books books books

I like these Random House 100 best lists: http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html. They remind me of some books I need to read. Sometimes I am mad at myself for reading secondary works of authors before their primary works, because it means I've accomplished less on 100 best lists. For example, I read The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, but not Ulysses (not a good example, because one book is 10 billion times larger than the other, and they often both make 100 Best lists). I read Pale Fire years before I ever read Lolita. I read East of Eden (and Of Mice and Men... and Winter of Our Discontent) and not The Grapes of Wrath. I've read As I Lay Dying, but not The Sound and the Fury. I'm reading Brothers Karamazov, but I haven't read Crime and Punishment. I read Orlando, but not To the Lighthouse or Mrs. Dalloway. I read Goodbye, Columbus (twice) before I read Portnoy's Complaint (and I haven't read American Pastoral). I read Song of Solomon and The Bluest Eye, but not Beloved.

In other news, Zadie Smith published White Teeth at 24. How so worldly, at my age? (And what can I accomplish? Carson McCullers makes me wonder the same things.)