I’ve Never Read Philip Roth
Posted by David Duhr in 
The big lit news this week was the death of Philip Roth. His Great American Novel has been on my list forever, due to the baseball and despite its reputation as not great. I also have friends who swear by his long story or novella “Goodbye, Columbus.” I’ve never read a single word of Roth’s. Not defiantly or anything–it just has never happened.
I’ve also never read any fiction from a writer often mentioned in the same breath, John Updike.
While we’re at it, I’ve never read Moby-Dick or any James Joyce novel or To the Lighthouse. I’ve never read The Sound and the Fury, Frankenstein, or Middlemarch.
1984, Brave New World, War & Peace, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.
I’ve never read any Norman Mailer. Or Madame Bovary. Or a word of Ayn Rand. Or most of Dickens’ work.
And on and on. We all have famous books we’ve never read, famous authors we’ve never read, and we all always will.
We regret these things to varying degrees. I don’t regret mine, for the most part–I read plenty of classics and I read plenty of the literary giants and I read plenty of interesting contemporary stuff. Sure, I might feel a twinge of something, maybe a little FOMO, when I hear friends go on and on about how important Roth was to them. But maybe those same friends will feel some FOMO the next time a famous writer dies who they’ve never read.
We can’t read everything. We can’t even read most of the things. So read what you want, and don’t worry about the rest.
Your turn:
What are some of the most famous books and writers you’ve never read but want to?
What are some of the most famous books and writers you’ve never read and don’t want to? And why?
Are there any famous books and writers you’ve never read but have pretended to have read? What was the situation?
Your candor regarding unread famous authors Is most refreshing. I haven’t read most of those mentioned but have had them on a mental “must read” list since the Nixon administration. They remain safely unread by me to this day. As for the famous-I-don’t-plan-to-read, Roth and Updike qualify. Shame on me for narrowness of view, but all the reviews and blurbs I’ve read about their work shout “nebbishy Jewish guy in full whine about his nebbishy Jewish life.” I could be wrong. I haven’t read them. There is one very famous book I pretended to read in high school studyhalls; the… Read more »
I’ve always wanted to try the book-inside-another-book gambit. I believe we have a copy of Moby-Dick on our shelf, so maybe this is as good a time as any.
Or I could just read the thing?
Nah.
Except for James Joyce and Madame Bovary I’ve read the ones you haven’t read…
Not sure what famous author’s I’d put on the want to/not want to read list…
A famous author I have read that I wish I hadn’t read is Hemmingway.
The author I pretended to read for HS English class?
Mark Twain
I just couldn’t wrap my head around “analyzing” what seemed to be children’s books.
shhh don’t tell Mrs. Caruthers ;)
I loved both Twain and Hemingway in my college years, because I thought I was supposed to. Of the two, Hemingway is the one that has most stayed with me; I’ll still read The Sun Also Rises every few years, and I still love it. But I can’t remember the last time I read any Twain. It’s probably been over a decade, and was probably Life on the Mississippi, which I know I enjoyed.
There is a lot of famous authors I haven’t read and probably will never read. I like books I can enjoy reading which take me to another world. I haven’t read James Joyce or Atlas Shrugged, The Great Gatsby as those were books which didn’t interest me then or now. I was more of a Michener, Verne, Dickens and Du Maurier type reader. I love variety but I want to be entertained. I’m not one who likes the rants of some authors. You can add a social soap box, but make it a subtle part of the book, not the… Read more »
You read Moby-Dick for a class in high school? Sheesh. Is that common? Seems advanced. Or maybe I just think so because the book is so bloated? I’ve never read it.
I’ve read some Michener, some Dickens; not sure about Verne, no Du Maurier. I have read James Joyce, but his stories (Dubliners), and not any of his novels. It seems like his novels require a reader to carry around two books: the novel and then a second book to tell you what the hell is happening in the novel.
