which of these books should I finish?

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I'm a terrible reader! no discipline, i lose my place or lose the book entirely, forget about it, get distracted with some other book. plus, i'm in school, so my own reading is a low priority sadly. but now i'm on break.

i'm about 30-50 pages into each of these books, i realize. tell me what to do, ilb:

chabon - kavalier and clay
chandler - long goodbye
dreiser - the titan
barth - giles goat boy
calvino - if on a winter's night a traveler
or
bellow - herzog (haven't started this at all)

― g--ff (gcannon), Sunday, 21 December 2003 18:37 (twenty-one years ago)

the chandler, chabon, and calvino titles are three of my favorites so i recommend going with those. perhaps finish calvino first, then go with the chandler, then delve into kavalier & clay.

― lauren (laurenp), Sunday, 21 December 2003 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I love that line about Dreiser that he was one of the worst great writers of all-time(i'm paraphrasing).and it's true! his novels have a strange cumulative power but there are always plenty of deadly stretches that can take stamina to get through. in other words, not really the best choice of a book to read if you are having trouble finishing stuff.

― scott seward (scott seward), Sunday, 21 December 2003 19:29 (twenty-one years ago)

i started "An American Tragedy" but its a cheap american edition (arrow?) with tiny print that makes my eyes ache, so unless penguin do a British edition i will never finish it. All current American editions are thos small format ones. Can you believe this book doesnt have a british publisher?

― jed (jed_e_3), Sunday, 21 December 2003 20:10 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah scott i was getting that feeling from the titan. i got the feeling the overall architecture was going to be amazing by the end but the individual sentences were not to hot.

― g--ff (gcannon), Sunday, 21 December 2003 22:57 (twenty-one years ago)

There are many books I've started, and few I've finished. But the Bellow and Calvino novels you mention are worth reading all through, several times. (I recall some chapters being more interesting than others in the Calvino, depending on whether you know and like what he's pastiching at any given moment.)

― Momus (Momus), Monday, 22 December 2003 02:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd go Chandler-Calvino-Barth (cos you've started it)-Bellow.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 22 December 2003 04:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Like finish the shorter two, and maybe start the Bellow after you read a bit more of the Barth, which is way too long.

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 22 December 2003 04:26 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

I'd go with "if on a winter's night a traveler" that is a wonderful
book!

― yesim (yesim), Monday, 12 January 2004 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I would go Chabon Chandler Calvino if I were you. Out of curiousity, have you read any other Chandler? If not, I wouldn't recommend starting with The Long Goodbye.

― finn, Monday, 12 January 2004 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

The Chandler first - it's brilliant. Then the Chabon and Calvino.

(Yes, those are the only three on your list I've read)

― LondonLee (LondonLee), Monday, 12 January 2004 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

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