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Monday, March 2, 2015

#NaNoReMo - National Novel Reading Month

It's March, which means it's National Novel Reading Month. This is an annual tradition encouraging people to read the classic novels they've been putting off, because everybody has a few. As it is, I have a dozen on my shelf that I've owned for an embarrassingly long time. War and Peace is a personal shame of mine.

Readers define classics for themselves. A Tale of Two Cities and Peter Pan are part of the English canon, but Ian Fleming's James Bond novels are classics of Spy fiction. Ursula K. Leguin's A Wizard of Earthsea is a Speculative Fiction classic. If you perceive a book as a classic that you haven't gotten to yet, that's all that matters.

I've picked two books this year. The first is Alice Walker's The Color Purple, something I've heard about since high school but never sat down with. Walker has a reputation for confronting thorny issues of social hierarchy, and in The Color Purple, targets the life of a young woman in the South in the 1930's. Even the sample chapters ache with insight and historic weight.

It's a shame I overlooked this in school since History class gave me such a scant idea of African American experiences; for all I knew, they sprang into being around the Civil War, then disappeared until the Civil Rights movement. Over the years I picked up the general liberal sensitivity to issues without contextual understanding, and so avoided the enormous gaps in my knowledge. In that way, Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns and watching 12 Years a Slave were necessary kicks in the ass.

If I finish with reasonable time and keep up with other reading, then my second book will be Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. There's a certain hopscotch of cultures involved: I'm an American in 2015 preparing to read a German in 1922 writing his idea of an Indian's spiritual journey around 500 BCE. The filters are part of the appeal.

I bought my copy in 2007, and it's one of the four books I've owned the longest without reading. At my grandfather's funeral, my cousin Palmer said the book changed his life. Even if he's much younger and thus easier to change the life of, he's a smart guy, and I felt deeper shame for not giving the book a shot yet.


If you're going through a classic this month, please comment so I can add your blog, tumblr or Twitter to the master list!

Danielle La Paglia is reading J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan
Sonia Lal will be joining me for Alice Walker's The Color Purple
Ally Atherton will also be joining me for The Color Purple
Chuck Allen will be joining me for Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha
Helen Howell is reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus
David G Shrock is also reading Frankenstein
Katherine Hajer is reading Jane Austen's Persuasion
Charles Ross Dillon is reading Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame 
Cindy Vaskova is reading Algernon Blackwood's The Willows
Dorothy Lang is reading Art Spiegelmann's Maus
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21 comments:

  1. Elephant's ChildMarch 2, 2015 at 4:01 PM

    How did it get to be March already?
    I will give it some thought.
    I have read both of your classics, but a long time ago. I suspect the person who read them is different to the woman of today and would take very different things from her readings. Something I am discovering is often true.

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    1. John WiswellMarch 3, 2015 at 9:46 AM

      Where January felt like a long stretch of toil and haste, February really did fly by. I could not get enough done in that short month, but managed. Hoping March feels more roomy.

      Any books you're considering in your thoughts?

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  2. Alex J. CavanaughMarch 2, 2015 at 6:16 PM

    I've seen the movie The Color Purple, but not read the book. Afraid I don't read many classics, although I am always willing to dive into a Sherlock Holmes book or anything by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

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    1. John WiswellMarch 3, 2015 at 9:45 AM

      If you're willing to dive into Burroughs or Doyle that you haven't read yet, we'd love to have you!

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  3. RossMarch 3, 2015 at 3:05 AM

    I'm doing Victor Hugo's 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'.

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    1. John WiswellMarch 3, 2015 at 9:45 AM

      Added, sir. And am reminded that I still haven't gotten to Ellison yet.

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    2. LarisseLillieMarch 5, 2015 at 6:35 AM

      That's a favorite of mine. Keep in mind it was his first major novel and that his winding sentences don't necessarily translate as beautifully as he rendered them. Try not to skim when he seems to go on tangents. I promise, he always wraves those threads back in and often to great effect.

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    3. LarisseLillieMarch 6, 2015 at 6:36 AM

      Weaves*

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  4. Helen A. HowellMarch 3, 2015 at 3:08 AM

    An interesting choice of books John neither of which I have read, although I did see many years ago the movie made of The Colour Purple starring if I remember right Whoopi Goldberg, whose portrayal of the main character was excellent. I wonder how much the book will differ from the film ?

