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comment by rjw
rjw  ·  2919 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: November 30, 2016

The heating's borked (we're working on it, don't worry) so I spent the last two evenings sitting in cafes after work reading books instead of sitting at home on the computer in the freezing cold. I had few distractions and managed to read at least 100 pages on each evening. I finished "The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse and made progress on "2666" by Roberto BolaƱo. Both are long. I need to allocate more time in my life for reading books. I'm glad I managed to make the most out of this inconvenience.

edit: OH YEAH AND I'M SEEING PC MUSIC TONIGHT AAAHHHHH





rezzeJ  ·  2919 days ago  ·  link  ·  

What did you think of 'The Glass Bead Game?' I love Hesse's work, it got me back into reading and through some bleaker times.

rjw  ·  2918 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I've also read Steppenwolf and Siddartha, but it was a few years ago as a first-year university student. I wonder how I would react to them now, being at a different stage in my own Bildungsroman. Now that I've properly started adulting, I am confronted with the question of how I should approach my life. Previously I was a student so my priorities were (or seemed to be) very clearly set out but I cannot take advantage of that excuse anymore. So I find books like The Glass Bead Game interesting because of they might relate to my life.

It was enjoyable to read. The last three stories were especially engaging but that's probably just because I prefer short stories to long novels. I might skip back to the part of the book where Knecht is a young adult to see how they correspond to his attitudes in that stage of his life.

The book is optimistic, it calls for people to live their lives with more sincerity, to be open to different ways of thinking, to escape the ivory tower. There are a few obviously didactic passages but in general it's the story of someone finding their way in the world and not an instruction guide. This is a good thing.

rezzeJ  ·  2919 days ago  ·  link  ·  
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