Cormac McCarthy was interviewed by Oprah, for god's sake.
Jonathan Franzen appeared on the cover of TIME magazine.
If someone wants to read any great novel, all they need to do is spend the fractional amount of time searching their memory for a lauded novelist and a corresponding work.
If someone wants more particularly to read a great novel by an author they aren't yet familiar with, all they need to do is five minutes of triage on the internet.
If you've got the notion floating around in your head that reading a great novel is a great thing, then locating one serves no difficulty, because you're very probably aware of the well-publicized awards - Pulitzer, National Book Award, Booker, etc.
Further, that person's very likely familiar at least partially with the canon that's been repeatedly shoved down every high-school to college educated Westerner's throat for the last fifty years.
There are lists upon lists upon lists of great novels out there both contemporary, classic, genre-based, contrarian and obscure. Just pick your flavor.
The organizational and review systems out there are better than ever.
Is there more out there? Absolutely. But it sure as hell doesn't qualify as noise. And it sure doesn't qualify as a valid excuse for not spending time with a great book.
The amount of work it requires is trivial.
Cormac McCarthy was interviewed by Oprah, for god's sake.
Jonathan Franzen appeared on the cover of TIME magazine.
If someone wants to read any great novel, all they need to do is spend the fractional amount of time searching their memory for a lauded novelist and a corresponding work.
If someone wants more particularly to read a great novel by an author they aren't yet familiar with, all they need to do is five minutes of triage on the internet.
If you've got the notion floating around in your head that reading a great novel is a great thing, then locating one serves no difficulty, because you're very probably aware of the well-publicized awards - Pulitzer, National Book Award, Booker, etc.
Further, that person's very likely familiar at least partially with the canon that's been repeatedly shoved down every high-school to college educated Westerner's throat for the last fifty years.
There are lists upon lists upon lists of great novels out there both contemporary, classic, genre-based, contrarian and obscure. Just pick your flavor.
The organizational and review systems out there are better than ever.
Is there more out there? Absolutely. But it sure as hell doesn't qualify as noise. And it sure doesn't qualify as a valid excuse for not spending time with a great book.