Discussion: What Makes a Classic?

I’ve done a lot of thinking about this, on and off since college.  Over the years I have taken note how College Literature programs have attempted to diversify, but it’s slow. Side note: If you didn’t already know, I was a literature major.

Recently, I started thinking about it again when I posted my Classics Club Spin list. When I went through the list of books/authors I wanted to read for Classics Club, I came across a startling revelation that most of the authors were white men. So, for the past week or so I’ve scoured the interwebs to try to add a little more diversity to my classics list. And let me tell you it hasn’t been easy.

Day 8: Celebrating Black Authors – Alexander Dumas

In celebration of Black History Month, I’ll be celebrating black authors by sharing a book a day written by a black author and that has a black main character. Some of the authors I’ve read others are new to me and will be added to the ever-growing TBR pile.

Title: The Count of Monte Cristo
Author: Alexandre Dumas
ISBN-13: 978-1593081515
Publisher: Barnes &  Noble
Release Date: November 2004
[Read] [Add to Growing TBR Pile]

I was first introduced to him like so many of you through the swashbuckling movie, The Three Musketeers. I remember reading bits of it in a high school English class and always thought I’d come back to it. Well it took some

The Friday 56 – Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

The Friday 56 is a weekly meme hosted over at Freda’s Voice. The rules are simple and go something like this.

1.  Grab a book, any book.
2.  Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that’s ok.)
3.  Find any sentence, (or a few, just don’t spoil it)
4.  Post it.

Book Chat: Mind’s Eye by Hakan Nesser

Mind’s Eye: An Inspector Van Veeteren Mystery
by Håkan Nesser
Paperback, 278
Translation Published June 2009 by Vintage (First Published 1993)
Translated by Laurie Thompson
Rating: 4/5

When I read Mind’s Eye by Hakan Nesser the first time, I didn’t like at all. I didn’t get it and I didn’t know how I could write a review about a book I disliked so intensely. I put it in the pile of books (finished, unfinished, not yet read) and forgot about it. I came across it when I was going through the pile and thought I should give it another shot. And I’m glad I did! 😛

Mind’s Eye by Swedish author Hakan Nesser is the first novel in the Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Van Veeteren series, which takes place in the fictional city of Maardam in Northern Europe.  It is a crime procedural about a cantankerous police detective, DCI Van Veeteren on the hunt for a killer.  He is not, convinced the right man (Janek Mitter) has been convicted of murdering his wife (Eva Ringmar).

Quote of the Day — Life

“Sometimes life gets in your way.
it gets all up in your damn way.
But it doesn’t get all up in your damn way
because it wants you to just