TheFifthElement
03-13-2011, 02:50 PM
I was wondering if anyone else ever finds themselves going a bit nuts when they read a particular book? For me, a great novel can have quite an effect on my psyche. It can make me joyous or glum, excited or depressed. And in my exploration of the written word, I've also found a few books which have made me a bit nutty, crazy, bonkers, okay basically a bit loony. Have you found this too? If so, share your experience here.
For me, the books that have made me crazy are:
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. I had to quit this part way through the first time I read it, because I just couldn't take it any more. It's repetitive, obsessive, dynamic, bureaucratic and nonsense. Oh, and did I mention brilliant? Yes, it's that too. On the second reading it didn't make me quite as crazy, and I did find it a lot of fun. But crazy it made me. Oh yes.
Hunger by Knut Hamsun. Another book I had to quit the first time, but glad I persevered for a second go. The nameless main character is totally bonkers. He swings from one starvation moment to the next and as you read you begin to realise that he's doing it deliberately, because the hunger fuels his writing, fuels his mind. It's not an easy going book, and you may need to spend some time in a mental institution afterwards, but a worthwhile sufference nonetheless.
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. I've just nearly finished this, I've got 50 pages to go. It's been a rollercoaster. I feel like I've been inside the mind of Anna Wulf. She's a bit bonkers, to say the least. I wonder, sometimes, if someone read my notebook would they think the same? Probably. Anyway, it spans politics, love, friendship, feminism, parenting, chaos, chaos, chaos, psychoanalysis, dream therapy and writers' block. After reading it, I think I might need to chunk my life up into separate notebooks, just to make sense of it.
So, there's mine. Now show me yours :D
For me, the books that have made me crazy are:
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. I had to quit this part way through the first time I read it, because I just couldn't take it any more. It's repetitive, obsessive, dynamic, bureaucratic and nonsense. Oh, and did I mention brilliant? Yes, it's that too. On the second reading it didn't make me quite as crazy, and I did find it a lot of fun. But crazy it made me. Oh yes.
Hunger by Knut Hamsun. Another book I had to quit the first time, but glad I persevered for a second go. The nameless main character is totally bonkers. He swings from one starvation moment to the next and as you read you begin to realise that he's doing it deliberately, because the hunger fuels his writing, fuels his mind. It's not an easy going book, and you may need to spend some time in a mental institution afterwards, but a worthwhile sufference nonetheless.
The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing. I've just nearly finished this, I've got 50 pages to go. It's been a rollercoaster. I feel like I've been inside the mind of Anna Wulf. She's a bit bonkers, to say the least. I wonder, sometimes, if someone read my notebook would they think the same? Probably. Anyway, it spans politics, love, friendship, feminism, parenting, chaos, chaos, chaos, psychoanalysis, dream therapy and writers' block. After reading it, I think I might need to chunk my life up into separate notebooks, just to make sense of it.
So, there's mine. Now show me yours :D