Dostoevsky's The Idiot 08/09/23
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There's a little thrift shop not far  from my house, and every once in
a while I stop by. This weekend, they had a few shopping carts full of
books just inside  the door, ten for a dollar.  I rummaged through and
selected a few for myself and  my family members, then texted a friend
about the Warhammer and military books that were sitting in there.

For myself, I chose:

- Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
- Understanding Power: The Indispensable Chomsky, Edited by Peter 
  Mitchell and John Schoeffel
- The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

I read  Starship Troopers on  Saturday. I  thought I'd start  with it,
since it  is one of  the favorite  books of a  friend of mine...  to a
different friend I wrote this in a personal message, on Sunday:

"I re-read Starship Troopers yesterday.  It was bizarre because when I
picked it up, I thought: 'I don't know if I've ever read this...', but
then as I went I realized that  I had, and I recognized what was going
on. However,  I wasn't able  to recall any  memory of what  was coming
next. Usually I recall stories, movies, etc. It felt strange to know I
had read  it, but not be  able to recall  anything from it as  I went,
until I actual read the parts and the memory was there."

The  book isn't  long,  and it  doesn't  have a  plot  per-se; It's  a
narrative outlining  a military  career and  some philosophy.  What is
fascinating about it, to me, is  its connection with my friend. He's a
man who is old enough to be my  father, or just about, who had his own
career in the  military, and who told  me that he had longed  to be in
the military ever since he was a  very young boy. He still longs to be
there, I believe. The  book was relatively new when he  was a boy, and
it  struck him  as  amazing. Reading  it helps  me  to understand  him
better.

Over the last few days I read The Idiot, which was considerably longer
but not a lot thicker in the  plot department. Coming down from one of
the  gods of  classic  literature, there's  hardly a  need  for me  to
summarize the book for you. It is not his most favored work by most, I
believe, nor should  it be. I've never read it  before, and thought it
might  be interesting.  I'd say  that for  me, it  was compelling  and
frustrating, if I  had to choose a  couple words for it.  I suppose it
was  interesting  as  well.  It  felt  like  a  book  full  of  insane
characters, all haranguing one sane character who  wasn't socially apt
enough to know to defend himself. Re-imagined, it might be interesting
to write  the main character as  a child heir or  heiress, being taken
advantage of  by everyone in their  life; it would perturb  the reader
even more, and perhaps make some of the same points. Perhaps not.

The last  book I haven't touched  yet, and I  don't know when or  if I
will. I'm not  a Chomsky sycophant, but he's interesting  to me in the
same way  Starship Troopers is  interesting to  me: I know  people who
have been  shaped by his  writing. I want  to read him,  to understand
them.

I'll say this for the two novels  I did read: it was really refreshing
to pick them  up and just enjoy  them. I haven't been  reading as much
lately, and it was nice to get back to it.