I love reading and my favorite is English Literature. Acolytes of English Lit tend to be a bit balmy on the subject. Think of ‘Doctor Who fans’ as book-nerds. They adore it and cannot fathom why everyone else isn’t as crackers as they are about it.
In high school I had an English Literature named Mr. Harchick. He really loved the topic and he nurtured the novices like myself whom he sensed had ‘the calling’. When the class ended he gave me a list of his favorite ‘great books’, Mr. H’s TGRs (thumping good reads).*
I’ve kept this list all these decades in an accordion file labelled ‘Precious Papers’. I found it the other day. Last year’s book resolution was to read 20 books and thanks to the covid19 situation I read 45. 2021’s book resolution is to complete ‘The Harchick list’:
I am pleased as Punch to discover since high school, on my own, I’ve read most of them: 13 of 19 to be exact. I’m certain I can read six novels in one year. Presently I am slogging through Anna Karenina** and I do not see it ending any time soon.
If they prove too wordy I may cheat and do some of them via Audiobooks.*** These sorts of tomes are in public domain so there are free versions at Librovox although the readers can be hit-and-miss. I will not read all six in a row but interpolate them between lighter reads and some rubbish-types.
I am curious to know from Spo-fans:
1. Are you fond of English Literature?
2. How many books from ‘The Harchick List’ have you read?
3. Do you read ‘real books” or do you hear them on audio?
*I do not remember if he gave everyone the list or just the ones he sensed would appreciate it. Mr. Harchick was not one to suffer fools gladly, or cast pearls before swine and that included impudent sophomores.
**It ends badly.
***’Sons and Lovers’ especially.
44 comments
January 3, 2021 at 3:38 AM
Parnassus
As you might imagine, I am fond of literature to the point of obsession. I have read about twelve books on Mr. Harchick’s list, mostly the older ones. I have not read Golding’s The Inheritors, although I have read Benson’s very strange The Inheritor.
I love getting recommendations from all sources. So far, I have only read paper books, none on e-readers or audio. I don’t mind serious books, but I dislike the unpleasant or the dysfunctional, so there are a few books on this list I would tend to avoid.
I like to explore the byways of writing and shy away from a diet of all classics. I just finished Dickens’ Christmas Stories, Vol. 1, because you discussed it. I had read the Carol, but neither The Chimes nor The Cricket on the Hearth. I have Ira Glackens’ Ira on Ira in the wings, am currently rereading Russell Lynes’ Life in the Slow Lane (speaking of byways).
–Jim
January 3, 2021 at 6:03 AM
Urspo
thank you for all this.
Unpleasant and dysfunctional reads I too find at times tedious, as it reminds me too much of work.
With that said I may tackle Sons and Lovers first, to sort of get it over with.
January 3, 2021 at 3:39 AM
Moving with Mitchell
Yes, I do love English literature.
I’ve only read 7 on that list. (And I’m now inspired to try some others.)
I’m not a fan of audio books. I like to leaf back through a book while I’m reading to reread something of interest or to confirm something I’m not clear on.
January 3, 2021 at 6:05 AM
Urspo
I agree audiobooks are disadvantageous for thoughtful pauses and quick rereads and (for me) a quick look-see how many more pages there are to the end of the chapter or section to help determine when is a good time to stop.
Also, i get high off of sniffing the inside of an old book.
January 3, 2021 at 6:24 AM
LORI
I do enjoy English literature. I’ve only read 6 on the list so need to look into the others. I only read physical books. I could never get into screen or audio.
January 3, 2021 at 9:56 AM
Urspo
I admit audiobooks have advantages especially early 19th novels. They are a must for Mr. Cooper’s novels which resemble a walk through a 3ft depth of wet snow.
January 3, 2021 at 6:35 AM
David Godfrey
I have read two of them. I am not a big fan of fiction – but I am an active reader. I love my kindle, being able to carry a dozen books, on something lighter than a small journal. Under ordinary times, my kindle was my commuter and travel companion with hundreds of hours of reading on trains and planes each year. Under extraordinary times, I am finding myself reading print books again. Storage space is a challenge – I am going to need to purge books again. I love audio books, but I don’t like the pricing structure of Audibel. When we lived in Lexington I would buy books on tape or CD used in the library auxiliary bookshop (the Bookcellar – it was in the basement of the main library.) I have never read/heard the last chapter of the Confessions of a Geisha the last CD was missing from that set and I didn’t realize it until I went to play it – I have no idea how it ends. When I was in law school, the local public radio station broadcast the “Radio Reader” each night starting at 9:00 PM, I would set the radio to turn off after an hour and let them read me to sleep.
January 3, 2021 at 9:58 AM
Urspo
Someone and I are often plugged into our headphones listening to something to lull us to sleep. I try to avoid new pieces of fiction as I always have to rewind as it were to where I dropped off.
January 3, 2021 at 6:37 AM
Bob Slatten
I enjoy English Literature, but I am just a seven on the Harchick Scale.
Always only and ever actual physical books. I agree with what you said about the pauses; I need to pause every so often.
