Friday, September 4, 2015

Books I'll Probably Never Read*



Life's too short.

Never say never.

But.


  1. The rest of Proust
  2. David Foster Wallace's oeuvre
  3. Jonathan Franzen's new novel
  4. Any future book by Donna Tartt
  5. Any book in-between the first one and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
  6. New YA books
  7. Old YA books
  8. Anything categorized as YA 
  9. The rest of Thomas Pynchon
  10. The Count of Monte Cristo
  11. The Life and Times of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Stern
  12. Manga Shakespeare
  13. Anymore Shakespeare
  14. anymore Saul Bellow






* Because I don't want to be bashing contemporary writers, this list is basically of books that I have no desire to read, have read a bit of and didn't like, I'm bored by and in the case of Proust (who's dead), I've despised. 
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8 comments:

  1. BirdieSeptember 4, 2015 at 3:21 PM

    There is one YA author that I like, Susan Juby. She also writes adult fiction. I had read several of her books before I found out she lives one town over.

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  2. Ms. MoonSeptember 4, 2015 at 4:55 PM

    Haha! I love this! Life IS just too fucking short. Those would pretty much be on my list as well, along with the two books I'm returning to the library because...life is too short.
    I do think I need to reread Louisa May Alcott soon though. Is she considered a YA author?

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  3. Radish KingSeptember 4, 2015 at 7:30 PM

    There is not enough time in the whole wide world to read a single book with which we're not completely engaged.

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    Replies
    1. BirdieSeptember 4, 2015 at 7:45 PM

      People I know pride themselves in always finishing every book they start. I am the opposite. There are way too many books, and excellent ones at that, to waste time on reading anything that I do not love.

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  4. Melissa F.September 5, 2015 at 9:25 AM

    Definitely agree with #3. After suffering through Freedom, I have no interest in reading any additional Franzen.

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  5. AnonymousSeptember 5, 2015 at 6:49 PM

    What about DFW's essays? The one on Writing and the dictionary is not to be missed. Seriously. I think you would love it.

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    Replies
    1. ElizabethSeptember 5, 2015 at 8:40 PM

      Thanks Anonymous. It's not whether "I'd love it" or not at all! It's just that whenever I've read about him or read a tiny bit that he's written, I feel tired. I can't explain it. I was the same with Don DeLillo -- sort of a mental block. I did finally read "Falling Man" and loved it, so I went on to "White Noise," but that was it for DeLillo.

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  6. Steve ReedSeptember 6, 2015 at 11:01 PM

    Ha! I would add "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded," by Samuel Richardson, which we have in our library and which comes in TWO VOLUMES. (Kind of like Proust.) No thank you. Richardson's novel "Clarissa" is even longer. That guy needed an editor.

    I actually like Franzen's books quite a bit, and I like Donna Tartt. I've read everything by her so far. (There are only three books, as far as I know.) I read "Underworld" by Don DeLillo years ago, and I don't remember a thing about it. I've never tried Wallace's "Infinite Jest" because, again, it just looks too goddamn long -- but I do love his essays.

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