Books, CAN YOU READ?! Options

[Raijinili]

A Hundred Years of Solitude was amazing and has changed the way I think about literature and writing. It also left me with an existential crisis about my role in the world.

I soon after read Daytripper by Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties which they did with Neil Gaiman. Bother are amazing, but especially Daytripper which just pounds you in the gut over and over again but in a hopeful way, yah?

Currently trading off between The Familiar v2 and Murakami's The Windup Bird Chronicles. Realizing that I hate Murakami as a writer from a narrative perspective and that I only like his writing for the heavy symbolism and metaphor, and the mixing of Japanese spirituality with jazz and beatnik influences. As for Danielewski, I hate him for his ambition and continual pursuit thereof.

[Raijinili]

It was very sterile. Which is half a result of Huxley's writing style, half a result of the atmosphere he was trying to evoke for his dystopia. Did you notice how the language changed when he visited the "savages?"

I did notice that, at least unconsciously. It became a lot easier to read around that part.

Um. Maybe use spoiler tags and then I can figure out what [censored][censored] means and we can discuss it lol. I recommend giving Paradise Lost a go and then rereading Frankenstein, as Shelley drew heavily on Milton's masterpiece for Frankenstein.

OR YOU COULD JUST GO JUMP INTO THE OCEAN LIKE EVERYONE ELSE

I've been reading a lot. Here's a (warning, it is long) list of things I read this year because I don't remember if I read anything in 2015 that I didn't post about already, and opinions on them:

