Context:

Steve mentions trying to read this when going to writing school, thinking he should 'figure out what people actually write about,' but gave up on it.

Context:

Steve discusses his attempt to improve his literary knowledge before graduate school. He mentions dedicating a summer to trying to get through Joyce's Dubliners, which he thought would be easy because it was 'a little short book,' but found difficult because he had previously only read nature and history books.