tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3695253101786279996.post4684231651893613434..comments2019-11-26T09:10:38.657-08:00Comments on The Oregon Review: The Risk of ReadingAlan Contrerashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05151043022057689513noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3695253101786279996.post-77625377388013751332007-08-03T07:53:00.000-07:002007-08-03T07:53:00.000-07:00My formal education ended at 8th grade. I did att...My formal education ended at 8th grade. I did attend bits and pieces of two years of secondary education at two different high schools. Therefore, my reading was stunted on departure from the education system. I however continued my personal study of art, and through it learned my math, science, history, and various other subjects. English Literature seems to have had the least directly connected pathway to my art world.<BR/>Until the winter of 2001 I could have told you the names of all the books I had ever read because there weren't very many at all. I couldn't understand that Ron could re-read a book and have forgotten things in it that he had read before. I now realize it was because I had such a limited number of stories in my head that I knew them all and he had enough stories that some ran together or pieces were forgotten.<BR/>9/11 2001 Eric lost his job, was ill, and came home just before Christmas to stay with us for awhile. I purchased some junior level reading paperbacks for stocking stuffers. We were to each read ours and pass it around. Mine was Frankenstein. Not very Christmasy but a title I recognized. Thus began my journey of books I felt everyone had read in school, or should have read at some point in life. I went to the local library, a place that always sent me realing because I didn't know how to choose a book. I went to the kids section and found a set of reference books with lists, critiques, character studies, and aides for the young reader. I'm 57. The first book it suggested was Tom Sawyer. I knew about it. I knew the story line. I had seen movies. I had never read it, but I have now. I let these reference books guide me through more than 150 books now(including a few not on the reference list). I've written down the names and authors of each one and given them a one to five star rating. This system is showing me which books I like best so I can be able to choose my own books after the references end. Out of 150 choices only twelve have the highest rating. Dragon Seed, Pearl S. Buck; Angels & Demons & The Davinci Code (because I like art)by Dan Brown; Crime & Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandra Dumas; Obasan, Joy Kogawa; Cry the Beloved Country, Alan Paton; Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriete B. Stowe; Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy; The Overcoat, Nikilai Gogol; Grendel, John Gardner; A Passage to India, E. M. Forster; To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee; Tuesdays with Morrie.<BR/><BR/>Most of all I want to thank you for giving me the freedom to dislike a "Great" book. Les Miserables, Victor Hugo. I read every word of it, every long word of it, closed it and put it back on the shelf. Maybe my reading skills haven't reach the supernatural height that the main character has achieved.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com