Some things you can't explain.
Over the course of many years I have read and re-read both The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham and also Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. I've found Larry's "enlightenment" instructive and inspirational and Cannery Row is just a fun book to read over a couple summers days at the beach. I've also read many other books by both Maugham and Steinbeck - but never their masterpieces.
My friend Bill bristles when someone comments, for example, that a pitcher has just thrown "another masterpiece". There can only be one masterpiece. That's what makes it the "master" piece. The acknowledged masterpiece for Maugham is Of Human Bondage and for Steinbeck The Grapes of Wrath. I've never read either book. Over the years I've bought several copies of each book but for whatever reason have never actually read them. I've tried several times to read James Joyce's masterpiece Ulysses and several times have failed. But with Joyce I can explain my failure - the book is just so dense. I have no such excuse for either Of Human Bondage or The Grapes of Wrath.
Some things you just can't explain.
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