: Unfinished Books
So last month, after discussing some of my eccentric likes & dislikes literature-wise, I finished off with the question – borrowed from the New York Times Book Review section – “You’ve inviting 3 famous authors, dead or alive, to dinner. Who are they?”
Intrepid reader Lilliana V. responded with Ernesto Sábato, John Kennedy Toole, and Gabriel García Márquez. I confess that I was not familiar with Sábato. I remember reading Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude back in college but only have dim memories of it.
But Toole was a surprising choice to me. For those of you unfamiliar with him, John Kennedy Toole had a pretty tragic life; he wrote only one book in the mid 1960s – A Confederacy of Dunces – which was rejected by publishers. Depressed, he committed suicide a few years later. Long story short, in 1980 the book was finally published and in 1981Toole was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
A few years back while on vacation I tried reading A Confederacy of Dunces but gave up about 2/3 through. I couldn’t stand the characters – they did one stupid thing after another and I just couldn’t summon up the strength to plow through to the end. On the other hand, Lilliana V (along with millions of readers) found the book to be hilarious. Just goes to show how tastes can vary.
Now not finishing a book is a very rare event for me – even if the books is not great I usually want to see how things turn out. But if you are looking for a book that you do NOT want to finish? I can highly recommend Remembrance of Things Past (AKA In Search of Lost Time) by Proust. Yeesh! Yeah, yeah. I know it’s supposed to be one of the greatest novels ever written, but what do these critics know? Bah! The characters are a bunch of tedious unlikable boors – I made it 100 pages in then gave up. But if you’re curious, I can save you the trouble of reading it. Here is a quick example of the type of thing you’ll be reading:
“I made ready to attend dinner with the Comtesse G. and her dear friend Francoise. On the way out I noticed that I had a smudge on my left sleeve. How could this have possibly occurred? I summoned up my powers of memory and recollected that earlier in the afternoon, while I was writing a letter to Mlle. T, beseeching her to re-unite our love, in the midst of my reveries I foolishly did not notice my arm leaning against the letter before the ink had dried. Regardless, the Comtesse is very relaxed about these misfortunes, so I did not go back and change my outfit. The coach dropped me off in front of her exquisite front door. The dinner consisted of vichyssoise, spring asparagus, etc, etc. [Here follows a detailed description of the table setting and it’s significance to the narrator.] After dinner, Francoise related the most charming story. She was visiting her aunt and second husband at their country estate in the village of Dijon, but her aunt was depressed because nephew had a disagreeable discussion with his fiancée over the arrangements for their wedding, but they had since resolved their differences after talking to the aunt who. . . . .”
This goes on for about 1200 pages. But should you decide to pick up this monstrosity of a book and you actually finish it? Please send me a quick note and let me know how it turns out.
Meanwhile, things will turn out just fine if you come to either of my two back to back annual Xmas extravaganzas with VD King & Better Off Dead. The way these gigs go is that we open up with a set of the usual Better Off Dead standards, but for the second set VD disappears and instead Santa Claus shows up and we do a set of Xmas themed rock & roll tunes. But . . . these are not your standard Xmas fare. Instead you will be treated to songs like “All I Got for Christmas Was Drunk” and “Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’“.
And once again I will humiliate myself and don an elf hat.
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Friday December 17, 7:00PM -9:00PM
Better Off Dead at Ruthie’s BBQ
64 1/2 Chestnut Ave, Montclair, NJ (973) 509-1134
Please note that Ruthie’s currently requires proof of vaccination to go inside. Remember to BYO.
http://www.betteroffdead.com/home.htm/
http://www.ruthiesbbq.com/
Saturday December 18, 9:00 PM – 1:00 AM
Better Off Dead at The Great Notch Inn
400 US-46, Woodland Park, NJ 07424(973) 256-7742
http://www.betteroffdead.com
https://www.facebook.com/Great-Notch-Inn-45741843010/
