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Aaron

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Aaron’s Bookshelves

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Aaron is Currently Reading

Aaron is currently reading

Rossetti and His Circle

by Max Beerbohm

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Oct 31, 2026 08:52PM

Aaron is currently reading

The Recognitions

by William Gaddis

bookshelves: fiction, currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in April 2020

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Aaron said: " While reading this, I kept wondering about the duty of critics who don’t understand the work they’re assigned to critique. This must have been, without exaggeration, one of the worst books in history to have to review upon its release. Gaddis is clea While reading this, I kept wondering about the duty of critics who don’t understand the work they’re assigned to critique. This must have been, without exaggeration, one of the worst books in history to have to review upon its release. Gaddis is clearly some kind of literary genius. His writing is in turns breathtaking and laugh out loud hilarious. He can be as realistic or absurd as he pleases. One of the things that struck me most about this work is its undying confidence in itself. It’s so sure of its world and characters, its structure, and its message. However, I never got to the core of that message.

I typically don’t read books of this difficulty and length but I was drawn to this one after a strong recommendation from a friend and because it’s about art and religion, which are both very important to me for different reasons. Having grown up Catholic, I expected to find great insight on the institution that gave me so much (both good and horrible, mostly horrible). I did have an okay time picking up some of those references (Agnes Deigh, for example was immediately clear to me), but I was unprepared for the total onslaught of allusions and wordplay Gaddis had in store.

I feel totally exhausted after reading this. I imagine many readers who work their way through this tome feel a nagging desire to rate it five stars and repeat the praise it generally receives. Many others disregard its merits for its difficulty and write a one or two star review. I’m in some sort of purgatory-like state after finishing. I don’t blame the book for its length and difficulty, but I have to admit I wonder what purpose it serves in the long run. As I said before, Gaddis is an extremely talented writer and I give him respect for what he did, but I don’t know who this book is for.

While talking to my girlfriend about it she suggested that a lot was probably lost on me because so much of it deals with the time in which it was written (she called it a “meme-compendium” of the time, which makes a lot of sense. How well do our memes age, no matter how poignant they are?). It’s true. The New York socialite/literary scene is something I can only guess at understanding and I’m sure Gaddis was referencing quite a bit of contemporary material and persons in these scenes. While it’s not necessary to know these things to understand the main ideas of the book, it is necessary to enjoy it all from page to page.

Did I enjoy it? The beginning of this book is easily one of the greatest things I’ve ever read. It started to slow down and get more confusing for me until halfway, when I really started doubting my ability to take it on. It became a real chore after that point. I don’t think there is anything wrong with it, per se. Each part of the work is crafted well and makes sense, the plot is amazing, however, the vast amount of literary, historical, and religious knowledge and the stamina and sustained interest needed to give this work the attention it deserves is surely only held by a slim few in the world of readers. Is that a quality of a great piece of literature? It’s debatable. Am I judging this book fairly? Who knows! Are the party scenes and deliberately confusing dialogue a bit much? Decide for yourself I guess. ...more "

progress:

(page 67 of 968)
"“They regarded as the height of excellence that nothing remained to be done … No bud of possibility which had not opened in the permanent bloom of artificial flowers, no room for that growth which is the abiding flower of humility.”" — Sep 30, 2026 07:14AM

Jun 28, 2026 05:13AM · see review

Aaron is currently reading

So Many Books: Reading and Publishing in an Age of Abundance

by Gabriel Zaid

bookshelves: currently-reading, nonfiction

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progress:

(page 25 of 144)
""the book as commercial product did away with the book as sacred object. But did it really? ... To have at home and at hand what once could only be viewed in the temple is a great boon for demand, because books embody all the prestige of the temple. Democratic desacralization flourishes like simony: it allows the selling of something priceless. It doesn’t do away with sacred books; it causes them to multiply."" — Jun 24, 2026 01:40PM

Jun 24, 2026 01:38PM

See all 4 books that Aaron is reading…

Aaron’s Quotes

“True alchemy lies in this formula: ‘Your memory and your senses are but the nourishment of your creative impulse’.”
― Arthur Rimbaud, Illuminations

tags: art, creativity, writing

299 likes

“To be running breathlessly, but not yet arrived, is itself delightful, a suspended moment of living hope.”
― Anne Carson, Eros the Bittersweet

tags: hope

272 likes

“I turned silences and nights into words. What was unutterable, I wrote down. I made the whirling world stand still.”
― Arthur Rimbaud, A Season in Hell and The Drunken Boat

tags: poetry, words

1139 likes

“I have stretched ropes from steeple to steeple; Garlands from window to window; Golden chains from star to star ... And I dance.”
― Arthur Rimbaud, Complete Works

tags: poetry

114 likes

“A thousand Dreams within me softly burn:
From time to time my heart is like some oak
Whose blood runs golden where a branch is torn.”
― Arthur Rimbaud, Complete Works

tags: dreams

301 likes

More of Aaron’s quotes…