There are some reviewers who have their finger placed perfectly on the pulse of new releases. They know in January what July’s bestseller will be, and they are busy composing their 2012 sneak preview lists right now.
I am not one of those reviewers. For a variety of reasons, none of which matter enough to mention, I rarely pay attention to books before they are released. I know, I know; strip my of my reviewing credentials right now. But I believe there are plenty of books already out there that I am missing out on that deserve my attention; I can’t go around dreaming of “hypothetical” books!
When I first began reviewing, I read mostly classics. But as I began blogging more, my focus shifted to “buzzed-about” books, mostly because so many of the book bloggers I was discovering highly recommended them. The more new releases I read, the more I discovered new authors and titles. But, as much as I’ve loved getting into new releases, I’m beginning to feel as though I have veered a little off course. I read books because they appeal to me, not because everyone is talking about them, and I don’t want to forget that.
So for my Best of 2012 Preview list, I’m looking to my own bookshelves for some unread but tried-and-true classics–books that are firmly embedded in the American literary tradition, but that I haven’t read yet. Many of these are books that will count toward my Bookshelf ROWDOWN challenge. This is a short list compared to the one in my head–there are so many I wish I could read!
10. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
9. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
8. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
7. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
6. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
5. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
4. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
3. Walden by Henry David Thoreau
2. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
1. A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
For more contemporary classics, you might also want to check out my top ten books to read.
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created by The Broke and the Bookish. Each Tuesday, bloggers create top ten lists about reading, writing, blogging, and more!
Categories: Book Lists, On Writing
Melody Schreiber 
Yes, more classics, I say! I read Moveable Feast last year and LOVED it. Sense and Sensibility was good too. I’m interested in The Bell Jar and Madame Bovary for this year, and perhaps Bleak House. But the jury is still out on that one.
Great list!
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I would love to read A Moveable Feast this year. Moby Dick is one of my favorites, but not everyone is a fan. I hope you like it.
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I want to read more classics this year, too, and Sense & Sensibility is also on my list. Hopefully we can both get to it in 2012!
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