{"id":14250,"date":"2015-02-19T04:42:24","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T04:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/hi-nypl-i-am-looking-to-beef-up-my-reading-resume\/"},"modified":"2015-02-19T04:42:24","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T04:42:24","slug":"hi-nypl-i-am-looking-to-beef-up-my-reading-resume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/hi-nypl-i-am-looking-to-beef-up-my-reading-resume\/","title":{"rendered":"Hi NYPL! I am looking to beef up my reading resume with some “classics.” Only, time is precious and I don’t want to be bored out of my skull. What “classics” do you think a 21st century person can really dig into? (Interpret the phrase “classic” how you wish). Thank you NYPL!"},"content":{"rendered":"

nypl<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\"image\"<\/p>\n

Italo Calvino published a collection of essays entitled\u00a0Why We Read the Classics<\/a><\/em>\u00a0in which he makes 14 points and then talks about them. There are many places that show his list of the 14 reasons why and while they are good and make enough sense, I think his justifications below them really enrich what he is trying to get at, and shows that for him classics are not static but ever changing and blossoming artifacts, ideas that we relate to individually as well as on the whole. There are books held in canons that are of great worth, and yet we might have our ideas of classic literature in our own sense.\u00a0\u2014Ian Baran, Yorkville Library<\/em><\/p>\n

Focusing on the \u201ctime is precious\u201d directive, I\u2019ll limit my \u201cclassic\u201d suggestions to short stories.\u00a0 A collection of short stories is perfect for the time-sensitive reader because if you don\u2019t like one story, you can stop and go on to the next one. So, the titles I would recommend are:\u00a0A Good Man Is Hard To Find<\/a><\/em>\u00a0by Flannery O\u2019Connor.\u00a0 O\u2019Connor overlays her stark, savage morality tales with a veneer of incisive wit.\u00a0 Included in this collection is probably her best story, \u201cGood Country People.\u201d\u00a0Nine Stories<\/a>\u00a0by J.D. Salinger. \u00a0 In which Salinger introduces his beloved Glass family who you will either love or hate – but certainly not forget.\u00a0 The collection also includes \u201cThe Laughing Man\u201d, which is one of the most heart-breaking stories I have ever read.\u00a0Metamorphosis and Other Stories<\/a>\u00a0by Franz Kafka. \u00a0 I know that this was already recommended by Alison, but this past year I read Michael Hofmann\u2019s translation of Kafka\u2019s most well-known stories and I had forgotten how powerful they are.\u00a0 Perhaps no other writer has influenced modern literature more than Kafka, and yet his body of work remains inimitable, and the genius of his stories unsurpassed.\u00a0\u2014Wayne Roylance, Selection Team<\/em><\/p>\n

I am going to throw in a short story collection as well\u2014Dubliners<\/a><\/em>\u00a0\u00a0by James Joyce. A taste of Joyce, before diving into a five-course meal like\u00a0Ulysses<\/em>.\u00a0\u2014Lynn Lobash, Readers Services<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more.<\/a>..<\/em><\/p>\n

Want some help finding your next read? Ask us<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

nypl: Italo Calvino published a collection of essays entitled\u00a0Why We Read the Classics\u00a0in which he makes 14 points and then talks about them. There are many places that show his list of the 14 reasons why and while they are good and make enough sense, I think his justifications below them really enrich what he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-words"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PWot-3HQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}