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Coffee with Hardcore Literature (Q&A AMA Episode VI) (Patreon)

Published:
2021-09-26 12:40:27
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

It was a beautiful crisp morning, so I decided to take my coffee and your wonderful questions outside for this episode.

Thank you for submitting such deep and nuanced questions - it has resulted in a really enjoyable bookish conversation.

We're talking about identifying with characters like Anna Karenina, reading retreats and socratic methods, essay writing and book reviews, The Lord of the Rings, whether the quality of writing has fallen in recent years, American writers, Post-Modernists, and Modernist writers on next year's schedule, and much more.

I read each question out in full and then respond to it. Feel free to jump to any topic/question you’re most interested in by using the timestamps, or grab a coffee or tea and enjoy whenever you can claim the time for yourself.

Video Timestamps

  • 0:00 do you have any American or Modern books planned?
  • 3:30 how does essay writing increase one's literary appreciation?
  • 11:30 the Oxford tutorial format (and book club reading retreats)
  • 17:57 do you have any essay anthology recommendations?
  • 21:53 what is your analysis of Anna Karenina's character?
  • 27:00 are there any British writers of comedy you would recommend?
  • 33:11 what does "life of allegory" mean?
  • 35:00 do you find times where the novel is too painful to read?
  • 40:00 why haven't there been any good books written recently?
  • 47:00 Lord of the Rings, Zen Poetry, and interviewing members
  • 51:36 showing you what books I'm enjoying recently

Thank you for your great questions. And any questions not answered today will be joyfully embraced in the next episode!

Previous Q&A Shows:

Mentioned in the show

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

Previews only

Coffee with Hardcore Literature (Q&A AMA Episode VI)

0:00 do you have any American or Modern books planned? 3:30 how does essay writing increase one's literary appreciation? 11:30 the Oxford tutorial format (and book club reading retreats) 17:57 do you have any essay anthology recommendations? 21:53 what is your analysis of Anna Karenina's character? 27:00 are there any British writers of comedy you would recommend? 33:11 what does "life of allegory" mean? 35:00 do you find times where the novel is too painful to read? 40:00 why haven't there been any good books written recently? 47:00 Lord of the Rings, Zen Poetry, and interviewing members 51:36 showing you what books I'm enjoying recently

Comments

Caroline P

Hahaha! Just pausing the video because I have been drawing characters from these books. The Uncle in Proust, Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, Rocinante…just finished Cozette and my favourite one has been the Thénardier Woman. It has been huge fun and I am glad you mention that idea.

hardcoreliterature
>>68578061

This is so awesome to hear! I adore the idea of filling up a sketchbook of characters, and the ones you have chosen (or have chosen you) are wonderful. I would love to see Madame Thénardier - I have a conception of her in my mind, and I feel as though many other readers would see similarities!

Florian Pesantes

Benjamin, I was planning to have a little nap between two junks of admin, which I’m regularly having on Sundays in preparation of my clinics of the following week and wanted to relax with this video for a short while beforehand. What a rubbish plan. I watched it entirely skipping the nap, though feel utterly refreshed but also a bit nervous. Your suggestion of the 1000 days with one poem, one essay, one short story a day really fascinated me. But then again the stress of an ever growing to-do-list piling up in front of me set in. I have the habit to spend time on things I want to do regularly and then not finding the time to actually doing them and feeling ashamed as a consequence. I’m kind of a skilled procrastinator. Only by superficially thinking of all I’d like to be doing with my life apart from sleeping, working, household chores, and spending easy time with my family and friends I could easily bring up 7 triplets of activities I’d like to have in my life. Sigh! Impossible to get 21 planned activities scheduled each day. So my plan now is to elaborate a page of these and other important activities and pick 3 of them each day of my life and reflecting on them, so a bit on journaling on top. 3+1. So that might be the perfect balance of not squandering my life but also not to make a sour duty of the greatest pleasures our world even in midst of the chaotic stage of the McEvoy-cycle is offering me. I’ll do that prior to the 17th of October and promise to present you with a “mission accomplished”. Let me express my joy to having been invited in your garden today and you showing us such a healthy and almost happy face. I don’t understand how you achieve to keep your brain within your skull and maintain your youthful face. Don’t tell me it’s just a slap of Nivea. And finally thank you for answering my question, giving me a bit to put my teeth in. To give the mundane non-events of our life that still provoke a strong reaction, seemingly out of proportion, a bigger mythological picture and scene. That’s something I shall think about. Like writing my own Don Quixote part 3 (just for myself, don’t worry 😉)

Florian Pesantes

I found an example for allegorical conversations in England which are easily missed in their deep meaning and ridiculed by us continental brutes. The English know to express their feelings and emotions entirely in terms of meteorology. It is absolutely fine to talk to even completely unknown people one meets in the street about the weather. By commenting on how gorgeous a day is or how damp/cold one can have a perfect allegorical exchange of deep and personal feelings with everyone. By perfectly being able to deny that after the talk. We German males have to drink huge quantities of alcohol to allow ourselves to opening up and forgive ourselves and our counterparts for being pathetically emotional.

