December 26: Ordinary Goat Moth, Obsession, Next Book

I have often noticed that these things, which obsess me, neither bother nor impress other people even slightly.  I am horribly apt to approach some innocent at a gathering and, like the ancient mariner, fix him with a wild, glitt'ring eye and say, "Do you know that in the head of the caterpillar of the ordinary goat moth there are two hundred twenty-eight separate muscles?" . . .

I think most writers obsess like Annie Dillard.  Her particular preoccupations are with the natural world and God's workings in it.  She goes for walks around Tinker Creek and finds moments of grace.  That's her thing, at least in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.  I'm sure that she has other obsessions.  Most people do.

My obsession is about to change.  For a full year, I have been writing about Annie Dillard and Pilgrim.  Come January 1, 2017, I need a new book to focus my energies on.  In the past, I have lived for a year with Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  Then there was the year of Charlotte's Web, followed by 365 days of The Catcher in the Rye.  The year 2015 was all about Oscar Hijuelos' Mr. Ives' Christmas.  And now 2017 is almost upon us.

I am contemplating three novels for next year.  I love each of them for different reasons.  Those three books are:

So, those are the choices.  In the past, I have left it up to a popular vote, asking people to weigh in with their opinions.  I will do this again, although I don't usually get a whole lot of responses.  (Count yourself lucky:  one of the books I had been thinking about for 2017 was Cormac McCarthy's The Road, but, after 365 days of that book, I might have been suicidal.)

So, it's up to my disciples.  What will my next obsession be?:

• The World According to Garp by John Irving
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• My Antonia by Willa Cather

All you have to do is leave a comment for me with your opinion this week.  On December 31--this Saturday--I will make my choice.  It's in your hands.  Let's hope this election turns out better than the last one in the United States.

Of course, I am leaning toward one book in particular, but I will not name that book.  I don't want to sway the vote.

Speaking of swaying the vote . . .

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December 12: Book for Next Year

Well, it's time for me to start thinking about next year's book.

If you have been reading Saint Marty for any length of time, you know that, for the past two years, I have picked a novel and written about it for 365 days, starting on January 1.  Two years ago, it was Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which was a lovely stroll down a happy street.  This year, it was The Catcher in the Rye, which has been a long hike down a mountain path on a moonless night.

I have two books in mind for next year.  This year, the magazine Entertainment Weekly published a list of the top 100 novels of all time.  In the top ten were Willa Cather's My Antonia, a book I first read as a high school sophomore, and E. B. White's Charlotte's Web, which I first read when I was seven or eight years old.  I love both of these novels.  They remind me of my childhood, of really happy times.  I don't need another Catcher next year.  I need something more uplifting.

I'm torn.  I love both Cather's book and White's, and I can't make up my mind.  I'm leaning toward Charlotte's Web, because it's such a simple story of love and friendship.  My memory of the story of My Antonia is a little fuzzier.  I recall it's a love story set on the prairie.  A young boy falls in love with an immigrant girl.  That's all I got.

What do you think?  Which one should I pick?

Drop Saint Marty a comment and let me know your thoughts.

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