Ever since I declared English as my minor, I have been contemplating this challenge.
As some of you may or may not know, I am DEATHLY afraid to conquer the classic works of literature. I was forced to read them in high school and never enjoyed them. I don't know if it was simply because I was forced to or the writing itself.
A few weeks ago, I was at work and talking to my fellow English majors and asked them what their favorite era of literature was. One of them said he loved the Romantic works. I, however, cannot stand that era of work. I find it very difficult to get through. And when I'm talking about Romantic works, I mean anything by the Brontë sisters (Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall). It may just be me and my own prejudices because of what I was forced to read in high school.
But my challenge is to read all of the books on Modern Library's list of 100 Best Novels (http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/). It is a challenge and I honestly don't think that I will be able to get through most of them. As it is, I have tried to conquer Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and haven't made it past the first 30 pages. I have also tried to read Herman Melville's Billy Budd for a class and the only reason I was remotely intrigued by this was because there are no female characters and there is a lot of erotic language (I had to read this for my Queer American Literature class).
This challenge is going to be hard, especially as I attempt to work my way through all of the classic Romantic works.
We'll see what happens.
