August 2017 Recommendations
This month's Monthly Recommendations topic is: Oldies. We can interpret this any way we want, so I'm going to engage the way-back machine and start at the very beginning of my Goodreads account and share the first things I put on my Read lists.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - I started on Goodreads in 2009 and apparently, this is the first thing I entered. My mom gave me a library bound copy of this book when I was about 10. Needless to say, it mostly went over my head at that age because I didn't really understand race. I have since read it at least 3 times.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger - I read this in high school and loved it, as high school readers are wont to do. I read it again in my early 30's and it made me super cranky. I likes it, but I picked it up too easily and spent the rest of the day slamming cabinet doors.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - Clearly I was entering all the classics I had read. I've read this several times over the years. It's not my favorite, but I can appreciate it.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - I remember this one took my forever to get through. I didn't really understand magical realism and I was seriously confused.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - My daughter recently (I mean, in the last few years) read this and loved it. So even though it drove me nuts and pissed me off, it holds a special place for me.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens - This might be my favorite Dickens. I read it in high school, and boy am I glad I read this one instead of Great Expectations, which is what everyone else has to read in high school.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - I loved this book! I made it a point to read all of the Three Musketeers novels, and then I found this one. It's so great! Mike rented the movie for us and I remember not being able to tell if it was a good movie because it was so different from the book.
Moby Dick, or The Whale by Herman Melville - My friend made me read this book. "It's my favorite book!" she said. "You'll love it!" she said. I did not love it. It was boring as hell.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - This one was very good. I read it 15 years ago, so I don't remember a ton about it, but I remember liking it very much. I was confused about how a man could write from the perspective of a Japanese woman. But he did it pretty well.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - This book is so great. I haven't liked anything else of hers I've read, but this story about the little girl who runs away with her maid is fantastic.
So there's ten books from the beginning of my Goodreads life. What are some of your "oldies"?