Literature(Part 2)

I don't remember any standout novels from the grade school years, although there must have been some. Maybe "Night"? I recall that a lot of grade school reading was short stories out of a text book. Definitely some fun stuff there but I find short stories to be an appetizer. Sure, you read it for 20 minutes, but then what? It's over? That's all I get? What about character development and an actual complex story line? Forget about getting anything beefy like that in a short story. But novels. Oh man were novels a game changer. Much like The Hardy Boy's and Redwall, novels taught me so much and intensified my affair with literature.

Although, looking back, there is not much I truly remember. Freshman year is a blur, even when I am only this far removed(less than 10 years ago). I believe my Freshman English/Literature Pre-AP teacher was Miss Danford(?), an attractive, young, and sophisticated blonde. She was smart and very passionate about reading. I learned a lot from her class; the kind of stuff that helps a freshman mature.

Come to think of it, the overwhelming majority of my English/Literature teachers were passionate about reading.

Maybe Miss Danford's class was "Night"? There were some Shakespeare plays sprinkled in there(Romeo and Juliet certainly, "Give me my long sword, ho!"). Beyond these were some "blockbusters" if you will of the literary world. But we'll get to that.

Some of my classmates read "Brave New World" while others read "Wuthering Heights". I recall reading one story with a find/partner, Alex. We each had a copy of the book and did some kind of group project on it. What that book was named, or what the main plot points were, I cannot clearly remember. Bits and pieces still stick with me though. It was a prep school. There was an "odd"(this novel was quite old) between a white male and a black male. I could be confusing facts with the sequel, but the black male broke his leg. I don't recall why, maybe the black guy was living through the white guy, but the white guy was training/running and being coached by the black guy. The scene was extremely interesting(who knew reading a scene about running could actually be engaging?). At the limits of his endurance the white guy was pushed further by the black guy, achieving a second wind. This was pretty cool to freshman Daniel, as I was running Cross Country and would have loved to learn how to reach the second wind state.

 This was the year we read "The Awakening" and one of my favorites, "To Kill a Mocking Bird". As immature as I was(still am actually) and needed to act to fit in with my male classmates, "The Awakening" was a fairly large joke. Don't get me wrong, I definitely learned from the book(I recalled enough of it to mention it here). Looking back, and ignoring my immaturity, "The Awakening" is a very deep book, especially for the length. Though, reading it 100 years after its initial publication took away from a lot of its meaning. Comparing the rights of women when I read it(and now) to the late 1800's seems preposterous considering how much things have changed.

Ah "To Kill a Mocking Bird". Now this, this reminded me why I loved reading. Expansive plot? Check. Character development? Check. Important Literary work with a moral? Check.

For me, reading a new story is equivalent to living a different life. Even in a third-person form, so much is conveyed through written word. I lived "To Kill a Mocking Bird". You won't find mention of me in the book. But my goodness was I there. I may have been a spirit, non-corporeal, but observing. Or I could have been a friend of Scout's and Jem's, or maybe even their brother. Regardless of how I was present, I was. And boy was it life changing. "To Kill a Mocking Bird" was the first "adult" book I ever read and remember liking. There may have been others I read. But TKAM was a love. So many lessons conveyed through the pages. TKAM is a story I will never forget.

It will be read(possibly in a censored version) to my children as they grow up, most likely along with The Hardy Boy's and Redwall.