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2.03.2008


a weird movie. no, a great movie. STET

I was perched in the corner of my couch; a blanket snuggled around me; sweatshirt hood in place; chick flick in the DVD player; warm scone and coffee nearby; a husband willing to brave said movie in exchange for some Bazooka Joe nonsensical man-movie - all in all, the makings of a perfect Sunday morning. The one hitch? The movie was Suburban Girl.

This movie was meant to be an amusing tryst between a neophyte (Netflix's word, I would have used novice) editor (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and the much older and more accomplished editor-in-chief of some publishing company (Alec Baldwin). Admittedly, the dialog was entertaining. However, the plot (or lack thereof) throughout the protagonist's plight was dull. Completely void of a sense of anticipation, accomplishment... A point. The worst part? I couldn't understand most of the references.

During the movie I said to J, "This is something Jen would totally get." He agreed and added that if she ever had some affair with an older man, in an alternate universe where she pursued her career as a book editor in New York, that this could be a movie about her. "Right," I said "except in her version the main character would be far more punchy and snarky." He agreed.

However, this has prompted Justin and I to start our own little book club. We are certainly an UN-read couple. The classics are lost on us - save for some standard English 101 reads: The Sun Also Rises, Catcher in the Rye, The Rainbow and various works of Shakespeare. And while I've read some, I can't remember anything about them - not enough to catch vague or even obvious references to something in the text. I want to be able to pick up Suburban Girl in a few years and actually understand the references. Maybe then I wouldn't walk away from the movie, dictionary in hand, still feeling under-educated and stupid.

Any suggestions for which classic we should start with? C'mon, Jen. You have a few suggestions, you know you’re dying to tell us where to start.

4 Comments:

At 2/04/2008 11:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous Left a note...

Neither of you are under-educated or stupid. Literary canons are for pussies.

Hmmm...I've never seen the movie. I'm eager to see what others would suggest. I've certainly not read all the classics. Also, I might consider some books classics that others don't. But here goes:

ANYTHING THAT HAS EVER BEEN BANNED

Also...

Atlas Shrugged (Some would say Fountainhead. I disagree. If you're going to take on Ayn Rand, at least get the good stuff. But don't start here.)

The rest of Salinger's stuff. I don't know why they only assign Catcher. I especially love Franny & Zooey.

Dune

The Yellow Wallpaper and Bartleby the Scrivener

Roots

Malcolm X

Wuthering Heights

Heart of Darkness

Thomas Paine's Common Sense

Machiavelli's The Prince

Edith Hamilton's Greek Mythology

Gone with the Wind (If a man had written this, we wouldn't still be looking for the Great American Novel)

The Tao of Pooh

The Little Prince (if you can remember enough French, that's the prettier version)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (as funny to read as watch)

The Handmaid's Tale (Do not get addicted to Margaret Atwood. That way lies madness.)

Emma, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, etc.

Lolita and at least one other Nabokov book

The Hobbit

Gift of the Magii

Uncle Tom's Cabin (it's dreadful, but it's referenced EVERYWHERE)

Walden

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

Lullaby (Chuck Palahniuk)

The Poisonwood Bible (I thought I would hate this book. I was wrong.)

Rosemary's Baby (do not read this at night or in a room with a closet door)

Kite Runner

Also, give Dickens another shot. It turns out he's a lot funnier than I gave him credit for as a teenager. ;)

There are other books I can't live without, but this is a good starter list of stuff that makes me feel smart.

Also, read whatever appeals to you. Go to LibraryThing.com and see what people who like books you like are reading. Build your own classics list. ;)

 
At 2/04/2008 12:12 PM, Anonymous Anonymous Left a note...

And A Prayer for Owen Meany. Forgot about that one.

 
At 2/04/2008 12:57 PM, Anonymous Anonymous Left a note...

Another site for book suggestions is whatshouldireadnext.com

I just got Kite Runner for Christmas and couldn't put it down was awesome. Also enjoyed Macolm X a few years ago. Uncle Tom's Cabin also on my to read next, working through Anna Karenina, and thinking about other classics to read. Oprah's book list helps trigger ideas.

 
At 2/18/2008 12:05 PM, Blogger exMI Left a note...

Greetings from a "next blog" wanderer. Avoid "Moby Dick" Great story, lousy book.
Read the Iliad and the Odyssey. "A Horse and his Boy" from the Chronicles of Narnia. "The Education of a Wandering Man" by Louis L'Amour. (his autobiography)

 

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