Book Commercials & Misanthropic Observations

Literary Rubbernecking

Recently Hannah was kind enough to let me add to her library. Why was it kind? Because she listened indulgently while I excitedly explained to her my favorite chapter in War & Peace: all the selfish individualism that lost the battle, and took a copy I gave her to read.

I also enthusiastically informed her that the grace and compassion I observe in Hannah was so like the character Sonya in Crime & Punishment that she MUST read it. She agreed- But it wasn’t on my bookshelf! Augh!!

So after all that, instead she let me give her Anna Karenina. – Which brings me to my topic: literary rubbernecking.

When a character’s life in a great novel is a total car wreck I find complete joy in rubbernecking and exploring the consequences of mind bogglingly bad decisions without actually having to deal with the total drama of experiencing it real life.

I highly recommend the practice and the 2 best novels for such diversions are Anna Karenina and The Great Gatsby. The Great Gatsby can be read in a few hours, so give it a try; dip your toe into the water of vicariously experiencing blatant materialism, utter self absorption, complete ignorance of consequences and melodrama. If you like the Great Gatsby, give Tolstoy a try- you may fall in love with the Russian novelists as much as I have. They are not as easy to read as F Scott Fitzgerald, but just as delightful.

And another wonderful recommend: All you coffee shop lovin’ postmoderns will love the long discussions of the meaning of life in The Brothers Karmazov. There’s plenty of dysfunction to enjoy in that one too.