Summer Reading Series 8: Classics

Sometimes, I think great books are wasted on the young.  Do you remember having to read classics in school, and thinking they were boring or too much work?  I know I felt that way!  And yet, in recent years, I’ve gone back to some of these books, whether for a book club or just because it seemed like a good idea at the time.  In some cases, there were titles I’d missed altogether.  If you’d like to give classics another chance, I have a list to get you started on the road to classics-aversion recovery!

To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee.  Sure, you could just watch the movie, but we already know how I feel about that.  Sometimes, reading the book really is worth it.  It won a Pulitzer Prize, has sold over forty million copies worldwide, and librarians across the US voted it the best book of the twentieth century.  Spend a little time with Scout, Jem and Atticus Finch this summer, in the Deep South of the 1930s.  You’ll be glad you did.

Rebecca, by Daphne DuMaurier.  One of the most famous and popular gothic novels of the twentieth century, this classic is full of mystery and secrets, passion and betrayal.  The novel is dark and atmospheric, complex and psychological.  I can’t think of a better way to lose myself on a hot summer afternoon than on the grounds of Manderly, dodging creepy Mrs. Danvers and learning more about the mysterious Rebecca, the first Mrs. DeWinter, who may be dead but whose presence is a powerful force with which to contend. 

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  This is perhaps my favorite of all classics.  It is certainly the one I’ve read most often.  The novel is a portrait of Fitzgerald’s America in the 1920s, with self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby embodying the greed, money, power and chances for new beginnings that went along with it.  The writing is spare and precise, the story one of desire and tragedy, and somehow, I still see something new in it each time I read it. 

I hope you’ll consider giving a classic a try this summer—the titles above prove that a classic doesn’t have to have 700 pages or be a chore to read.  Do you have other classics you love?  Share them in the comments!