Steven Millhauser's Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer is the book that I just finished...besides seeing it on my long list of books to read, I first heard about it from the book snob at the independent bookstore on top of Queen Anne Hill. She said to me, when I told her I was doing this project(a project that offers me at least a small bit of pride), "Well, there are some great books on the list but a ton of terrible ones. Have you gotten to Martin Dressler yet?" What's interesting, is that I read another book on recommendation of hers The Winter Queen, a boring tome, the time which it took to read it being a week of reading time that I WILL NEVER GET BACK. So, why I thought she might be right with Dressler I have no idea. So, the book didn't suck. It was actually pretty interesting or at least engaging enough for me to blow through it pretty quickly. However, it wasn't really that memorable. It was kind of like eating white bread with butter, it tastes pretty good but it isn't that flavorful. Martin Dressler, the title character builds an empire in New York City, based on his dreams, but makes a fair share of mistakes along the way, showing his humanness. His wife is a mentally ill self-centered bee-yotch, he should have married the less attractive but far more intelligent sister...He has higher expectations for the hotel-occupying public than what actually occurs. But, we all make mistakes, right? I probably won't forget what I thought about Martin Dressler for a long time because of what that woman said to me and the context of our conversation, but otherwise, it would totally have gone into the pile of novels that I read and then file in the back of the rolodex of my brain...Now we're all tied up: Pulitzers 25, GGs 25...:)