More Book Thoughts

NPR is running a commentary on occasion this summer, "Three on a Theme," where a reader suggests three books on a related theme. Of course, I had to submit a suggestion to the powers that be at NPR, as I have taught this exact topic in my UNCG book groups. NPR did reply and apparently liked my idea (they even requested my phone number), but, alas, here I sit still patiently awaiting their call. So I think my two minutes of talking about books Oprah-style has passed and I will simply have to settle for my blog. Here are a couple "Three on a Theme," and if you have any other suggestions, please feel free to suggest, too:

1) "Bella Italia": Want to go to Italy but don't have the money? Then travel with Daisy Miller, Lucy Honeychurch, and Mary Leonard, as they experience Italy throught the novels of Henry James, E.M. Forster, and W. Somerset Maugham respectively. James' novel is titled Daisy Miller; Forster's is A Room with a View (which, by the way, is listed in Entertainment Weekly's list of one of the top 25 new movie classics of the last 25 years so read it and then watch the excellent film); and Maugham's Up at the Villa (which also was made into a film but I wouldn't bother).

2) "Governesses": This summer I am educating myself on all things Jane Eyre as I prepare to teach that novel in the fall in my Women in Art & Literature class. I decided to include it this semester rather than Madame Bovary (I love Flaubert; I just needed a change!). So my recommendation is to begin with the classic, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre; then read Jean Rhys's short novel, Wide Sargasso Sea, which tells the story of Bertha & Rochester before Jane enters the picture (their courtship and her ensuing madness); and finish with the recently released Governess by Ruth Brandon, which is about the real Jane Eyres of the 19th century.

One final book note: check out Entertainment Weekly's list of the top 100 reads of the last 25 years. It's an interesting list and includes one of my favorite novels of all time at #27, A. S. Byatt's Possession. I have read a great many of the novels on the list, but plan to work my way through the list. Who's with me? Let's have an on-line book club!