My friend John Wiswell came up with the idea, some years ago, of making March 'National Novel Reading Month'. You pick a novel that's been on your shelf a long time, or some classic that you've always meant to get around to, and set yourself the task of reading it by the end of March.
Usually I pick older novels and always authors I'm unfamiliar with for this task. Unfortunately the oldest novel on my shelf, currently, is from 1900, so I can't pick any 19th-century works. That novel, however, did help me make my decision.
I've never read anything by Theodore Dreiser, who, at one point, was considered a major force in American literature. And I feel bad that I'm never in the mood to read his old works - two of which are on my unread shelf. (There's only one other author who has two unread books on that shelf, and that's Thomas Mann, but I'll get to him later this year, I'm sure.) The 1900 novel is by him - Sister Carrie - which made me decide to finally give him a go.
As such, I'm going to read the later Dreiser novel, An American Tragedy, from 1925, as it's considered better by most, and more of a 'classic'. It's also 814 pages in my edition, so. Yeah. Wish me luck.
Usually I pick older novels and always authors I'm unfamiliar with for this task. Unfortunately the oldest novel on my shelf, currently, is from 1900, so I can't pick any 19th-century works. That novel, however, did help me make my decision.
I've never read anything by Theodore Dreiser, who, at one point, was considered a major force in American literature. And I feel bad that I'm never in the mood to read his old works - two of which are on my unread shelf. (There's only one other author who has two unread books on that shelf, and that's Thomas Mann, but I'll get to him later this year, I'm sure.) The 1900 novel is by him - Sister Carrie - which made me decide to finally give him a go.
As such, I'm going to read the later Dreiser novel, An American Tragedy, from 1925, as it's considered better by most, and more of a 'classic'. It's also 814 pages in my edition, so. Yeah. Wish me luck.
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