Decided to storm this thing over the summer, after seeing that a bunch of the employees at the local bookstore are doing it publicly. Helps that mom gave me a summer reading list that ought to take down most of this as I tackle it.
First checkmark down: A book published this year, The Familiar, Volume 1: One Rainy Day in May by Mark Z. Danielewski (release date May 12, 2015). This... feels about like what 1/27 of a massive literary undertaking should feel like. I think. Interesting read, though not easy; there’s nine different ‘narrators’, each of whom has been given a totally different writing style. And each has different sorts of textual hijinks involved, too.
I’m definitely hooked; can’t wait for Volume 2 to hit in October. That said, I’m only going to recommend this with caveats; Danielewski is a master of ergodic literature, and while The Familiar requires a lot less effort than, say, House of Leaves, it’s still not a straight-forward read. That said, I can’t help thinking this is going to be very rewarding in the end. All, um... 25,000 pages or so that it’ll be when it’s done.
Next: something a bit less avant-garde, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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