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Originally Posted by MicShazam
I love reading essays about interesting topics and I want to read the thoughts of creative, smart people like Wallace and Sontag. The problem is that they sometimes operate at the limits of my intellectual capacity. Sometimes well over 
Wallace's books on philosophy and math especially put my poor brain through the wringer. Progress is slow, but I'm patting myself on the back for having read well over a 100 pages of each... phew...
Still, despite this, Wallace and Sontag's essay collections are probably my favorite books so far. |
^ I've done my share of reading stuff that was difficult to digest, but these days I don't have much patience with authors that are too challenging. But yes, I also like the essay form; it's a sober, under-the-radar form that never gets much attention. I have to say, though, that my favourite essay collections are by journalists, not academics.
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I see a lot of novels, the titles and/or authors of which I recognize, but I have read absolutely none of them! I don't know what is wrong with me, but try as I might, novels just aren't clicking with me. I don't own a single novel anymore, shameful as that is.
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^ I wouldn't worry about that MicShazam: you sound like my dad, who once justified not reading novels by saying, "Well, they're not real, are they?"
Today I probably read two non-fiction for each novel I read, although in the past novels absolutely dominated. My attitude used to be, "Non fiction = school text book, so I'm not reading it unless a teacher tells me to"!
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I've got plenty of comic books though 
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^ Well, you deserve a break after all those difficult essayists.
