of buying books and reading books and "others"

Saturday afternoon: what to read. Only "new" book is an Agatha Christie mystery. At Barnes and Noble I do my search, weigh my options--easily about ten books I could leave with but which two shall it be? Final Decision: Everyman, by Philip Roth, and Wild Palms, by William Faulkner.
  Reasons: I had read Everyman before, probably right after it came out, which would have been about thirteen years ago. I don't think that I have ever bought a book that I have previously read, so why this one? I am very comfortable with Roth's vision, also very familiar with the kind of people he writes about. I wanted something "familiar"---a book that I would feel comfortable re-reading. That accounts for Everyman.
 As for Wild Palms, would you believe it but i have never read a novel by Faulkner all the way through. Something about Wild Palms seemed different from some of his other novels--it is also mentioned prominently in Adam Rapp's play, The Sound Inside--which I just read. It was there so why not? A good challenge. Probably next choice I will make to read.
  Finished Everyman yesterday. Did not remember it as being so harsh. Roth glories in demonstrating time and time again how the body of an older person (the protagonist and several others) is able to do less and less. Does he pile it on a bit much? Sure---but that harsh tone really grates at the reader. The central character is a retired advertising executive---the novel begins with his funeral, then turns back to the last years of his life---his loneliness, conflicts, etc. It is a life of relative financial ease and conformity except that like most Roth protagonists his hunger for women and their flesh destroys the two serious relationships that should be the anchor of his adult life. Roth always glories in the availability of certain women. Everyman is no exception.
  It was the right novel for me to read at the right time. Let's see if I can penetrate the Faulkner.