Books You Should Read

Anne of Green Gables, a series of novels by L. M. Montgomery

I’ll admit it, this one is for the girls.  When people long for the “good ol’ days,” they long for life on PEI.  The entire series is warm and wholesome.  It’s romantic and full of such “scope for the imagination.”  My battered old set has been with me through many moves and read more than any other books I own.  (I had an early start.)

Books one through four are great for little girls.  It’s not that the others are inappropriate, but by book five Anne’s all grown up and married.  So, maybe boys need to stop being completely icky before reading on in the series.  Book eight, Rilla of Ingleside, is more about Anne’s children and her youngest in particular.  This one is also quite different from the others.  Art is always affected by the world around it.  And the last Anne books are touched by an event that shook the world, The Great War. 

I think L. M. Montgomery’s heart was a little broken by it.  You can sense it in this book.  I didn’t read, or even know about this one, until I was an adult.  (Most Anne sets are only books one through six.)  I had a different perspective and I’m glad I didn’t read it when I was younger.  Rilla of Ingleside made the Great War real for me in the same way that The Diary of Anne Frank did for me and WWII. 

I will not argue the literary or social importance of Rilla as compared to Anne Frank.  Rilla’s a work of fiction.  The characters were just very real to me because I grew up with them.  I’ve read other books set during that time, but never from that point of view.  Not only is it for the view of the family at home, but it’s Canadian.  I think in America we sometimes forget the valor of other countries and for just how long the war was being fought before we entered it. 

Good Omens, a novel by Neil Gaiman AND Terry Pratchett

I recommend nearly every by Gaiman or Pratchett, so of course their combined work is a must-read.    Good Omens has all the irreverent humor of Pratchett’s Discworld series with a touch of Gaiman’s darkness.  Basically, this book does to the Apocalypse what Monty Python did to Arthurian Legend.  Just go get it and prepare to laugh ’til you cry. 

1984, a novel by George Orwell

Do you know who Big Brother really is?  If your first thought was a bad reality TV show, you need to read this book.  1984 is Orwell’s dark prediction of a very possible future in which privacy is nonexistent and free speech is criminal.  It was written with socialism in mind, but it’s not hard to draw parralel’s between his nightmare utopia and a police state of the near future where someone could quasi-legally be listening to every word you say, watching everything you do. 

It’s not paranoia; it’s a future that must be avoided.  1984 may have come and gone, but it could still be our future. 

And if you don’t/can’t buy your own copy…the entire novel is online.  Here’s the link.   http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/

Titus Andronicus, a tragedy by William Shakespeare 

This is easily Shakespeare’s bloodiest play.  Consider it the summer horror blockbuster of 1594.  In other words, if you thought Romeo and Juliet was just the most romantic thing ever, this might not be the play for you.  Try one of the comedies.  Or Hamlet, that’s a pretty tame tragedy compared to this. 

As Shakespeare can be a difficult read and I’ve always held that plays are meant to be seen, this is one case where I’d recommend seeing the movie.  Titus starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange is a good (and a little disturbing) adaptation.