In response to the many suggestions I have received for books to read on this board, and knowing that it is impossible to read every book we would like to, I want to tell you how I propose to select books for us to read here.future reads on the library board
Posted by Kate on December 01, 1997 at 18:55:34:
In response to the many suggestions I have received for books to read on this board, and knowing that it is impossible to read every book we would like to, I want to tell you how I propose to select books for us to read here.
First of all, we are a group of people who are brought together by our interest in Jane Austen. Other than that, we probably have quite varying tastes in reading matter - and it's going to be impossible to please everybody all the time. However, I hope the following will mean that we get to read a book that YOU want to read, some time in the next few months.
What many of us share is an interest in "classic" literature - written quite a while ago, which we may have studied in school or at university, and which may incidentally help illuminate our understanding of Austen.
Many of us also share an appreciation for "good" (I hate trying to find the right adjectives!) films and TV productions - such as the one which brought us to Pemberley in the first place. Many of these films and TV productions are based on works of literature, and our appreciation of them and their worth (or lack of it) can be enhanced by reading and discussing those books (for example, our recent discussion of Jane Eyre).
Many of us are also people who enjoy reading more recent works that are either written about the past (like our discussion of Possession) or which are important contributions to the literature of our times - including contributions from people outside the white, english speaking world.
So, trying to bring all this together...
I'm going to try to schedule some reads that relate to films and TV productions which Pemberlians are likely to be appreciative of. This will, I think, be the first priority. So, this means we may next year do a read of Tom Jones (though I will take this under advisement), Oscar and Lucinda, and Great Expectations. If you know of other upcoming films or TV productions we could "relate to", let me know. (my email is at the top of this message and the bottom of the Library page)
Then I'll try to schedule reads of some "classic" works that many of you have expressed interest in, perhaps including ones which have already had a movie or TV production made about them (but not necessarily...)
And sprinkled in there I'm going to try to schedule the occasional modern work, to help us get our heads around the 20th century. I hope this will enhance our appreciation not only of these works, but of the 19C literature that we read.
I'm going to try to make sure that we read from both sides of the Atlantic, although I suspect that British authors are going to get the lions' share. We may even tuck a Latin American, a Russian or (heaven help us!) an Australian in there somewhere!
I hope that meets with your approval. As I said, it is going to be impossible to please everybody all of the time, but I hope we will read something that each of you are going to want to read at some point!!
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