What Should I Read Next? Ep 523: Some people read the Great Books, so why not me?
Use Your Project As A Launching Door
- Treat the end of a structured reading project as a doorway, not a dead end; use the scaffolding you built to choose new reading directions.
- Cheryl plans to hang new books on that scaffold so future connections feel intentional.
Don Quixote Was Surprisingly Delightful
- Cheryl was surprised to love Don Quixote, calling it delightful, funny, and gently satirical about reading itself.
- She recalled the scene where neighbors burn Don Quixote's books as both humorous and revealing about attitudes toward literature.
Huck Finn Felt Like Someone I Knew
- Cheryl read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn beyond the assigned chapters and found Huck's honesty and growth deeply moving.
- She connected Huck to real boys she knows and highlighted Huck's evolving view of Jim as the emotional core.
After completing a classics reading project, today's guest really wants to keep her reading momentum while also bringing more non-classics back into her reading life.
Today we're trying something new and inviting a team member alongside Anne to help tackle one reader-specific reading dilemma. As you'll hear today, Anne couldn't help but notice that guest Cheryl Drury's tastes and recent reading project shares a lot in common with team member Ginger Horton's reading life.
Ginger is our Modern Mrs Darcy Book Club community manager, and she has recently been immersed in the classics due to her current enrollment in a Great Books graduate study program. That's why Ginger seems like exactly the right reader to bring along for this conversation with Cheryl.
Cheryl hails from Charleston, South Carolina. While she's always been a reader, she'd never really dabbled much in classics or Great Books until 18 months ago, when she embarked on a challenge to read through a year-long list of more than 100 influential books. The project energized Cheryl's reading life, but now she's not quite sure where to go next.
Anne, Ginger, and Cheryl talk about how Cheryl may retain some of the structure from her classics project as well as where she can have more flexibility to follow where her reading whimsy takes her. Plus, they'll offer title ideas that may feel like just the right bridge between what Cheryl's been reading lately and what she'd love more of in the months ahead.
Find the list of titles discussed today and share your ideas for Cheryl on our show notes page, at whatshouldireadnextpodcast.com/523.
This year marks our 10th anniversary of Book Club. It has been so much fun along the way, and we've got great events queued up to celebrate this year. Plus, this is a wonderful time to join because it's Summer Reading Guide season. For more from Ginger and more Book Club fun, join us at modernmrsdarcy.com/club.
Chapters:
07:43 Meet Cheryl
12:10 Cheryl’s decision to read the classics
21:08 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
23:38 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
26:15 A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
30:05 Dead Wake by Erik Larson
46:34 1000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich
51:42 Q's Legacy by Helene Hanff
54:15 Hagseed by Margaret Atwood
55:52 What will Cheryl read next?
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