Piece of Pooh

Let me get the message out clearly from the start. I hate Winnie the Pooh. Many people believe that Disney has made a mockery of classic fairy tales and other stories. I wouldn't count myself among them, but in this case I was actually hoping those opinions would ring true. After reading Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls I thought I would look for a "classic" that was a little more lighthearted and a quicker read. A. A. Milne's Pooh seemed to be a good choice. Man I chose the wrong book. Story after story of this asinine bear and his equally aggravating friends kept this book on my shelf far too long.

100 Books 100 Years

I have departed on the adventure of reading the best 100 novels of the past 100 years (give or take a few novels and years). Why would I do this? There are a number of reasons, the least of which is that these books can be found at my local library free of charge. Amongst the best is that I enjoy being a knowledgeable audience. I am not well-read enough to decide which books should qualify. Instead, I used the power of Google to find lists generated by the folks at the Modern Library, Radcliffe Publishing, and Time magazine. As I read I will be compiling my own ranking and posting it in the column on the right. I may even add a few not in any of the lists above. This type of reading is out of the ordinary for me. I really enjoy reading, but I am going to hit some novels on these lists that I would never have considered reading or read long ago and look upon poorly. The word "classic" is way overused. In other mediums I often find the "classics" highly annoying. You can't pay me enough to sit through an I Love Lucy episode or black and white cinematic melodrama. I am hoping the same can't be said for the books on these lists. As I proceed along I won't be shy about sharing my opinions (one of the privileges of having your own blog). I won't post on every novel I read, but I have the feeling that I will have plenty of material to comment on.

There and Back Again

Somewhere between adolescence and adulthood I managed to skirt reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Of the many books and Cliff notes I have read over the years this classic flew under the radar. I usually read a number of crime/mystery novels each year, but I recently decided to branch out a little. I would like to say this was due to some noble desire to transform my literary world, but in reality it was probably due to the extra time caused by the TV writers strike earlier this year (yes, I watch too many shows, curse you DVR!). No, Oprah's book of the month didn't start sounding fascinating. Instead, murder, mystery, and forensics were replaced (in part) with dwarfs, wizards, and elves. I tore through the Harry Potter series. In case you live in a hole or have yet to tire of hearing the series praised, these were some of the best books I have ever read. I then moved onto the Chronicles of Narnia series (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is particularly good). That brings us to The Hobbit. Now don't write this book off as a "children's book." If I had that attitude my only impression of Harry Potter would be what I've seen on DVD. Pretty unforgivable. Also keep in mind that I have never been a huge fan of books whose category is often labeled "Fantasy." I don't play Warcraft and I have never been known as Elf_Lord215. With that said, I highly recommend giving this book a try if you haven't already, especially before the new movie is released. I paid a grand total of $8 for The Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in trade paperback. Seems like an easy choice when most of us are willing to drop 10 bucks to see the often substandard "movie version."