Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Coffee with Hardcore Literature (Q&A Episode XVIII) (Patreon)

Published:
2022-09-18 11:22:19
Imported:
2026-06
haven't archived this post yet. have a subscription? use the importer!

Content

Thank you all for your wonderful questions. They have, once again, resulted in a great bookish conversation for this episode of our Q&A Show.

Topics of discussion include: the top regrets of the dying, therapeutic writing practices, special author focus projects, Richardson and revisionism, Dracula and the Gothic, best works of children’s literature, and much more.

Feel free to jump to any topic/question you’re most interested in by using the timestamps below.

We had a lot of amazing questions come in, so the ones we didn't get to this time will roll forward into our next show.

Video Timestamps:

  • 0:00 thank you for your questions
  • 0:30 advice in times of crisis?
  • 21:30 is it okay to disagree with Socrates?
  • 24:40 special author focus advice?
  • 29:07 thoughts about Virginia Woolf?
  • 30:38 recommended Montaigne translation?
  • 33:03 the value of emotionally brutal books?
  • 37:12 thoughts on the Kindle/ereaders?
  • 40:22 favourite children’s literature?
  • 43:13 what is the key to Dracula?
  • 45:35 is Dracula deliciously gothic?
  • 48:20 recommended Leaves of Grass?
  • 50:03 Richardson’s revising of Clarissa?
  • 53:37 directions for learning about rhetoric?
  • 57:40 Infinite Jest or The Recognitions?
  • 59:24 Nietzsche vs George Eliot?
  • 1:03:50 finding treasures in bookstores
  • 1:05:14 reading & mental health
  • 1:06:10 Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang?
  • 1:07:30 how do you identify supplementary material?
  • 1:10:09 thank you & questions rolling forward

Thank you all for your great questions, and let us know your thoughts on anything we discussed today. I'd personally be interested to know what great treasures you have found in bookstores. And has deep reading helped you mentally? 

Please do let us know any questions you might have for the next Q&A Show.

Happy reading, everybody!

Files

Previews only

maxresdefault.jpg

0:00 thank you for your questions 0:30 advice in times of crisis? 21:30 is it okay to disagree with Socrates? 24:40 special author focus advice? 29:07 thoughts about Virginia Woolf? 30:38 recommended Montaigne translation? 33:03 the value of emotionally brutal books? 37:12 thoughts on the Kindle/ereaders? 40:22 favourite children’s literature? 43:13 what is the key to Dracula? 45:35 is Dracula deliciously gothic? 48:20 recommended Leaves of Grass? 50:03 Richardson’s revising of Clarissa? 53:37 directions for learning about rhetoric? 57:40 Infinite Jest or The Recognitions? 59:24 Nietzsche vs George Eliot? 1:03:50 finding treasures in bookstores 1:05:14 reading & mental health 1:06:10 Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang? 1:07:30 how do you identify supplementary material? 1:10:09 thank you & questions rolling forward

Comments

Denise Powers

Hello Ben and fellow HLBC bibliophiles! I am back, after six months of thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. It has been an epic experience that I am still processing, to be honest. I thought I would be able to do a lot of reading at night, but found that I was just too exhausted. I did listen to Moby Dick and Blood Meridian, but now is time for a careful deep read – I know I didn’t get the most out of either work (yet). I am SO looking forward to catching up on the discussions over the past few months. I was listening so intently to Ben’s discussion on the issue of how to deal with difficult times, because having spent the last six months living in the wilderness, I feel I have a completely different perspective on how I deal with difficulties now, as opposed to when I made those first few steps north from the southern terminus. (I should mention that not only did I do a difficult thing with the hike, but my hiking buddy for about 1,500 miles was a psychotherapist – which made it doubly hard. She didn’t let me get away with anything!) One thing that I learned during my journey (which I consider a healing journey, on so many levels) was that there is absolutely nothing that I can’t deal with or overcome. I truly believe that the Universe/God/Infinite Intelligence does not give us anything we cannot handle. It might seem overwhelming at the time, but we will always have the strength, the tenacity, the tools, the help, or whatever it is that we need to live our lives to the fullest. We do. Being immersed in nature is a perfect way to quiet and still the mind. There is so much peace, serenity and simplicity in nature, but we don’t need to do such an immersive experience in order to benefit from all that it has to offer. I firmly believe that nature and trees in particular have incredible powers to heal. I love the sentences practice and I will incorporate some of that into my daily journaling. Another way of looking at the thought patterns that inhibit us, is to consciously nurture and parent our young selves in the way our own parents did not or could not do. This is not about laying blame, but about learning to be kind to ourselves. We can use our imaginations to recreate the past, give ourselves the love, attention, encouragement and kindness that we needed but didn’t receive. I have found this exercise to be so empowering. I have been able to uncover some early memories of situations that I believe seriously inhibited my ability to be creative and through the exercise of giving the ‘little me’ what I needed, instead of what I received, I have opened a floodgate and am starting to work in earnest on my novel with a freedom and sense of fulfillment that I never thought possible. When we think about what kindness to ourselves means, can we all make a vow to look at the way we speak to ourselves? Can we only speak to ourselves in the same way we would speak with our best friends or someone else that we love? The way we speak to each other in this fabulous group? The question and answer about the favourite children’s books was great! I have a favourite that I would like to offer up to put on the list – The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco. I loved that book as a child and my husband and I included the section about what real love is in our wedding ceremony. Here it is: “Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.' 'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit. 'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.' 'Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?' 'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.” I am so happy to be back at this amazing book club and am looking forward to reconnecting with all of you.

Chrissy
>>92081374

Hello Denise! Your words about self talk really resonate with me. I’ve been guilty of saying things to myself that I wouldn’t dream of saying to anyone else! I’m really trying to work on that. I’m also looking forward to a discussions on children’s literature. The books that zip read between the ages of 8-12 continue to influence me, to this very day.

Dawn

Congrats on finishing the PCT! I've been section hiking the 1,500-mile Florida Trail, generally about 30-60 miles at a stretch as schedules permit. I've met some amazing thru hikers along the way. The most impressive was sharing a campsite with someone hiking the entire 4,400 Eastern Continental Trail that passes through Florida. Being on the trail puts life in perspective. And the perseverance it takes trains your mind to push through other obstacles in life. I can relate to trying to read at your campsite too! I've tried packing lightweight books like Frankenstein but by the time I crack it open, I find my mental energy has been drained as much as my physical energy.

Dawn
>>92081374

Congrats on finishing the PCT! I've been section hiking the 1,500-mile Florida Trail, generally about 30-60 miles at a stretch as schedules permit. I've met some amazing thru hikers along the way. The most impressive was sharing a campsite with someone hiking the entire 4,400 Eastern Continental Trail that passes through Florida. Being on the trail puts life in perspective. And the perseverance it takes trains your mind to push through other obstacles in life. I can relate to trying to read at your campsite too! I've tried packing lightweight books like Frankenstein but by the time I crack it open, I find my mental energy has been drained as much as my physical energy.