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

• Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
  Wonderful. Very imaginative, sometimes horrifyingly so. Did I really get it? Probably not, but I've decided that I don't care about anything that didn't reach me personally.
• Children of the Flames by Lucette Matalon Lagnado & Sheila Cohn Dekel
  I think this was one of my brother's books that he abandoned. It was alright, pretty interesting, though I'm not really into nonfiction.
• Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
  SOOOO OOOOLDE. I mostly did not like this because it spent an extreme amount of time being very matter of fact and repetitive about what the guy did the whole time. The parts where he was more introspective about religious/spiritual stuff were nice though, and I loved seeing him try to explain God and his beliefs to Friday. He never did come up with a good response to the problem of evil and that greatly amused me because I am a mean-spirited person.
• Foe by J.M. Coetzee
  Seemed like the right thing to read right after Robinson Crusoe since it plays with the story. But I wasn't that fond of this, either, despite having a high opinion of other Coetzee things I've read. It mostly just seemed like a story about a lady who was absolutely bonkers, with references and twists to the story that were amusing but you'd never get if you hadn't read Robinson Crusoe previously.
• Killing Hitler by Roger Moorhouse
  I thought this was pretty interesting. It was a bit long-winded sometimes with the blabbing about history and stuff that wasn't always actually relevant to the assassination attempts, but when it actually got down to talking about them it was much more interesting. Hitler was such bullshit, not dying to all these assassination attempts because something going not quite as planned EVERY SINGLE TIME.
• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté
  A good news book about addictions (not necessarily just drug addictions, either). I like that it was like, "take a look at this science, and also question this other science because of this extremely obvious issue" and it was generally very compassionate about people who struggle with addictions. This guy also totally has like, the same idea of legality and criminalization and stuff about even really hard drugs that I do. At least from a public health/safety standpoint. I don't remember him ever saying anything about reducing drug-related crime though. Anyway, strongly recommend this to anyone who has any interest in the subject.
• When I am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple by various people
  Most of these stories and poems were kind of eh, but there were a handful I liked. Jenny Joseph's Warning was really nice and is basically how I feel about getting old. You get to do whatever the heck you want to when you get old! That's awesome! Joanne Seltzer's A Place for Mother was pretty depressing and honest. And then there was Mary Anne Ashley's Gracefully Afraid which actually made me cry. I think I see myself in the protagonist's friend way too much. Like, aren't I going to end up like her in the end? It was just really upsetting.
• Pax by Sara Pennypacker
  I got this on a whim because I liked the cover art a lot. It's pretty anti-war, which is cool. But something about the whole thing seemed a bit shallow. Although, the first few chapters made me want to cry because for some reason I have problems with people leaving their pets on purpose, and also their pets just waiting there for the person to come back... The ending didn't feel right to me, either, but I guess overall it was an enjoyable read and I would certainly make 3-5th graders read it.
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  Asaph yelled at me to read it ASAP when he found out I hadn't done it yet. For most of the book I was kind of sad that Holden wanted to react to everything with so much anger and rejection. Like, "this person sucks" "these guys are all assholes" "YOU'RE A GREAT BIG PHONY." Maybe that would have resonated with me more when I was an angrier person, but that's not who I am anymore. The last few chapters were really nice, though. Just very "everything is wrong and messed up but maybe just for this moment, things are okay, and that's enough for now."
• The Familiar volume 1 by Mark Z. Danielewski
  This took me forever to read and it was a great effort. I basically hated everything in this except the stuff involving Xanther's family. I really wanted to see what kind of crazy epic story he had in mind for this, but... I'm not going to make myself spend that much time reading something when I enjoy so little of it. :/
• Legend of the Galactic Heroes volume 1 by Yoshiki Tanaka
  The anime these novels were based off of was like, one of my most favourite ones ever, so I was super excited when it was announced that they'd be translating the novels. Even with my misgivings about translated Japanese novels (I've had too many bad experiences with them), it didn't bother me here. The writing was very straight up and maybe even almost "dry" but that's exactly what I'd expected from it, and I bet that's how it was in the original Japanese anyway. It was really nice to get a bit more into the characters' inner thoughts and some of the details that never made it into the anime. I'd recommend this to anyone who wants military space opera that has a lot of thought-provoking things regarding political systems.
• Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls by David Sedaris
  I actually picked this out for my mother (who is all about diabetes) because I had no idea what it was about but I'd seen a lot of people carrying it around in college... but it turns out it doesn't have anything to do with diabetes and is instead hilarious and meant for people like me, who want to hear stories about older gay men and shenanigans that happen when they travel to different countries. And any of the other stuff in these short stories that I don't remember. Will read more stuff by him in the future, because this was very amusing to me.
• Candide by Voltaire
  My brother gave/left this to me, and though I remember him not being too enthusiastic about it in general, I actually liked it quite a bit. It was rather amusing, and I can definitely see why Oscar Wilde was always talking about Voltaire being a pretty cool dude.
• Morphine by Mikhail Bulgakov
  Another book that was my brother's that just got left with me. It was good for its length, I guess. Not really my thing, though.
• Children and the Tundra THE HAGGIS-ON-WHEY WORLD OF UNBELIEVABLE BRILLIANCE
  IT'S ACTUALLY REAL IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. I preordered this book like six years ago and then it just stopped existing and then one day, it was out. Wow. Unfortunately it wasn't as geniously humorous as the other HOW books, but I liked the advertisements about Australians, at least. And the fact that this series is not deader than dead. Thank you Dave Eggers and your brother whose name escapes me.
• Ongoingness: The End of a Diary by Sarah Manguso
  The most disappointing thing I've read by Sarah Manguso (even though I looove her). I really do get the desire to record/remember everything, all the details of your life, but this just didn't strike me in the humorous or emotional ways that all of her other writings have. Maybe because as much as I understand her obsessive desire to record absolutely everything, I periodically set my diaries on fire or tear them up into unreadable pieces because I hate myself and don't want my past to even exist. At least she's still writing.
• A Very Bad Wizard by Tamler Sommers
  This was kind of interesting. It's interviews with random researchery/sciencey people about morality-related things. Unfortunately one of the interviews was about something that was practically fraudulent, and a lot of the later interviews just weren't terribly interesting to me, and it seemed some of the people the author was interviewing weren't exactly able to justify the things they were claiming. Plus, I already know how bonobos work from vulgar German songs. The first interview about how absolute free will doesn't exist was real nice, though, very convincing.
• In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien
  I read this in notCanada. And guess where that is? In the Lake of the Woods County! Aren't I so cool? This book was a nice, almost melancholy book that had surges of anger in it. Mostly the melancholy was there, and I liked that it just gave you a lot of half-details so you got to think about the rest yourself. It was really great at capturing the tension between the main character and his wife in the most arbitrary conversations, too.
• Where is it Coming From? by the students of the Boggs School, Detroit
  ... and illustrated by Dave Eggers! I only just got this today but it's basically a kid's book. Only it's really bizarre. Most of the stories are very short, and some of them are just random or take such sudden, unexpected turns that I can't not be amused or almost horrified. These 6-10 year olds, man. They're good news. Also, Dave Eggers' art is weird in a good way and worked wonderfully with the stories themselves.

