Who should you read?

Margaret Atwood

Is there a writer you haven't read - never got round to but want to or a writer you think you should read but don't actually want to?  In the first category I'd say Margaret Atwood, though yesterday I was at the library and have borrowed a book of her poetry which I am really enjoying. She reminds me a little of Carol Ann Duffy in her writing.  Perhaps I should now read some of her fiction.  In the second category I'd say there are a lot of classics I haven't read, though in the last few years I have ventured into a few but I am not sure I am ready to tackle War & Peace yet!  Why is it that we feel we should read a classics?  Will it educate us?  What is missing from our lives if we don't read it?  Who says it's a classic? And is it a snob factor to say you have read it !?  Mm...something to ponder.

While I was at the library I also borrowed Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis by Wendy Cope whose poetry always cheers me up and as the library had a 'borrow two for the price of one' on DVD's I took out This Is It (Michael Jackson) and The Young Victoria - a bargain at £1.50 the pair!