Corner View: Favorite Fiction

I had the privilege of choosing the topic for corner view

this week.

So, even though I'm literally barely awake

because of only  four-hours of sleep,

I will get this post done before I head off to school.

My all-time favorite classic novel is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

I taught it one year as evidenced by the next picture.

I told my Advanced English IV class that they didn't have to like it;

they just couldn't complain about it to me.

It took awhile for some of them to 'get into it'

and to actually understand the plot;

however, once they did. most ended up liking it.

They then had to choose a novel from my list of classics, read it,

and do a project on it.

"An Eye-Opener Assignment and Expansion of their Literature World"

The story behind me first reading this book:

The brother who is six-years-older than I am,

extremely irritated Mrs. K.--one of our eccentric English teachers.

She thought Catcher in the Rye should be banned--REALLY.

For D, that was a direct challenge.

He just had to read that book and of course bring it to school.

She couldn't do anything about it,

because our board didn't believe in censorship of books.

Oh she was livid! 

And thus he paved the way for me to be disliked by her.

I knew she had a grudge against me before the first day was over--

she just had to tell me the story of my brother and THE BOOK.

"My goose was cooked." (as the expression goes)

So when she told us we would have to choose

from the rows of books in her room,

and that the students who read the thick books

would get extra credit,

I sighed.

I knew from which rows I would be choosing.

While my friends walked around with skinny novels,

I carried a heavy, thick classic.

But something magical occurred:

I fell in love with the classics.

My life opened up into an incredible world

where I could escape

into luscious words and images.

Mrs. K. ended up 'loving' me--

"I wasn't anything like that horrid brother of mine."

(Oh D, you became folk lore!)

I ended up loving the classics

and have never fallen out of love.

The first one to make a huge impression was

Wuthering Heights.

I was fascinated by the Yorkshire moors

and the intense relationships.

The 'doomed' love affair between Cathy and Heathcliff

enthralled me.

[I liked 'the boys who weren't suitable for me' (mom's words) after that book

and created angst for my mother.]

I ended up an English teacher.

D, you did me a huge favor when you ticked off Mrs. K.!

An Excerpt.

I like this shot because it best shows the stormy skies

above the lovers as they meet in the moors.

There: "You now have the rest of the story." (Paul Harvey's famous line)

Join Francesca for more favorite fiction at corner view.