An American Tragedy? Yes.

I think it's fair to say I'm not afraid of the long book. Look at my reading list. You'll see that.

I think it's fair to say I'm not afraid of classical literature. My favorite non-contemporary literary era is Restoration.

As you may or may not know, I'm attempting to read all 100 novels on the Time Magazine list of the 100 best novels of all time. And yes, the list is debatable. And let me say, my first six off of the list were quite enjoyable.

And so, for three months, I've been working on An American Tragedy by Theordore Dreiser.

As I got through the book and realized that I was hating it, hating it in such a way that it took me three months to finally finish it, I kept thinking, "often, in a book like this, the final twenty pages make everything before it worth it."

I'm sure it's quite the study of social classes in its era. But it's not done creatively, or even compellingly, or with any type of character development. Why is this on the list?

That is all. I've moved on to American Pastoral by Phillip Roth and am already much happier.

Thanks for listening.