I have been so busy these past few weeks it’s unreal - I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I sure have. It’s always something around here, working late, budget town hall meetings, family functions, grocery shopping, birthday shopping, etc. However, I recently found the time to reread one of my favorite books. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by none other than Oscar Wilde.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to read this book, you need to mark it down on your proverbial “to do” list. The book is a cautionary tale of a life of vileness and dishonesty that allows for self-reflection of your own actions and impulses. Probably one of the most famous quotes from the books is “How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrid, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June. . . . If it was only the other way! If it was I who were to be always young, and the picture that were to grow old! For this--for this--I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give!” That’s basically the foundation of the book. I’m not going to spoil the story for any potential readers, but basically Dorian is able to manipulate the way he ages. Instead of his body that ages and reflects the events of his life, he has the mis/fortune of a portrait of himself that begins to exhibit the signs of aging and a life lived without regard for consequence.
I find that I enjoy rereading books that I already own. You catch so many things that you may have missed the first time around. I have read Augusten Burroughs book, Magic Thinking, no less than three times in the past three years, and every time I reread it I find a new joke, a new quip, or some other interesting or enlightening thing I missed the previous read. You should try it.
Some of my other all time favorites:
Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
Magical Thinking – Augusten Burroughs
Into the Wild – Jon Krakauer
East of Eden – John Steinbeck
Chasing Daylight – Eugene O’Kelly
Dispatches from the Edge – Anderson Cooper
Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
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