Use Reading Lists for a Tour of Great Books

Great books, from the classical Greece to Renaissance France, can lead you on a wonderful voyage through the history of writing and philosophy. For writers, there's no better foundation than the classics. But not everyone agrees on the definition of classics, and individual reading lists will vary widely. So where do you start?

Last week, I reviewed Kendall Hailey's book on self-directed learning, and recommended her "Great Books" approach to self-education. This week, I'd like to look at a few more sites devoted to great books and the classics.

Hailey didn't have a comprehensive list at the end of her book, so you'll have to read the whole thing and make up your own list if you want to duplicate her education. That's fine if what you're interested in is Greeks, Romans, and contemporary playwrights.

Rita May Brown, in Starting from Scratch does have a recommended reading list. She suggests all writers should be self educated. Here's what she has to say:

Try to cleanse your mind of what your English teachers told you. They were reading with a different purpose from yours. They were also confining themselves to what has been generally accepted as high-quality literature. High quality, depending on where and when you went to school, can mean sterile and sanitized.

Unfortunately, that's also the kind of writing many colleges turn out: sterile and sanitized. Brown's list will at least encourage free thinking. I highly recommend buying or borrowing Starting from Scratch, even if you only read the appendix. You won't find a copy of her reading list on her website, but she leads off with a nice chatty letter, and lists all her books, screenplays and other publications.

Finding Lists to Get You Started

You can order Starting from Scratch from Amazon.com. While you're waiting, you might want to look at some other lists:

• The Great Books Foundations is a good starting point for your odyssey. It has several different lists to choose from, including one with a more modern focus and one for young readers. You can even buy the collected works directly from the foundation, or at large bookstores. These would be a good choice if you'd like to start a Great Books discussion group.

• Great Books Search offers quite a different list of books. These are current and past favorites, and a few may qualify as classics. For the most part, though, they're just good reads chosen by average folks.

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