A Year of Pynchon

I dislike New Year’s resolutions.

Why not spend a little bit of every day to improve your life? It shouldn’t come with a new year. It should just be an ongoing thing in your life. Also, I’m not the best with commitment.

I think goals are good though. It’s a challenge. It’s a point you want to reach. If you succeed, you’re that much better for it.

In 2012, I challenged myself to read 52 books in one year. I almost didn’t make it. I had to struggle with my work schedule and my social life. I managed to read 55.

Then in 2013, I failed my goals. I didn’t complete any of them. I didn’t finish any projects. I got a new job, which took up my life. I only read 27 books.

This year, I figured I’d take it easy. I was only going to try to read 24 books. Maybe try to read only non-fiction. But it didn’t seem like a fun challenge. It didn’t seem big enough. I wanted something new. Something extreme.  Something ridiculous, foolish, epic in scope.

I’ve wanted to read an author’s entire bibliography in one year for a while. It’s a fun goal, and you get everything at once. But I prefer variety. Even if an author is one of my favorites, I’ll only read one or two of their books a year. (The only exception is Stephen King, but he has so many damn books anyway.)

So I decided I’m going to spend this year reading all of Thomas Pynchon’s work.

Thomas Pynchon, if you don’t know, is a legend among post-modern literature. His books are sprawling, confusing, encyclopedic, densely layered, and they challenge the reader’s perception of history, reality, society, and literature itself. In short, he’s not the easiest to read or get into. But we’ll talk about all that soon enough.

This is the Year of Thomas Pynchon:

• Eight Novels.
• 5 published short stories.
• Over 4800 pages.

On paper, it doesn’t seem like that crazy of a goal. However, I’m a slow reader. It took me four months just to read his first novel, V., which is only a little over 500 pages.

Just to mix it up, I’m going to be throwing in a few essay collections about Pynchon’s works. Also, he’s had a few small projects here and there, which are located at The Modern World.

I won’t be alone in this, either. I will have Pynchon Wiki, an invaluable resource into the esoteric, to help me (over)think and (mis)understand what I’m reading.

My reading order is going to be a little odd. As of now, it’s:

• The Crying of Lot 49
• Gravity’s Rainbow
• Vineland
• Slow Learner
• Mason & Dixon
• Against the Day
• Inherent Vice
• Bleeding Edge
• V.

Why this order?

V., his first novel, is the most recent book of his I’ve read. That’s why it’s last. I think it’ll also give some perspective on how he’s evolved as a writer. Slow Learner was released after Gravity’s Rainbow, during his hiatus. I’d rather relax with Vineland before I go back and read his “amateur” works. The Crying of Lot 49 was my first Pynchon novel, so it feels like the right start. It’s a fun tease, and I want to swim in familiar waters of a swimming pool before drowning in the ocean that is Gravity’s Rainbow.

This is going to be fun.

This is going to be hell.

And this book blog will be there to document the whole thing, my descent into madness, and the comedy that ensues.