Today I got on facebook, like I do almost every single day of my life, and I found that my friend Grace tagged me in a note called "BBC must read books." It was a list of 100 well-known books that according to the BBC everyone should read but the average person usually has only read 6 (probably in their high school English classes). Grace has always been an avid reader and she knocked out a whopping 47. I was seriously impressed. I decided to count up my number and I am pleased to report that I've read 17. Not quite as good as 47, but respectable. So this got me thinking, if the BBC thinks I should read all these, then maybe I should. I hopped on my bike and headed to the library, planning on checking out Pride and Prejudice, it was number one on the list. I saw the movie my freshman year of college and have yet to fall in love with Mr. Darcy, but most girls list it as one of their top reads. Every girl can't be wrong. Right? Well I get to the library and the only Jane Austen the Ward County Public Library offers is The Complete Works. Sure I could very easily check that out and maybe even knock a few titles off the list, but I hate big books. Even if it's lots of books put together, there's something about the thickness that intimidates me. In 8th grade the fourth Harry Potter book came out and that sucker was like 500 pages and even though I'd read the first three book my love for all things wizard couldn't overcome my fear of big books. So instead of looking for another title on the BBC list I went with The Devil Wears Prada. Definitely not anywhere near the list, but hey, I'm an American! Why should I listen to the BBC anyway?

3 comments

1. gsthomas on July 30, 2009 at 10:56 AM

   35! bam in your face. From what I've seen I thought the BBC wanted me to watch interior design shows all the time. Also any list beginning with Jane Austen is highly suspicious. Also, I don't think you want to take romantic advice from a woman who lived with her parents her whole life and died without anyone ever having loved her enough to marry her.
   
   "Everytime I read 'Pride and Prejudice' I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone." -- Mark Twain
   
   Ok so as not to be completely negative here are the top 5 books you should read in ascending order according to length (so that you can work your way up to a big book):
   
   1. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Harmony Press) 244 pgs.
   2. The Wind in the Willows (Penguin Classics) 240 pgs.
   3. Catcher in the Rye (Back Bay) 288 pgs.
   4. Lolita (Every Man's Library) 366 pgs.
   5. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Haper Perennial) 448 pgs.

    
2. Sydney on July 30, 2009 at 2:35 PM

   definitely already read catcher in the rye (and it wasn't for school - BOOM), and i started reading "reading lolita in tehran" but never finished it, does that count?

    
3. gsthomas on July 30, 2009 at 5:05 PM

   that definitely does not count. in that case exchange Catcher in the Rye for The Bell Jar (also 288 pages)