Musings, Nits, and Praises

With the start of in-service creeping ineluctably closer, I'm doing what I can to squeeze in as much reading as possible before I head back to work. Right now I'm a little over 1/4 of the way through Ulysses. Although at times Joyce's stream-of-consciousness leaves me dumbfounded, the novel, as the folks at Guinness like to say, is "Brilliant!"

I've made it through five novels this summer so far. I reread Winesburg, Ohio and Light in August (my favorite Faulkner novel) and tackled Darkness at Noon, An Appointment in Samarra, and The Adventures of Augie March. Darkness is fantastic, but 1984 is still my anti-totalitarian novel of choice. Appointment is very strong as well. Dorothy Parker called John O'Hara "the real F. Scott Fitzgerald." While that may be a bit of a stretch, the novel is proof that the guy knew how to write a tragic story. As I expected, Augie March is a wonderful mix of the comedy and profundity. My only real complaint is that Bellow could've pared down the novel. I'm all for an epic scope, but the novel meanders at times.