I like CM (read in my adult years) and TH (read in teen, early 20s). They paint bleakness with emotional realism. The scenarios may not be relatable, but the characters’ emotions are so relatable to real life.

5 minutes: Twilight. I wanted to understand the hype. So I borrowed a friend’s copy, stated reading it, but after the first page, was immediately asking, what is this? So I opened the book around the middle to read a random page to see if the writing continued in that “style.” And it did. So, about 5 minutes of sampling different sections of the book, DNF.

👀

Omg. That sounds absolutely horrible. I’m so glad you were able to find your way out and through that. What a resilient being you are!

The Road, Cormac McCarthy. After I was done, I thought to myself, how can the book keep me reading but leave me feeling so empty and unsatisfied at the end? I ruminated on this feeling for a couple of weeks - why did I read that but not regretting I read it?

Not dubious. Reading books becomes a hobby once you are not required by school or work. They just don’t like to read books.