I am responding to Danielle’s post at A Work in Progress entitled Have You Read These Books? She tells us about Michael Dirda’s Book by Book: “In a chapter on the pleasures of learning, he lists books he calls ‘patterning works’. These are not necessarily obvious classics, but he says that these are the books later authors regularly build on. ‘Know these well, and nearly all of world literature will be an open book to you.'” What a fun concept, hm? She’s listed the books for us, so I don’t have to read Book by Book to play along 🙂 (unless I want to). So I wanted to list which ones *I* have read, as Danielle did:
The Bible (Old and New Testament–King James Version): Heck no. Raised by atheists and am the same. I’ve always thought I should, for this very reason: literature and culture reference it so frequently that I should know what the heck is going on. I DID however have a book when I was kid called Children’s Bible Stories, for this very purpose: to prepare me for The Bible In Pop Culture. My mother bought it from some door-to-door sales people and my father was scandalized. Then when I suffered my very bad wreck in 2007, my best friend brought me some flowers and a Bible – not to proselytize but, again, because I’d told him about my goal of reading it one day for the sake of cultural and literary references. My mother, this time, was scandalized. I still have not read it.
Bulfinch’s Mythology (or any other accounts of the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths): Haven’t read Bulfinch, but have read the Greeks pretty exhaustively from many sources. Roman and Norse, no.
Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey: over and over. Love them.
Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans: No, I read some Plutarch but not this…
Dante, Inferno: I don’t think I finished it.
The Arabian Nights: no
Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur (tales of King Arthur and his knights): I know I read The Once and Future King and I think I’ve read some other tales but not Malory. I’m vague on this.
Shakespeare’s major plays, especially Hamlet, Henry IV, Part One, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest: yes. I’m pretty solid on Shakespeare.
Cervantes, Don Quixote: No, it’s always been a goal, though.
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe: Yes
Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels: Yes
The fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen: No, I don’t guess I have. I have vague knowledge of them…
Any substantial collection of the world’s major folktales: No
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice: absolutely, several times
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland: Yes several times.
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Recently in fact.
I faired only okay on this test. But it gives me some good ideas! Maybe this is the year for Don Quixote, for example. That would go towards the Classics Challenge.
Thanks Danielle for the great idea!
Filed under: book reviews | Tagged: lists | 3 Comments »
(…even though the cover looks awfully much like Clara and Mr. Tiffany, another book I want to read). The story of a developmentally disabled white woman and a deaf black man, their love story inside a state school, their subsequent escape, the delivery of their baby in the outside world, and their eventual reunion. 
The story of Arthur and his difficulty relating to his con man father, and the lost Shakespeare manuscript that may or may not be legitimate.
Connors tells of the time he spent alone in a tiny tower as a wildfire lookout in New Mexico. Sounds Edward-Abbey-esque.
Ozma and her father made a promise to read together every night for 100 days; but the tradition continued long beyond that commitment. She tells their story through books.
A service dog helps a veteran live a normal life; but more important is the relationship they come to share.
pagesofjulia 
