Sweets to the Sweet

History for the ambitious, novels for the lonely, poetry for the heartbroken.

History for the heartbroken, novels for the ambitious, poetry for the lonely.

History for the lonely, novels for the heartbroken, poetry for the ambitious.

Ambitious and lonely but not heartbroken? Maybe metaphysics.

Lonely and heartbroken but not ambitious? Self-help.

For the ambitious, heartbroken, and lonely, historical novels in verse, say, Pushkin, maybe Vikram Seth. Epics might serve.

Neither ambitious, heartbroken, nor lonely?

Ok, this is silly. Reading by genre is useless for solving your challenges.

Reading is useless, except for distraction and sometimes comfort, which any genre can sometimes provide.

Learning? Learning is a distraction and sometimes comfort, which any genre can sometimes provide.

And from what do you crave distraction, and for what do you need comforting?

No, not death and dying. Boredom and self-pity.

If you like boredom and never feel sad for your existence as it’s been, you won’t even think about reading.

Writing is something else again.