First of all, I hate you all. So many amazing recommendations - how's a guy to choose?
Well, I did my best to research all the books on the list. The bad news is the following books may have to be disqualified since they weren't available in the Montgomery COunty Public Library System (which is a pretty good indication that they're not readily available):
Rides of the Midway
by Lee Durkey
Jaran
by Kate Elliot
And there was only 1 copy of
Available Light
by Ellen Currie in my entire library system which probably means it's hard to get as well.
If other people have an easier time locating the above books, then by all means keep them on the list and I'll find some way to get them if I can.
The good news is, although I don't think there's a single book on the rec list that I wouldn't enjoy reading if assigned, I'm leaning towards a few in particular. What I'd appreciate is some sense from the group which one sounds like a great
starter
book for this club.
An American Tragedy
by Theodore Dreiser
The Intuitionist
by Colson Whitehead
House of Sleep
by Jonathan Coe
The Warden
by Anthony Trollope
(And I realize that somehow hayden and Fred Pete voodooed with my brain.)
Not having read the Whitehead and the Coe, I'll compare the other 2.
The Trollope is a lot shorter. As in, ~250-300 pages vs. ~875 for the Dreiser. So, a lot less daunting task.
The Dreiser, OTOH, is more likely to be accessible to this audience. The Trollope assumes a working knowledge of 1850s England, including CofE politics -- not that Trollope is a particularly Difficult author, just that he was a writer of his times, and the times have decidedly changed. Dreiser also assumes a working knowledge of his era, but 1920s America is a little closer to current America.
As
American Tragedy
is over 800 pages long, I wouldn't put it as a starter.
The Intuitionist
looks to be the shortest of the selections, and Amazon describes it as "genre-bending," which might be the type of thing to start out with since we can talk about what genres it bends, and from there, eventually read classics in said genres. Also, someone said they were dying to read it.
Ooh, I'd love to start with The Intuitionist, because it sounds like it has a lot of great stuff to chew on, and it's come so highly recommended by a few people I know. But if others want to start with a classic, I'd love to read An American Tragedy because I've only ever read Sister Carrie.
So there's my two cents.
Ack! If An American Tragedy is really that long, I'll vote no, simply because, for me, between writing deadlines and baby and two other kids, there's no possible way I'll finish it by August 15.
Waugh' s Loved One is a great starter too. Minor classic. And funny. Major snark, major character dysfunction. And short. IJS. Widely available.
Ooh, I'd love to start with The Intuitionist, because it sounds like it has a lot of great stuff to chew on, and it's come so highly recommended by a few people I know.
Me too. I'm less excited about Dreiser since that was a high school assigned novel, and I'm spoiled for it having seen the movie.
The bad news is the following books may have to be disqualified since they weren't available in the Montgomery COunty Public Library System (which is a pretty good indication that they're not readily available):
Rides of the Midway by Lee Durkey
Jaran by Kate Elliot
And there was only 1 copy of Available Light by Ellen Currie in my entire library system which probably means it's hard to get as well
Rides of the Midway
and
Available Light
are both available through my public library.
Jaran
is not.
(ETA: Neither is
House of Sleep
)
Intuitionist sounds good to me. The Dreiser sounds interesting, but yeah 800+ pages might be a little ambitious for our first time out.
Intuitionist sounds like a good jumping off point to me.
I would agree. I know nothing about it and haven't read it! I like it.
