Despite its imposing length, I find myself reading Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote pretty slowly. It's such an enjoyable book--the most enjoyable book I've read in months--that I'm willing to let it spin out over the next few months. My reading is loosely scheduled--I often pick up a book and, judging by its heft, make plans to read it within a few days or a few weeks--so it's nice to read something without my self-imposed deadlines. Some books seem like mere interludes between the ones I really want to read. I often pick up thrillers with low expectations and a certain level of disdain--"Maybe this will be the most preposturous thriller I've ever read!"--but I've realized that, rather than just having a stack of books, I like having good books to look forward to. And I don't really lament the time lost reading a shitty book; if I'm parched after reading a thriller, a classic or a so-called "literary novel" (a term I confess makes little sense to me) goes down like a long drink of cold water.

I have Ernest Hemingway, Umberto Eco, Orhan Pamuk, and Nathaniel Hawthorne waiting in the wings, but lately I've been thinking about Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. It's been three years since I last read it and I don't really have fond memories regarding the experience. The book infuriated me beyond reason, to the point where I was hurling it at walls and screaming obscenities about the characters. The book was almost unbearable because of its realism. Maybe I didn't like seeing myself and my own family reflected in the author's cynical pathos. Or maybe I was frustrated with Franzen's "tough love" treatment of his characters--he seemed to delight in seeing them at their worst while remaining distantly sympathetic.

Whatever the reason, I found my old copy of the book--battered, water-stained, and dog-eared, with FUCK THIS BOOK scrawled, in permanent red marker, across pages 287, 289, and 291, respectively. I don't remember much about the book, except for my own episodes of blind fury, but I'm tempted to read it again, if for no other reason than to find out if it'll rise in my esteem.

Comments

[theorist]

Okay, Don Quixote is another book I'm ashamed I haven't read yet. Sigh.

[Stefanie]

Now that's engaged reading of The Corrections. I'm amazed you even kept it after that. Glad DQ is working out better.

[Brandon]

Theorist: No worries. There a lot of books I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't read--"The Scarlet Letter" and "Fahrenheit 451," for example. (Well, my teacher read "451" to the class when I was in third grade, but that hardly counts, since I barely remember anything about it.) But I plan to remedy that over the summer. As for "Don Quixote," I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend it. It's a whale of a book, but it's great. It's very funny--laugh-out-loud funny--and fast-paced. Don't pass it up!

Stefanie: I agree, "The Corrections" engaged me like no book ever has. And I'm surprised I finished it too, but I'm obsessive-compulsive when it comes to books. I'm a very active reader; I have no qualms about scribbling in my books or drawing faces on the author photos--they're MY books--but it irritates my mom, since she and I exchange books, and whenever I give something to her, it's practically unreadable. She says to me, in good humor, "My God, you just trash your books, don't you?" Drop them in the pool, leave them on the grass for the sprinklers, spill coffee on them. But I like my trashed-out books. They have that lived-in feeling.

[Courtney]

I love the idea of fuck this book scrawled across the pages. Quite frankly, i felt like trashing my copy of The Road in a similar manner, but more because I found it so effective I fell into a semi-serious depression the week spent reading it.

[Bookie]

You should BookCross The Corrections, just for shits and giggles.

[Brandon]

Courtney: I absolutely loved "The Road," but I agree with you, it was very depressing. I spent a few days with it and it was pretty tough to handle. The loneliness was what got to me. I kept thinking, "I hope I never wind up in a situation like the man and the boy,"

Bookie: Great idea! I've never done a BookCrossing, but now I just might do that ...

[LK]

I, too, am enjoying DQ. (I think the updated translation has something to do with it.)

[Brandon]

LK: What translation are you reading? I'm reading the Walter Starkie translation, which is okay. Translations never age well, I've found, so the Starkie translation seems a bit stodgy. But it detract from the overall enjoyment.