I have been puzzling over what to do for the next fortnightly book. My original idea was Tristram Shandy, but there are some reasons for not doing that now. (1) On my trip to Italy, I took Sigrid Undset's massive Kristin Lavransdatter to read, and I am about two-thirds of the way through. Given other things I have to do, I don't think I'm up to finishing Kristin and starting Tristram simultaneously. (2) The past three weeks have been utterly exhausting for me, so it might be a good idea to start up the series again with something lighter.
So I am going with Tarzan of the Apes. It was first serialized in 1912 in All-Story Magazine, with the book published in 1914. It was an instant hit, and provided a perfect material for the newly developing cinematic arts -- since the first silent Tarzan movie in 1918, it has come to the screen again and again. Edgard Rice Burroughs would eventually write twenty-three Tarzan novels.
If I have time, I will also read the sequel, The Return of Tarzan, in which Tarzan tangles with the last outpost of Atlantis.
