Classics Considered

Another autumn, another election, another sporadic post by yours truly.

This time eight years ago, I was still living with my parents, cranking out my 2k daily word count for Nanowrimo late at night on the sleeper sofa. My bedroom was undergoing renovations for mildew… I had just thrown away my beloved childhood doll Rosemary, whose cloth body was plagued with stains. The election was happening. The historical-fantasy world I created in my story was a beautiful escape—I threw every Victorian Gothic trope into it and had a blast. I won the writing challenge; it was the only year I won it in November. I still have a soft spot for that story.

In 2016, I read some wonderful books across my really niche interests. It was the year I read Works of Love; Kierkegaard became very important to me. It was a good year for reading.

Currently, I’m reading Independent People for Iceland (Reading the World). I also started rereading Little Women for another readalong.

Here is what I’m calling the “short list.” These are books I really should read in the next 8-12 months.

A few highlights:

• Ferris Wheel Stories by CP Cabaniss. I was lucky enough to meet my booktube friend Courtney this summer, and later I remembered I had one of her books from a previous giveaway. It’s a series of short stories about a girl named Ruby and her afterlife experience. I love stories about ghosts or anything like that, so it sounds right up my alley. 🙂
• The Inheritors by William Golding. This is a book by the author of Lord of the Flies, about Neanderthals. I will either love or hate this one.
• Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. My priest gave out copies of this book during theology class… it wasn’t clear if they were loaners or keepers. That was, uh, some time ago. I didn’t like the first chapter or two that I read of MC, but I feel obliged to read the whole thing before I return it, since it’s such a monumental Christian classic. It’s also quite short, so what excuse have I?
• Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. I just found out last week that Hulu has made a series of this, starring Jimmy O Yang. I like to watch Yang’s standup clips on YouTube; he’s quite funny in occasional doses (the incessant swearing of standup comedians is something I don’t enjoy). To cut a long story short, I read Interior Chinatown several years ago and really liked it. It’s an experimental novel that I doubt will translate well to TV, but I could be very wrong. I also don’t have Hulu. But maybe I will get it for a short time to watch the show.

I probably won’t stick to this list, but it’s fun to make lists.