For those of you who are passionate about reading, please don’t give me a hard time because I’ve taken so long to come around. Rather, allow me to benefit from your passion.
While I was in school there was so much that I HAD to read that I could never find time to read for pleasure (and I had a hard time thinking of it as something that could be “fun”). After graduating from college I took a break from reading ANYTHING at all.
A few years ago, however, I decided to make it a point to start reading more and I’ve kept at it and now I always have a book that I’m in the middle of. I’ve mostly been reading novels (some histories, some biographies, but mostly novels).
Answering myself when I asked “Where to start?”, I decided I would start with the authors who have the reputation of being among the Literary Greats- thus giving myself the opportunity to understand why they are considered great, as well as the opportunity to decide whether or not I agree.
Consequently, there is absolutely nothing obscure or underground or new on my bookshelf. I’ve been reading stuff like Mark Twain, Ernest Hemmingway, Zora Neale Hurston, lots of Graham Greene, some Henry James, William Faulkner, Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac, in other words: the BIGGIES, the much praised, mostly dead people, the kind of stuff that would be assigned in English class.
So, help. Tell me of authors who are writing today who you think will stand the test of time and go on to be considered Literary Greats.
In film, painting, and music I am always interested in what the newest artists are doing. Help me to find this in literature as well.