I was pretty turned off from reading when I was in high school. I hated having to read at a certain pace as I’ve always been a slow reader. More than that though, I hated being quizzed on what I read. Sometimes even when I read the book I could forget some detail being asked. Lastly, more than anything, I hated being taught what I was supposed to take away from a book.

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Anyway, in the past couple years I started reading simply for myself and it’s been a really amazing experience. I started with Crime & Punishment by Dostoevsky and it was a little difficult for me but I got to a certain point and could not put this book down at all.

There was one detail in C&P that bothered me however, and it was >!That a large message was “The truth will set you free” and basically the murderer learned to confess his crimes and go to prison to make things right with God. !< I didn’t really like this connection, and I’m also not religious. Regardless, I found this to be a fantastic read and loved the style and messages, even if I didn’t agree with them, I still found them well thought-out and could contemplate them.

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Next I read Les Misérables, and found the message to be almost entirely in contradiction with the message in Crime & Punishment (at least from my personal take) and I loved it so much. The book took me on an incredible journey and really did change the way I look at life. That being said, I found the book a bit challenging to read, and while the author is clearly talented, it was a little difficult form me to keep up with so many references, both historical and literary.

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Then I went hard on the Dostoevsky train because I love his style so much. I read Brothers karamazov, The Idiot, and just finished Demons… Next I want to read Notes from the Underground.

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What I worry about, is I might lose that sense of relief and empowerment when I found Victor Hugo basically writing >!“The prison system is flawed, and in many ways can make you a worse person, straying farther from God” !< while I felt myself in disagreement with Dostoevsky.

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One extra thing, I am an atheist, and this hasn’t turned me off by any means to Dostoevsky, if anything I fully enjoy seeing all of the thoughts he’s had on the matter. I actually did try to find an atheistic writer I liked and gave The Stranger by Albert Camus a shot, did not really enjoy it. Also tried Twilight of The Idols… didn’t love it either, but willing to admit I wasn’t in the right headspace to take on something like that and I will likely try it again down the road.

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What do you think? Have you ever dove very deep into one author? Or do you make yourself switch things up just to see different viewpoints?

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