The Year Is Dying, In the Night

My Dear Reader,

The year 2013 it at an end! This is the last day of it! Man, what a year this has been.

And really, considering it bears the dreaded thirteen, the year has not been so disastrous as it could have been. I mean, it's been a little disastrous, but fire and brimstone has yet to rain down on us, so I'm pleasantly surprised.

I find that it's the time between Christmas and New Year's that we reflect on the previous twelve months and all that we've accomplished in that time. In January, I made a lot of resolutions, because I had a strong desire to use this year to make myself a better person.

And I didn't accomplish all of them. But my big resolution? Reading 10 Classics is 2013? That beast has been conquered, my friend!

In fact, I might have read thirteen classics in 2013. Depending on what you see as a classic, I mean. Some of them were short. But one of them was Atlas Shrugged, which is probably the longest book I've ever read. And I read fantasy books on occasion.

I am a person who has read Atlas Shrugged. I feel like I earned a title. I feel like I should now be introduced as Cecily, Who Has Actually Read Atlas Shrugged. (That has a nice ring to it.) It wasn't that bad of a book, either. I didn't agree with everything, but I agreed with some things. It's one of those life-changing experiences.

But then, every classic I read is something of a life-changing experience. I think that's why they're classics. Some of them are hard to get through. But I think that there are certain stories that last because they have this special power to change you. There are some books that have changed the world.

And that's what I look for when I'm reading a book. I want to go into someone else's world and see through their eyes, and then come out and see my own world through a new perspective. I want to find truth and meaning. And that's something I found this year.

So, I'm going to do it again next year. I'm going to go for twelve books this time; one for every month. And I will occasionally blog about these books. I'm going to start out with Jane Eyre and Emma, two stories that I have seen multiple times (in movie form), but that I have never read. And like last year, I'm also going to read at least one book that intimidated me because of its length. It's either going to be Anna Karenina or War and Peace. But it might be both. We'll see.

But you know what, Gentle Reader? I'd like to invite you to do it with me. You don't have to read the same books that I read, or the amount of books that I read, but I'd like to challenge you to pick up a classic or two and see what it can teach you. You might find yourself on a grand adventure.

And everyone could use a grand adventure. Or two.

In the mean time, I'll be reading twelve classics in 2014. Wish me luck!

Regards, best wishes, and thrilling tales,

-Cecily Jane, Who Has Actually Read Atlas Shrugged