Each day purpose to learn something new; something life-enriching; something that makes you a better person. Help is sometimes needed to point you in the right direction, given the mass of knowledge available today. This is where Susan Wise Bauer comes in. She has written a book titled "The Well-Educated Mind" that gives you a game plan. The first section of the book goes over the why's and whatfor's and howto's of reading classic literature. Then she dives into a selection of books themselves. All the choices have been made for you. There is no excuse not to begin the process of self-education.
Why then have I had this book for several years and am no further ahead than before I got it? Because the book that she starts with is Don Quixote. If you know anything about this book you know that it's just plain weird. I've tried and tried to read it but it's just too....weird. And being the linear person that I am, if I couldn't read the first book on the list, I couldn't move on. Well, I'm over it. I'm turning the page and going on to The Pilgrim's Progress (which just happens to be one of my most favorite books of all time - isn't that fortunate?).
The Pilgrim's Progress is also available as a recent movie, but I'll hold off watching it till I've reread the book (as I always insist on for my children).
3 comments:
Pilgrim's Progress is great. I hope the movie lives up to it. It looks a little 'small budget', but hopefully the message is true to the book. I'll have to watch it sometime.
I have yet to read some of the recommendations in Honey for a Woman's Heart -- I think those books are more my type... than Don Quioxte!
You must be a speed reader! I don't read half the books I want to!
Hey - I read a children's version of Don Quixote, does that count??
Yes, I read that too, but when you see the size of the "real" DQ you realize that you're fooling yourself if you check it off after the children's edition. It does give you the story line, though. Enough to make you look a little knowledgeable in a crowd :)
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