Here are this month’s five great recommendations from staff member Christopher Jennings Penders! Click on a title to place a hold. To find previous Chris Picks just click on the “what to read” link at the bottom of this page or type “Chris Picks” into the search bar on our home page.
If you didn’t already know it, I’m a sap when it comes to romance. Wuthering Heights is one of my favorites. I love the writing style of this book. One of the features of classic fiction I enjoy is that you must pay close attention to each word as it is written. Unlike many books today, you can skip whole paragraphs and not lose the meaning of the book. With the classics, you do so at your own peril. Reading about the moors harkens back to another favorite book by Sherlock Holmes. The Hound of the Baskervilles also spends some of its setting on the English moors.
There have been times when I have read books that were required and disliked every minute and every page. The first time I read The Scarlet Letter in high school, I didn’t understand its meaning and found the style arcane. I re-read the book several years later and as with Wuthering Heights, it has become a must-read at least once a year. I love this book now.
I still remember the first time I read Lost Horizon in eighth-grade literature class. We had to pick a classic to read. Unlike other times when we read classics, I couldn’t put this book down. I’ve re-read it several times since and I still find I’m unable to stop reading. I’ve never been able to understand why this one classic holds such sway over me. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Being a writer myself, Hemingway has always intrigued me. So many of his books line my shelves. If someone pinned me to a wall and asked me my favorite, I’d have to say The Sun Also Rises. A Farewell To Arms is a REAL close second. You can’t go wrong with anything Hemingway, however.
And one children’s classic that is likely my favorite children’s book of all time is Charlotte’s Web.