The Madame Bovary Cultural Vegetables Canon Fatigue Blues

These past few weeks I've got the Madame Bovary Cultural Vegetables Canon Fatigue Blues.

I decided upon retiring that I was going to read at least one book by all authors often cited as part of the literary canon. For the two years since, I've done pretty well - tackled Dickens, Tolstoy, Joyce, Dostoyevsky, etc. But I was discouraged late last year when Flaubert's Madame Bovary fell flat for me - blues, part 1.

Then, one of my book clubs picked EM Forster's Howards End for March. Initially, I was pleased. Aside from Forster's inclusion in most versions of the canon, I loved the film of the same name. But, the fact that the book was chosen for me began to (irrationally) annoy me. Somehow it felt as if I was being force fed cultural vegetables - like high school. Yeah, I know I could just skip the book club meeting but anyway - blues, part 2.

So, even though I borrowed Howards End a few weeks ago, somehow several other books - all contemporary i.e., nothing from the canon - have since usurped it in my queue; blues, part 3.

Think I've got the beginnings of a good three verse blues here. What key should I pick for that blues ? Has to be "D" for dumb.