Let's read *McTeague*
Our next read-a-long starts Monday, March 9!
Dear close reader,
Here we go, into our next read! Today is the day to procure a copy of the novel and get it all tabbed and ready for our reading group.
The schedule + annotation guidance are included in today’s newsletter.
This week, we’re embarking on Frank Norris’s 1899 novel, McTeague.
Barnes + Noble usually has copies in stock, used bookstores almost always have a paperback, and online purveyors can get it to you in time to read chapter 1 this week. (My favorite is Bookshop.org, but they can take a while to ship!)
A note on editions
Aim for a Penguin Classic for what I would call the best reading experience: sturdy paper, low bleed from pen ink, and nice heft without becoming cumbersome.
→ Here’s the edition I recommend
(You’ll have to click through twice to land on the Barnes + Noble page. There, you can check to see if your local one has it in stock.)
→ There’s also a Norton Critical Edition
(I don’t love the extremely thin paper in these editions, so I typically go for a Penguin Classic instead!)
→ Explore all my recommended editions + annotation supplies
The schedule
Week 1: March 9 | Chapter 1
Read chapter 1 of the novel (yes, that’s all!)
Read it at least twice, with particular emphasis on the first paragraph. Practice your annotation skills. Try using a ruler. Write in your reading journal. (Try those new habits you want to build!)
Week 2: March 16 | Chapters 2-4
During this week, read through chapter 4.
Week 3: March 23 | Chapters 5-6
During this week, read through chapter 6.
Week 4: March 30 | Chapters 7-8
During this week, read through chapter 8.
Week 5: April 6 | Chapters 9-10
During this week, read through chapter 10.
Week 6: April 13 | Chapters 11-12
During this week, read through chapter 12.
Week 7: April 20 | Chapters 13-15
During this week, read through chapter 15.
Week 8: April 27 | Chapters 16-18
During this week, read through chapter 18.
Week 9: May 4 | Chapters 19-20
During this week, read through chapter 20.
Week 10: May 11 | Chapters 21-22 (End of novel)
During this week, read through the end of the novel.
Week 11: May 18 | Recommended readings
During this week, we’ll discuss the academic and scholarly reading recommendations that I share throughout the read-a-long.
Academic recommendations:
Women, Compulsion, Modernity by Jennifer Fleissner — you’ve seen me recommend this book a million times; it’s one of my top 5 favorite academic texts! (Book available to purchase. If you buy from my link, I earn a commission!) (You can also rent the PDF for 12 days for a lot cheaper!)
Naturalism is a problem. (Entire book, Figures of the World by Christopher Laing Hill, available via JSTOR.)
The Disarticulate (Entire monograph by James Berger, available via Project Muse.)
“The New Naturalism: Cormac McCarthy, Frank Norris, and the
Question of Postmodernism” (Article by Michael Tavel Clarke, available via Project Muse.)
Preparing your book
Get ready to read-a-long by using tabs, post-it notes, or washi tape to mark each week’s reading section.
This makes the reading assignment each week highly visible, so you can easily track how much you have left to go on any given day.
Above, you can see some of my favorite annotation inspiration, both from my Pinterest boards and from my own camera reel. I always have a ruler, pen, and stack of tabs at the ready.
For McTeague, as you can see in the top-left image, I’m using navy tabs to mark out all our assigned sections. That leaves me with many other color options and placements on the outsides of the pages to include additional tabs for theme, critical scenes, or other ideas I decide to track. It also introduces a base color, should I want to create my annotations within a single color scheme.
These are my favorite tabs, but you can also use washi tape to make your own. Simply lay a piece near the edge of the page, and fold it back on itself to create a tab as short or long as you want.
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I am so excited to read with you!
This novel is truly weird and one of my favorite books I’ve ever read — in part because of how surprising and strange it is. I am thrilled to have you along for the ride, and can’t wait to hear from those of you who are meeting Frank Norris for the first time in McTeague’s pages.
Cheers to a good time ahead!
I’m not gonna lie I was going to sit this one out because it didn’t grab me but missing out on the community discussion and the weekly structure won out and I am *ready to read*!
I thought I'd complete a lot of reading in the break after the Wuthering Heights immersion, but I dabbled and didn't really sink into anything. I'm looking forward once again to being guided through a text.