When it comes to the topic of “Books I Have Been Thinking About Reading But Not Actually Reading” right at the top of the List would have to be this one… Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead.I have been thinking about reading it for about sixty-seven years now.
And I even have this [as shown] pristine hardcover 1968 reprint of the original 1943 Bobbs-Merrill first edition.
So what’s the holdup?
From whence cometh my January molasses attitude toward diving into this book, which begins with the immortal sentence “Howard Roark laughed.” [?]
I don’t know. Honest to God. I have wanted to read it for so long.
When I consider some of the books I have been wanting to read for eons, I notice that they do tend to have a lot of pages… that’s at least one determining factor. For instance, here is my current BIHBTARBNAR List:
1. The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand
2. Middlemarch – George Eliot
3. The Odyssey – Homer
4. Barney’s Version – Mordecai Richler
5. Trinity – Leon Uris
6. Sophie’s Choice – William Styron
7. Russka – Edward Rutherfurd
8. The Crimson Petal and the White – Michel Faber
9. Atlas Shrugged – Ayn Rand
10. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
Does this sort of procrastinatory thing happen to you also?
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Totally. I've been meaning to read Gertrude Stein and Thomas Mann forever, for example. Sometimes books just take forever to seem like just the thing I need to read.
ReplyDeleteI HAD been meaning to read Middlemarch forever (well, a good 16 years), but then I read it, and it was awesome.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I've been meaning to read Dickens forever (having read only a little in high school), and I haven't gotten round to it yet.
The Fountainhead I remember loving, but I don't remember much else about it.
Just do it!
It's always nice to find other people who do the same things as I do. I'm usually very proud of myself for getting through a book on my BIHBTARBNAR list, but that isn't enough enticement. Life and other books just get in the way.
ReplyDeleteI have those books too! The Golden Notebook, David Copperfield, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
ReplyDelete:) I may as well fact the fact: I'm never going to read some of them but Middlemarch and The Magic Mountain would be on my list.
ReplyDeleteGreat comments all.
ReplyDeleteMiddlemarch is something that I MUST get to.
As in MUST!
As in, I refuse to die, prior to such a thing occurring.
As it stands, I have arrived at a new motto, however, and it involves The Fountainhead situation.
It goes thus:
RAND FOR THE HOLIDAYS!
There!
I have said it and said it publicly. It is official.
I shall read the Rand during yonder yuletide season!
Greeting from Hong Kong! Your list totally hits home for me. I've meant to try reading Ayn Rand but I could yet get past the first few chapters.
ReplyDeleteMiddlemarch is just not up my alley.
Sophie's Choice--what's the hype?
Maybe some day. :)