Phew. Okay. So. That's what I've finished. Right now I'm reading The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino because you know what? This guy's a genius. I've only read a single story in it but it was already super imaginative and honestly kind of sad at times. ... Maybe amusing too. I've read about half of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, and I've also finally started reading Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert. Going through that last one slowly, cautiously, in fact, because Heretics of Dune was just wtf every single page.

I'm also reading Mein Kampf which is enraging because at first Hitler seemed to make so much sense and be such a normal person, but then suddenly he'll go off on tirades against Jews for completely shallow reasons and with the most wild logic jumps ever (and he basically believes they're trying to destroy the world???) and also anyone who isn't a raging nationalist like him. Whenever I finish a chapter of this it's like. Holy crap. I need to take a breather. And despite how much I hate the things he's saying, the translator of the English version is kind of an asshole who needs to stop being such a biased pansy and leave out comments like "OH BUT THIS WAS A COMMON THING TO REFERENCE HITLER PROBABLY NEVER READ THIS LOL HE WAS TOO MUCH OF AN IDIOT TO ACTUALLY EXPERIENCE THINGS." Just fucking say it was common to reference in Germany at that time period and be done with it. Ugh.

[Raijinili]

Invisible Cities was amazing. I read that at some point this year.
I'm kind of just picking up shit off my bookshelf whenever I get in the mood to read, not really focusing on any books right now, but I might go to the used bookstore today to try to find something for my upcoming road trip.

[Raijinili]

Do you guys realize how many months we skipped? Bad. Just bad.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. I finished it! It was a bizarre effort because I was trying to read it before going to sleep and my mind was totally awake and ready for it but my eyes insisted on closing so it took a lot longer to read the last few pages than it should have. It kind of disappointed me. Actually, it's my least favorite Steinbeck thing so far and I even *gasp* threw it into a giant metal book donation box instead of my cubical book shelves.

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris. Told you I was gonna read more from him. This was particularly wonderful because it was poking some serious fun at the terrible ways that real people actually act, with only minor exaggerations. Also, everyone was animals and whoever did the illustrations was a glorious fit for the stories.

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. again. This was great too. I'm running out of words and the length of this post is surely happy about that fact.

Also read two books on dysautonomia because my mother bought them and made me and they were not very enlightening. In fact, they can both be summarized by "do this thing that's literally impossible," "your doctor is never going to listen to you," and "thing #1 will help you tons *next page* thing #1 will fuck you right up." Also, more Legend of the Galactic Heroes. IT'S HAPPENING. FRIENDSHIPS. BEING. DESTROYED. ALL OVER AGAIN.

I am currently over half way through Mein Kampf (I will finish this in 2016. I will do it. I do not want to have it still hanging over my head in 2017 I've had the stupid thing since I was like 14). Also working through another David Sedaris book and a book by David Duchovny which I discovered in the book store by accident and it's definitely the most bizarre thing I've ever read. More on all that next time.

[Raijinili]

I bought a bunch of books for my road trip! And forgot them all! Then I borrowed some from little sister Rhea! And forgot them all!

So when I was in Yosemite park I picked up a biography of John Muir from the gift shop. That man was awesome. I can only hope to have half the appreciation for the natural world that he did, or half the spine in defending it.

Now I'm reading Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut. I love his writing so much. Very heavily edited, keeping every sentence down to the bare minimum whilst somehow delivering the sort of effect I take paragraphs building. Also been doing a lot of research on mushrooms and electronics. Also reading a book about pantheism. I really can't recommend it unless you really want to hear about a woman struggling to decide whether she is a believer and what kind she is, so I'm not even going to bother getting up to remind myself of the name unless someone specifically demands it.

[Raijinili]

Bought my dad An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield and read it before gifting it to him. If anything it was encouraging to read about someone's thought process, optimism, pragmatism, and goal setting to achieve his dream.

The Audiobook is also fun to listen to on long commutes.

