Even after reading How to Do Nothing — and even writing about it a few times here on Substack — I still find myself falling into this trap of feeling like I've failed by not meeting my reading goal. I might compensate for this by breezing through a shorter book or easier read, and I suppose I should confront my motivation for doing so. This essay was helpful in that regard.
That being said, I did pick up Hopscotch (in Spanish, no less) here in Argentina, which in and of itself is two books, or an infinite number of books, depending on your interpretation of its mutable chapter order. I've been reading it on and off for almost three months now, and realistically I won't finish it this year, but it is nice to have as a personal challenge, one that's totally independent of my reading list or any other capitalist conventions that seek to entrap me into gamifying my reading.
I've read so many of Dostoevsky's books but The Brothers Karamazov is one that I haven't gotten around to and has been on my list for what feels like forever, so this is great motivation to finally pick it up and read it!
Reading long books is so wonderful because it's so immersive, and it really makes you feel like you're reclaiming your attention from all of the million things that are trying to distract us from thinking and feeling deeply in this day and age. Last year, I read Proust's In Search of Lost Time over the course of two months, and it was so nice to just feel like I was relinquishing myself to the meditative beauty of Proust's prose. Long books are so much more of an "experience"—I really felt like I was living half my life in Proust's world during those two months.
Not this coming into my inbox as I bravely decided yesterday to pick up ‘The Lacuna’ off my bookshelf by Kingsolver which is almost 700 pages long. I have been SAYING I was going to read it this summer (bc it has someone in trunks diving on the front so it felt wrong to pick up last autumn when I bought it) and now the time is here I’ve been feeling cowardly. I do absolutely agree that when you’re a reader, bigger books often just represent getting round to reading less because you’re committing to such a long piece of work.
But I want to see it out and try! I loved East of Eden so much last month and that was hefty and perhaps has helped alleviate some big book fear! Because it didn’t feel like a huge task to read bc of the enjoyment. I also really resonate to the comment about how cumulatively you enjoyed the book, but page by page not so much. I think that’s how I felt about Master & Marg - while I stew on how I’m going to write the review, on the one hand I enjoyed the story as an overall piece of work, but within the specific page by page writing and following of the plot there were a few times I very much wanted to give up. Perhaps that’s just Russian literature lmao.
excited to hear about the lacuna (if you commit to it!) the only kingsolver i've read was the bean trees in school, but otherwise she's a blank spot to me, despite how widely beloved she is!
master & margarita is basically the only other russian novel i've read! both are so loosely unstructured - surprising to me compared to british lit of comparable periods (especially TBK) - turning the page meant being launched into a totally new plot, ha!
I can absolutely feel that same resistance toward longer books, and even though part of it is maybe (probably) having a reading goal for the year, I think another much bigger part is just the fact that there are so many books and authors I'm excited to read, and longer books mean I get to fewer (although I don't know why things have to feel so urgent - I'd like to think I'll get to them eventually). I've been trying to read more longer books this year too - would consider Middlemarch my favorite so far, or the second in Knausgaard's My Struggle series. Günter Grass' The Tin Drum was a bit of a flop for me. And Grossman's Stalingrad was something I think I cumulatively enjoyed rather than page-by-page. Thanks for sharing a great post! motivating me to reach for the next long book on my shelf, maybe Pessoa's Book of Disquiet
yes! that is a HUGE component - the feeling, and honestly the reality, that you'll never get to read everything, and that an investment in one book is at the expense of others.
middlemarch was probably my favourite book of last year (a re-read) - truly a transcendent experience reading, i felt real grief ending the story, and one of the reasons i reached for TBK, hoping to chase that immersive quality (not quite accomplished, but worth it anyways!)
"Cumulatively: yes. Page by page, often no" - my sentiments exactly on most books that challenge me in some way (The Idiot, Drive Your Bones). I have always been drawn to the chonky boys over the slim novels (perhaps the more for your money bit, capitalism ruins the party again!) and have picked quite a few this year that are absolutely best reads of the year. Being immersed in a world just takes me out like nothing else.
as someone who consumed the brothers karamazov by audiobook while playing civilization ii a few years ago, this was an unpleasant reminder that i remember it much less well (i think) than "the idiot," or than i'd like to. broadly i agree with everything you said, except all of the characters' names you mentioned felt impenetrably meaningless.
