Literary Confessions

Last week I confessed to never reading Jane Austen or The Great Gatsby. So far, I’m working on changing the “never read Jane Austen” confession- I’m reading Pride and Prejudice and enjoying it.Eventually, I will begin reading The Great Gatsby.

This week my literary confession is: I’ve never read Gone with the Wind. I have watched the movie a gajillion times; but the book- never read it.
It’s a secret shame (well not so secret anymore), but I’ve always wanted to read it- I’ve just been intimidated by the size. I generally enjoy reading books around the 200-300 page size- a good quick read. I read longer books; but I still prefer the smaller books.

Gone with the Wind fans- book or movie better? Will the book just fly by as I get immersed in the story? As far as literary confessions go- does not reading Gone with the Wind rank as “shocking” or “not a big deal”?
As always, I appreciate your thoughts- feel free to chime in.

I’m a huge fan of reading, but I have a confession: I’ve never read Jane Austen (or really any classics). I remember reading Tom Sawyer for school, which I enjoyed; but it was not an easy read at first. I also remember going home and telling my mom that the other kids in my class was getting the Cliff’s notes versions and why couldn’t I just do that because I had other books that were far more interesting to read than Tom Sawyer- which my mother told me that I’d do better on the test if I would just read the book (she was right- the questions were about more than the Cliff’s Notes version).

Back to the classics, though- I guess for me I’ve always equated the classics with a reader who is quite intellectual (think Ivy League- intellectual) and I felt not quite to that level of reading-skill. I still have that view-point (to an extent), but I’m now more willing to explore some classics. I’m thinking Jane Austen will be a good place to start.

Now that I have about knocked the wind out of you from that confession- here’s another: I’ve never read The Great Gatsby (although seeing the previews for the movie has intrigued me). So I believe that I’ll be adding that to my list as well.

As you can tell from my 2 confessions, a book snob I am not. I don’t throw around the names of literary greats, I read what intrigues me because I want to read; not because of anything else. While I won’t call the books I read the equivalent of “reality- tv”, I’ll more liken them to great sitcoms, feel-good movies, and the like.

For me- reading is about good times and just letting the story go. I don’t usually try to figure out the bad person, I may make guesses as to where the story will head; but I’m not really trying- I just want to wrap myself in a cozy blanket and enjoy the characters.

Any literary confessions? Has everyone else read The Great Gatsby? Feel free to stop by with literary confessions- no judging on my blog!