Classics by Pete

Written by Pete Connolly – the IQ guy
For the EQ Version on the Classics read Kat’s Article

I’d go home, sit down with my new purchases and literally eat them all. The novel rarely lasted longer than the candy. I’d put it on my groaning bookshelves, never look at it again, and think about how well-read I must be, because I owned all those books.

Occasional Sunday afternoons were a bit more literate. I’d go to the local bookshop – a traditional one that sold books, not sophisticated coffee – and buy books. Lots of them. Some were technical books for my work (I program websites), but others were best selling novels. Little better than the supermarket trip, but costing a lot more.

I still thought I was well-read, because I needed more, and better quality, bookshelves to hold up all those weighty technical manuals as well as the increasing number of novels.

Then two things happened.

I moved house, and I moved house.

The first move was to a larger house in England. I didn’t want to move such a large number of books, so I packed 10 teacases (think Boston Harbor) full, and gave them all to charity. I kept all the books that I thought were essential – which was about another 20 cases full. The bookshelves looked a little empty, so I carried on collecting at the same rate.

The second move was to Utah. I gave away pretty much every belonging I had to a local charity shop, and put some stuff into storage. The vast majority of the books went, apart from the technical ones and a few essential books that I refused to get rid of. These essential books have a strange connection to each other which I didn’t realise at the time – they’re all classics.

So, what makes a Classic book?

It isn’t age. Some classics are very recent (Modern Classics), whilst others are thousands of years old.

It isn’t the Author. Some authors turn out dross most of their creative lives, produce one classic, then fade back into the shadows. Few authors write more than one classic. (Shakespeare, I hear you say? There’s great doubt as to whether he wrote *anything at all*. have a look at http://www.deveresociety.co.uk/ for a different look at his writings).

It isn’t the Plot. Classics are often very good examples of their particular story line, but rarely the only example. Some classics spawn a whole literary family tree of themselves (For example, Robinson Crusoe was so popular at the time that many authors copied the idea – the myriad imitations were all classed together as ‘Robinsonade’, and include Swiss Family Robinson)

It isn’t accuracy. We can look back on many books written several hundred years ago and point out numerous errors based on our modern day understanding.

So, then, what is that tenuous strand which binds together so many disparate books together under the title of ‘Classic’?

Simply this; a Classic book opens your mind to thoughts and ideas that you will never find in any other way. A classic book will change you. You will re-read the book, and it will change you again. Continue reading, and you will have a definite opinion on the subject matter in discussion, be it Whaling ( Moby Dick, by Herman Melville), Slavery ( Uncle Toms Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe), Politics ( 1984, George Orwell), or even the Victorian class system (anything by Dickens). And if a book can change you, it might even change the world. According to legend, Abraham Lincoln met Harriet Beecher Stowe during the American Civil war in 1862 with the words “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War!”

Are classics boring? Yes, if you’re used to driving your TV from the comfort of your beer-freezer equipped Laz-E-Boy recliner. A classic novel will challenge you to commit time to reading it, and that can simply not compete with 60 minutes of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ or other such entertainment tripe. But watch that 62″ Plasma screen TV a little more closely – many popular programmes are based on classics. West Side Story? Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare (perhaps. See a previous comment!). 1995′s Clueless was (apart from the big dresses) Emma (Modern Library Classics), by Charlotte Bronte. Pretty Woman, starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts in 1990 shared many themes with My Fair Lady (1964), which was pretty much Pygmalion (Enriched Classics Series) by George Bernard Shaw, which itself was a rewrite of a greek myth. You’ve probably seen a classic without even knowing it, so why not crack open the book and read one in real life?

Now we’ve defined what a classic is (and isn’t), you’re probably wondering what we consider classics to be. Here’s my top 10 (with a little cheating, as there are actually over 150 books in this list!). It’s an eclectic mix, and I don’t apologise for any of my choices!

1. The Bible. The greatest and the best. All human knowledge is there. If you haven’t read the Bible recently (or at all!), give it a go. If you haven’t got a copy, you can buy a bible here, or contact us and we’ll get you one. We really do think it’s *that* important in this day and age.
2. Great Books of the Western World (60 Volumes) (Britannica, First Edition, 1954). 54 volumes (averaging three books per volume) containing works by Homer, Euclid, Newton, Swift, all the way from 2000bc to 1900ad, ending with Freud. Not an easy read – the set comes with a ten YEAR reading plan – but full of books which you would never otherwise have picked up.
3. The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S.Lewis. Great stories, with a twist at the end of the series. Buy the series here
4. The Sackett Series, by Louis L’Amour. My dad had all these, and I thought they were just cowboy novels until I read the first. I didn’t stop until I’d read them all.
5. Around the World in 80 Days (Jules Verne). One of the classic travel adventures – written in 1873, and even has a chapter where his train stops at Ogden, Utah, and he nips over to Salt Lake City and back in a few hours (for an 80 mile round trip – tricky even today!).
6. With Lee in Virginia – A Story of the American Civil War (G.A. Henty). A book describing the adventures of a young captain in the Confederate army during the American Civil War. I’ve only just discovered G.A. Henty, and his books are magnificent! Aimed at 10-15 year old boys, they are strong on morals and ethics, whilst still having a hefty dose of adventure. This book really gave me an insight into slavery in the 1860′s period.
7. The Hiding Place (Corrie Ten Boom). An autobiography of a woman (and her family) who helped Jews hide during World War 2, and what happened to them. Not an easy read, but full of life, hope and promise. Buy a copy here
8. Hatchet (Gary Paulsen). A survival story about a young boy stranded in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. This one had the kids (and me!) hooked when Kat read it to us.
9. Left Behind Set (Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins). A series of novels looking at what happens once all the Christians are raptured, from the viewpoint of those left behind. Whew! Kat and I had to ration ourselves to one book a week when we found this series of 14 books, because we’d stay up til 2 or 3 in the morning reading each one. Fantastic, and gives you a whole new perspective on the book of Revelation.
10. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card). A great science fiction book, with great lessons on the loneliness of leadership. Essential reading for anyone who’d like to be a leader. For Christmas, I’d like one of the sequel… pretty please?