The Tower of Classics

I worked hard at cleaning my bathroom Friday night. I have ceramic tile floors in all the bathrooms (3 of them) and in my kitchen and dining room. I was determined to clean the grout, particularly in my bathroom. It was a successful job, and with a little extra elbow grease, my floor looked brand spankin' new!

One of the things I removed from my bathroom was a wicker chest that was filled with magazines. I decided to move it into my bedroom, but it would instead house all my scarves. The only place I could find for it was between my two towers; my Eiffel Tower and my Tower of Classics. (As you can see in the picture, the wicker basket is stuffed full!)





Tower of Classics??? It's a tower with some of the best classic literature ever written. All of them are nice hardbound books that Kevin's grandmother sent home with us after one of our visits.

As I was "stuffing" my basket, I looked over at my Tower of Classics and thought to myself, "There sure is alot of wonderful reading material there." I ran my fingers across the spines of the books, thinking about how much I love to read. I look at the picture now and think of how many hours were devoted to these monumental tasks that now serve as entertainment for others.

I thought about Moby Dick and Jane Eyre. You don't just read those books casually. They are consuming. And Pride and Prejudice, one of my favorites, is such a lovely story. Then there's Tess of the D'Urbevilles....pure tragedy. Of course, the only Thomas Hardy story I have found thus far that isn't travesty laden is Underneath the Greenwood Tree. And then there's the Sherlock Holmes Collections...one of my favorite fictional characters. I became a big fan of Arthur Conan Doyle just a few years ago. I'll tell you now, the new writers trying to resurrect Sherlock Holmes simply do not portray the Holmes that Doyle made famous. I guess you could say I'm a Holmes purist. But as I looked at all those beautifully bound books, I realized that those classics are in a league of their own. Modern reading material just doesn't compare.

For a fleeting moment, I thought, "I should read every single book on this tower." Needless to say, I quicky saw it as an undertaking that would take more time than I could devote. My time is already limited, and with Sunday School lessons, home school lessons, and everything in between, it would take me 10 years or more to read them all.

I have to laugh at myself when I have these whimsical thoughts....me stretched out on the bed reading classic literature, picturesquely having nothing else to do...all the house work done, all lessons done. Lala land.

Then I am reminded of the Mitford Series by Jan Karon I've been trying to read for over six months. I'm still on the first novel, somewhere around chapter 3. Making great strides, huh?

Even though I love to read, sometimes luxury reading has to wait. When things slow down a bit, I may give it a go. My books will be there when I finally have the time to read them. Best of all, they will still be classic.