My Great American Read

When PBS announced the Great American Read, I was excited to see PBS uncover literature in American and let the country decide what the nation’s favorite book is. Based upon a survey, they broke down America’s top 100 books and are narrowing it down to one. The show, as hosted by Meredith Vieira, started on May 22, with a two-hour kickoff episode introducing the books. This will be followed with five themed episodes and a finale in the fall to announce the results of the voting. I streamed the episode the day after it aired, and decide to live tweet the process. Anyways, because of my live-tweeting and the general position I hold as I walk through life as a bookish person, I have thoughts on this list and what PBS is trying to accomplish. So, I’m going to hit it with some list analysis.

Let’s Talk Time!

I finally read A Wrinkle in Time after I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago. Confession time: I couldn’t finish it in middle school and was highly disillusioned about it, I don’t think I would have picked this book up again if it weren’t for the masterfully done movie adaptation starring Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindi Kaling. That being said, I know exactly why I didn’t like this book at 12, I lack the patience I do now (not that I’m super patient) and I was being made to read it by a teacher and sometimes I bucked authority. Even now Madeline L’Engle’s writing style doesn’t work the best for me; that being said, I appreciated this book for what it does with a female main character and science fiction, and even more so I appreciate the movie for how it accomplishes the same things as the book with a phenomenal set of diverse characters. After having watched the book and read the movie I want to chat about the adaptation and my thoughts about the changes that were and weren’t made and the effects of the adaptation! THAT BEING SAID: SPOILERS WILL ABOUND IN THIS POST SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION