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Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Eat Your Veggies!

Animal Farm
Catcher in the Rye
Grapes of Wrath
Brave New World
Catch 22
Tess of the D'Ubervilles
Lord of the Flies

What do all of these books have in common?
Classics? Yes.
Famous authors? Of course.
All books I had to read in high school but didn't really enjoy? Most definitely.

All of these books, as my English teachers have told me, are scathing indictments of human nature. They are deep and meaningful and shed a harsh light on the human psyche blah, blah, blah.

Don't get me wrong. These books MUST be read. To me, they are the broccoli, peas and carrots of the literary world. If we are to have a good, solid base in literature or writing, these must be consumed, whether you like it or not (Sorry, I was just channeling my mom there for a minute)

I let books like these stop me from writing for a long time. I really thought good literature had to be about suffering and pain and provide shocking commentary about the social condition. And since I am about as deep as a thimble, there was no way that I was going to be able to produce such deep, meaningful and lasting work as the aforementioned authors had.

But then I had a realization. There are other thimbles out there just like me who may want to read what I want to write. Maybe what I can write would constitute the after dinner mint at the literature buffet. Maybe what I write would be the extra splenda left over in the packet after the rest had been dumped into the after dinner coffee. But I had hope that what I had to say was good enough to at least try to get out there.

So thimbles unite! I'm writing what makes me happy. Even if it is just for me.

4 comments:

  1. "And since I am about as deep as a thimble" He-he! Love it....that's me too.

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  2. I'm so not your friend anymore. I LOVE Grapes of Wrath. But, I agree...Tess...torture. I couldn't even get through the BBC T.V. version. I know what you mean though, It's hard not feeling cheap when I know darn well I will never make a long lasting dent in the world with my deepness.

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  3. Grapes of Wrath- so much suffering. Kept me up at night fretting about the fate of those poor people. Couldn't take the pressure. Reverted to reading only bubblegum books with no tragedy to them whatsoever. I should probably grow a spine.

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