[Raijinili]

I was exceptionally pleased with Standing in the Light - the one about Pantheism. It got better? It seemed really dodgy and whiny at first but the latter half impressed upon me.
I also read If on a winter's night a traveler and all I've got to say is Calvino is a dick. I loved the book.

I just got a kindle today and amazon is killing me with these 99cent philosophy anthologies and classics.

BUT CAN ANYONE RECOMMEND A SUPERIOR TRANSLATION OF MARCEL PROUST'S IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME
If I'm gonna dedicate that much time to a book it better be a decent version...

[Raijinili]

I've been working my way through the complete fiction of H.P
Lovecraft recently, reading a work or two a day. I've read about half of his stories now, in written chronological order (which ends up meaning all of his shorter stuff). Its really interesting to see his development as a writer. In the annotations, it talks about how he was heavily influenced by Poe and Dunsany. I haven't read any Dunsany, but the influence is pretty tangible in his earlier stuff- it's more the work of flowery fairy tales and allegories than the cosmic eldritch horror we all know him for. What I haven't seen is any mention of Robert Chamber Williams (I believe that's right), the author of The King in Yellow, who blends a Dunsany style with horror in a way I think works better than Lovecraft.

By the by, favorites so far have been "Polaris", "Memory" "The Picture in the House", and "The Quest of Iranon". I'm like two stories away from finally starting to get into his more well-known stuff.

Also, I finished the Book of the New Sun series, and there are lots of good things to say about it but I'm posting from my phone and have already written a good bit, so for now just take my recommendation and if you get it be prepared for some quality time with Google.

EDIT: I also bought Ada, or Ardor for my phone, but that is a difficult book, and I am a simple Vahn.

EDIT EDIT RHIA I SAW IN A BOOKSTORE PAUL AUSTER HAS A NEW BOOK OUT I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN KNOWING THAT.

[Raijinili]

Some other stuff I have read but never brought up in this thread (like ever, surprisingly. Maybe I just talk in the channel and forget)

I picked up a YA fantasy book at a con last year called The Wizard's Way. It was a generic steampunk fantasy novel, but the author's had their own booth and were selling autographed copies and it had a talking pug Butler that fenced and that last thing in itself was enough to sell me. I read it in like a day, and will probably continue to read it as the series develops. I cant give it an actual recommendation, but it's charming.

The Kingkiller Chronicles, on the other hand, I recommend wholeheartedly. I really don't know exactly what to say about these books except if you like fantasy, you truly do owe it to yourself to read them. They're beautiful and moving, and you should read them forum guest or user.

I actually did read the first two books of the New York Trilogy, and want to reread the series as a whole so I can talk about them in more detail. They're stories that play with the idea of what a story is, and also what a reader is, and also what a plot is, and ask: how do you know any of those things are actually any of those things?

[Raijinili]

I bought The Turn of the Screw in a drunken state and finished it.

I appreciate a neat little ghost story about children. I'm writing a neat little ghost story about children. It wasn't written in a difficult way to read, but sometimes the sentence structure would get awkward. Also, while reading it, I looked into some other stuff analyzing it and I feel like that might have colored the way I interpreted it.

[Raijinili]

I actually did read the first two books of the New York Trilogy, and want to reread the series as a whole so I can talk about them in more detail. They're stories that play with the idea of what a story is, and also what a reader is, and also what a plot is, and ask: how do you know any of those things are actually any of those things?

I still remember the whole thing where it was like, "Is a broken umbrella even an umbrella anymore?" I don't know why but that part stuck with me a lot. ALSO I SHOULD REREAD IT BECAUSE I LOVED IT.

Things I've read since last time... The Wonderful World of Wigglers, which is some book meant for elementary school children (except genuinely useful even for adults if you're into worms and nature and junk) and is ancient enough to use the word Xerox as a verb. Very interesting. Don't tell Sturm I read it before I gave it to him for Christmas or I'll make Rai make a dex where every instance of "Sturm" is replaced with "Starm" or "Starmie."

Finished David Duchovny's Holy Cow. Still the most bizarre thing I've ever read. Pig named Jerry decides to become Jewish, changes his name to Shalom, and also gets circumcized in the book. What in the. AND THAT'S ONLY THE HALF OF WHAT'S MESSED UP ABOUT THIS BOOK. I greatly enjoyed some of the animal-based phrase things, like the cow thinking, "all six of my stomachs leapt into my throat" or something like that. Don't remember the exact quote but it definitely had multiple stomachs, like a real cow would. I recommend this book only if you're crazy because I can't decide if it was good or bad. It was just weird, and probably offensive.

