u/FancyThought7696

Just started reading it for the first time. Should I join this sub, or wait till after I finish (to avoid spoilers)?

I haven’t read any Pynchon. Is the Crying of Lot 49 a good entry point? Is it somewhat comprehensible to a general reader?

SPOILERS!

I just finished Saul Bellow’s Herzog. It is a tale of a man’s divorce/midlife crisis/bad investment, and it basically describes his ruminations on his life and how he got to where he is. (The influence of Proust is clearly evident.) He writes lots of letter, to both acquaintances and celebrities (and deceased historical figures). Most remain unsent, but not all.

The plot is basically him reflecting on his life and his most recent ex wife. He is also trying to come to terms with what it means to live in the modern world.

As much as I would like to praise it, I feel like there is something wanting. It reminds me of Dostoevsky but without a clear resolution at the end. (The protagonist’s main triumph is making his ex wife look briefly foolish.)

I would love to best other people’s opinions on this novel to help me try to make sense of it.

Any idea of which city, or if there are a few cities they are considering?

I have read and seen several topics saying that it is important to keep a journal to write down your thoughts and feelings while you read a serious book.

How many of you do that? And how do you do it?

I sometimes think about doing this, but I just never quite get around to it. I feel like I should.

I’m looking to get a copy of the Henry IVs. Which edition do you recommend? I don’t want the No Fear (I’ve already read that one), but I would like some explanatory notes. Any ideas?

Get it for Bloomsday!!

I finished Tom Jones yesterday. I am struggling with the best way to describe my reaction to it. It is an amusing novel, and not exactly what I was expecting. While it is kind of a picaresque novel, it does have a main central plot that drives the narrative. While it is a series of adventures, it is driven by Tom's drive for his neighbor's daughter. It is not an overtly sentimental novel, so it's not a book where the reader develops a strong emotional attachment to any of the characters (at least I didn't). It is basically a one-thousand page romantic comedy (to translate it into today's terms). Most often, it is portrayed as a sex romp, but I don't think that is an accurate description, as there is much, much more to the novel than that.

However, this terminology doesn't quite do the novel justice. There is a lurking sense throughout this entire novel that most of the characters have this goodness in them, even if they succumb to temptation and do bad things. Tom stands for noble characteristics of defending the truth and being honorable with his word, and yet he gives in to sexual temptation at almost every opportunity. Tom, on more than one occasion, gives into this while he is actively pursuing the woman he's in love with! In other cases, characters who are esteemed as good by society are scheming and trying to harm Jones and others. Yet even most of these folks are still not irrevocably evil and many of them repent by the end.

I do recommend the novel, but I would tell the reader beforehand that it can feel like a slog to get through parts of it (at least I felt like there was a slog). In the end, the reader is rewarded with a comic epic that presents a vision of humanity that is striving for good, even with all his warts and defects.

Sometimes, when I approach the end of a long book, I get determined to read it and finish it, even if I’m a little fatigued from reading. In my current situation, I’m almost done with Tom Jones, and my version is almost 1000 pages. We’re leaving on a family vacation in two days, and I’d rather return it to the library than bring it with us. (I also think it might be overdue 🤪)

I’m sure many of you are better about not trying to plow through near the end, but alas, I am who I am. 🤷‍♂️

I don't know what others think, and maybe it's because my parents were OK cooks (but not great), but I think that overall quality of food has gotten much, much better over the last thirty years. I remember growing up, and my food options were Sizzler, Olive Garden, and Coco's. And I did not grow up in an isolated area. It just seems like the increased variety of restaurants available has skyrocketed (even with the unfortunate rise of private equity own places). Also, I think that the internet has made lots of people better cooks, able to prepare a wider variety of meals. Heck, when I was growing up, I don't think I knew anyone who made their own bread, their own pizza, their own salsa, or their own bbq sauce, whereas these days it's not too hard to find folks who can do that.

Or are you an English major if you’re in college now?

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My daughter has recently turned 18, and she is not enrolled in school and will not graduate. My wife and I have officially raised a high school dropout. Both my wife and I have advanced degrees, and education for its own sake is also very important to us, so that is a disappointment to say the least. Seeing friends and acquaintances post proud pictures of their HS graduate children has been salt in the wound to say the least.

Many of our friends have tried to encourage us by saying things like "Well, she'll just figure things out when she gets older" or "she'll just have a different path" or whatnot, but I find these to be cold comfort.

I think one thing that makes it hard is that we were raised to be a success-oriented person, and we have failed in the one thing that matters more than anything else. (I should state that my wife and I both poured everything into raising her--it wasn't like either of us neglected her to focus on careers or anything like that.)

I don't know what kind of moral or lesson I or anyone else can draw from this. But, alas, I have failed.