My New Project

So, as many of you know, I am back in school...this time for the sciences.  Not to toot my own horn here, but I just aced a Chemistry exam containing information I taught myself. (I'm doing it all online thanks to full time work). I should have probably done the Science degree in the first place as I am pretty sure a Bachelor of Arts in English does not even equal a high school diploma in the real world. 

Despite my career change, I remain passionate about literature, and to include this passion in my new endeavors, I have decided to begin my own little "marathon training".  I have found a list of 100 books you should read before you die.  I reviewed many lists I found online, but this one included more books I haven't read in comparison to the many of the books I read during my tenure at the U of M. My intentions at this point are to read all the books on the list I have already read again with the exception of Catcher in the Rye and As I lay Dying for I am neither a fan of Salinger nor of Faulkner and I'm not sure I could stomach reading them again. 

First on the list is Don Quixote and no, I have not read it before. FYI,  I just heard all ye literature-loving gurus gasp in disgust from here.  I just came fresh from the Library with a brand new library card and book in tow and I have to ask, what the hell happened to libraries?  Granted the City of Phoenix Library is not the same as the small, haunted library in my hometown, but what is with all this new, fangled equipment?  I haven't used a library for pleasure reading since grade school, but let's just say you no longer pull out the checkout card and get an ink stamp with a due date.  Now you get a due date, email reminders your due date is approaching, and the chance to click a button and renew from your home to avoid all those nasty late fees.  Something tells me these fees are no longer $.25 per week - just a hunch. Had my husband not informed me that I am no longer entitled to buying books just to read once, I never would have been aware of this new and improved literature Mecca.  

So now I begin with Don Quixote and plan on moving down the list as printed.  My only exceptions are when Bernard Cornwell releases his next "Saxon Stories" in January and when A Dance with Dragons is released, though I have a sneaking suspicion I will be done with all 100 books before I read that one. 

Happy Halloween to all and Happy Reading!!