Florian Pesantes

Last thing and off topic. On the 26th of September 1905 Jeanne Proust died. Poor Marcel

Scott W

Many thanks, Ben. I love these videos. So enjoyable and so much to think about as a result. I think reading an essay between each book would get me started and be realistic and manageable (thanks for recommendations), and then if any writer in particular excites me I can always read more by choice. I've been writing about my reading more recently, thanks to you and your HLBC; I have a newfound resolution to slow down and relate and engage rather than ticking off lists and burning myself out. It is taking a little discipline, but hopefully less as time goes by and I appreciate how it is enriching my reading and my mental life. I am very excited to hear about the reading retreats! As for painful books, I am confident in the company here to share this. I can't read Wolf Hall. I started once. I suffered and witnessed serious domestic abuse when I was young. The scene early on where the boy is being kicked around the floor and the dog is barking is unbearable for me because I have lived it, and feel the details to be wrong. In a home where things like that actually happen, the dog does not bark. The dog cowers in the corner and wets itself, because whatever the children get occasionally, the dog has been getting ten times worse and more often. It has no bark left. It is not that I can't stomach the violence, but it is that I feel the details to be incongruent with my very painful actual experience. That is why I can't read Wolf Hall. I can't even skip ahead and try to enjoy the rest of the book. It was like being burnt or stung by something, and then avoiding it. To this day I can't smell absinth without feeling unwell because of that one time I got so ill drinking it. I can't hear Wolf Hall or Hilary Mantel without a similar reaction. I could work through it with help. I have had a wonderful therapist over time who I owe a lot to. We just never got around to Wolf Hall. :) I hope this doesn't make anyone uncomfortable. I wanted to share because I trust you all already!), and I know the more of our own experiences we can bring to our discussions here, the more meaningful our journey and effort here together. I have also not actually finished Blood Meridian, Ben. Not because I've experienced anything like it, I just found it to become thicker and heavier and more foreboding and chilling the more I got into it. McCarthy is easily my favourite write in the world, but I have not finished that book yet. I will definitely do so one day. Maybe in 2022. It is a seminal, astounding, piece of literature, that is for sure.

Scott W
>>68582347

I never even realised we English talk about the weather for that reason, but I think you're absolutely right. It's not about the weather at all, is it? Thank you for such an insight into myself! :D

Paul Bernal

My recommendation for essays are the digital Delphi Classics complete works series. I just looked up their collection of Conrad’s works: it includes Conrad’s essays on famous authors and their works, his life, and even his thoughts on the loss of the Titanic. This collection even includes essays by Virginia Woolf and Henry James about Conrad. Delphi Classics seemingly have a collection of complete works for any great author you can think of.

Florian Pesantes
>>68613688

That’s a perfect recommendation. I yesterday remembered Stefan Zweig’s “Sternstunden der Menschheit” written in 1927 translated into English as “The Tide of Fortune: Twelve Historical Miniatures”, a Christmas gift in my childhood which I read and reread many times. I particularly remembered the essay about Haendel, how he played himself back into the grace of King George

Len Larsson
>>68595899

Hi Scott ... thank you for sharing that. I have recently finished reading Hamnet which is flavour of the month at the moment. It was quite good, a few disappointing aspects. But your comments bring this to mind, because when reading it, the are pages and pages about when she loses a child her extreme reactions etc ... it was an uncomfortable read, and it went on and on. I remember thinking, if I was female and had miscarried or lost a child, the treatment in the book would destroy me. I think it was way overdone. So, my observation to you would be that you are not the only one to have such an experience. We have to be aware of our weak points, and need to be careful of which books we choose to read. My advice to you is to move on to something else. There are way better books to read than Hilary Mantel, as you will find over the coming months. Are you reading Les Miserables at the moment? I think it is superb, deals with weighty dark themes, but it is also about how to deal with abuse, forgiveness, moving on, and also the rest of us looking on - or more pointedly looking away - taking responsibility for others who are being mistreated. My best wishes to you - and thank you again for sharing.

Florian Pesantes
>>68614856

Wonderful book(s), I loved them then, I’d surely love them now. There are two books connected by the main characters, aren’t there?

hardcoreliterature
>>68581797

I apologise for disrupting your nap, Florian, but happy to hear you're still refreshed :) The 1,000-night reading plan is pretty tremendous and I found it had great benefits in many different areas of my life. One might need to adapt it to suit/serve their schedule and aims, but the spirit of it is great. I also thoroughly relate to not being able to get 21 planned activities throughout the day. I'm at a period in my life where seemingly every single minute is full, so curation and subscribing to the philosophy of kintsugi is required! And thank you for sitting in my garden with me :) No Nivea, but I have a relatively clean diet and daily exercise regime which keeps me feeling vibrant! Bring on Don Quixote Part 3 :)

Randy

Broooo, don't reveal anymore books on the 2022 list. The anticipation is part of my motivation to stay engaged. That being said, hearing the "leaks" from next years list, has me excited already. Thanks!

hardcoreliterature
>>68652981

Ha! I'm glad you're excited too, Randall :) The anticipation is definitely half the fun. I'll keep quiet on the rest for now :)

Caroline P
>>68652981

Hello Randall and nooooo don’t say that! I am just itching to know alllll the books. I don’t want leaks, I want a full deluge of what is to come. The anticipation is too much! 😝

Michelle Marcoux

Wonderful video, Ben. This kind of discussion really calms the soul, and the mention of some of my favorite authors gave my soul an extra treat. Great questions from everyone as well. I am looking forward to hearing much more about the progress on the reading retreat and journals. The comments about the Bradbury trio really piqued my interest too, I imagine his lecture would be quite motivating as well. Even though I don’t write, I think I could learn quite a bit from consistently stuffing my mind with that material and making it part of my routine. Definitely going to look into this a bit more with your suggestions, thanks again!