re doorstoppers

[Michael Richard]

On Mon, 17 Nov 2008, Michael Bailey wrote:

> I liked Glass Bead Game.
> (in John Goodman voice from Barton Fink) -- It'll show you the life of the mind!
> 
> no but seriously, I thought it was pretty cool and more fun than
> Siddhartha or Steppenwolf or Damien.
> 

	Hesse is best read as a teenager.  I may read GBG again,
but in general his work reads like junenile dreck to this crotchety
old man.

	Thanks to all the great titles and comments.  I think most
of these weren't mentioned, but I get distracted easily.

	Carlos Fuentes' _Terra Nostra_ is a worthy doorstopper.
Characterized as the Great Mexican Novel, it's more like the
Great Spanish-Adventure-In-America Novel.
	I expected to like Robert Musil's _The Man Without Qualities_
but it rather left me cool.
	Andre Brink's _An Act of Terror_ is a great one, albeit
a bit dated.  Bombers do a deed and flee, and then hear from some
representative of just about every group of people there, giving 
their view of Apartheid.
	_Tom Jones_ by Hnery Fielding is interesting, if a bit
over and under whelming.
	_The Princess of Casamassima_ only qualifies due to its
pertinence to the most interesting oeuvre, and the dreadfully
style that Mr. James was so good at.
	I haven't read it yet, but I have high hopes for
enjoying _A Gastonbury Romance_  by John Cowper Powys.
	I echo approval of _Middlemarch_ (and geez! _The Mill
on the Floss_ is the most depressing novel ever!)
	_The Sot-Weed Factor_ by Barth is wonderful - I read
_Giles Goat-boy_ when I was 12 and didn't get it.  I should try
again.
	_Infinite Jest_ is worthy, though I am not pulled to
anything else, and agree that it's a bit juvenile.  I kept
hoping he would write another giant one.  So sad.
	_The Wizard of the Crow_ by Ngugi wa Thiong'o is
great! A satire of an African dictatorship, with echoes of
the brutal silliness Idi Amin Dada was so good at.  

	hmm,
	veg