the re-education of the reader within...

I may have just set myself a challenge that is a bit beyond me. It requires endurance, patience and persistence.

A marathon of sorts, not for the body but for the mind.  The question is just how many classics can one person read in a row before turning mad? Before they start believing that Mr Darcy lurks around every corner and sees elements of Gatsby in every person they meet?

Well I'm not sure , but I already do this so perhaps I'm lost before I've already begun.

You see I've always been a self-confessed book nerd with a voracious appetite. Always looking for my next hit, something that I can shoot into my veins to stir the heart, emotions and mind.

There is no greater thrill or rush better than discovering a truly orgasmic book for the first time. You long to savour the story and characters but also want to rush to the conclusion.

But when you turn that final page, nothing but bittersweet regret lingers, you'll never read that book for the first time again. And so begins the search for another and another.

If anyone were to peak through a door crack to observe me when ensconced in one of my many romantic dalliances with both books and the authors themselves, you'd catch me in a state of bliss. I often am caught pausing, closing my eyes and internally savouring the delicious prose I've only minutes ago, just consumed.

It can become an overwhelming addiction, I can assure you. So I suppose to tame the beast and also nourish the writer I'm trying so hard to grow within, I have decided to jump into the 20th century era classics and read the crème de la crème of them. The top 100 classics from top to tail in 365 days. No skipping, no reading forwards or movie adaptations, introductions in advance and definitely no reading notes. Solemnly absorbing them one by one. For a full list see my previous blog: http://justcallmeacountrygirl.blogspot.com/2012/01/no-92.html

Don’t worry you won’t be reading blog after blog of analytical reviews of the books, just some witty (where possible) insights into how relevant these classics are to us today and just what a wayward writer and aspiring author can hope to learn from them.

So despite the risk of falling into classic madness which I fear I already suffer, at the very least a classic obsession, I will begin.

xx
J