Ha! I pretended to read Moby Dick in high school nearly 65 years ago–our Junior level English Teacher, H. Lincoln Foster, introduced it to the high school curriculum, nationally. He was a wonderful teacher, who profoundly affected my life–but I thought the book was agonizingly boring. I had another look at it recently–and thought the same. Maybe there is an ideal age for reading Moby Dick–somewhere between 17 and 81.
I love this. When you revisited it 65 years later, did you remember anything from the first time? “Ugh, not this whole chapter on the intricacies of whaling again. I feel like I *just* read this!”
I never read Philip Roth either and my maiden name is Roth. I have read Lord of the Flies and a few of Jane Austen’s books, which you mentioned in your email. I have no desire to read War and Peace. If you haven’t read Rich Man Poor Man, you might want to pick it up.
I remembered that I’ve read two Jane Austen books, not the one I claimed in the email. Emma, for school, and Northanger Abbey, for fun. I started War & Peace once and got about 400 pages into it, then lost steam. At 400 pages, I wasn’t even close to halfway there.
I have not read Rich Man, Poor Man. I’ll add it to, in the words of Ken, “my mental list.” What do you like so much about it?
Hear hear! Irwin Shaw’s Rich Man Poor Man is a triumph. Highly recommended.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I really should read that since it had such an impact in the ‘60s. (1860s that is.) Also, it seems fitting given my two published novels are both set during the US Civil War. Pride and Prejudice is the only Jane Austen novel I have read, but I’m embarrassed to say I don’t share the world’s enthusiasm for it, especially where Mr. Darcy is concerned. I haven’t read any Harry Potter, nor J. R. R. Tolkien. ? Every once in a while I decide I should concentrate on a few of the classics that I’ve missed. But… Read more »
I think a lot of this depends on school, what kinds of books grab your interest in middle school, high school, and college (if applicable) lit classes. If you fall in love with whatever classics you’re assigned, then there’s a better chance you read more of that kind of stuff as an adult.
Then again, maybe not. I’m sure there’s research on this somewhere. But I’m not going to look for it. (Because I hated research in middle school, high school, and college.)
Oh. And as to your last question: I did a book report in high school on Dr. Zhivago. I hadn’t read it and got my information from the back page blurb – rewritten, of course, and embellished to make it my own. I got an A+ with a very nice note from the teacher. I still feel guilty to this day!
You wrote an entire book report based on the plot synopsis on the back of what is a very long book? That in itself deserves an A+.
I have an ongoing struggle with Proust. I think I started reading In Search of Lost Time (aka Remembrance of Things Past) about 30 years ago and before long I was tearing my hair out. Then last year I read Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism (free download from Internet Archive), which placed Proust within the context of French culture of his day, especially with respect to anti-Semitism. I decided to give the work another try, this time with that added sensibility. I got further than I had the last time! I haven’t given up entirely, but I’ve turned to… Read more »
Les Miserables is one I’ve always wanted to visit, too.
Maybe we should start a reading support group where we all choose a classic (or whatever! Doesn’t need to a be a big 19th century beast) we’ve always wanted to read but haven’t, and then offer cheerleading and accountability as we make our way through them. So even though we’re not all reading the same book, we’re all kind of on the same path.
Hmmm.
David, you kill me. I have to say, though, that I love Philip Roth. I read The Human Stain and was floored by his sentences. They are long and complicated, but they hold together beautifully. I admire that. It is present throughout his oeuvre. I admire his technical skill and also his handling of complicated and intense subject matter. I learn a lot when I read Roth. Perhaps I learn a lot about myself. I’m going to say you need to go ahead and give Roth a shot. I don’t think you will regret it. Thank you for your missives… Read more »
Hi Dana! Thanks for sharing. I might be reading “Goodbye, Columbus” on a bus tomorrow so that I can discuss it this weekend on that podcast I’m on, so my first Roth experience might be coming in about twenty-six hours. If it happens, I’ll let you know how it goes.