January 3, 2021 at 9:59 AM
Urspo
I think it is a sign the book is good in form and/or content when it makes the reader stop and pause and ponder what was just read.
January 3, 2021 at 6:50 AM
Old Lurker
I am only a 5 on the scale, but that is not surprising; like Mr Booby I often have wickedness on my mind. I hope you will seek parental permission before reading The French Lieutenant’s Woman?
I am willing to bet that a bunch of these classics have not aged well, and come across as pretty racist these days.
I often find myself drawn more to trashy popular fiction from bygone eras than the classics. There are some real gems amongst the ancient bestsellers, as well as some revelations about the zeitgeist of times past. Some of the classics do this too, but often not to the same extent.
January 3, 2021 at 10:02 AM
Urspo
I suspect you are spot-on correct; some of these have not aged well. I will soon find out.
Good for you with the reference to Mr. Booby. Have you read “Joseph Andrews” whose protagonist must dodge the lecherous intents of Lady Booby?
As for trashy fiction I highly recommend the “Lucia” series by E.F. Benson. they are sublime in shade and small town shenanigans as two monstrous matrons battle as to who will be queen of the town.
January 3, 2021 at 11:37 AM
Old Lurker
I have not read this but I imagine it is some kind of horror novel? I can only imagine how terrifying it must be to be confront Lady Booby.
January 3, 2021 at 7:33 AM
Sam
I’m a want to be fan of British lit. I love the story but get bogged down in volume of words.
January 3, 2021 at 10:03 AM
Urspo
Try E.F. Benson’s “Lucia series” about two women battling each other who will be top of the town of a small English village. Jolly good fun !
January 3, 2021 at 7:34 AM
Jeffrey
I’ve read four of these
January 3, 2021 at 10:04 AM
Urspo
I did you enjoy them? did you read them in school or own your own?
January 3, 2021 at 7:57 AM
anne marie in philly
1 – I do like to read; 2 – I’ve read 5 of the books on the list; 3 – real books only. and not a fiction lover either.
January 3, 2021 at 10:05 AM
Urspo
You and Mr. Penguin like the non-fiction. My ratio of fiction to non-fiction is about 5:1 I reckon.
January 3, 2021 at 8:28 AM
Brian Dean Powers
I’m afraid Mr. Harchick would be disappointed in me, as I’ve only read a few of these books. My favorite English novelists are Arthur Conan Doyle and H. G. Wells.
January 3, 2021 at 10:07 AM
Urspo
Last year I read ‘The Food of the Gods’ I figured it would be dire foreboding science fiction but it was almost comic. I wonder if Mr. Wells has aged well?
I should reread The Time Machine, or better yet The Day of the comet.
January 3, 2021 at 10:20 AM
Linda Practical Parsimony
I love English Literature! I have read seven of these and not because I was assigned them. I suppose Sons and Lovers is my favorite of the list.
January 3, 2021 at 10:21 AM
Urspo
Sons and Lovers looks to be the next one up to read. wish me luck.
January 3, 2021 at 11:31 AM
Debra She Who Seeks
Yes, I like English Lit. I’ve only read 4 of the books on The Harchick List, though. But “Sons and Lovers” was one of them! I remember enjoying it. I prefer reading a real book and hardly ever listen to an audio book.
January 3, 2021 at 2:20 PM
Urspo
The Spo-fans are coming out in favor or Sons/Lovers; it will be the first to go.
January 3, 2021 at 11:47 AM
larrymuffin
Lucky fellow to have such a wonderful teacher who thought of making up such a list. This is what teaching is all about, imparting knowledge. A good list too.
January 3, 2021 at 2:21 PM
Urspo
It is sad that he doesn’t know how many students of his went on to become readers as he hoped they would.
January 3, 2021 at 1:12 PM
Paul Brownsey
But no Jane Austen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 3, 2021 at 2:22 PM
Urspo
Is this good or bad?
Indeed there is no Austen on the list and I do not recall reading any in class either (the 19 on the list were books he recommended we someday read when class was done). Perhaps he did not care for Austen. Perhaps he figured her works would be read and he listed some others that would be lost otherwise.
January 5, 2021 at 2:26 PM
Paul Brownsey
Actually, school put me off Austen. Just turned 16, I (along with my classmates) was told by our English master to read Mansfield Park and Emma over the Christmas holidays. I got nothing whatever out of them: they were just so-many words to get through. All i retained from the former was something about people running about in woods and bumping into each other before doing some play-acting. It was about 10 years later that a college friend persuaded me to give Austen another try–and by then I was ready for her. My husband and I have read a Jane Austen every Christmas since 1983: it’s one of our household institutions. (This past Christmas; Northanger Abbey.) She never goes stale: on the contrary, each time I see more in her, admire more fully her subtlety and incisiveness.
So perhaps your school list was compiled in the knowledge that callow youth may not appreciate the divine Jane. (Not sure they’ll see much in Sons and Lovers, either, though.)
January 5, 2021 at 2:31 PM
Paul Brownsey
Nor would they get much out of Pamela, I should think!
January 5, 2021 at 2:36 PM
Paul Brownsey
YET ANOTHER PS!!!
