The Test of Time

Today, April 23, is Shakespeare’s birthday. Many communities will celebrate with World Book Night. World Book Night is an annual celebration dedicated to spreading the love of reading, person to person.  Each year on this date, thousands of people in the U.S. go out into their communities and give away a half a million free paperbacks. In the future, I hope to join this effort as a volunteer. 

Since I couldn't participate this year, I thought I’d commemorate the occasion by asking a few avid readers if they could name the best novel they’d ever read, the one book that stood the test of time. For some who participated in my informal survey, it proved to be an impossible task. They were driven to name more than one book. Others had no problem at all choosing one. Here’s a few of their picks:

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: Tinka first read the book as a teenager, then attended the movie with a friend. “We packed a lunch and took it with us because it was such a long movie,” she relates. The book will always represent a special memory of those years, she adds.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Lorraine chose this classic because she “reread this two years ago and was so impressed on so many levels---narrated by a child who sees the world through innocent eyes and Atticus Finch who bravely challenges the social prejudices of the times.”

Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver: Ginger had a hard time narrowing her choices down to one, however, this was the first book she mentioned. She explains, “This book caused me to question so many things I’d ‘assumed’ about the world around us, forcing me to realize I’m pretty ‘democracy centric’ and yet there is a whole world beyond what I’m accustomed to in terms of ideals---that our way is not the only way.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: Megan chose this book without wavering because while reading the novel, she felt a sense of belonging, almost as if she was in their world.  “What I love most was how Louisa May Alcott portrayed the character Jo.  Jo was strong, driven, stubborn, and she refused to accept gender stereotypes and conform to society's expectation of women.  Jo pursued her interests and dreams and allowed no one come in between them, even though they were frowned upon. I have always admired Jo, and even used her name when I played ‘make-believe’ as a child.”

The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy: Fellow writer, Iris, chose this book because she appreciates the author’s passion and his gift of language. “You can pick up the book, turn to any page, and enjoy his descriptions of characters, places and events without even knowing the plot of the story. I’ve read this novel more than once and have always found something new to make the reading worthwhile.”

The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper: Bill read the book as a young boy and the vivid tale fueled his imagination of that time in history. “I’ll always remember reading this book and how I could see the characters---Chingachgook and Hawkeye. I could visualize living as Hawkeye did in the woods.”

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith: This is my pick. Recently, it was a selection for my readers group. I hesitated at first, not sure if I wanted to read it again because I feared it wouldn’t resonate as it did when I first read it as a teenager. My second reading experience was even richer and I found my life experience enhanced my understanding of the book and the metaphor that the title exemplifies.

Can you name a sole favorite book? A book that stands out from all the others you’ve read? Try it. There’s something about singling out one book from all the others. Not an easy task, for sure, but one that is worth the effort.

And next year, consider finding a way to celebrate World Book Night and the great book giveaway.

Happy Reading!

Revisiting a Classic

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.  ~Italo Calvino, The Literature Machine

What truly makes a classic a classic? For me, it's a book that I can still relate to, one that still holds relevance, and as Calvino says so well, still has something to say. A year or so ago, we chose "The House of the Seven Gables" for our St. Francis book group. After reading it, we all agreed it hadn't stood the test of time—at least for us.

So, when another book group here in Florida (our respite from the cold Island winter) chose "The Scarlet Letter," it was with much trepidation that I began to read another Hawthorne book, this one his first, published in 1850.

Still, I reminded myself one of the great gifts of belonging to a book group is reading or re-reading a book that we would not otherwise choose on our own. Those of us who are inveterate book group members feel compelled to read the chosen selection no matter how painful the process. And for me, the pressure was greater because I volunteered to co-lead the discussion of "The Scarlet Letter."

In my second reading of Hawthorne's classic, I discovered the following:

Modern day reading has changed my reading experience expectations.

At first, I fretted over the slow movement of the book, the long passages, and antiquated language, wishing he would just get to the point! I can only liken it to the experience of watching some of my favorite old movies that, when revisited, move much too slowly for me. I realize that I've bought into the world of instant gratification. Newer novels, even good ones, "feed" us faster.


Getting the most from a classic requires slower and more attentive reading.

When I forced myself to read more carefully and thoughtfully, I found great beauty in much of Hawthorne's text. Consider these lines, "…the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence, too." 

Life experience affects my view much more than I realized.

The premise choosing this book was to see how reading this book later in life might differ from our high school experience. Several members of the group spoke about how their first reading focused entirely on Hester Prynne and how her name remained imprinted in their memories yet they didn't remember any of the other characters. For me, I had a greater appreciation for her strength as a character. As a teenager, I mainly saw her as a victim and felt the injustice inflicted upon her. I realized my view of women in general has changed greatly since the '50's. Clifton Fadiman says it well in his quote, "When you re-read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before.  You see more in you than there was before." 

Classics withstand the test of time because the themes expressed are universal and timeless.

While no one is overtly placed in a pillory or made to stand with a sign signifying their shame, we still do expect public shaming to take place. Perhaps the Puritans were more honest in doing it as openly as they did. Consider how we expect our celebrities to publicly expose their personal extramarital affairs, demand details, and expect an apology. Or the shame teens heap on one another with pictures and comments on Facebook. We call it bullying and it is, but it's also public shaming and shunning. Presented more graphically and in modern language, adultery, pride, gender issues, and forbidden love still sell books!


