Television and film are great. We are surrounded by a sea of video that streams right into our homes and into our hearts. How many people, when they have an hour to kill, sit down and veg out to an episode of “Parks and Recreation” or watch “Inception” for the ten thousandth time? However, just because there is an overwhelming plethora of TV shows and movies to watch, it doesn’t mean we should neglect a much older form of entertainment, namely, books. I realize that today, more people are probably reading than ever. But what exactly are they reading?
For the most part, it’s either magazines or newspapers, articles on the Internet and the like. And, for a large majority of the population, most of its time spent with noses in a book is usually in something like a Grisham thriller or a Nicholas Sparks romance. There is nothing wrong with enjoying certain genres of literature, and I’m not here to scoff at the Twilight fanatics or those obsessed with Jodi Picoult. All I’m here to do is to perhaps shed light on some books some of you may not have considered and which really do deserve a glance.
These are not difficult books. This doesn’t lessen the quality of the story or the contents of the narrative and, in fact, should actually heighten the enjoyment, because there won’t be any need to whip out a thesaurus every time the word “tyro” shows up. Also, there won’t be any need to have to translate entire paragraphs of Latin (*cough* Umberto Eco *cough*). Point being, these books shouldn’t be too hard for anyone to grasp.
I know for most people, the only time they ever came in contact with the so-called “classics” of literature was during a high school English class. This is a serious problem. Just because something is old doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Sure, some of the customs, mannerisms and speech patterns may be a wee bit different (“Pride & Prejudice” by Jane Austen and “The Beautiful and the Damned” by F. Scott Fitzgerald) but isn’t that what books are for? How else could we experience times and places long past, such as the Spanish Civil War (“Homage to Catalonia” by George Orwell) or ancient Rome (“I, Claudius” by Robert Graves) The ideas contained in books is no less valuable or meaningful just because it’s all dressed up in southern belle dresses and Confederate uniforms.
And if you’re looking for that, then you could do a lot worse than Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. It’s not Shakespeare, but 10 bucks says you can’t put it down after 50 pages.
No one is asking you to read Dostoevsky here.  Really, it’s just the same fare one would find in an ordinary English class, minus all of the questions, analyzing and essay writing that seems to make reading such a drag for most people. Remember, books are meant to inform, enlighten and, above all, entertain. Reading is fun! Now let’s ditch that party and go read some Hemingway.
I’m joking. Though seriously, books are great, especially the classics. Among these books are authors who have managed to actually capture lightning in a bottle, so to speak.  There are themes and motifs that resonate from generation to generation. “A Tale of Two Cities,” or anything by Dickens, is one of my favorites. Even though you may miss some of the easy familiarity of your old books at first, remember riding a bike when you first started. The same goes for picking up Milton, Dante or Shakespeare.
I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be some tough sledding at first. But much like cracking open a particularly obnoxious nut, the payoff is only more delicious because you had to work harder to get to it.
Claire Mosley is a sophomore majoring in pre-accounting. She can be contacted at opinion@reflector.msstate.edu.