We all have those books we’ve put off reading for too long.
Maybe we’ve owned them, or eyed them in the library, or have just heard about
them our whole lives. Each reader is responsible for what he or she thinks is a
classic. Moby Dick and Wuthering Heights are classics to most
people, but if Ray Bradbury looms heavily over you, then you get to Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Then across March we all blog about our journeys through our classics. Does the book measure up? Are there things about it you're surprised you've never heard of? Even if you hate it (and I did, one year with Jane Austen), it's worth sharing the experience of canons.
Like the last two years, I’m asking for opinions on which
classic I should knock off my list. Because writing my own novel is taking up a
great deal of my mind and time, I’ve cut the 1,000+ page novels from the list. I
simply wouldn’t do The Infinite Jest
or Les Miserables justice this March.
This leaves me with five possible books:
1. Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations
2. Mikhail
Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita
3. John Irving's The
World According to Garp
4. Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities
5. Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita
I have only ever previously read Wolfe and Nabokov, but never these two particular great novels. Dickens is one of my great hollow spots, while The Master and Margarita is the most commonly recommended to me.
So, friends and fellow readers, which of these five do you most recommend?
Counter est. March 2, 2008
I have huge difficulties with Dickens. Too overblown for me I think. I don't know anything about The Master and Margarita. Of the others, The World According to Garp has moments of fun but I thought would have benefited from some tighter editing. Loved Bonfire of the Vanities and read Lolita when I was probably too young. I suspect it would be a different book for me if I was to reread it.
ReplyDeleteThere is probably a great non-fiction anthology to be had from people reading Lolita too young. Now I wish I could have.
DeleteI like some of Dickins' work, but not all. Tough choice.
ReplyDeleteBulgakov has been on your short list many years in a row, now.
ReplyDeleteEvery year. I'm leaning towards it.
DeleteGarp, although it won't take you the entire month to read it. Not even close.
ReplyDeleteGiven what I have going on in March, that's an attractive feature!
DeleteDo you mean "The World According to Garp"? I read that when I was about 10, when the movie came out. It was R so my parents wouldn't let me see it. Never batted an eye about reading the book though.
DeleteArgh, I started in February! Still, I'm only 20% of the way through The Count of Monte Cristo.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'll be honest, I hated The Master and Margarita.
Can you say why? For some reason I thought you had enjoyed it.
DeleteOut of that list, I'd pick 'Lolita,' but if you are interested @Litchat is having a 'War and Peace' book club were you read sections of the book each month.
ReplyDeleteOf those books I've only read Dickens and I did enjoy Great Expectations. If you can't decide you can always draw straws!
ReplyDeleteTake up the challenge and read Dickens, Great Expectations is a Great Story ^_^
ReplyDeleteI have problems /don't like the rest so I'd suggest Dickens...although I haven't read him! He just rings a bell as classic!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know of this reading month...maybe I' d join!
I have problems /don't like the rest so I'd suggest Dickens...although I haven't read him! He just rings a bell as classic!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know of this reading month...maybe I' d join!
I have problems /don't like the rest so I'd suggest Dickens...although I haven't read him! He just rings a bell as classic!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know of this reading month...maybe I' d join!
I vote for Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita. It's an amazing read.
ReplyDelete