The use of symbolism and irony have an ageless quality that continues to resonate with readers.

Did Hawthorne choose Pearl as Hester's daughters name to draw a parallel to the sacrifice an oyster undertakes to make a pearl? Consider his masterful use of irony as manifested how the ambiguity of sin was expressed in the loveliness of the embroidered "A", or how she chose to remain in the village and continue to wear the letter long after her transgression was forgotten.

There's a Chinese saying, "To read a book for the first time is to make an acquaintance with a new friend; to read it for a second time is to meet an old one."

Here are ten other classics I'd recommend:

1. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee

2. East of Eden by John Steinbeck

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

4. Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

5. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

6. Moby Dick by Herman Melville

7. 1984 by George Orwell

8. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

9. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

10. All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren

These are my top ten, but you can view more at Top 100 Best Novels Of All Time http://wealthwisdomandsuccess.com/.

Whether you read these books with a book group or on your own, they're worth a second look! Take a trip to a favorite place and revisit a classic. You'll learn things about life and yourself you've forgotten or never quite realized you knew.

Let me know which are your favorite classics!

Embrace a classic, and remember, "Books let us into their souls and lay open to us the secrets of our own."  William Hazlitt

Every Cliché has a Silver Lining

After several months away in sunny Florida, I looked at my office with fresh eyes and decided to sort through my bookcase. Deciding which books to donate and which to keep is always a hard choice for me. Books are for me what shoes are to my eldest daughter. Still, I vowed, this time, I would be ruthless. I grabbed a paperback entitled, "The Dictionary of Cliches, Over 2,000 entries," off the top shelf. Easy, I thought, this is one easy choice since not using clichés has always been emphasized in writing courses, writers' magazines and my writers' groups. As writers, we're challenged, instead, to new ways of saying things rather than lazily using clichés.

Still, I was curious. After all, the author, James Rogers, had found clichés noteworthy enough to collect and publish them in dictionary form. I opened the book. Generally, Rogers agreed, clichés are fairly considered overworked and banal ways of expression. But, he asserts, "clichés can serve as the lubricant of language: summing up a point or a situation, easing a transition in thought, adding a seasoning of humor to a discourse."
I continued to read and quickly became immersed in the whole concept of what makes a cliché a cliché, where they originated, and how, if used wisely, they might actually enhance my writing. Here's some of what I learned.

What is a cliché? A cliché is language that's lost its originality, been overused over time, or a new phrase that's been repeated too often. All we have to do is watch the news and hear phrases like "connect the dots," or "at the end of the day," to know it isn't not only old phrases like "butter wouldn't melt in her mouth" (first coined in 1546) or "footloose and fancy free" (first uttered by Will Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night's Dream) that qualify as worn-out expressions.

Origin of clichés. When I began reading the entries, I couldn't stop. Many, I found, were Biblical in nature ("Makes your hair stand on end, Job 4:13-14), while others were from great literature and poetry ("A horse of a different color," Twelfth Night – Shakespeare, once again). Here's a sampling of where some others began.
A-OK: Coined by a NASA official in 1961 to indicate that the mission was going well.
Between you and me and the lamppost: The first recorded use was by Charles Dickens (Nicholas Nickleby,1839). 
Cried all the way to the bank: Liberace used this phrase in his 1973 autobiography.
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth: A Latin version of this expression appeared in a work by St. Jerome in A.D. 420.
Throw the baby out with the bath water: Used more than once by George Bernard Shaw. One example was in 1909 (Pen Portraits and Reviews).

When to use clichés. Like Rogers, I believe there are instances where clichés are appropriate and can actually help move your story forward or help catch the reader's attention.

As titles. Consider the cliché "time to kill." John Grisham put that cliché to good use in his book, A Time to Kill. or, "saving grace," as evidenced by Julie Garwood's bestseller, Saving Grace, as well as, Burden of Proof (Scott Turow) and Stone Cold and True Blue, both by David Baldacci, one of my personal favorite mystery writers.

As a title with a twist. The title of this blog, for example, uses a cliché with a twist by substituting "cloud" with the word "cliché." This works especially well, I think, in an opinion humor piece. A title can also be twisted by substituting a synonym for one of the words in a cliché. Something like "Beyond the pail," or "make head or tale of it," or "the American weigh." I haven't written any of these articles, but I can picture the first as a woman with morning sickness, a compulsive liar as the second, or a look at obesity in the third, a really heavy (excuse the pun, please) topic right now. Another example is Jodi Picoult's book, "My Sister's Keeper," altered from the original cliché, "my brother's keeper."

As a way to make a point with as few words as possible. The columnist, George Will, for example, wrote an article in which he said the Chicago Cubs fans support their team "through thin and thin." In fiction, a term like "Trojan horse" can encompass an entire concept that could require several paragraphs to explain that could distract from the main fiber of the story.

As a tool to show minor characters without a lot of verbiage. Letting a minor character use some clichés can help develop a personality without a lot of description.

As a marker of a particular era. Allowing a minor character to use a phrase like "the cat's meow," helps the reader to visualize the 1920's.

Caution: It takes some skill to know "when to hold them and when to fold them," clichés, that is. For example, while they can help "flesh out" minor characters, allowing main characters to do the same creates a stereotypical, flat character, so avoid that "like the plague." So, "when in doubt, leave them out," or run them by your writers' group. For now, I'm going to put my cliché dictionary back on the shelf. It's earned a spot in my reference library.