A Good Read

This morning, I was reading an article from Reader's Digest which detailed how to be interesting, specifically in social settings. It suggested tips such as "listen more than you speak," "emulate those whom you find interesting," and "find something interesting about yourself and be able to succinctly explain it." All great tips. Another piece of advice was to be well-read. It then linked to their list of "14 Books You Really Should Have Read by Now."

1. The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
3. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
4. Tell Me a Riddle, Tillie Olsen
5. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
6. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Marie Remarque
7. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
8. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers
9. Native Son, Richard Wright
10. The Road, Cormac McCarthy
11. Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
12. A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor
13. The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger
14. The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis

Now, some of these I was forced to read, and did so reluctantly, with what could only be described as a closed mind. A couple others, I have attempted to read as an adult and just could not plod through their pages. I will give it a solid, old school try, though.

There is one on the list, critically-acclaimed, that I just despised. I actually lost a friend over this book as she recommended it highly and, after consuming it, I thought "can I be friends with someone who actually enjoyed this book?" The answer revealed itself mere months later when the friendship evaporated quite organically. Have you ever worn an itchy sweater but didn't realize just how irritating it was until you had long since departed your house and there was no going back? You may have found yourself staring at the clock, hearing the second hand tick off hollow echoes, counting the seconds until you could tear that sweater from your body and throw it out the window on your drive home. Well, that's what this book was like. You've heard of a "page-turner?" This one was certainly a page-turner. With each page I turned, I drew consolation that it was one less page to read and one step closer to the end.

As for the other lucky 13, I vow here and now to go through and give them each another go. Even War and Peace, otherwise known as War: What is it Good For?

(Absolutely nothing.)

Say it again.