Becky's criteria for great literature

1. It points us to the Divine.

2. It opens our eyes to our fellow man.

3. It shows us what love is.

4. It teaches us the meaning of life.

5. It makes us want to improve ourselves and our surroundings.

6. It provokes our deepest emotions.

7. It entertains us.

Reader, I finished it

Reader, I loved it. Coming very soon (tomorrow?): my review of Jane Eyre. And introducing my scale for book reviews. Stay tuned.

Mr. Rochester speaks...

"You see now how the case stands--do you not?" he continued. "After a youth and manhood passed half in unutterable misery and half in dreary solitude, I have for the first time found what I can truly love--I have found you. You are my sympathy--my better self--my good angel. I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my centre and spring of life, wraps my existence about you, and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one."

A very good place to start...

I couldn't think of a more appropriate place to begin a blog about books.

I'm still in the midst of re-reading Jane Eyre (or truth be told, reading it through every-single-word instead of skipping to the good parts!), so my post/review/what-have-you is still forthcoming. In the meantime, please continue to submit your ideas on how to judge books on some kind of rating scale.

I can't wait to talk about this book!

Note: this picture shows my actual copy of Jane Eyre. My grandma gave this to me 20 years ago now! I did not have the best nor easiest relationship with my grandma, but one thing we did have in common, and one thing she fostered and encouraged in me (and her other grandkids) above all else, was a love for the written word. I can recall my grandma -- with her glasses hanging 'round her neck on a silver chain -- always having a dictionary handy, always working on a crossword, always laughing in delight scoring 92 points at a time at Scrabble. Heck, she taught me how to spell the longest word in the English language (here I go, by heart):
antidisestablishmentarianism
Anyway, here's the inscription she wrote in my book:















I know it's difficult to see clearly, but it says,
Christmas 1986/To My "Little Bookworm" Becky/Love, Grandma Wood

I cherish this book. Not just because of the words written therein, not just because of the significance it has on my very perception of what it means to "fall in love," but also because it's a piece of my grandma -- the BEST of who she was.

So how is this going to work?, you ask

Excellent question, you. Answer: I don't know for sure. Here's what I'm thinking right now. As I finish a book, I'm going to dedicate a post to that particular book and do some kind of review on it. That way, if you ever want to look up a book I've read and reviewed (or if I have another memory black-out!!!), all you (or I) have to do is search by title. And I'm still thinking through a rating system, like how movies get rated on a 5-star scale. But to do that, I'll have to come up with some kind of judging criteria. Anybody have any ideas? How do you judge books?

I'm also thinking of using this sub-blog of mine to post quotable quotes, author bios/interviews, that kind of thing. Any other ideas for non-book-specific posts?

And the reason for this blog is...

Amnesia. Yeah, you heard me right. In a specific form, though...it's probably called "biblioamnesia." How did I contract this rare illness? Um, that would be AGING. How do I know I have biblioamnesia? Put it this way. Adam and I were in Half Price Books today and I was perusing one of my favorite sections: British history and royalty. I picked up a biography on Queen Elizabeth I (my favorite character in history, mind you) and even though I read the author's name, the blurb on the back, both sides of the dust jacket, and the table of contents, I couldn't remember if I'd read it before. Even worse, I couldn't remember if I owned it. Now that's bad.

So right there and then, it became clear to me that if I don't write this stuff down, I will completely lose my literary memories. One day, they'll find me in a bookstore, wandering among the racks of books, moaning something about an English governess and a brooding gentleman with a dark secret...(God forbid I should forget my Jane Eyre!!!).