by Andrew Kettner
In 101 Things to Do Before You Die, Richard Horne writes that you can, “Catch a Fish with your bare hands:(#4),” “Visit every country (#36),” “See an erupting volcano (# 27),” “Read the greatest books ever written (# 52).” For those of us who could be lost by all of life’s possibilities, Horne’s book offers a cure. He gives the average “Joe” a map to an extraordinary life full of action, romance, and suspenseful movie highlights.
As I began to check off the various pages and goals, “#52, Read the greatest books ever written” puzzled me. I wondered how reading books, some of which were published over one hundred years ago, could be as thrilling as, “Complet[ing] a coast to coast road trip across America (#53).
Pleasure reading, seemed a tease when compared with the instant gratification awarded by popular shows such as Discovery Channel’s “World’s Deadliest Catch” or the occasional Pay Per View “UFC fight.” Reading, however, does contain numerous risks. For instance, a particular book might not amount to anything significant in my life while another, such as Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (listed in goal #65), could (and does) monopolize all my time.
How can one distinguish between good books and bad books, or between the useful and the worthless? Thankfully authors, critics, even generals, show the unknowing masses exactly what should be read, in a nifty marketable entity—a booklist.
In the Marine Corps, the Commandant puts out the famed “Commandant Reading List.” My mother reads from a list offered by the Doubleday Book Club and the New York Times marks its best sellers as a way of directing what any reasonable person should enjoy.
Book lists and those read in a book club might even be seen as a symbol of what it means to be an American. Richard Rodriguez, in his best-selling autobiography Hunger of Memory, explains how he used the books on a booklist as a way to break from his Latino heritage and become a fully-realized American—someone who successfully participates in United States society.
While 101 Things to Do Before You Die does not explicitly promote as much responsibility in me as I am sure Richard Horne, the author, would expect, the book has made me certainly appreciate reading for the serious growth it can instill.
Meanwhile, goal # 70, “Invent a word that makes it into the Dictionary” has recently been a driving force in my life. Between school, the corps, and life, however, I try to make as much time for goal #52, my reading list. The books are sometimes slow going, but they do provide a greater understanding of the world around me.
Andrew Kettner is a senior majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in English.
