I am absurdly proud of my column this month, in that kind of way that is surprised by how good it came out. This is one of those columns that evolved organically on its own, as one book after another appeared in different ways and all of a sudden I noticed a theme in the stacks that had not existed before. I am constantly evolving themes as I can - splitting adventure into thrillers and mystery, moving a mystery into October Country as it seems scarier than expected (The Unresolved fits this category), deciding a group of books from multiple categories actually fit best as historic fiction and on and on. This time I found myself with several books that all had a tie in one way or another to my English classes in high school. They were books I wish I had read back then as they explain so much more than the books I had to read. I'm a big proponent of easing readers into the classics with modern books that will pique their interest. I still remember how very much I hated Romeo and Juliet and yet after reading the delightful YA novel Romeo's Ex last year I couldn't help but think how it does an excellent job of making you curious about the original work. Same goes for Ophelia and Hamlet and for all the books I included this month.

What I ended up with was Wildly Romantic on a slew of the English poets, Your Own, Sylvia on Sylvia Plath (who I never studied ever in a single lit class), Leonardo's Shadow on Leonardo da Vinci (I know he was a stretch but really, we ought to be studying da Vinci at some point don't you think?), Song of the Sparrow on King Arthur and the Lady of Shalott, Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal (an outstanding picture book that looks at how the Cinderella fairy tale has transcended nearly every civilization on the planet - very cool), Cassandra's Sister (an excellent fictional biography of Jane Austen that actually made me want to read her books for the very first time) and Tam Lin, one of my all time favorite fantasy novels about a lot of Shakespeare, some scary bits of the faerie world and what it is like to go to college. I adore this book and believe everyone should read it.

It is strange for me to look back on my English classes with such annoyance and even loathing. I should have loved every single minute of them but that is not what happened. It is damn near impossible to read Chaucer and have a clue when you are 16 (it's hard at 38) and so much of our discussions on Shakespeare and Bryon and Shelley were about getting to the meaning of what they wrote - when really none of us had a clue (and really - if we don't know for sure who William was then how the hell can we really know his motivations?). There was a lot of memorizing for the AP exams and a lot of skipping the authors that weren't considered important enough. So no women, no minorities, no modern writers. We never got past Hemingway and Fitzgerald and even then we only dabbled (and we never talked about their real lives which would have been fascinating).

What I wanted to do was just read and talk about what we read and not be so bent on finding the answers to questions I didn't even have. (Poor Gatsby and the damn green light again!) I don't know why literature and poetry have to be taught in such a regimental manner in school; they are not math or chemistry and should not be treated as such. And I really and truly believe it is okay to say that the classics are tough to read and relate to. If throwing modern books into the mix can get people to read the classics then I don't see the harm; in fact I see a lot of good.

It should be about the reading in the end, don't you think? At least that is always what I wanted it to be about.

I also have reviews of Cara Black's two latest Aimee Leduc mysteries and First in Space from Oni Press (which I've already posted some love about here.) I wanted to review Laika as well but someone else was assigned it at Bookslut so I had to drop it. I hope they love it like I did because it deserves all the love and respect in the world.

I'm tired tonight. I still have some reviewing to do but dearly want to get back to writing the book. I just finished Jo Walton's Ha' Penny and it will keep me thinking for a long time. It is amazing and now I want to work harder at being an amazing writer too. (That one will be reviewed in the October Bookslut.)

The reviews feel like work tonight which is rare but sometimes true.

{Covers are from the TPB edition of Tam Lin and the original hardcover.]