I don’t know why I chose this, but simply by placing Burroughs’ Naked Lunch back on the shelf, I followed the alphabetical arrangement to the next shelf and pulled it out.
While I’m not sure I wanted to go quite into a happy, early 20th century American story, I believe it’ll be a more important read than forcing myself through Naked Lunch.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
I read Ragtime years ago and, while quite good, I don’t remember it being a particularly “happy” story. But I’m sure you’ll enjoy it – and if you do, check out the film version too.
Pete, anything’s going to be “happy” after what I’d read in “Naked Lunch” so far.
BTW, have you read “Naked Lunch”? If so, what’d you think of it? I’m considering trying to finish it (got about 40 pages in) since for me, putting a book down is almost like giving up and comes with a heavy guilt trip.
No, never read it, though my wife has a copy at home. As for guilt trips, I got past those long ago – there are so many books out there I want to read that if a book isn’t working for me at all I won’t hesitate to abandon it. I follow the 50 Page Rule – I’ll commit to reading 50 pages, but if the book hasn’t grabbed me by that point then I’m free to give up.