Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Good Books

good books.
what is a good book?
i mean i've read plenty but the way i judge a good book, or the way i know it's a good book is when i get this sort of depression or ache in my chest, somewhere near my heart. It's physical. Then i start getting kind of sad no matter what. i'll even get damn depressed when it ends with a good ending; i'll get sad cuz the happiness is over.

the feeling that the book evokes is just too damn much.
sometimes i feel like i wish i never read it just because i feel too damn depressed afterwards.

speaking of depressed, why are depressing stories with angst and shit considered "good"
i've noticed that this happens quite often.
whatever the genre, whether it be comedy or something else, if it makes you cry at the end or at least at some point, you think "damn that was good"

making you cry is good?
getting you all depressed is good?
so basically a "good read" is something that makes you sad or watever

don't get me wrong
i like good books and getting to know about human nature and all that stuff
it's damn enlightening and will open doors that you didn't even know were there for you
yea sad books can get your mind going sometimes
when reading sad books is a rarity, you'll get a real kick out of the stuff you can learn from people dying, good vs evil, the devil and all that kind of stuff

on the other hand it bothers me a little to have to finish a supposed "good read" with sadness
i'll think too much afterwards
and i'll never get anything else done because of that

that's why we need some comedy
all this heavy stuff weighs down too much
i can feel it in my brain and my chest
honestly i feel like my brain just gained an extra pound
not necessarily in smartness or knowledge
just uncomfortably weighing down

no i don't have a medical condition
i'm sure i can be the only one with these sort of post-read mental...hindrances

anyway
that's why i love making people laugh,
i'm actually glad to make people laugh their asses off and all that trite stuff like "laughter is the best medicine" or watever.
Trite Truth though.

there are some people out there who wants to make you think
and then there are those who can make you laugh
but there are also those who can make you do both

i think that's the best way to absorb knowledge; laughing your way through it
enjoying the ride

now that i think about it, if there was a good book  - a supposed good story
and it was the best story in the world, winning all the awards and all that but it was also the best of all time
like it beat out all the great fiction writers of human history
a super book,
but if it made you depressed in the end, made you cry harder than any other book
i mean if that's what it takes to read this book, to absorb the best of the best knowledge from it,
then i wouldn't do it.
i'll just buy myself a chris rock show ticket.

once in a while is alright
but when so called "good books" get to only be depressing sob stories, then it's not worth reading
if that's what the critics like and if that's what people are following then forget it

do what you like
but for me, i like a good laugh every once in a while.
i'll get depressed easily just from not laughing enough





3 comments:

  1. Hmm just a thought, your musing about books reminds me of the classic dilemma, is it better to love and have lost, or to have never experienced love?
    & If a book is all happy, I suppose that illustrates ignorance, so generally more "good" books are more mellow than Disney-ish books...and well most talented writers are depressed, no? Once you start thinking too much about life, well... it's true that ignorance, e.g. going out drinking and partying, really is more...carefree. It does relieve you of thinking and leaves you with a sense of euphoria.
    Also good books: Making you cry = emotion & empathy. A bad book would tell a story about death, but you would feel indifferent.
    Hey I'm sure there's a great book that's not centralized on depression out there, but we just don't know it lol O.O Actually aren't many movies like this already? Like Forrest Gump :D And isn't Forrest Gump a book? :P (get where I'm going at...? lol)
    & nooo don't be depressed D: , depression is self-invoked...just always find something to look forward to~
    I also found this article a few days ago, named "Is Happiness Overrated?"
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576200471545379388.html
    Conclusion: Sense of Purpose > Happiness ~~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yo dude i'm not depressed although thanks for the concern
      i'm just saying that a lot of "good books" are sad books and i'm trying to figure out why that is. I'm wondering a non sad book can be a "good book" but i'm not talking about ignorant books. ignorance is not happy.

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    2. how is ignorance not happy? o.o
      i cant see how it's unhappy (..? or else why woudl people drink, do drugs, etc.)
      well of course, it depends on how u define ignorance
      but i think there's a reason that people always say "ignorance is bliss"

      well many "good books" are gloomy because
      they convey the author's musings on social commentary.
      the hard reality of non-ignorance is that
      the world is at many times merciless, unjust, filled with corruption, filled with suffering.
      not a lotta realistic happily ever afters...

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