Philosophical Musings of a Book Nerd

Well, I have now come to the end of another pointless series of books that does very little to add to the collection of human literature that is pounding our vision these days. A lot of people do seem to have liked these books and I must admit that when I was a teenager I was one of them, but these days I hope that books like these will end up being confined to the dust bin of history and forgotten like the many other books that have vanished over the centuries. It is interesting that I look just below this commentary (I keep backups of all my commentaries on a Word document) and I see Lucian of Samatosa. The reason that I mention him is that one of his pet annoyances was the ridiculous amount of literature that was being published around his time that would forever make him cringe. The difference is that the ancient Romans didn't have a printing press which meant that everything had to be copied by hand, which made books incredibly expensive. Today not only do we have printing presses, we also have computers, which gives us the ability to churn out rubbish like never before.

I have already suggested that some people write because they want to become rich from what they consider to be an easy job. This is a delusion because first of all writing is not easy, and secondly, you are highly unlikely to become rich. Writing takes an awful lot of discipline, especially having to write at those times when you do not want to write. I admit that I like writing, but I have trouble disciplining myself to remain committed to one piece of work. I like writing fiction, but once again, there is the discipline not only to work on the story until it is completed, but to also structure it in a way that the characters are realistic and the story is consistent. In a way that I why I like these commentaries because, even though I do not get paid to write them, I am able to write down my thoughts and ideas in a way that allows me to consider new and different things based upon the book on which I am commenting, and I do not need to structure it in the same what that I would a novel. Also, the idea of creating a realistic character is not necessary, though the essence of discipline is still present. In a way I like writing because it allows me to put these thoughts down on paper (or rather, on the Internet) so that others can read them, and maybe be challenged by them as well.

Anyway, I have not said anything about this book, and as I look at the time, I am unlikely to say anything on this book. All I have said is that this is the last book in the series, and I have said enough about the series in the other four books that I do not feel that it is necessary to repeat what I have already said. I still occasionally read fantasy novels, but most of them these days have fallen by the wayside. I am no longer interested in the Tolkeinesque style of adventure, and in many ways these attempted copies come nowhere near the brilliance of Tolkien's original works. I have read some Conan books recently, but that was more out of interest and to also experience some of the pre-Tolkien fantasy literature. Of course, there are also the books that have been written by friends, and in a way I would not be much of a friend if I did not read their books. However, when it comes to a novel these days I am generally looking for something different, and even then, most of those books end up staying in the bookshop rather than being transferred to by bookshelf (not that I have one at the moment).