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Books that hit you in the gut

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
I have made clear my personal stance that art should be challenging. I can even list off some classical literary tiles, both modern and not, that fulfil this criteria and which I wholeheartedly recommend (in my personal opinion.)
Even contemporary fictional titles can fit the bill.
But that is the safe world of fiction. Whilst challenging its not the whole story, so to speak.

I’m also an avid non fiction reader. More often than not, reading books that challenge my assumption of the human condition and make me question whether or not our species truly are this supposed rational life form.
Many titles that have forced me to ponder our, well, humanity actually come from history books recounting troubling events. Admittedly moreso from WWII specifically. I think because of how I learnt of the Nazi regime still sticks with me to this day. (I had a history teacher who despised Hitler.)

Young Hitler. The making of the Fuhrer by Paul Ham
Ordinary Men by Christopher R Browning. Seriously that one was like, whoah. It’s about the real life reserve police unit who massacred Jews during WWII under orders, even as the majority were disgusted by such acts. They still did so though. Even the author offers them no absolution.
Various biographies of Hitler by (I assume) esteemed historians/academics.

But are there any titles fiction or non fiction that just absolutely gutted you for whatever reason?
Any reccs? I’m always hungry for some good gut punching books
Have at it
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
But are there any titles fiction or non fiction that just absolutely gutted you for whatever reason?
Any reccs? I’m always hungry for some good gut punching books
Have at it
Paul Watzlawick: Anleitung zum Unglücklichsein
Translated as Instructions for Unhappiness

When you read it and find, as usual with self help instructions, "I already do that", now you know why.
 
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RestlessSoul

Well-Known Member
About 18 months ago, I read Mikhael Bulgakov's novel, The Master and Margarita. Written in secret during Stalin's reign of terror, and unpublished until 1966, long after both the author, and Stalin, had died. Some of it went over my head, but certain passages left me entranced. To call it a mixture of political satire and philosophical mysticism doesn't do it justice. One critic called it a lesson in how to stay sane in a world bereft of hope; equally, it could perhaps be called a lesson in how to retain hope in a world bereft of sanity. It affected me more than any novel I have ever read, and it is unlike any novel I have ever read. That said, anyone familiar with Tolstoy and Dostoevsky will see an artistic continuity there.

I'd recommend the Richard Pevear/Larissa Volokhonsky translation.
 

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
But are there any titles fiction or non fiction that just absolutely gutted you for whatever reason?
Any reccs? I’m always hungry for some good gut punching books
Have at it

I guess the 3 books from the past few years that I'm really happy to have chanced on are probably:

Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, the Gregory Hays translation
The Poetic Edda, the Jackson Crawford translation

I can't stress enough how clear and modern those translations are, they bring those works right up to the present. And if any of you here have recommendations for me, as to some really modern translations of greek / roman philosophers, please let me know

I don't want to read 'dost' and 'thou' anymore, or read sentences I can't understand. Crawford and Hays have none of that

And also, though I am only halfway through it, 'The Way of the Tarot' is turning into a pretty important book for me, though that's kind of a niche interest
 

SomeRandom

Still learning to be wise
Staff member
Premium Member
I guess the 3 books from the past few years that I'm really happy to have chanced on are probably:

Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, the Gregory Hays translation
The Poetic Edda, the Jackson Crawford translation

I can't stress enough how clear and modern those translations are, they bring those works right up to the present. And if any of you here have recommendations for me, as to some really modern translations of greek / roman philosophers, please let me know

I don't want to read 'dost' and 'thou' anymore, or read sentences I can't understand. Crawford and Hays have none of that

And also, though I am only halfway through it, 'The Way of the Tarot' is turning into a pretty important book for me, though that's kind of a niche interest
Interesting
I already own Meditations and the Poetic Edda. But I’ll check out Land of Darkness
 

Orbit

I'm a planet
"Jesus and John Wayne" about the evolution and interconnectedness of evangelical politics and masculinity in America.
 
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