Awhile ago I downloaded several books including things like War & Peace, Sense & Sensibilities, Ulysses etc.
Some of them are quite thick, and I am wondering if I mostly did so to seem intelligent or smart on some subconscious level.
Have any of you gotten enjoyment or insight from any of these kinds of books? or is it just society and schooling that are telling me these are “good.”?
I think I’ve read most of the main classics. Here’s my ranking:
Life-Changing: Moby Dick, The Magic Mountain, Ulysses, Beckett’s three novels, The Man Without Qualities, Stendhal’s The Red and the Black, Against Nature, Maldoror.
Exceptionally Good: The Trial, The Sleepwalkers, JR and The Recognitions, The Book of Disquiet, ISOLT.
[everything else]
Vastly Overrated/Shit: 1984, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Wurthington Heights, Madame Bovary.
In Search Of Lost Time by Proust. I’ve only read the first three books because its a massive undertaking but its worth it
