I believe in reading books that matter. Books that affect us. Books that can tear the wool from our eyes and make us see. Books that don't offer escapism, but truth. Just as Kafka puts it here:
'I think we ought to read only the kind of
books that wound or stab us. If the book we’re reading doesn’t wake us
up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for? So that it will
make us happy, as you write? Good Lord, we would be happy
precisely if we had no books, and the kind of books that make us happy
are the kind we could write ourselves if we had to. But we need books
that affect us like a disaster, that grieve us deeply, like the death of
someone we loved more than ourselves, like being banished into forests
far from everyone, like a suicide. A book must be the axe for the frozen
sea within us. That is my belief.' – Franz Kafka
And mine. How about you?
~Siobhán
bonjour Siobhân, la même chose... mais avec des glaçons (ici à Arles...il fait chaud). :-)
ReplyDeleteBonsoir Thige, ah oui, il fait chaud ici aussi, trés chaud! :)
DeleteYou are quite correct. I have muddled through many average books and though they have been a pleasant read, they are not remembered. The books that stay with me forever have caused me pain and emotion.
ReplyDeleteExactly Juliette! The ones that leave a mark wound somehow.
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