So many books, so little time

I am sure anyone who has read this blog very long knows I am an avid reader. My genre of reading choice has shifted over the years as my interest has changed. In my Junior High School days I was read pretty much all of the Hardy Boys books, sometimes many times over. In High School I moved into the Doc Savage paperbacks and got into automotive magazines pretty heavily. I had many years of Road & Track magazines that I literally read from cover to cover. I also read Motor Trend and other periodicals about cars present, past and future. My dad had a multiple decade collection of Popular Science and Popular Mechanics that I also would read for hours at a time.

While in the military I took upon myself some of the then current and recent past best sellers on the market like the novels of James Michener. As I began my own career and began to learn about technology I began reading articles and magazine written about my field of employment. While I had taken a couple of college classes in the military I didn't really get into going to college until I had two children in the home. I spent 7 years taking classes part time while I worked full time. During my days in college I read what I needed to read for class. When I left the classroom I began to dig deeper into scientific and theological articles, studies and books. My interest was piqued towards the finding common and divergent ground between theology and science.

Now, at 62, having read most of my life almost with no breaks, I am shifting genres again. Of the last four books I have been reading, 3 of them are classics. And before I reveal what they are, although in this blog I have talked a little about all of them I think, I want to talk about classic. About the word, classic.

Classic doesn't mean old or antique. But new things are rarely classified as classic. They may be like or appear like a classic, but normally classic refers to something that has been around long enough to have a reputation as being the best. Or at least at the top of a group or genre. Classic cars are mostly thought of as cars from a generation or so earlier. Now a classic home seems to have a broader range of meaning. Many new homes can be defined as being classic. Classic Victorian, classic New England, classic southern, etc. When it comes to books, classic I believe mostly means books that have emerged through the years as being the best of their day and the best of their particular kind.

For “classic” examples, “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque is said to be the classic World War I novel. It is normally cited as the best from that war. Very close to it is Ernest Hemingway’s “Farewell to Arms.” Many books of a number of authors are considered classics simply because the authors were the best of the best in their day. Most of us can name many “classic” authors. Most of those that read have read many classics. We are drawn to them because they are so skillfully written and touch us in so many ways.

The 3 books of the last 4 I have been reading are classic stories. All of them have been required reading in schools from middle through college. The first one I happened upon quite by fate. My daughter gave me a Nook for Christmas this past December. Already installed on the Nook was an unabridged copy of Bram Stoker's “Dracula.” Stoker published this novel in 1897 and it quickly became a classic. I knew about the book from a young age but it never seemed interesting to me. Since I had it pretty much thrust into my hands I began reading it.

I was amazed. The book not only interested me I could hardly stand to put it down. Now a lot of books have had that power over me, so I knew the draw. But it is a great book and wonderful reading. I finished “Dracula” and immediately began another classic, "Night Comes to the Cumberland" by Harry Caudell (published 1962) which led to another classic, "Little Shepherd from Kingdom Come" by John Fox, Jr (published 1903) which I finished just today.

I have read maybe a hundred or more books that are classic in the English language. I have a knowledge of and have read books by nearly every American author up through the mid 1900s. I am also deep into three current authors, but with all of the classics still out there, I may never catch up to more current works.

I have two threads running through my books of choice for the foreseeable future. One is to completely catch up with the books of Dan Brown, James Rollins and Tom Clancy. The other thread is to try and fill in my gaps in the classics of the 18^th, 19^th and early 20^th centuries. On the side I have two more certifications I would like to obtain. One in a field of interest, the other in my career field.

So reading I am. What have you read recently?