David Sedaris things still. Still stuck on him a bit I guess. I read Barrel Fever which was very uh. It seemed a lot more vulgar and sometimes mean-spirited compared to anything else I've read by him. Still loved it though. Also read Holidays on Ice and don't have anything special to say about that one.

Albert Camus' The Outsider which was also a strange book. And made me feel weird and uncomfortable about how the main character handled all the situations. He just seemed to take everything in stride... I don't know, maybe I should read the book again. It was short enough that it wouldn't be a huge time sink to do so anyway.

Never did finish Mein Kampf. Hopefully this year I'll be able to bring myself to. Currently reading some nonfiction mostly. Some crappy cheapo self-help book about anxiety which is definitely already worthless and not worth naming, and as for the exciting nonfiction, I'm reading Maia Szalavitz's Help at Any Cost which is about the crazy abuses of mental health patients, particularly in in-patient and wilderness programs. Putting this under spoiler tag since it's kinda long and is as close to spoilers as you can get in nonfiction:

» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

In one chapter they were describing the way this one kid died in a wilderness program and it was just like... I almost cried reading it. They were just massive assholes to the kid and wouldn't give him food (they had food but it was inedible unless prepared with a fire, which they had to learn to make without lighters or anything, and he never could figure it out, nor were the other kids allowed to share anything with him). They made fun of him while he started falling constantly from severe lack of energy, even more when he started losing control of his bodily functions... and then they fucking lied to his parents when he died.

They basically said "OH HE JUST SUDDENLY DIED OUT OF NOWHERE" and then they went to see the body and they barely even recognized him. He'd lost like 30 pounds, was full of sores and bruises all over his body, super swollen feet and knees and everything. It's just so scummy and the saddest thing is I'm pretty sure stuff like this is still happening today even though this book is old enough to be out of print. I just remember when I was younger and in mental health programs and nobody ever believed me, either. It's like mental health patients are always just trying to manipulate you. That's really what they believe. And they probably get off on the power trip, too. You know the kid I described who died on that wilderness thing? Apparently one of the people in charge had taken his diary and wrote in it that he was so happy to have finally broken the kid, to have gotten rid of his smile. It's a painful read, but so important. I'm really glad I hunted it down even if it cost more money than I would have liked to pay for a used book.

P.S. THERE'S A BOOK CALLED NARWHAL: UNICORN OF THE SEA AND I HAVE IT AND READ IT AND IT IS A GOOD TITLE

[Raijinili]

Since last posting, I picked up everything written so far of occultic;nine. I've read two out of three books, and it's fun enough to knock a book out in a day or two. Nothing particularly thought provoking.

I got a new copy of Only Revolutions for Christmas last year and read maybe a third of it before putting it aside. I should really finish it but I'm thinking of giving it to someone else as a present this year. I think it might honestly be my favorite Danielewski book (which is a weird thing to say considering I've never finished it).

Another pickup was The Dying Earth collection by Jack Vance, the guy who inspired DnD style magic. I'm a sucker for fanciful environments, short stories, and ancient, forgotten magic, so it's been a pleasant read.

Next to last, a not too great Young Adult romance fantasy called Tiger's Curse I'm reading because it's someone else's favorite book series. It's a little trashy and poorly written but reading it gives me a warmth imagining the other person reading it when they were younger.

Last, Worm. A 1.6 million mega webnovel about superheroes and supervillains. Feel like I need to explain, but that the explaining would spoil too much of what makes it so fucking GOOD. I'm on the last leg of the story, I read it at night while I'm at work. https://parahumans.wordpress.com/
If you want an action story with amazing, gradual character development and some of the best foreshadowing in a story ever, check this shit out.

[Raijinili]

Albert Camus' The Outsider which was also a strange book. And made me feel weird and uncomfortable about how the main character handled all the situations. He just seemed to take everything in stride... I don't know, maybe I should read the book again. It was short enough that it wouldn't be a huge time sink to do so anyway.

I read this one this summer and found it horrifyingly relatable.

