Some of the list I’ve thoroughly digested, but far too many titles I’ve but the smallest acquaintance with. Thus I’ve chosen some of the top books Allen and Reynolds listed to tackle in the near future. I’m a bit intimidated but also determined. If I can consume over 15,000 pages of material on a single subject (yes, I admit it, I did!) in the last several months, then I can certainly press through 1000 or so pages of Cervantes or Dostevsky. Right?
I’ve set a challenge for myself that I know is do-able, but will stretch me. My hope is to have finished these books before the end of 2008. Would any of you like to join me in reading? Almost all of the books mentioned are available online so purchasing the book is optional. If anyone wants to join in, I’d enjoy the company.
The Challenge: Choose ten books which will stretch you, preferably from either Hugh Hewitt’s list or something similar (more ideas below). Comment or email me your list. Anyone who makes a list and makes it through even part of it can share what they learned, what they liked, etc. Every month I can post an update on how everyone is doing. Some of you will likely put me to shame, considering how distracted I get with other things these days.
3. The Epic of Gilgamesh
I have to admit, Brothers Karamazov is what scares me the most right now. It’s so…long. 
For anyone who remains unconvinced about the worth of such a huge time investment (not to mention such a huge amount of mental work!), David Allen White commented on why we should read the great books of history:
But one of the things I, at least, think most people should do in the time that they spend on this planet, is have a sense of the greatest that’s been given to us. A life itself is the greatest gift, to have an immortal soul is extraordinary, but in beginning to understand what that means, I think you’ve got to turn to the greatest writers who can give you some sense of what it’s all been about, why you’re here, what it means and where you’re going. And that means you’ve got to delve into the great writers.
JM Reynolds’s perspective:
We need young men and women with souls that are good, true and beautiful. And if we’re going to form souls that are good, true and beautiful, we can’t begin with our own souls, because all of us are in process, too. The great writers know how to shape us morally, to get to goodness. They know how to help us find the big ideas, the truths that never change from culture to culture. And they know most importantly how to make us beautiful, so that we don’t fall into the trap of thinking only things that work matter. We need beauty in our lives as well.
We dumb down education because it’s easier to be stupid than it is to be smart. These books aren’t immediately fun to read, though they’re fun for the rest of your life in an intellectual sense. And so let’s face it, most college educators and most high school educators in particular are anti-intellectual in an intellectual field.
There are dozens of other books that can be classed among the most beautiful of all time. Below is my list of some the beautiful books I have read that are available on The Literature Network. These are the classics everyone should read at least once in a lifetime; these are the classics you cannot read just once.
Are all of the above books or my recommendations below pleasant books? Certainly not. The first time I read the first chapters of Jane Eyre I hated it. Hugo’s books are some of the most difficult reads I’ve ever attempted (but made easier if read aloud with a roommate at 2 am as we did :smile). All of these books are at your fingertips; I’ve linked to free copies online for each and every one.
Try Aesop’s Fables, Louisa May Alcott’s An Old Fashioned Girl and Little Women, Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Match Girl, portions of Arabian Nights, Beowulf, and Jane Eyre. You must read something by Robert Browning, Emily Dickinson, O’Henry, Longfellow, Martin Luther, Tennyson, P.G. Wodehouse, and Beatrix Potter. Every girl will love Burnett’s A Little Princess and The Secret Garden (and why not the short story Sara Crewe while we are in her area?).
Read some Father Brown by Chesterton, Wilke Collins’ The Moonstone, and Robinson Crusoe and lots of Dickens: A Christmas Carol, a Tale of Two Cities, and Little Dorrit.
Some of my all-time favorites are The Three Musketeers, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Wives and Daughters, Wind in the Willows, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Or Les Miserables), MacDonald’s most well-known classic The Princess and the Goblin, Anne of Green Gables, Polyanna, Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Black Beauty, The Twenty-Fourth of June, Ivanhoe, Five Little Peppers, Heidi, Treasure Island, Freckles (and everything else Porter ever wrote!) and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Finally, dip into Journey to the Center of the Earth and Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (ed. I’d add the poem Jaberwocky in also). Whew!
