The Life of a Cynical Peach

As I mentioned in my first blog entry, reading and literature are one of my biggest enjoyments, so I figured it would make a good topic for my next blog entry. I recently answered an online questionnaire (the type that were made popular by email and now populate online sites such as Facebook and Livejournal) that asked "If you could only read 10 books for the rest of your life, which books would you choose?" You weren't supposed to choose books that you thought you SHOULD choose such as the Bible or a dictionary, nor books that you thought could be useful such as a cookbook or a how-to manual, but rather your 10 favorite books.

 Now, for someone like me this is both the easiest question in the world and the most difficult. It was difficult because I love so many books, how could I possibly narrow it down to only 10? (Not to mention the idea of never reading a new book again is absolutely horrifying!) But it was easy because I definitely have favorite books, the books that I read over and over again- some of them yearly, some of them monthly. The ones that I see brand new copies of in the bookstore and wish I could purchase them and have the enjoyment and satisfaction of re-reading the story for the first time. The books that are so dog-eared I eventually had to purchase new copies. So I narrowed it down to 10 and in the end I was pretty satisfied with my list- it may not be ideal, but I could live on reading only those 10 books for the rest of my life. Now don't worry, I'm not going to talk about all 10 of them here. But I'm going to highlight a few of the books I chose and why- who knows, maybe it will inspire you to read one of them, or to make your own list.

One of the first books on my list was The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. I love a good dystopia, and this book is the king (or maybe more appropriately, queen) of dystopias. It takes places in the U.S., in the not-too-distant future. The government has been redesigned into a "Republic" and people have been assigned to different classes of citizenship based on their gender, age and other distinguishing characteristics. The main character of the novel, Offred, is a "handmaid" or  a fertile woman designated to bear children for the rest of the republic. She is assigned to a "commander" with whom the only interaction she is allowed is to procreate. Any child she should bear would then become the child of the commander and his wife. Offred is a servant in the household, valued only for her reproductive capabilities. The story deals greatly with Offred's memories, thoughts and feelings as well as the inter-personal relationships between the different classes of citizenship. It is a thought-provoking and enjoyable novel. I'm not sure what it is about the dystopian genre that I am attracted to. Partly I enjoy reading about future societies and imaging the directions that things could go in the years to come. I partly enjoy reading about societies much different than ours and realizing that maybe we don't have it so bad, leading me to appreciate my current situation much more (a form of literary schaudenfreude perhaps?). Whatever it is, if you are interested in futuristic novels or dystopian stories, this is a book to check out. 

 I also enjoy classic literature. I have Dickens and Austen on my list, but another lesser known novel I have included is Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster. Written in the early 1900's, Daddy Long Legs is written as a series of letters sent from an orphan (Judy) to her benefactor who is paying for college education (Daddy Long Legs). The book is a quick read while still utilizing the old fashioned manner of writing and speaking so beloved in classic novels. Judy's letters are humorous and entertaining as are the little illustrations (done by Webster herself). The ending is a surprise and a twist, which only makes the novel that much more satisfying. 

I also have included a few non-fiction books. One, To Sleep With the Angels, is the story of the 1958 fire which devastated the Our Lady of the Angels parish in Chicago and killed 95 students and nuns. The other, Cooked, is a memoir written by Carol Karels about her time as a nursing student at Cook County Hospital during the tumultuous 1970s. Both are endeared to me because of my love of history. The both capture snapshots of important periods of time in Chicago history and tell the stories of the people who experience them. I enjoy To Sleep With the Angels because although it is a tragic and sad tale (you cannot read it without crying at least once) it is important to see the improvements that have been made in our modern schools as a result and remind us of why we need to remember this tragedy in order to prevent it from happening again. Cooked  I relate to on a more personal level as I have spent most of my adult career working in healthcare. I understand the workings of the healthcare system and challenges healthcare workers, both then and now, face with the system. It also tells the stories of the patients who were treated at County and they are fascinating in every way.

 It's important for everyone to have an escape, a way to get away from the pressures of daily life and the troubles of the world, and literature serves that purpose for me.