Wuthering Abe [Books]

There are plenty of books that are worth reading and since the invention of the book, there's been a constant stream of must-reads. A couple months ago I decided to go old school and hit the classics. In Chicago, my commute from Wicker Park to West Loop took about 40 minutes.

So I decided to decidate about 80 minutes a day to read the classics. I started off with Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

I must confess. For five weeks, I never got very far in the book. Call me unlearned and ignorant but I couldn't get into the book. Maybe it's the environment by which I was trying to read, or maybe I'm not into fiction these days. Whatever the case, it was/has been a mighty struggle.

I'm just grateful I didn't try to start of with a Tolstoy story. Two days ago, I gave up. The fact that I am now in a new city, my commute almost doubled (about an 70 minutes) and still not able to make significant progress in the book was very disconcerting.

I am ashamed that I can't finish such a heralded classic. I will learn to accept the fact that I can't appreciate Wuthering Heights and will try again later on (or so I tell myself).

I've since tried to put it behind me and have started to reading the Writings of Abraham Lincoln. His bicentennial birthday and my picking up the book is pure coincidence--though for a brief minute I pondered if it was fate that brought us together.

My confidence in the ability to consume pre-21st century material has been renewed. I am tearing through it.

Thumbs up to Honest Abe and Thumbs down to the Heathcliff and Catherine.