With school back in session we know that some of these things are going to change. Late afternoons and evenings will become the busiest times of our day. The non-fiction collection will get used a lot more. We'll have more reference questions as students come in looking for help on school reports. The Internet machines will fill up fast after school gets out. And the books that are considered 'classics' will start to check out a whole lot more than usual.
It's this last point I want to write about - the classics. I love that in the fall students come clamoring into the library to pick up a classic (even if it is just to be sure they get the shortest one we have) because this is my favorite section of the library.
I love to recommend the classics by putting some of them out on the staff pick shelves we have across from the circulation desk. Unfortunately they don't check out very quickly even when they are highlighted that way. So I thought I'd try this. Since school's just starting and high school English students will be starting to think about which classic to read for their book report, isn't it the perfect time to offer some recommendations? Well, I think so. So here's a few of my favorites.
 | The Return of the Native Hardy, Thomas 1982/02 - Bantam Classics 0553212699 CHECK CATALOG This fine novel sets in opposition two of Thomas Hardy's most unforgettable creations: his heroine, the sensuous, free-spirited Eustacia Vye, and the solemn, majestic stretch of upland in Dorsetshire he called Egdon Heath. The famous opening reveals the haunting power of that dark, forbidding moon where proud Eustacia fervently awaits a clandestine meeting with her lover, Damon Wildeve. But Eustacia's dreams of escape are not to be realized--neither Wildeve nor the retuming native Clym Yeobright can bring her salvation. Injured by forces beyond their control, Hardy's characters struggle vainly in the net of destiny. In the end, only the face of the lonely heath remains untouched by fate in this masterpiece of tragic passion, a tale that perfectly epitomizes the author's own unique and melancholy genius. ...More |
 | Wuthering Heights Bronte, Emily Johnson, Diane 2000/11 - Modern Library 0375756442 CHECK CATALOG Wuthering Heights, first published in 1847, the year before the author's death at the age of thirty, endures today as perhaps the most powerful and intensely original novel in the English language. The epic story of Catherine and Heathcliff plays out against the dramatic backdrop of the wild English moors, and presents an astonishing metaphysical vision of fate and obsession, passion and revenge. "Only Emily Bronte," V. S. Pritchett said, "exposes her imagination to the dark spirit." And Virginia Woolf wrote, "Hers...is the rarest of all powers. She could free life from its dependence on facts...by speaking of the moor make the wind blow and the thunder roar." This edition also includes Charlotte Bronte's original Introduction. ...More |
 | Pride and Prejudice Austen, Jane Quindlen, Anna 2000/10 - Modern Library 0679783261 CHECK CATALOG "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." |
 | Cry, the Beloved Country Paton, Alan Scribner, Charles, Jr. 1995/11 - Scribner Book Company 0684818949 CHECK CATALOG Paton's deeply moving story of Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom, set against the backdrop of a land and people riven by racial inequality and injustice, remains the most famous and important novel in South Africa's history. Published to coincide with the Miramax film release in December, starring James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. ...More |
 | Our Mutual Friend Dickens, Charles Cotsell, Michael 1998/07 - Oxford University Press, USA 0192835238 CHECK CATALOG Charles Dickens's last completed novel tells the story of a young man who must marry a stranger in order to win his inheritance. Wanting to learn the lady's nature, John Harmon fakes his own death and takes on a new identity. As the complexities of the deceit are revealed, Dickens gives us his most profoundly cynical, yet brilliantly funny, insight into the corruption of wealth on human nature. 40 illustrations. ...More |
| | King Lear (Penguin) Shakespeare, William Hunter, George K. Spencer, T. J. B. 1981/12 - Penguin Books 0140707247 CHECK CATALOG As well as the complete scripts (established by scholars working on the New Cambridge Shakespeare), the student will find a running synopsis of the action, an explanation of unfamiliar words, and a wide range of classroom-tested activities to help turn the script into drama. ...More |
 | Tess of the D'Ubervilles Hardy, Thomas 1995/04 - NTC/Contemporary Publishing Company 1853260053 CHECK CATALOG Wordsworth Classics covers a huge list of beloved works of literature in English and translations. This growing series is rigorously updated, with scholarly introductions and notes added to new titles. ...More |
 | Native Son Wright, Richard Rampersad, Arnold 2003/12 - Harper Perennial 0060929804 CHECK CATALOG Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny: by chance, it was for murder and rape. "Native Son" tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Wright's powerful novel is an unsparing reflection of the poverty and feelings of hopelessness experienced by people in inner cities across the country and of what it means to be black in America. ...More |
 | Animal Farm Orwell, George Woodhouse, C. M. Baker, Russell 1996/04 - Signet Book 0451526341 CHECK CATALOG In this controversial classic fairy tale, a farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality, setting the stage for one of the most telling satiric fables ever penned. Illustrations and Orwell's proposed but unpublished preface are included in this anniversary edition. Reissue. ...More |
 | Frankenstein Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft Hindle, Maurice 2003/05 - Penguin Books 0141439475 CHECK CATALOG
A Great Books Discussion Selection ...More |
 | Jude the Obscure Hardy, Thomas Hardy, Hart 1992/12 - Everyman's Library 0679409939 CHECK CATALOG (Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) |
 | Jane Eyre Bronte, Charlotte Bell, Currer Jong, Erica 1997/07 - Signet Book 0451526554 CHECK CATALOG With her 1847 novel, "Jane Eyre, " Charlotte Bronte created one of the most unforgettable heroines of all time. Not only is this the classic story of unforgettable love, but it is also the memorable tale of one woman's fight to claim her independence and respect in a society that seems to have no place for her. ...More |
Okay, so obviously I can't stop at a few - just be glad I stopped when I did. The classics are some of the most amazing books I have ever read - and, probably, will ever read. I have so many left to get to. It's very, very exciting!
I hope everyone finds great books to read during the new school year. As for me, I think I need to get my hands on a copy of The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.
Or perhaps The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope.
No, maybe it should be North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
Oh, it's so hard to decide.
Elizabeth
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