Marguerite Young and the Most Widely Unread Book Ever Acclaimed

It's interesting to me how the midwest is portrayed in media. I was born and raised in Indiana, outside a small town that's actually famous for a few things, we even had a New York Times article about us. The way the midwest is portrayed in media is interesting to me. It's often shown as a place where weird stuff happens all the time. Sometimes it's depicted as an idyllic small town, more recently it's been the trappings of small towns. In my experience, it's really not all that it's cracked up to be. Yes we have strange things and strange people, but doesn't everywhere? We have odd traditions, but so do a lot of places. There are interesting mixes of cultures, but they're basically all European(excluding the major cities). It's just weird to me when people romanticize the Midwest, there's nothing special about it. Come visit if you want, I've been told we're the most polite!

What was it said that "Life is too short, and Proust is too long?"

I am not allergic to long books--I did read In Search of Lost Time through to the end--but I'd like a glimmer of interest somewhere along the way. It doesn't sound as if most of the reviewers found that.