Thursday Thirteen: Thirteen Books I've Never Read But Think I Should Read and Books I've Started But Never Finished But Think I Should Finish

This Thursday Thirteen is in honor of my having finished Bleak House. I decided to read it for many reasons, one of which is that it seems like something someone should read at least once in her life. Oddly, I never expected to actually enjoy it. But I did. Once I got into it, it was interesting and really quite readable. And I always thought I didn't like Dickens! Anyway, here's a list of books that I've either never read and think I should or books that I've started and never finished but think I should. I'm rather embarrassed to admit some of these!

1. Dante: The Divine Comedy. OK, I've started Dante, and I've read most of the Hell section of the poem. And I feel like I know what I need to know, in terms of cultural literacy, about the Divine Comedy--who Beatrice is, for example. But I'm a little embarrassed to have never read all of it. My brother tells me there's an edition with interesting illustrations, maybe by Durer or someone like that, that I should pick up.

2. Virginia Wolf: The Waves. This is one that I really want to read but somehow never get to. In part, I keep thinking, "Oh, I'll reread Dalloway and To the Lighthouse first and then read the Waves." But it never actually happens.

3. Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment. This is another that I actually want to read. I guess that I've just had other reading priorities, you know?

4. Tolstoy: War and Peace. While we're on the subject of Russian writers, I thought I should fess up to never having read War and Peace. I do remember the Happy New Year Charlie Brown special in which he's assigned War and Peace.

5. The Mabinogion. Again, a volume that I've started several times but never finished. FIY, it's a collection of Welsh myth and folk tales.

6. Joseph Campbell: The Masks of God. So I think Campbell is interesting. And I've read The Hero With a Thousand Faces. And I've read part of the Masks of God. But I've never finished it.

7. Frazer: The Golden Bough. Again, this seems like something I should know more about.

8. Sontag: "Notes on 'Camp.'" This is another one of those that I actually want to read but never quite get to. And yes, I realize it's an essay in a list of books. But it seems to fit.

9. Solzhenitsyn. Ah yes, another Russian. I've started The Gulag Archipelago but never finished. Ditto The Oak and the Calf. But I actually enjoyed them and can't think why I put them down!

10. Thackeray. Again, anything by Thackeray would be an improvement. I'm certainly interested in Vanity Fair. Hey, I've seen the BBC adaptation, does that count?

11. Neil Gaiman: The Sandman Series. This is a graphic novel, for those who don't know. Again, something I started but never finished.

12. Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex. Again, I've read some, maybe the first 75 pages, and just didn't feel inspired to finish. Maybe it's because those first 75 pages basically depressed me.

13. Melville: Moby Dick. This is maybe my biggest shame as someone with an advanced degree in literature. I've started Moby Dick a couple of times. And again, I know what I'm supposed to know about it, i.e. "Call me Ishmael." But I've never finished the thing. It's like my own personal whale to conquer. Or maybe it's my personal "El Guapo." Did anyone get that reference?

It seems like The Old Man and the Sea deserves a sort of honorary place in the list. It's a book that I've read several times but wish I'd never read. I can never put my finger on why, but I just hate it.

C.S. Lewis once said that if after the first fifty pages he just isn't enjoying a book, he doesn't finish. And maybe that's a good policy. Maybe life is too short to read books we think we should read but don't bring pleasure. Or maybe I can accept that it's OK to simply not enjoy something that everyone else considers important literature.