Run Run Run Run

1. The Rebel Sell: Why the culture can't be jammed, Joseph Heath & Andrew Potter
2. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
3. Rabbit, Run, John Updike

Since seeing this New York Times story, I've been meaning to pick up and read as many of the books as possible, certainly all of the top 5, to see what the hullabaloo was about. Beloved I might revisit at some time in the future; I read it in grade 7 or 8 or so and don't recall enjoying it all that much, probably due to a combination of intellectual immaturity and a lack of empathy/identification with the characters. Honestly - and perhaps this is a bit of a taboo sentiment - is it possible that Beloved, like Jesse Jackson, is immune to criticism because it's an Important Novel about America's elephant in the room (racial issues/slavery), and any critique would be met with charges of racism? Hell, maybe even suggesting that would get someone labelled as a racist.

In any event, I was flipping through Underworld and Rabbit (I can never remember Blood Meridian or American Pastoral, though I've at least read some Roth before - can't say I'd ever even heard of McCarthy prior to reading the story) and chose Rabbit because the opening grabbed me better. In fact, I completely forgot (and just remembered) I had intended to pick up some Faulkner. Goddamnit. Oh well, there's always next time.