In the course of trying to decide my reading pattern for the first part of next year, I decided to finish as many of the books ALREADY ON MY SHELF as I can. This is includes many things I am not so excited about (such as unfinished pulp fiction, Anna Karenina, Paradise Lost, other things I may never tackle at all), but also several works by authors I already enjoy but, for whatever reason, never followed up on. Like Women In Love, for instance, or the subject of my post.

Anyway, I'm rather a fan of HH's novels and I had forgotten about The Glass Bead Game, of which I have a copy but have never read. It's rather long and I'm wondering if anyone can recommend it. (I seem to remember Tom reviewing at least one Hesse book this last year?) I will probably try to read it eventually anyway, and it seems important to Hesse's canon, but the main thing is that I want to start out strong for the new year and finish several books right away. I will put this one on the backburner if it's going to be something I'll have to push myself through. By way of comparison, I waited a long time to read Grapes of Wrath, even though I've enjoyed Steinbeck a lot for other books, because I was worried about being bogged down by it. This wasn't a problem at all and I basically soared through the book and wanted more. On the other end of the spectrum, I tried to read a JF Cooper book last summer and wasted some time getting a mere 120 pages into what proved, in my mind, to be basically unreadable.

Maybe one of you can suggest The Glass Bead Game, or Women in Love. What about The Castle, by Kafka? The Trial left such an awful taste in my mouth that I nearly swore him off completely, but I'm willing to try this one if anybody has something to say about it. It is on my shelf, after all.

Also, does anyone else have a problem of over-consideration? What are your plans?

Also, I have a feeling my unwillingness to italicize book titles irritates some. So, too bad, I guess. Laziness abounds.