    I'm hoping I can keep up with you and the other avid readers, as I'm some what of a plodder reader but I'll do my best to finish by the end of the month ^_^ My first impression of my book is now posted on my blog.

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    1. John WiswellMarch 3, 2015 at 9:50 AM

      Frankenstein was a great choice! Even if you only read ten pages a day, you should be set by the end of March. It's a great book for a writer to have in her canon, too, for reference and structure.

      And I've never seen an adaptation of The Color Purple. I think I'll wait until I've read it so I don't have my experience... colored. Hm, not my best pun.

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  5. Chuck AllenMarch 3, 2015 at 12:18 PM

    It's cool to see the list of who is reading what. I had picked up some from Twitter, but was not sure of everyone's final choice. Also, big thanks, John, for getting me off the fence on NaNoReMo with your mention of Siddhartha. Up to that point, nothing was really calling to me.

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  6. Ally March 3, 2015 at 4:23 PM

    Hi funnily enough I have never read the Color Purple either but actually got myself a copy a few days ago, so maybe it is fate that I take part in this!

    The Color purple will be my book and this is my blog

    http://reading52booksinayear.blogspot.co.uk/


    Ally :)

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  7. Cindy VaskovaMarch 3, 2015 at 4:35 PM

    I'm here, I'm here! Finally! Looking forward to your updates, John, mostly for Siddhartha.

    https://cindyvaskova.wordpress.com/2015/03/03/visiting-the-willows-for-nanoremo-2015/

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    1. John WiswellMarch 4, 2015 at 2:43 PM

      Added you! Always love reading your thoughts on Horror.

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  8. Cat RussellMarch 4, 2015 at 7:53 AM

    Enjoy your reading!

    I wouldn't feel "personal shame" about not reading War and Peace. That thing is a monster, and imo if it's drudgery to read, why read it? You could read ten other books in the same amount of time, and you'll never get to read every one you want to anyway. Besides, as you said, classics don't have one standard definition. I know several 'classics' off the top of my head that I thought were terrible books. I read them because they were 'classics', but I think my time would have been better spent reading something else.

    I'm not sure if I will get to pick a classic to read this month or not. I already took a break from the non-fiction book I'm reading to read "Muse of Fire" but I may give this a shot after those (if I'm done in time). ;)

    Have fun reading, everyone!

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    1. John WiswellMarch 4, 2015 at 2:39 PM

      I have never read far enough into War and Peace to know if it's a drugery to read. Every time I've found something keenly interesting or unexpected in its early chapters. However, every time I am derailed by major events, like a friend having a heart attack and needing extended care, after which I'm too weary to continue reading a long book. It's been happenstance, not a shortcoming on Tolstoy's part. And after Middlemarch, I'm very open to long books that need their length.

      Do you think you'll join us for Siddhartha?

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  9. Cat RussellMarch 4, 2015 at 7:58 AM

    Doh! I forgot to say I'm looking forward to your thoughts on Siddharta too! I think I have a copy somewhere but never got around to reading it. I'm assuming it's about the life of the historical Buddha?

    Now I'm off to look at Helen's thoughts on Frankenstein, one of my personal favorites!

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  10. DorotheeMarch 4, 2015 at 2:27 PM

    Thanks for this challenge! I think i have a German copy of Siddharta here - will go looking for it. For the challenge itself, I will join with a different kind of classic: "Maus" by Art Spiegelmann, published in 1991, is a classic in the world of graphic novels, and also the first graphic novels that won a Pulitzer Prize. (My blog is: http://virtual-notes.blogspot.de/ )
    Have a good reading month, everyone!

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    1. John WiswellMarch 4, 2015 at 2:42 PM

      A great choice from the world of comics! I've read the first and second halves separately, but never together, which lost me some essence of the piece. I really ought to reread the whole Maus at some point.

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    2. DorotheeApril 3, 2015 at 4:31 AM

      Thanks for the challenge and the reading inspiration it brought! Really enjoyed to Siddharta. Haven't started "Maus" yet, as I came across another classic before that: Michael Ende's tale "Momo". So i am reading it now, and again, enjoy it a lot. Will keep my eyes open for more classics, and maybe the one or other revisit, too.

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