Saturday, November 15, 2008

war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength . . .

Having grown up in Ohio and attended a somewhat country school system, not much reading was required through my high school years. In fact, the only book I remember being forced to read through was Lord of the Flies in my sophomore year honors English class. (the only year I took an honors class :) In fact, I remember only partially reading it and feeling somewhat lost when we were discussing it in class. (and then there was the term paper that followed. I butchered it.) I am saying this all to admit my failure as a reader in my early days, and have now gained a pleasure for written work and am on a mission to read, or listen to, works that I missed while going to school.

For the past several years, I have had to travel around thirty minutes to get to my work as a teacher. This gave me uninterrupted time to listen to books on tape that I wanted to listen too. I have gone through several of the classic literature novels, and now find myself listening to George Orwell's 1984. OH MY GOODNESS! I am so excited to get in the van and travel to and from work. It is an outrageous story filled with parallel for today's situation, and the narrator uses his voice to literary "paint" the scenes for me to see. In reflection, I am sure that the purpose of the work would have went over my head if I had read it so many years ago, and I am quite glad now that I have the resources, time, and desire to read the work that is considered to be classics in the literary world.

1 comment:

Traveler said...

As a veteran of the Book on Tape scene, I have spent (or wasted depending on one's point of view) literally years of my life in Los Angeles traffic. I have listened to hundreds and hundreds of Books on tape, CD and now as files on my iPod. I am supremely grateful that I used my time wisely instead of going postal on some idiot who just cut me off! I had the opportunity to listen to many of the classics I missed in school, biographies of those I admire, stories of fantastic fiction and riveting true tales, and preaching and teaching series that shaped and changed my life. So, that said, I wish you well in your audible listening journey and can suggest many greats reads. At least the traffic in your part of the world is sane!