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Originally Posted by issybird
I can think of another couple of authors. Theodore Dreiser certainly leaned to the turgid, even with his best-known books, Sister Carrie and An American Tragedy. No matter, I was quite taken by him when I was in high school and read his entire oeuvre, even the ones no one’s ever heard of.
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I did that with Steinbeck. There's a few I haven't yet read (Cup of Gold, The Short Reign of Pippin IV) and a notable one (The Pearl). But otherwise I went through everything I could find.
Much lesser extent, I enjoyed The Scarlet Letter enough that I quickly picked up House of the Seven Gables (which I liked more than Scarlet, actually).
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I wouldn’t do it now. Sister Carrie might hold up, but I can’t imagine the rest do.
Another that I suspect hasn’t held up and is unreadable now is Thomas Wolfe. Not Tom, although I suspect a case could be made for his books too, except for The Right Stuff.. Anyway, Thomas. Does anyone read Look Homeward, Angel anymore? And it was downhill from there. The also-ran in Max Perkins’ stable of famous writers and the others have already made the list.
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I tried The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and just couldn't handle the language.
An American Tragedy and Look Homeward, Angel are both on my ever expanding TBR list along with Moby Dick and War and Peace.