/lit/ - Literature

>A concise history of Hungary - Book by Miklós Molnár
Not the author's fault, but somewhere during the middle of reading this, I finally snapped. Had been reading history non-stop for way too long. Finally found joy in fiction, which I picked up the first time in my life 4 months ago.
>Susan Sontag - Against Interpretation
God, I have developed a whole "theory" around writing like this. For those of you who don't know, she's an art essayist. The use of language in these books is so unfathomably snobbish, I despise it. I live in Belgium and have noticed that culturally, Belgium has a bit of a minority complex in regard to the Netherlands. Probably due to the fact that the Netherlands has gone on fine without Belgium, while Belgium (still doing fine all in all) is a fragmented mess that could never compete with the Netherlands. Japan and China have (or had) a similar relationship, where most of Japan's culture was imported from GREAT SUPERIOR CHINA. And I think this "minority complex" somehow is also prevalent in art, as a "science". With that, I mean art philosophical writing, essays, studies in peer-reviewed journals etc. Because they've always been on the fringes, use floaty speech, are made up of pseuds and generally looked a bit down upon by the scientific cumminty, they feel like they have to somehow compensate with their language in order to "sound smart". It's super cheap, notice how nuclear physicists can write a more cohesive, relatable article than an art-writer. It simply comes down to a quote from Einstein "If you can't explain it simply, go back and study." Or something like that. In prose, I find this acceptable, in non-fiction you want to be as clear as possible in order to get your point across. That's why I find it despicable. I brought the book back to get my money.
>Anna Frank's diary
Hella boring, probably cause it had been so hyped up for so long to me. I understand the whole war context, but I really didn't care about everyday domestic struggles. Maybe I should read it again, though. I was young when I read it, maybe I can relate more now.