A while back I ran across this link for a great "Classics" reading list.  There are 167 books on this list and it is by no means complete but it really is at least  great place to start.  You can find the list here www.eagleforum.org/educate/1997/june97/list.html .  It is called the Ultimate Reading List-Classics that Endure.

Now the strange thing is, I am a avid reader (my family might call it "rabid readear...") and I've read books all of my life but for some reason, I look at this list and go "never heard of that one!"  or " he wrote that, too?". 

At some other great blogs I've seen bloggers personal reading lists but was never too sure what "list" I wanted to make.  I like pretty much all genre except those over the top romances and westerns.  I like this list so this is where I will start.  I have no clue how to add all those cool sidebars that everyone else seems to have so I'll have to list mine differently until I can figure that out.

Ok, here are my first 10 books to dive into, starting this summer:

1.  The Three Musketeers (1844) by Alexandre Dumas

2.  Ivanhoe (1820) by Sir Walter Scott

3.  The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) by Alexandre Dumas

4.  Last of the Mohicans (1826) by James Fenimore Cooper

5.  Moby Dick (1851) by Herman Melville

6.  A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens

7.  Robin Hood (1883) by Howard Pyle

8.  Arabian Nights (1704) by Antony Galland

9.  Les Miserables (1862) by Victor Hugo

10.  Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe

Isn't that a great list?  The rest of the 157 boks are just as great!  Notice anything interesting about this list?  Nothing from the 20th century......hmmmmm.  Also, most of them with the exception of Robinson Crusoe and Arabian Nights were written within a short time span.  I wonder if that was the "fad" of the time?  Did one guy writing a great book set the inspiration and motivation for others?  I wonder if that would work today?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my reading.  Everyone should have a great book to carry around and read during the summer.....park, pool, camping, beach.....reading is always great!  This is not by all means the only "reads" we'll do this summer.  Cameron and I will be reading and doing a unit on Swiss Family Robinson (1813 by Johann Wyss and number 42 on "the list").

Ready, Set, Read