Also any Austen books and Great Expectations by Charles Dickens!!
Natalie,
There is no need to fear the “Brothers Karamazov”! While the book is long, the plot is intricate and fast paced. Dostevsky’s story delves deep into the minds, hearts and souls of its characters, and the journey is well worth your time! I hope you enjoy it
dear Natalie –
We are on the same track – I too, have a rather daunting list of books to read this year! It’s part of my lifetime goal- to be a ‘reader of good books’. I posted on this subject on my blog last week, including a photo of my stack of books!
http://trintje.blogspot.com/2008/01/trinanew-years-resolutions.html
My biggest challenge this year?
Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Great idea! Here are a couple of my “must reads.”
Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics
Augustine’s City of God
Anything and everything by Flannery O’Connor
Aquinas’ Summa Theologica
Chesterton’s Orthodoxy
Oh, and I think I found the transcript:
http://radioblogger.townhall.com/talkradio/transcripts/Transcript.aspx?ContentGuid=b26ff660-7b51-4c1b-aa00-68e81d60c650
Do books from school count? *smile* By the end of this coming semester I’ll have read half of the books on your list because they’re assigned in my college classes! Plus I know my reading for this coming semester is going to stretch me plenty!
I think I will try and read Brothers Karamazov over the summer. I’ve owned it for a couple years, just never read it!
-Hannah C.
Your challenge is very challenging
I don’t think I’ll be able to read any of the 10 that you listed but I am going to delve into the classics that you mentioned towards the end of your entry.
I have read quite a few classics (when I was much younger) and I’m thinking that I need to get back to them. *smile*
Happy Reading in 2008 to you, Natalie!
Blessings,
Samantha
thank you Rachel!!! that is indeed it. I had it linked months ago but when I checked it recently it was broken. They must have moved it around….but happily now everyone can see it again.
Do audiobooks count?
I have recently started using audiobooks especially while I’m driving, or doing housework! Nothing like a little practical multi-tasking! Jane Eyre, Treasure Island, Sense and Sensibility, The Professor, and Northanger Abbey just to name a few!
I am glad I am not alone. I decided I would try to read more challenging books this year too. My top ten hope-to-reads are:
The Light and the Glory-Peter Marshall and David Manuel
The Resurrection Factor-Josh McDowell
What’s in the Bible-R.C. Sproul and Robert Wolgemuth
A Man Called Peter-Catherine Marshall
A Tale of Two Cities
Treasure Island
Sense and Sensibility
Lady of the Lake
Robinson Crusoe
Kidnapped
Best of wishes for you getting your ten books read. I must say that my books look easy compared to yours.
“God’s girl”
Goodness, don’t forget PILGRIM’S PROGRESS!
bluestocking,
I do not know who you were talking to, but I do intend to read the Pilgrim’s Progress. I just didn’t think of it until after I had written my list. Now I have 11 top books to read this year!
“God’s girl”
This is such a good idea! I’m excited about putting together my own list and starting reading again this year … maybe even sharing my list on my blog. (I’ve hardly had time for it lately and I do miss it quite badly.) You’ve got some amazing books on your list!
That’s an excellent list of books, and a great many of them are on my list of reading for the year.
Rachel, Augustine’s City of God! I have it in my pile right now… I’m not entirely positive that I’ll get round to it, but I very much hope to. It looks quite daunting, but also very worthwhile.
Well, girls, I have to add my recommendation. The transcript mentions Boethius’ “Consolations of Philosophy” : this is an absolute, definite must read, and soon. I went to a Great Books university and have read or have familiarity with the vast majority of the books on the transcript. “Consolation” is one of the best. Cheers, Angela
I would like to recommend “Til We Have Faces” by C.S. Lewis–a personal favorite. I’m going through some of the classics in our school library right now to review them due to some parent concerns about content. Make me read!