Since jumping aboard the Infinite Summer reading group (okay, bandwagon), I've given a lot of thought about starting my own reading group (or book club, as my girlfriend would say). The question, naturally, was, What the hell should we read? I wanted to bust heads by suggesting Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, but, alas, I'm late to that party. (And let's be honest: I didn't think anyone would be clamoring to read Gravity's Rainbow, even in a group setting. That's madness.) I also considered offering up Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace (rejected due to length), George Eliot's Middlemarch (also rejected due to length, and because I'm not quite ready to read it), Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones (rejected because, from the little that I've read, it isn't very good) and William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury (rejected because Oprah already tainted it).

Then I remembered that Sarah hasn't yet read Dante's Inferno. (I shit you not.)

This is a pretty happy coincidence, because I read Dante at least once a year. I'm willing to bet you've already read it, but the Inferno rewards repeat readings. It's full of nice discussion points (for instance: which level of hell would Dante consign George W. Bush?). There are numerous translations--it's one of the most-translated works--from which to choose. (I'll be reading Anthony Esolen's translation this year, but if you're just starting out with Dante, I recommend John Ciardi's translation.) And the punishments are pretty creative and freaky. So really, you can't go wrong.

This group read is more for Sarah's benefit, but naturally, you're welcome to join in. (The more, the merrier, as they say.) We'll kick things off on September twentieth. In the meantime, brush up on your classics--in particular, Virgil and Homer. You're going to need them.

Comments

[Citizen Reader]

Oh, I don't know, I think I might have to pass...

Just kidding! I will most certainly be there. Now I've got to go find that copy of Inferno I've got around; I'll root around and see if there's any Virgil and Homer around the house too. I'm rather pumped--although I never was very good at reading classics, or understanding what was going on in them. But hey. I'm game if you are.

And thank you for not choosing Pynchon. Ditto with "The Kindly Ones," which I saw someone with in a coffee shop the other day. I was dying to ask them if they actually liked it--I didn't get any further in than 20 pages--but Mr. CR wouldn't let me.

[Brandon]

I only read fifty pages of "The Kindly Ones." I got exasperated with all the characters. I'll give it another go at some point, but the general consensus is that it's not as good as the French would have you believe.