I got stuck in a rut earlier today thinking about Albert Camus’ The Stranger. Not a great way to spend your mid-day, post-lunch, I can assure.
The things that have been weighing heavily on my mind – politics (both office and national varieties), what I want out of my “home life”, religion and faith – you know, the big questions, are still unresolved but I bled into that dark place today. Not good.
I contemplated (thought about, not considered joining up) Satanism, Libertarianism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Existentialism and Death. All in the space of about an hour. I was busy.
Where I meted out, personally, was the need to get some definition through perspective and experience. A little existentialist, a little pragmatist. You see, I’m going to Maui a week from Saturday and reading material is a must for plane rides and beach vacations.
Here’s my short list. Hopefully I come away with perspective, if not epiphany, serenity or my own new philosophy.
- Engleby: A Novel
by Sebastian Faulks
- Everything Is Illuminated
- Grey
by Jon Armstrong
- Kerouac’s On the Road (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
- Another book of your own suggestion
The new Bond book, Devil May Care, by Faulks under commission of the Fleming family hits bookstores tomorrow. I haven’t read any of his work and want to try something accessible before reading the very pulp-y Bond.
I feel like I should have read this already. Much like The Amazing Adventure of Kavalier & Clay, I’m ashamed to admit that I’m so late to the game.
I have an advance reader copy that is begging to be read.
It’s time. I’m on a bit of journey, it was mentioned in Lost and I got a copy for free.
I’m looking for something entertaining (obviously) but one with themes relating to change, movement and self-discovery.
I won’t laugh at you if you suggest Walden by Thoreau, but I won’t read it.
Happy Reading! (And hopefully happy me soon too, though Hawaii will help regardless of the book).
In the cases of both Satanism and Libertarianism (but more specifically, capitalist anarchy), what I find so often appeals to so many of their would-be followers, when I ask them about it, seems to be the subtraction of pretense and bullshit. That’s admirable, but human beings invented pretense and bullshit to facilitate some other stuff we like, so a degree of it may yet be necessary. Babies and bath water, as it were.
And, yes, this shit has come up in conversation. As a gamer and (generously, to myself) fantasist, I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Wiccans and Satanists and the Norse. Those three overlap with “gamer” with some frequency. 🙂
If you like On the Road half as much as I did/do, it’ll rock your world.
[…] Like Seth, I’m also trying to get some reading done both on the way/back and under the sun with the waves lapping at my toes. The bits I’m currently reading aren’t doing anything for me, with the exception of The Last Lecture which The Mc just brought home and will surely just make me cry. Because I’m a crier. It’s what I do. […]
If you’re looking for something about change & self-discovery, and you want to get “out there” a bit, I highly recommend Robert Anton Wilson’s Cosmic Trigger (vol. 1). It changed my life when I read it, but I was also like, 19.