READING -- Books started but not finished

Attached is a list of books I've attempted to read on numerous occasions, but have never finished. There's something compelling that makes me want to read them, but for some reason I have not been able to get involved enough with them to reach the end. Maybe it's me, and maybe it's the book. In a few cases, these are works of considerable imagination, but where the fantasy seems to lose touch with reality, and I lose my bearings (e.g., Christopher Unborn, The Island of Crimea.) In other cases, I feel some obligation to read a book because it has been so highly recommended or because I'm almost embarrassed not to have read it by now; but the reading is work rather than pleasure; it goes very slowly; and it's much easier to put the book down than to continue. Perhaps others have had similar experiences.

A surprising number of people have responded to the list of all the books I've read (which I thought would be of little interest to anyone but myself). For the lists and recommendations and reviews, go to www.samizdat.com/readers.html

Richard Seltzer, seltzer@samizdat.comwww.samizdat.com


Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce

The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams

Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann

The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann

See Under: Love by David Grossman

Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Wings of a Dove by Henry James

Pierre by Herman Melville

Molloy by Samuel Beckett

Naked Lunch by William Burroughs

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis

JR by William Gaddis

Christopher Unborn by Fuentes



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Other book reviews by Richard Seltzer
Opus authors -- contemporary writers whose entire work is great
The Readers' Corner and Writers Showcase

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