The Best Books I've Never Read

A few days ago, after I finished yet another so-so novel, I complained to my English professor boyfriend about the mediocrity of most fiction. "Read Portrait of the Artist!" he advised for the ten thousandth time. I suspect that if I don't read it soon, he'll start thwocking me over the head with it any time I complain about anything I'm reading. He bought me a copy and knows where it is at all times so he can foist it on me.

I've never read Joyce (except the parts of Dubliners I had to read as an undergrad). But that's not all I haven't read! Here's a short list of all the stuff of which I'm wholly ignorant:

Candide

Journey to the End of Night

Sons and Lovers

no Proust

Brideshead

Ragtime

Midnight's Children

Winesburg, Ohio

no Naipaul

no Paul Bowles

Here are ten books I'm proud of having read (whatever helps me sleep at night, right?):

The Great Gatsby (at least ten times)

The Savage Detectives

Infinite Jest (twice, thanks for asking)

The Wings of the Dove

The Collected Stories of Isaac Babel

The Woman in the Dunes

The Golden Notebook

The Decameron

The U.S.A. Trilogy

The collected works of Lee Child

I'm not reading anything at all at the moment, but there's a new season of True Blood!