Classic Pete and His Coffee Table

Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago is one book on my coffee table that I haven't read. In fact, I haven't read what's considered a classic book in quite some time. There was a bad experience a few years back with James Joyce's Ulysses. I couldn't understand what he was writing and would have rather gone to a drunken dentist than read another page. So I rented the movie and was equally dumbfounded. Next I tried Nabokov's Lolita, which I could understand. I just didn't like it. Luckily the movie was okay. My saving grace was Joseph Heller's Catch-22. I thought that one was hysterical and made for a pretty good movie as well.

So here is Dr. Zhivago, the book I'm always going to read next but never do. Sometimes I set my dinner plate on it and sometimes a cup of coffee. Sometimes I shift its position and sometimes I glance at the book jacket. But will I ever read it? Maybe next, maybe not.

What else is on my coffee table? I have What Would Buddha Do? Answers to Life's Daily Dilemmas by Franz Metcalf (Buddha is no help when it comes to James Joyce). And then there's an autographed copy of The Lady Matador's Hotel by Cristina Garcia (a prized possession to be sure). I also have the movie tie-in version of One Day by David Nicholls. And last but not least I have an actual dictionary that I actually still use -- and also set my coffee on.

--Pete