The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
Short stories don't much interest me. As a rule. Of the few by Cheever that I've chanced across, none really made an impression. I haven't read the "The Swimmer", but the film adaptation was awful/awkward enough that I'm not sure I want to. Neither the opening line nor the excerpt here did much for me, but, to be fair, I didn't really read them with an open mind. I'm going to be honest and put the chances of my even trying to read this one at 1%. Maybe if TC Boyle hadn't mentioned suburban angst... *shudder*
The Man Within by Graham Greene
You had me at "this is too melodramatic and is definitely his weakest book." But the 224-page length offsets that a little. Then again, I've only read one book by Greene (The Quiet American), so I feel like there are a bunch of other titles I shuld be reading before this one — for example, The Comedian, which already sits on my shelf, unread. I'll put my chances of trying to read this one at 5%. The excerpts missed an opportunity to bump up that percentage. Maybe if Amazon had let me Look Inside...
A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
Pro: I've been meaning to read this forever. Con: I don't already own it. Pro: I really liked A Bend in the River. Con: 576 pages. Pro: Naipaul's quote about the book is wonderful. Con: Don't love the opening lines. Pro: The semi-random excerpt is better. Con: It's a comedy of manners, apparently. Hmm, tricky. I really do want to read this one, but I'm worried it's going to be another Light in August (damn you, Modern Library Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century list!). I'll put my chances of trying to read this one at 50%. Even money bet!
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
Another title from that Modern Library list, though this one I've already read — and already been disappointed by. Given the title, I wasn't really looking for existentialism, or at least not this brand of existentialism. Maybe it's supposed to be distancing. Well, okay then, I was successfully distanced, mission accomplished. But since I do already own this one and since I am curious to revisit it after a very unlikely person called it their favorite book ever, I'll put my chances of trying to read this one at 20%. If I'm to be trusted, this is the book at its best: "Stanley and I part even more cordially than we met. It is a stratospheric cordiality such as can only make further meetings uneasy."
The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford
Another title from that Modern Library list! I started reading this once, got distracted just a chapter or two in, and haven't made it back since. It was a promising beginning, even though it was way more Merchant-Ivory than I was hoping. I think I wanted more solidering or something. Stupid titles. Instead it's about, as Graham Greene says on the back cover, the facade of the "English 'gentleman'", a subject which interests me only slightly more than suburban angst. Check that. Maybe less. But I need to overcome these fears of mine ('cept for the clowns one; that's not fear; that's applied logic), and I already own this book, and it's pretty short, so I'll put the chances of my trying to read this one at 90%.
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
You had me at The 400 Blows. And I've actually read some of Doyle's short stories and, despite being short stories, they're not bad. Plus his books make solid moviefilms. This title had by far my favorite semi-random excerpt of any of the books. If I had the novel sitting here, I'd probably start reading it right now. As is, I read a few longer excerpts at Amazon, and they damped my enthusiasm a little, but they also told me that this looks to be a super fast read. Which is a plus. I'll say there's a 70% chance of my trying to read this one.
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