ITT:

Books that upset you

y tho?

*Why do you feel this way?

What was upsetting about it, OP?

Grendel was my "existential crisis" book, back before you were born, probably. It feels silly now that it affected me that way, but it was really defining for me for at least five years.

But better, I think, than a guy I talked to recently who was affected that way by House of Leaves.

I'm not a pedophile, so naturally, just listening to the guy be, as he was intended to be, a sleazeball, was hard, especially because he was so good at it.

I don't think its silly, really. The book has some weirdly overt references, but otherwise is unrelenting past the dragon with a horrible serial killer vibe from a character I kept trying to sympathize with. I cried reading Middlemarch though, so whatever.

I just get upset at the idea of someone becoming shitty because they're lonely. The Mountain Goat scene really bothered me, the description he made of Beowulf reminds me of the weird schizotypal funks I get into from time to time.

It just hit really weirdly.

...

Other Tolstoy short stories as well.

God that guy was an asshole. It's as if uncle Ruckus from the Boondocks wrote a book on niggers nigging only it seems to be totally sincere. I do not understand what the author was thinking.

bump

I'm not a gorilla, so naturally, just listening to the guy be, as he was intended to be, a monkey, was hard, especially because he was so good at it.

But imagine how tight her pussy would be clamping down on your cock.

lmao loosen up faggot

...

Well, it's a piss-poor splatter of muh vagina gore across a canvas intended to be hung next to the vital cultural expression that is Beowulf. It's not upsetting to me, but I can see why some would react in such a way.

So pissed.

Well, yeah, those parts really got to me, too. What I was saying was silly was how the spiral the book put me into determined so much about my life, my relationships, etc.

I really, really like Lolita--but when I first read it, I literally threw the book across the room. I think it was the passage "her sobs in the night — every night, every night — the moment I feigned sleep" that did it for me.

fucking kek

Anyone read Gardner's other works? which ones are good? I own The Sunlit Monologues but it's fuken HUGE and a bit intimidating. Not ready to invest the time on a doorstopper unless it's worth it.

>I threw it across the room
w h y

I've read most of his works. Sunlight Dialogues and October Light are both good, but similarly weighty with philosophical asides. You might pick up Nickel Mountain--it's just a beautiful book, and considerably shorter.

There's also his short story collection "The King's Indian", which I remember liking a lot, but it's been a very long time.

Because I was thoroughly involved in the book at that point, and had a moment of genuine rage when I read that passage.

Incidentally, for any Gardnerfags out there, Grendel was made into an opera (directed by Julie Taymor) and a cartoon called Grendel Grendel Grendel. I've never been able to find a video of the opera, but own the cartoon. It's terrible and charming at the same time. It definitely does not have the seriousness of the novel.

My last name is Gardner, should I read this book?

You should only read it if your name is Grendel

Dialogues sounds good, I'm ok with philosophical digressions. My local store has Mickelson's Ghosts, besides Dialogues which I own, is that good too?

I haven't read Mickelsson's Ghosts yet. My wife, who is a philosophy professor (relevant because of the subject matter), thought it was great, though.

Maybe it's an overstatement, but I've found that people who like one Gardner (non-Grendel) novel tend to like them all.