Books I Can't Bring Myself to Read and My Excuses

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

This would be the first Herman Melville novel I've read. In fact, it'd be the first Herman Melville thing I've read (he wrote short stories and poetry too). Melville actually stopped being popular when Moby Dick was published which is pretty interesting considering that most people have a general concept of the plot of the novel (crazy captain pursues elusive whale). Melville was even friends with Nathaniel Hawthorne, so cool! So why can't I get myself to pick this book up?

Well, I certainly have over thought how much I think I know about the plot. I assume that Captain Ahab gets the whale, but I guess I need to know what happens in between. Plus, even thought I loved Scarlett Letter, I fell asleep constantly because it was so dry to me and I don't want to do that while reading Melville's work. But, I am going to try to make the next book I pick up from my pile of about 20 that I was hoping to read over break. I should. Who can ignore the name Ahab? 

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

A former requirement of the AP English class I took last year, I knew that there had to be meat in something that was on a high school syllabus. Plus, Russian literature is infamous. Dostoyevsky was exiled in Siberia for 10 years, and this novel was the second to be published after his return. In fact, Wikipedia details that he was considered one of the most dangerous prisoners at the Peter and Paul fortress and was only allowed his copy of the New Testament, fortified with Dickens novels and newspapers when he visited the military hospital. He had 10 years to his thoughts, so the novels that followed must be pretty heavy.

I'm guessing I haven't picked this one up yet for two reasons: the season and time/patience. Because it's a Russian novel, my wonderful senior English teacher Miss Ingraham used to say that reading it in the winter made her students sort of depressed. I'm not really down for the whole winter sadness routine. Plus, if I have so many books to get through this break and the names in this book alone take some time to figure out, I don't know if I want to dedicate the rest of my break to the nuances of Russian name spelling. Maybe it'll be my beach read this summer...

Love in the Time of Cholera 

by Gabriel García Márquez

Since I am not quite a fan of science fiction and fantasy, I'm pretty hesitant about magical realism. Marquez is the king of magical realism. But, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature so he's got to be good, right? Now 86, Marquez has been heavily influenced by his family's history and Latin American roots. Plus, he's heavily influenced by Hemingway and Faulkner (and he wrote about it.) The novel is also a non-traditional love story.

I honestly believe that the magical realism is the only part holding me back. I know their are some people that love sci fi and fantasy so much, but I abhor talking animals and plots that take place in other galaxies. Marquez will be read when I get on a world literature kick, I can feel it. 

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

Ken Kesey published during the transition period from Beats to hippies. Plus, Kesey was a guinea pig in a CIA-funded drug study that included LSD, mushrooms, peyote, cocaine and more. He worked at local mental hospital, sometime under the influence of those drugs. Obviously, he's got to have some great background for a novel that takes place in a psych ward.

Probably the largest reason I haven't read this work yet is because I feel I haven't read enough from the Beat generation. I've touched Keorauc and Ginsberg briefly, but not enough to say that I fully understand the writers of the Beat movement. It's definitely a time period I have a large amount of interest in, but I want to understand the full context before I read the novel. 

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Whitman seems like an acquired taste but also a required reading for anyone who considers themselves a lover of the American canon. A realist, Wikipedia labels him as a "part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism." Not only did Whitman impress a lot of people, he spread the wealth of American thought by influencing many of the Beats, most well known being Kerouac and Ginsberg. 

I think I'm avoiding my copy of Leaves of Grass because a) it's a 488 page monstrosity (at the B+N classic version) b) I feel the need to dedicate a chunk of time to it because it's not going to be something I just read, I will be analyzing and connecting along the way because that's what I do and c) I'm scared that if I don't enjoy as much as others, I'm a failure as an English major and American Studies minor.