If that even makes sense. Perhaps I’m wishing for a book that doesn’t or cannot exist. I want to read something that is relaxing while stimulating and satisfying curiosity. I dont want something juvenile. It’s ok if it’s deep and thought provoking, but doesn’t have to be. It should not have conflict.
When I imagine such a book, I think of beautiful descriptions of a forest and the things that live there. The weather. The scenery.
I just had the thought that what Im describing is poetry, but poetry is something which I’ve struggled to enjoy.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.
I also love the Wayfarer Series by Becky Chambers. They take me on a little adventure too!!
Other ones may be Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree, The House on the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. Wholesome reads IMO
Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers might satisfy that itch. It’s not for everyone because it’s more of an “ideas driven” story, but I found it to be a very cozy read.
This makes me think of Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. Spiritual without being preachy. Just a man searching for meaning. I remember thinking it was an easy read.
A while back I listened to Siddhartha on Librevox. I love it and the reader was great too.
I can think. I can wait. I can fast.
I don’t have any suggestion off-hand, but I understand your request and actually have been reading so much less the past couple years just to avoid the heightened emotional tones that seem so pervasive. I want to read to learn and understand but I don’t need calls to action or tugs on my heartstrings or the sort of smug outrage and moralism that is everywhere – those come from all the rest of life.
Yes, exactly. Nonfiction can sometimes scratch that itch for me, but it’s not exactly what I want either.
When I imagine such a book, I think of beautiful descriptions of a forest and the things that live there. The weather. The scenery.
The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, it is about a nearish future colonisation of Mars, and Mars is as much a character as any of the humans. He spends a lot of time talking about geology and how they go about the project of terraforming. It does have conflict, and it can be exciting, but a lot it is just people work to solve problems.
Another rec would be The Emerald Mile, by Kevin Fedarko, which is just awesome. It’s about the grand canyon generally, and in particular about the rafting scene there.
I’ve read the Mars Trilogy and really enjoyed it. Although I stopped reading the third book when it KSR started writing old man wish fulfillment fantasy of old men sleeping with super young women.
The Emerald Mile sounds very interesting, added to my list.
If you like The Emerald Mile, I would also recommend The Tower by Kelly Cordes. I don’t think it is as strong, but it is another book at the juncture of outdoor adventure and history, and I liked it a lot.
Lord of the Rings scratches that ich for me, I can jump into any chapter and read or listen for a while and know the story well enough that I never feel lost
It should not have conflict.
LOTR… really?
I mean, maybe some chapters here and there, but LOTR is ABOUT conflict.
LOTR is about walking with some conflict sprinkled in
It might be my admittedly limited genre of reading, but the first long earth book does this for me. Most of the adventure is just stepping through hundred of varying types of earth, most unpopulated, and exploring to see what is out there.
There’s more to the book than that, but those are my favorite sections.
It’s written by Pratchett and Baxter and although not without its faults, the first one is still a fun read for me.
Poetry is exactly my thought, so out of curiosity, is there something in particular about it that is unappealing? I teach lit, and poetry gives a lot of people panic, but if you don’t have to analyze it for a paper or something, it’s really a lot of fun. Because Robert Frost writing about New England and something like falling asleep after apple picking can be sublime.
I’ve enjoyed some poetry, especially during several college courses I took where I had to read it. My problem, and this is going to sound really stupid, is that there’s something about rhyming and broken line formatting of a lot of poetry that puts me on edge.
It’s like a subtle feeling of nails going across a chalkboard to read line after line of rhyming verse. Lines stopping suddenly followed by hanging indents feels like being in stop and go traffic. It’s something I try and get past every few years but without success. It feels like work and not reading for pleasure. My thought was it probably has something to do with ADHD.
Maybe I should give Leaves of Grass another go.
My suggestion — and you probably won’t like it — is to read it out loud. The secret to poetry: you actually just blast through those line breaks, indents, etc. and don’t stop until there’s punctuation and then treat it appropriately. It’ll feel super cringey and uncomfortable, but this will make the actual eye motion and reading part a lot easier with a little practice! Sure it looks structured and weird on the page, but it’s generally not meant to be read that way. It should sound more like natural language, and honestly, once I learned to ignore everything but punctuation for a first read through, it clicked so much faster.
Last time I tried to get into poetry I bought a copy of The Best Poems of the English Language compiled by Harold Bloom. I’ll try reading aloud from it to my partner. If she complains, I’ll tell her a lit teacher gave me an assignment.
NovelAI?