…But it’s strange what a mid-teenager can occasionally get grabbed by. One of my qualifying-exam books prescribed at the age of 15 was Trollope’s The Warden: financial scandal and crisis of conscience among clergymen in a sleepy English cathedral town over the running of a charity. The atmosphere of the book captivated me, the sense of past and present unthreatened amid the golden stone of Barchester Cathedral. I didn’t know anyone else who liked it at all. Trollope wrote something like 47 novels; I’ve now read about 40 of them.
January 5, 2021 at 7:21 PM
Urspo
Mr Trollope is on my must read sometime list. Everyone who reads him seems to like him. This makes him one of British under read authors
January 3, 2021 at 2:30 PM
Frogdancer Jones
This is a very masculine list.
I agree with Paul – no Austen is a huge gap.
Pincher Martin is a crazy read. ‘I studied Brave New World’ in year 12 English waaaay back in the day.
I’ve read 7 of these.
January 3, 2021 at 2:36 PM
Urspo
Interesting feedback, this. Mr. H was a cross between Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly i.e. not at all masculine.
January 4, 2021 at 3:27 PM
Frogdancer Jones
Except in his reading tastes! LOL.
January 3, 2021 at 4:33 PM
Pat
If ever you want a simple, light read. Which after AK might be the palate cleanser you need, try the Loved One. Read the book 50 some years ago
when we were stuck at a beach house for a rainy few days. Caught the movie with Jonathan Winters a few years ago on some service and both
were great fun. My sense of humor hasn’t changed much since I was 12
January 3, 2021 at 5:51 PM
Urspo
I love getting book recommendations! thank you!
January 3, 2021 at 6:24 PM
Linda Practical Parsimony
By the way, I am an English major. I have taken over 100 hours of English classes, over 30 at the graduate level. However, most of the books on your list were never required reading. Most of what I studied were Romantics.
January 4, 2021 at 7:08 AM
Urspo
I love English Majors! Best majors on the lot !
January 3, 2021 at 8:52 PM
Pipistrello
Only 4 for me, but I do rather like an Improving Novel. I also “did” S&L in high school but I ended up preferring “Women in Love”, so have both on the shelves. I saw a reference to “High Wind …” in “Diary of a Provincial Lady” just recently, she coming down on the side of believing her own young daughter capable of murdering any number of pirates if need be. Love the EFB’s and like to read them over again when I need a good larrf. Also have “Anna Karenina” in the bedside pile at the moment, the Stanley Mitchell translation, but it’s not anywhere near the top just yet. Present bed-time read is “Decameron”, which I’m finding a bit uninspiring and reminds me a bit of the repetitiveness of Ovid’s “Metamorphoses” but will see it through as it’s Plague-times Lit. I did a binge of 4 Austen’s recently, including “Northanger Abbey” which was my fave, and have thus bookmarked but not yet read an online copy of “The Mysteries of Udolpho” – not an Improving Novel by any stretch!
Audio books: we loved them for driving between our beach and city homes back in the day but as you can’t really get into anything heavy duty whilst, ahem, concentrating on the road, it was confined to the breezy Agatha Christies and PG Wodehouses. I am presently toying with taking out a subscription in order to get through Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series, to listen along while sewing and whatnot. A neighbour has offered the series for reading but I’ve too many others to get through. Too many books, not enough time!
January 4, 2021 at 7:10 AM
Urspo
Indeed not enough time!
When I was commuting to work, that was the time to hear audio books, particularly the ones I was too lazy to read myself. I too cannot concentrate on them in heavy traffic; they are for the ‘open road’ as it were.
“American Gods” got us from AZ to MI and back, it was a TGR.
January 4, 2021 at 6:50 AM
Martin
I typically read your blog on my iPad via an RSS feed while having breakfast. That is never the right time (or device) for leaving comments. Whence the day’s delay.
I like English literature but tend not to read it much. Detective mysteries and historical biography are my more typical fare. I have read three of the list. I might have read “The Loved One” as I did go through a Waugh phase but the synopsis does not ring bells. “Wind in the Willows” may have appeared during my childhood but I don’t remember it.
I have never “read” and audiobook. I like my kindle when travelling but, at home, I prefer the real thing.
When I was in my boys only secondary school, we were prescribed “Lord Jim” (by Conrad) or “Persuasion” (by Austen) for our State exams. My teacher chose “Lord Jim” – the masculine choice. I hated it. Happily, we finished early and had a chance to read “Persuasion” as well. So much better. On the topic of Austen, I quite enjoyed Michael Thomas Ford’s series of novels in which he reimagines Jane Austen as a Vampire.
Lastly, here’s a recommendation for a book set in Michigan: Dewey defeats Truman by Thomas Mallon. I was at the same school as the author many many moons ago. He has written some very creative historical fiction.
January 4, 2021 at 7:12 AM
Urspo
I appreciate any comment, even the ones days later. 🙂
I remember reading Lord Jim and wanting to thrash Mr. Conrad to ‘get on with it’ the words were eloquent but dammit boring.
I love hearing any book recommendation; thank you for yours.