Even after reading How to Do Nothing — and even writing about it a few times here on Substack — I still find myself falling into this trap of feeling like I've failed by not meeting my reading goal. I might compensate for this by breezing through a shorter book or easier read, and I suppose I should confront my motivation for doing so. This essay was helpful in that regard.
That being said, I did pick up Hopscotch (in Spanish, no less) here in Argentina, which in and of itself is two books, or an infinite number of books, depending on your interpretation of its mutable chapter order. I've been reading it on and off for almost three months now, and realistically I won't finish it this year, but it is nice to have as a personal challenge, one that's totally independent of my reading list or any other capitalist conventions that seek to entrap me into gamifying my reading.
I've read so many of Dostoevsky's books but The Brothers Karamazov is one that I haven't gotten around to and has been on my list for what feels like forever, so this is great motivation to finally pick it up and read it!
Reading long books is so wonderful because it's so immersive, and it really makes you feel like you're reclaiming your attention from all of the million things that are trying to distract us from thinking and feeling deeply in this day and age. Last year, I read Proust's In Search of Lost Time over the course of two months, and it was so nice to just feel like I was relinquishing myself to the meditative beauty of Proust's prose. Long books are so much more of an "experience"—I really felt like I was living half my life in Proust's world during those two months.
Not this coming into my inbox as I bravely decided yesterday to pick up ‘The Lacuna’ off my bookshelf by Kingsolver which is almost 700 pages long. I have been SAYING I was going to read it this summer (bc it has someone in trunks diving on the front so it felt wrong to pick up last autumn when I bought it) and now the time is here I’ve been feeling cowardly. I do absolutely agree that when you’re a reader, bigger books often just represent getting round to reading less because you’re committing to such a long piece of work.
But I want to see it out and try! I loved East of Eden so much last month and that was hefty and perhaps has helped alleviate some big book fear! Because it didn’t feel like a huge task to read bc of the enjoyment. I also really resonate to the comment about how cumulatively you enjoyed the book, but page by page not so much. I think that’s how I felt about Master & Marg - while I stew on how I’m going to write the review, on the one hand I enjoyed the story as an overall piece of work, but within the specific page by page writing and following of the plot there were a few times I very much wanted to give up. Perhaps that’s just Russian literature lmao.
excited to hear about the lacuna (if you commit to it!) the only kingsolver i've read was the bean trees in school, but otherwise she's a blank spot to me, despite how widely beloved she is!
master & margarita is basically the only other russian novel i've read! both are so loosely unstructured - surprising to me compared to british lit of comparable periods (especially TBK) - turning the page meant being launched into a totally new plot, ha!
I can absolutely feel that same resistance toward longer books, and even though part of it is maybe (probably) having a reading goal for the year, I think another much bigger part is just the fact that there are so many books and authors I'm excited to read, and longer books mean I get to fewer (although I don't know why things have to feel so urgent - I'd like to think I'll get to them eventually). I've been trying to read more longer books this year too - would consider Middlemarch my favorite so far, or the second in Knausgaard's My Struggle series. Günter Grass' The Tin Drum was a bit of a flop for me. And Grossman's Stalingrad was something I think I cumulatively enjoyed rather than page-by-page. Thanks for sharing a great post! motivating me to reach for the next long book on my shelf, maybe Pessoa's Book of Disquiet
yes! that is a HUGE component - the feeling, and honestly the reality, that you'll never get to read everything, and that an investment in one book is at the expense of others.
middlemarch was probably my favourite book of last year (a re-read) - truly a transcendent experience reading, i felt real grief ending the story, and one of the reasons i reached for TBK, hoping to chase that immersive quality (not quite accomplished, but worth it anyways!)
"Cumulatively: yes. Page by page, often no" - my sentiments exactly on most books that challenge me in some way (The Idiot, Drive Your Bones). I have always been drawn to the chonky boys over the slim novels (perhaps the more for your money bit, capitalism ruins the party again!) and have picked quite a few this year that are absolutely best reads of the year. Being immersed in a world just takes me out like nothing else.
So glad to have found your stack through Martha 🙂
as someone who consumed the brothers karamazov by audiobook while playing civilization ii a few years ago, this was an unpleasant reminder that i remember it much less well (i think) than "the idiot," or than i'd like to. broadly i agree with everything you said, except all of the characters' names you mentioned felt impenetrably meaningless.
okay, but audiobook + civilization is true transcendence, oneness with the universe, the flow state
it absolutely is and i appreciate you backing me up on this