| Literature |
| I'm somewhat of a bookwurm...well, somewhat might be a bit of an understatement. I love reading and feel lost if I'm not surrounded by my collection of books at home. Currently, I have one large bookcase, 3 small bookcases and a glass-doored case that holds my turn-of-the-century children's books. If I thought my apartment could hold anymore I'd have at least one more case to hold the books I still have in boxes....hehe. For lack of anything else to think of to put in this space here are a few of my favorites, in no particular order.... The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery - This is the book from which my favorite quote comes...I think it is so easy to forget what is truly essential in life. The whole book struck my with the simplicity of its deep message. Crime and Punishment and Notes from Underground, Fyodor Dostoevsky - When I read Crime and Punishment I carried it everywhere with me and read until my eyes were blurry. My friends all teased me for reading a Russian novelist despite having finished my degree and not being in school, but I could not put the book down. I love the way Dostoevsky explores the duality of man...for in us all lies both the light and the dark of life...to deny one or the other is not only foolish but dangerous. The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne - I read this the first time in high school and a couple times while in college. It's a classic that I seem to return to every few years. I'm still miffed about the atrocity that Demi Moore played in....the movie had no right being titled The Scarlet Letter other than having characters that happened to have the same name with a plot that hinted at Hawthorne's masterpiece. The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka - Admittedly, this is not one I have read in quite a while...but one that I remember effecting me a great deal in high school. Gonna have to reread it soon...hehe. William Shakespeare - I think the play I like the most is Twelfth Night...but then there's Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, Love's Labor's Lost, Midsummer's Night's Dream, ad infinitum...it'd be hard to say just one or two...then there's his poetry as well...hehe. Lord Byron - I'm so stirred by Byron's poetry. I think my favorite has to be "She Walks in Beauty". The imagery of his dark-haired lover has always struck me as perfection. Sherman Alexie and Louis Erdrich - These two have to be my favorite contemporary Native American authors. I haven't read anything of theirs that I haven't liked yet. These are a few of their titles that I have read so far... Louise Erdrich: The Antelope Wife, Love Medicne, Tales of Burning Love, The Blue Jay's Dance Sherman Alexie The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Indian Killer, First Indian on the Moon, Smoke Signals ?(movie based on stories from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven), The Toughest Indian in the World 1984, George Orwell - What can I say...I classic among classics. :) No Exit, Jean-Paul Satre - I happened upon this play while still in highschool...my first experience with existentialism. Flannery O'Conner - I have to thank my favorite literature teacher in college for exposing me to O'Conner, Dr. Nancy Levine. While studying American Fiction we covered the Grotesque in Southern Lit and I fell in love with O'Conner's writing. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, T.S. Eliot - Okay, so it's not that serious of poetry, but it's just fun and we all need more fun in our lives...hehe. |
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