Sunday, August 24, 2008

August 25 - Goethe's Faust

Welcome to Week #14 of our 15 Classics in 15 Weeks project.

This week I will be reading Goethe's Faust. Don't get confused; there are a lot of Fausts out there. I am reading Goethe's. The Mighty Thor is livid because whatever version he read in college was like 1,000 pages and mine is only 200. Also I think he is still mad because his roommate acted in the production of Faust someone put up in my college dining hall and it was 4 hours long and the Mighty Thor sat through the whole thing. Nevertheless, I am excited about this play.

If you look left, you'll see next week's book is still TBA. I need your help deciding. What should my final classic be? If you joined us late, the whole point of the project was that I am pretty well-read but had holes in the canon of traditional American and European lit. So, here's the question: what is your all-time, number one, anyone-who-calls-herself-well-read-MUST-have-read-this-book classic novel (that we haven't already discussed this summer)? You can see everyone's original suggestions in the comments here.

It's like American Idol for literary dorks, isn't it? Sigh.

Also, what are you reading this week?

8 comments:

Angela said...

I spent five hours in a car with an 8 year old...today I read Junie B Jones (the one where she goes to Hawaii and the one with the field trip to the farm) and the first Judy Moody book and one of the RAMONA stories. Oh and a book of gross facts (They were soooo gross -- you don't want to know!)

PJ Hoover said...

Have you talked about Brave New World? Required reading in my mind.

cindy said...

gosh, i've always wanted to read this one! and as i said, i'm reading the unicorn by iris murdoch.

Jacqui said...

Oh, Angela. I love Ramona, but I am itchy at the thought of that much Junie B, I must admit.

PJ, I have read it (in college) and good choice.

Cindy, maybe the Iris Murdoch should be my next classic?

Diane T said...

I can't find your old list of suggestions to see which one seems like a glaring oversight.

For my summer, pre-WWI remedial American lit project, I saw one glaring oversight that I began last week, but I am invoking the "you can't make me finish Moby Dick, JF Cooper, and torture me with this one, too" rule. Haiku review of the first 100 pages coming up on Wednesday.

C.R. Evers said...

Have you read Beowulf? I don't know if you're interested in Germanic Classics, or more American Classics. The story is great, either way.

christy

Jacqui said...

Good point, Diane. I edited the post to link back to everyone's original suggestions.

Christy, I read Beowulf a LONG time ago. It probably warrants another go. Good idea.

Jacqui said...

It has been pointed out to me in another forum that I am sadly lacking in science fiction on this list, as well as in my experience. Never read any Ray Bradbury, Brian Herbert, Robert Heinlein, only one short story by Asimov... (shame)

So, where to start?