My next literary adventure

When I started this blog, I had real intentions of updating it regularly and writing about the books I was reading, authors I liked (and disliked), reviewing books and just writing in general about the world of books. But then a combination of laziness and stagnation overtook me and I stopped. I did spend some time coming up with ideas for posts and the different books and authors I could write about but then something else came to me…all because of Batman.

For many reasons, The Dark Knight was probably the most anticipated movie of summer in 2008. Among those reasons (likely lower on the list, but still significant) was the trailer for the movie Watchmen. I’d heard of the graphic novel before but didn’t know much about it or the movie…then the trailer blew me away. Honestly, watching the trailer, I didn’t care that I only knew a brief overview of the story. I could have known nothing and still would have wanted to see the movie. In ensuing conversations about Watchmen, I learned that it is the only graphic novel to make Time Magazine’s 100 Best Novels of All Time list. (I also learned that author Alan Moore has a big hate-on for Hollywood and adaptations of his work, but I’ll save that for another time.)

In recent years, graphic novels have been gaining more respect as a literary medium, possibly because successful movie adaptations are more readily referencing the source material. But to see a graphic novel on a best-of novel list intrigued me which meant, of course, that I had to know more about Time’s list.

So, here it is.

How did they arrive at this list? There are criteria: books must be novels, originally written in English and published after 1923 (the year Time began publishing). Simple enough, but these three basic rules cut out a lot of literary giants. Gone were the Brontes, Dickens and Austen; Dostoyevsky; Flaubert, Camus and Dumas; Cervantes; and the list goes on.

But there are a lot of great authors and books on the list. Many writers I’ve heard of, even if I’m not familiar with the chosen book. To start off, I’ve decided on my first three books. The inaugural book will be (in fact, must be) the book that spurred me into this project: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

Book the second will be White Noise by Don DeLillo and the third read will be Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume.

(I feel I should also note that these three books were chosen as the first three because I also happen to already own them. Minor detail.)

There are books on the list I've read and liked; books I've read and hated; books I've always wanted to read and some I had hoped to never pick up again. There are authors I recognize and some I've never heard of. Of the authors I know, there are some surprises as to which book was chosen, while other choices are almost cliche.

So on Wednesday October 1 (after Criminal Minds and CSI:NY) I will crack the cover of Watchmen and begin my adventure in literature. Let’s see where it takes me.

This will be fun.