I recently shared the article by Scott Timberg with my friend Mike, pointing out the comparison between Kafka and Little Dorrit in particular, as he's a great Kafka fan. In the ensuing discussion, it emerged that not only have I read hardly any Kafka, but he's read hardly any Dickens. As that situation needed to be remedied immediately, I proposed an exchange: I would borrow and read his copy of The Basic Kafka if he would read a Dickens novel.
I tried to be merciful and steer him toward Great Expectations or one of the other shorter novels, but he declared his intention of tackling all 900-odd pages of Little Dorrit. So we'll see how that goes. If he likes it (and only if he likes it) I may have him do a guest post here. In the meantime, I'll post about Kafka at my LiveJournal page, for anyone who wants to read my impressions. And may God keep giant insects from haunting my dreams. . . .
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