Run, Rabbit, run

Literary legend John Updike died today. He was 76.

Sadly, I haven't read much of his work. Of course I read "A&P," Updike's most famous short story, like every other American who attended high school and college, but the only one of his 61 books I've read has been Rabbit, Run, the first of four books focusing on the life of Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom. I've read it twice, and should really pick up the other three in the series.

Updike was a giant in the literary world. In my opinion he was the last great American writer who was able to achieve Hemingway-like renown and esteem. It seemed to me all you needed to do to get inside the East Coast literary circle that dominates American publishing was to befriend or impress John Updike.