I disagree with Kafka about the kind of books we "need" as individuals. We use books for both information and escape. Thank goodness we have freedom of choice!
Perhaps you should join in the group discussion here on Sat. July 11 regarding STILL ALICE.
posted by rapa
4 months ago
Oh my goodness, that is so much drama. What a book should be "for me" is entertaining, and that inculdes a lot of lightness, like Janet Evanovich's books. Intriguing is good too, like Oliver Sack's books about unusual medical stories about the brain. My own life has had all the elements listed by Kafka, so I need escape. :) I am sure others will have better books that fit the bill.
Sophie's Choice certainly hit me in the gut.
If a book does not draw me in completely and rip out my heart, I can't really get into it.
Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns (by the same author) really did it for me. When, oh, when is he going to write another book?
I think Kafka takes a bit too much responsibility onto himself trying to tell people what they "need" in a book, and while I HAVE definitely read books that bring up many, many different emotions, this phrasing brings to mind the term, "drama queen", or king, as in this case. Lighthearted books often achieve as much as some serious, written to inspire deep thoughts, tome....
I think Kafka probably wouldn't have fit well in our Bookoholics group. Maybe HE needed an "ax for the frozen sea within" him," but what a drag his book suggestions might have been here!!
I find myself agreeing with all of the above. Seems reading books fill different "needs" for the ever-needy reader and not necessarily the same ones at the same time. We live in a moving, evolving world and try to order our lives to stay effective in the here and now. That means looking forward as well as back, but do your living today. It may be all you have left.
Lots of good books fit the description. I can remember Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns as this kind of a gut wrenching experience. Water for Elephants was also of this category. Many of the books that Oprah lists are exactly this type of story. At the time, The Reader did it to me also. I did read The Trial this year and felt the discomfort and irony that has come to be know as Kafkaesque. To use another Kafka novel title, you make a Metamorphism during your read.
Here are some down to earth descriptions of Kafkaesque:
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posted by rapa
4 months ago
Thanks, rapa. You know, I read that and at first I was thinking how it could be applied, lots of different spins on it, bla bla bla, I also then went to thinking that nobody would be stupid enough to do that, in actuality, for one thing, WHO was supposed to give permission. I'd say that the person waiting for permission would be the one to give HIMSELF permission to go in.... I know I'm being very literal here, LOL.... I've never given any thought to Kafka, may have to do that now....
