My Summer Reading List

   I decided several months ago that this was going to be my summer of reading the classics.  How many times have you seen something on tv. or in a movie refer to an old book that you have heard of but never read.  I always thought I should read that some day so I know what the heck they're talking about.  I always wanted to be well read, I feel its a way to make a home improvement of the mind.  I might really learn something as a writer also.  Literature has changed a lot over the last few hundred years.  The old stories took much more time in description and sometimes had scenes that really didn't add to the story but the author used them to add flavor.  Today's writer has to compete with movies and tv. and if you don't hook your reader in the first three pages they will move on to another book.  It's all about instant gratification.
So here is my reading list.
1.  The Complete Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer
2.  The Turn of the Screw
3.  White Fang
4.  The Call of the Wild
5.  Emma
6.  The Scarlet Plague
7.  Little Women
8.  A Tale of Two Cities
9.  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow 
10. Sense and Sensibility
11. A Journey to the Center of the Earth
12. Uncle Tom's Cabin
13. Wuthering Heights
14. Treasure Island
15. Oliver Twist
16. A Christmas Carol
17. The Secret Garden
18. Moby Dick
19. The Scarlet Letter
20. Pride and Prejudice
     I have already read Sense and Sensibility so it's one down and 19 to go.  Several of these I want to read to my boys and I chose them just for that reason, but I want to be able to say that I am familiar with "It was the best of times it was the worst of times" or "Call me Ishmael."  Wish me luck.