{"id":368,"date":"2016-02-01T11:55:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-01T11:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/02\/01\/should-i-read-these-books\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T16:56:23","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T16:56:23","slug":"should-i-read-these-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/02\/01\/should-i-read-these-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Should I Read These Books?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"book<\/a><\/div>\n

I have a list of books (of course, I always have a list of books.) It is a list of books I should read. Books that well-educated, well-read people read. \u00a0You know the books, the ones that frequently end up on lists of Very Important Books. \u00a0But they are the books that somehow never get read. \u00a0I mean to read them, I should read them, but I don’t read them. \u00a0I am listing a few here in the hopes that someone will give me a vital reason to read them and become the well-read person I dream of being. Hey, we all have our dreams.<\/p>\n

Les Miserables<\/i> by Victor Hugo. \u00a0I have a friend who loves this book. \u00a0She raved about it to me and couldn’t believe I had never read it. \u00a0So I started it, and after a valiant effort, I got to something like 47% on my Kindle. \u00a0And there I have been for the last year. \u00a0Or maybe more. \u00a0Some of it I enjoyed. \u00a0I would be reading merrily along wondering why I hadn’t read this years ago and then all of a sudden I would be bogged down in some long involved explanation of something that, at that moment, seemed to have little to do with the story. \u00a0After the tenth or hundredth or millionth time getting bogged down, I put it down and never picked it up again. \u00a0Though every time I turn on my Kindle I feel guilty when I see the unfinished line under the book. \u00a0Should I give it another try?<\/p>\n

War and Peace<\/i> by Victor Hugo. \u00a0I know it is a new BBC miniseries right now so I see a lot of pictures of it and discussions on various book blogs. \u00a0I should probably read it someday. \u00a0It is another one with rave reviews from people. \u00a0But I keep putting it off. \u00a0I need someone to convince me of how awesome it is.<\/p>\n

Brideshead Revisited<\/i> by Evelyn Waugh. \u00a0This is another one I have just never finished. \u00a0I don’t know why. \u00a0In theory, I should like it. \u00a0But somehow I always quit partway through. And yes, I have quit more than once.<\/p>\n

Anything by Virginia Woolf. \u00a0I read Mrs. Dalloway<\/i> a year or so ago. \u00a0I am still not sure what I thought of it. \u00a0Some of the language was beautiful. \u00a0While I was reading it I didn’t really think I liked it, but then it stuck in my head for the longest time afterward. \u00a0I should probably give her another try. \u00a0Can you really call yourself well-read if you haven’t read Woolf?<\/p>\n

Shakespeare. \u00a0Well-educated people read Shakespeare, right? \u00a0I have read Shakespeare, I just haven’t read as much as I feel I should have. \u00a0I enjoy watching his plays be performed but I struggle with reading his works. \u00a0I think Shakespeare is one of the few things I would rather sit and read with someone else. \u00a0After all, his works are designed to be spoken. \u00a0But since my friends would all look at me like I was insane if I suggested sitting around and reading Shakespeare together….yeah, that isn’t going to happen.<\/p>\n

I know there are a lot more, these are just the ones I could think of right off the top of my head. \u00a0I did not include books that are viewed as important but that I have zero interest in (Moby Dick<\/i>, Heart of Darkness, The Catcher in the Rye<\/i>.)<\/p>\n

Do you have any books you really feel you should read but somehow never get around to? Or maybe never manage to finish? I would love to know what you feel you really should be reading. \u00a0I can add them to my list and have more to feel guilty about!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a list of books (of course, I always have a list of books.) It is a list of books I should read. Books that well-educated, well-read people read. \u00a0You know the books, the ones that frequently end up on lists of Very Important Books. \u00a0But they are the books that somehow never get read. \u00a0I mean to read them, I should read them, but I don’t read them. \u00a0I am listing a few here in the hopes that someone will give me a vital reason to read them and become the well-read person I dream of being. Hey, we all have our dreams. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. \u00a0I have a friend who loves this book. \u00a0She raved about it to me and couldn’t believe I had never read it. \u00a0So I started it, and after a valiant effort, I got to something like 47% on my Kindle. \u00a0And there I have been for the last year. \u00a0Or maybe more. \u00a0Some of it I enjoyed. \u00a0I would be reading merrily along wondering why I hadn’t read this years ago and then all of a sudden I would be bogged down in some long involved explanation of something that, at that moment, seemed to have little to do with the story. \u00a0After the tenth or hundredth or millionth time getting bogged down, I put it down and never picked it up again. \u00a0Though every time I turn on my Kindle I feel guilty when I see the unfinished line under the book. \u00a0Should I give it another try? War and Peace by Victor Hugo. \u00a0I know it is a new BBC miniseries right now so I see a lot of pictures of it and discussions on various book blogs. \u00a0I should probably read it someday. \u00a0It is another one with rave reviews from people. \u00a0But I keep putting it off. \u00a0I need someone to convince me of how awesome it is. Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. \u00a0This is another one I have just never finished. \u00a0I don’t know why. \u00a0In theory, I should like it. \u00a0But somehow I always quit partway through. And yes, I have quit more than once. Anything by Virginia Woolf. \u00a0I read Mrs. Dalloway a year or so ago. \u00a0I am still not sure what I thought of it. \u00a0Some of the language was beautiful. \u00a0While I was reading it I didn’t really think I liked it, but then it stuck in my head for the longest time afterward. \u00a0I should probably give her another try. \u00a0Can you really call yourself well-read if you haven’t read Woolf? Shakespeare. \u00a0Well-educated people read Shakespeare, right? \u00a0I have read Shakespeare, I just haven’t read as much as I feel I should have. \u00a0I enjoy watching his plays be performed but I struggle with reading his works. \u00a0I think Shakespeare is one of the few things I would rather sit and read with someone else. \u00a0After all, his works are designed to be spoken. \u00a0But since my friends would all look at me like I was insane if I suggested sitting around and reading Shakespeare together….yeah, that isn’t going to happen. I know there are a lot more, these are just the ones I could think of right off the top of my head. \u00a0I did not include books that are viewed as important but that I have zero interest in (Moby Dick, Heart of Darkness, The Catcher in the Rye.) Do you have any books you really feel you should read but somehow never get around to? Or maybe never manage to finish? I would love to know what you feel you really should be reading. \u00a0I can add them to my list and have more to feel guilty about!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":613,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2878,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions\/2878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}