The MSC Classic Books Group
is...
The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane
I've been reading since I was 3 years old. When I was very small my parents had no money, and we didn't have a television. So...my brother and I had to turn to books, music, and imagination for our entertainment. My very first "real" books were those from the Laura Ingalls Wilder Series. Then I got into Caddie Woodlawn, Pippi Longstocking, Louisa May Alcott, The Black Stallion series, and Frances Hodgson Burnett's stories. Those precious books started my love affair with reading and, to this day, I'm always happiest when I've got a good book to read.
Last year I made a list of "Books that I simply must read before I die." There are more than 200 books on it, and they are all "classics." Now I'm the kind of person who thinks that Stephen King is a classic author, but we'll talk about that more later. The books I'm talking about are the ones we were "forced" to read in high school but never took the time to enjoy. You see, I came to realize that I didn't want to die having never really read Shakespeare or Dickens or Faulkner. I figured that these "boring" books had to be pretty good or else they wouldn't praised the way they are.
The first book on my list was Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. I read it in school - sort of - but I never appreciated it. I think that most of us lose something in a book when it's pushed on us. When we know that we have to read it, it just loses that magic. Boy, was I surprised with this book. I mean, I couldn't put it down! It was a great story. So...I figured I would just sit back and start over with all of the "boring" books. I read Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby, and Moby Dick. They were all just mesmerizing. I'm serious, y'all. In fact, I have been so impressed by this new revelation of mine that "literature is good," that I really want to share it with other people.
So...If you're at all interested in joining me on this enlightening and inspirational adventure, just read along with me. Each month, I will post the classic book that we'll be reading - just like a book discussion group. If there are enough interested people, I will devote a weekly chat session to discussing that month's book. I will also take any suggestions for upcoming MSC Classic Books Group selections. Let me know what you think.
aspen74@earthlink.net
GRAPHICS ON THIS PAGE
I'm thrilled to have found this set because I am a faery fanatic, and Amy Brown's faeries have been by far my favorites. Below are two links. Dani's Delusions is a very large site, so the first link is for the specific page on which she keeps the Amy Brown sets (occasionally when Dani updates, this link does NOT work, but it's worth a try so that you don't have to hunt through the whole site). The second link will take you to Amy Brown's personal galleries.
The background, header, dividers and bullets that you see on this page were found at Dani's site.
The home button and the little girl who accompanies my email were taken from Lady DJ's site.
Links to both of these graphics sites are available on the "Where Did I Get My Graphics?" page.
Any image that appears on this page that is not listed with its source above was acquired in one of the following three ways: The image may have been given to me by the artist for exclusive use on this site. The image may have been pulled from a reputable public domain graphics engine such as ArribaVista.com. The image also could have been taken directly from the image directories at my host, Angelfire. There are several images throughout this site that were acquired by one of these three methods. Because I believe strongly in making sure that all of the artwork appearing on this site is appropriately used and credited, please feel free to send any inquiries, comments, concerns, or requests regarding the images on this site directly to me via email.
Semper fidelis et semper gratus,
Amy L.
Creator – The US Military Wives Club
https://www.angelfire.com/co/militarywives/