December 12: Book for Next Year

Well, it's time for me to start thinking about next year's book.

If you have been reading Saint Marty for any length of time, you know that, for the past two years, I have picked a novel and written about it for 365 days, starting on January 1.  Two years ago, it was Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which was a lovely stroll down a happy street.  This year, it was The Catcher in the Rye, which has been a long hike down a mountain path on a moonless night.

I have two books in mind for next year.  This year, the magazine Entertainment Weekly published a list of the top 100 novels of all time.  In the top ten were Willa Cather's My Antonia, a book I first read as a high school sophomore, and E. B. White's Charlotte's Web, which I first read when I was seven or eight years old.  I love both of these novels.  They remind me of my childhood, of really happy times.  I don't need another Catcher next year.  I need something more uplifting.

I'm torn.  I love both Cather's book and White's, and I can't make up my mind.  I'm leaning toward Charlotte's Web, because it's such a simple story of love and friendship.  My memory of the story of My Antonia is a little fuzzier.  I recall it's a love story set on the prairie.  A young boy falls in love with an immigrant girl.  That's all I got.

What do you think?  Which one should I pick?

Drop Saint Marty a comment and let me know your thoughts.

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