A literary journey by Penguin

I know it's been like all things Penguin around these parts this week (see here, here, and here), but I have really just been so impressed with how they are reinventing classics through art and promoting the love of reading to a new generation.  As I was pursuing Penguin's site, which I admit is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine, I stumbled onto a reading journey that one of Penguin's employees embarked upon.  

Apparently a few employees decided to do this several years ago, but Alan Walker, a senior executive, has extended his commitment by picking one author per letter of the alphabet and then writes about it.   This is his second time through the alphabet; here is his first marathon.

I think this sounds kind of fun...no time limit on reading them, but going A-Z.

One question remains...which novels would I pick to read? 

Graphic Penguin Classics

Not only did Penguin recently decide to commission tattoo artists for a series of books, but they have recently released a 25-edition set of classics with covers designed by graphic artists.  Here are a few of my favorites, but I want each and every one of these as well!!!

Penguin Ink Series

Just saw in my May Bazaar that Penguin recently

 commissioned several tattoo artists for an upcoming series.  

Though I've only heard of two of these novels (can you guess which?), I still want to 

collect them.

  What a great idea!

Confessions from my bed on a Saturday at noon thirty

You read correctly, I am in bed and it's Saturday at 12:41pm. I woke up rather late (having gone to bed rather late), and decided to make the most of this GORGEOUS Seattle rain by brewing a pot of Earl Gray and making myself eggs to eat in bed. I sit here surrounded by magazines, listening to Debussy, and petting the feline. Since my hardworking husband is working on our car at his parent's house, I am just soaking up the solitude.

I confess to this. I may have spent the last 2o minutes on this website. Confusingwords.com is so informative! What a great refresher course. Now, many people mentioned to me that certain knowledge one acquires in high school can become irrelevant to ones daily life. I suppose that is true, I mean how often do you have to explain the difference between the words affect and effect? Well, I am happy to say that perhaps one of the only reasons a person might want to brush up on these skills is simply to casually recite the rule at a party, martini in hand. You know, as if you've known it these last ten years and just recalled it like it was nothing.

Because the purpose of being educated is to lord it over people, clearly.

Other confessions:

• I've been spending way too much online trying to find good sheets. I was lying in my sheets the other day with more skin touching them than usual (AHEM) and thought, "Why the hell do I put up with these scratch, 7-year old sheets?!" I am buying new ones. Any recommendations?
  
  
• Oh dears, this is the hardest one. I am about 10 pages from finishing Plath's journals. This, like Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is one of those books that it absolutely pains you to finish. I know there is no rule forbidding me to start it over the second I finish it, but that first reading is so irreplaceable and I have been neglecting my read of The Brothers Karamozov for her. I keep putting those last pages off. She's been with me for about a year now.
  
  
• My plans today should include finding boxes and packing them. However, since it's my last official Saturday in the city, I feel as though I will eventually get out of bed, get dressed in tall socks, walk myself to lunch, write a letter, grab a drink, and take it all in.

Thank you, Seattle.
Thank you for the perfect cool grayness of my last official weekend day with you.

Best of the Best: The inevitable superiority of the classics

I was perusing this article the other day, and I came across this paragraph.

"I just finished reading The Road by Cormac MacCarthy. It’s so good that it won the Pulitzer Prize. Afterwards I read the first few chapters of Lolita. I was shocked by Lolita’s superiority. Truly great books don’t come around every year. If you only read contemporary literature, you’re drawing from a diluted pool. Why not make the most of your reading time by finding the best of the best?"

Sorry, but I couldn't agree more. I think this is what I have been trying to say about contemporary literature for some time. There is some I seriously love, but honestly...if you look into history, it's probably been written better.

"If you’re a writer/blogger, ignoring the classics is a mistake."

What classics have you been wanting to read?

mme. bookling