Shortlist of what I've read (I think) since last:
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy Can't believe I didn't post about this one because it's absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking and I want to read her sorta-recently-released second novel
The Monkeywrench Gang - Edward Abbey Fun and hilarious
Desert Solitaire - Edward Abbey Awesome, I love this angry environmentalist
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore Cool, but I think the film was better, if sparser
Two Brothers - Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon Amazing but something I could not truly appreciate, I thought
The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Milan Kundera If I had to choose just one book to be stuck with the rest of my life... It would probably be this or an Abrahamic religious text. This was absolutely wonderful and I had been meaning to get around to it for about 14 years by the time I read it. Beautiful
Asterios Polyp - David M-something Story was ok, characters were great, design was beautiful
The Dharma Bums - Jack Kerouac Hated Kerouac before reading this - still hate him because I see too much of me there, but I respect him as a writer now and have revised my opinion of On The Road a bit more positively
The Trial - Franz Kafka Terrifying and hilarious
Jaguar Smile - Salman Rushdie Ok, more an inspiration to explore his fiction
Habibi - Craig Thompson Painful to read but beautiful, with a mystical focus on calligraphy and sacred geometry that really drew me into the world

I know I'm forgetting a lot since I haven't really posted here in almost two years

Currently working on:
The Rebel - Albert Camus
Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche
The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie

[Raijinili]

I read books in 2018, contrary to the fact I did not post in 2018. I'm here to talk about 2019 instead.

I read Wizard's First Rule because I wanted to read something long in fantasy and remembered hearing good things about the series from places that I've now decided are untrustworthy. It was very easy to read and engaging in how it was written, and fascinating in how terrible it actually was despite that. The whole thing seems to exist just to hate on communism. There were some odd lines throughout the book that made me raise an eyebrow, but I realized I wasn't imagining it and it wasn't a coincidence once they described a master torturer villain's outfit with colors and a symbol very much conjuring up the whole hammer and sickle thing. Rai told me something in a later book involving a statue (people who've read that far will know what this is about, I think). And that shows me he never stopped hating on communism. I don't know what I think of communism itself but I definitely don't want to read a long series that's all about hating on it, especially not if it's in such a shallow and immature way.

... I also read Manufacturing Consent, but Michael Burawoy's, not Chomksy's. It was very interesting from what I understood of it, and definitely spent a lot of time dunking on capitalism, particularly certain forms of it. But it used data and case studies to do it, rather than very basic black and white stories. Would recommend for people interested in the subject, for sure.

Aand just started The End of Trust, which is a collection of writings about electronic surveillance by the government and corporations. The name is perfect for the subject.

[Raijinili]

Never finished The Rebel (still plan to) but instead read Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus which really only talks about Sisyphus for the last three pages but is still a rather fascinating if lengthy argument against suicide (whereas The Rebel is an argument against murder).

The Satanic Verses was really fun. Very beautiful prose, the likes of which I've come to associate with South Asian authors. Overall not sure if I recommend it, but I enjoyed it enough to start reading Midnight Children which I can far more easily recommend. Very reminiscent of A Hundred Years of Solitude in terms of its narrative style (heavy and subtly misleading foreshadowing, densely tangential, etc) and very funny when it wants to be.

Thus Spoke Zarathustra was insulting and hilarious and I don't recommend it to anyone even though I feel like I personally benefited greatly from reading it. I just don't know anyone I know would enjoy and appreciate it. There are probably other books you can get a lot from without having to deal with Nietzsche like...

The Courage to Be Disliked which is a Socratic dialogue exploring Adlerian psychology. It's a general take down of popular forms of meaning-generation and trauma/privilege-based fate.

Lawrence Durrell's Balthazar and Mountolive. If you look several pages back you can see I read the first in this series, Justine something like ten years ago and it depleted me. I forced my way through the difficult and beautiful prose of parts two and three, where the narrative took on a second and third dimensional look at the events and characters and depleted me further. It may be another decade before I can tackle the final book, but I hope not to wait so long.

Written on the Body was a rather sad love story that I read because a lover told me it was her favorite book and I thought it was a strange favorite for her but it was enjoyable. It uses some more experimental prose styles, and the title predicts a mid-novel foray into a series of extended conceits on gross anatomy and romantic memory.