So my producer Tom wanted me to do a video called 10 novels, you must read before you die. And usually I just do whatever Tom says because he's got this crazy look in his eyes. I'm afraid he's just going to go off one day and it's going to be a disaster of bloodshed. I don't even like to think about it. But this time, you know, I was thinking about this and I was thinking the problem I have is not what novels you have to read,

because there are no novels you have to read. The problem I have is a lot of people don't read

novels, and especially I go on and I promote my novels on conservative radio, they only play

conservative podcasts and so on, the only places where they'll let me go. And a lot of times,

people will say, you know, why should I read novels? Conservatives don't really get this. So to me, that's like asking why you should take a walk,

why you should fall in love. I mean, reading novels, appreciating art and great literature,

are part of the joys of life. I mean, it's just so beautiful. And they do, in fact,

if you want to be practical about it, they increase your wisdom. Now, reading novels, but not reading a novel. See, that's why I didn't agree with that idea.

Reading a novel is not going to increase your wisdom. Reading novels, great novels, increases

your wisdom over time. So let's start with the Great Gatsby, one of the greatest novels ever written.

Scott Fitzgerald, an American writing part of the lost generation, the jazz age of the 20s.

And this is the story of a man who has never gotten over the love of his life.

He's lost her and he can see her.

He lives in a house, a place where I grew up, and he can look across the water and see a green light that represents her,

and she represents all kinds of things to him. He's a man who made his own way in the world.

We're not quite sure how, but we find out a little bit about that.

And she represents the kind of class and elegance and beauty that he is trying to attain.

It's a beautiful, beautiful romantic novel. There's a mediocre

movie of it with Robert Redford, but if you read, if you watch the movie, you'll get the

plot, so it'll be even easier to read. It's very, very short. You can read it probably in a day

or two. Really worthwhile. And you'll notice a lot of these books, probably a disproportionate of

these books are American novels, and that's because Americans write more simply than the

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