptation of a novel?
I'm not a great fan of film adaptation of books I've already read as the pictures in my mind are generally better.

45. Most disappointing film adaptation?
Most of the ones I've seen.

46. The most money I’ve ever spent in the bookstore at one time?
I can't answer that my mum and my husband read this!

47. How often do you skim a book before reading it?
Sometimes with non fiction I will and sometimes I'll read the first chapter of a book before buying.

48. What would cause you to stop reading a book half-way through?
Boredom, too much gore, being badly written.

49. Do you like to keep your books organized?
If I had more space I would, at present our books on Space, Space Travel and astronomy are grouped together, as are our novels/books on ancient Greece and Rome. My collectable books are all together and so are the travel guides but apart from that you'll often see me tearing the house apart looking for something to read.

50. Do you prefer to keep books or give them away once you’ve read them?
That really depends on the book, sharing a book is one of the pleasures of reading

51. Are there any books you’ve been avoiding?
Not avoiding as such but I don't tend to read a lot of what are termed classic novels.

52. Name a book that made you angry.
Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

53. A book you didn’t expect to like but did?
Because I'll read anything this happens all of the time.

54. A book that you expected to like but didn’t?
I read in hope all the time so there are plenty of books that I try but that ultimately disappoint. Some of the autobiographies/ biographies I have read I have wanted to like more as I like the subject but the books have left me cold.

55. Favorite guilt-free, pleasure reading?
I try to make all reading guilt free!