2019 TBR:
I'm tackling the books that I delay reading -- the ones the dudebros always recommend but have never actually read themselves, the ones on all the "You Must Read Before You Die" lists, the ones you pretend you've read so you can keep up in Very Important Discussions with writers cooler than you. The list is still-growing and may change.
01
Ulysses by James Joyce (1922)
I've actually read pieces and excerpts in class and I've read both Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners. But fully committing to Ulysses outside of a class feels like a fearless undertaking.
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02
In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust (1913)
The big 'un.
03
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (1996)
The ultimate dudebro recommendation, but I loved Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, so we'll see.
04
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (1794)
This is one of the books Fanny Price reads in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey.
05
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor (1955)
I'll be reading the full collection.
06
Portnoy's Complaint by Philip Roth (1969)
A very hairy and intoxicated 40-something year old man once hit on me for 45 minutes at a poetry reading and kept insisting I had never truly LIVED until I'd read this book. I was 16 and have avoided any Roth ever since.
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07
White Teeth by Zadie Smith (2000)
I've always had this fear that I'm not quite smart enough or well-read enough to take on this book.
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08
The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (1979)
Ever have that feeling where you just KNOW a book is going to fuck you up if you read it? That's this one for me.
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09
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1997)
It's been on my list for such a long time, but I've never taken the time or courage to pick it up.
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10
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973)
I was once told this book is impossible to read without a guide, so here goes.