What was I thinking when I decided we should read classics this year? I can tell you the idea got mixed reviews! Here are the titles I chose and what we thought of them:
Dewey, the Small Town Library Cat by Vicki Myron 2.6
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway 2.8
The Great Gatsy by F.Scott Fitzgerald 3.7
Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings 3.7
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston 3.8
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 4.0
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 4.0
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell 4.5
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 4.5
You would probably notice right off the bat that the title atop the list is NOT a classic. The selection of Dewey... was made pretty much because it was available as a Book Bundle (multiple copies) from the library. It gave our members a break in having to find their own copies. It was a sentimental little cat story, pleasant enough to read, but not extremely popular as you can see.
I am a docent at the Orange County Regional History Center in Orlando and have read and heard quite a bit about Zora Neale Hurston. A Zora Festival is held each January in Eatonville, FL, where she made her home at one time. One of our Page Turners suggested we should read one of her novels and attend the festival together. A friend who was a high school English teacher recommended Their Eyes Were Watching God, seen by many to be Ms. Hurston's best. My teacher friend even volunteered to facilitate our discussion. One of our members who "catered" many of our meetings, prepared a Southern brunch for us which was wonderful! We started the year with this selection and most of us were glad we read it. The discussion of the book was thought-provoking and enlightening. It was truly a memorable meeting! And four of us did meet and attend the festival together.
In February I chose Cross Creek because my husband and I would be attending a Road Scholar (Elderhostel) program in North Central Florida in March which involved the life and work of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. Ms. Rawlings was a contemporary of Zora and both are considered literary lionesses of Central Florida. I perform a cameo role at the History Center where I "become" Marjorie. I have read much of her work, including Cross Creek but choosing it for a group book gave me an excuse to read it again. Yes, I do think my rating was probably one of the higher ones in the group!
Later I read Crossing the Creek by Anna Lillios which is about the literary friendship of Marjorie and Zora. I recommend it only to folks who are more academically-minded and are really into the two authors!
We obviously didn't love ...Gatsby but we surely had fun meeting to talk about it! We met in April at the lakeside pool in our condo complex. Our "caterer" member set a beautiful table with petit fours and other elegant fare. We wore white attire and some, even hats. We may have given the book a 3.7 but we would surely have rated the meeting a 5!
My personal favorites on this list are ....Mockingbird (one of the best ever) and ...Huckleberry Finn, followed by the two Florida authors I described previously. I really didn't like As I Lay Dying but some of it will most likely stick in my head forever! I guess that is a factor in determining a classic.
Our group was happy to have the year of (mostly) classics over so we could get back to some current fiction! Ah, well "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger," right?
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