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Life problems -- mature themes -- unhappiness -- dealing with it

bookworm fellow

bookworm fellow

Member
I'm on vacation in home, back from a short trip and finishing to read a book.

Now I wanna decide what I'll read next.

I need a book that could make me cogitate about life problems, personal facts that bring unhappiness, etc.

But I'm not looking for self-help books. I want to read a story or novel that can bring me these elements.

I was thinking about Noah Gordon's The Physician but I don't know if this book fits these characteristics I'm looking for.

Help needed.
 
No, no, I have no problems.

This book I'm looking for is not supposed to help me. I don't intent to use it as self-help.

On the contrary, I'm just looking for a real good plot. I'll explain: real themes, problems that real people have in their real lives and a narrative of how a (fictitious or not) person would deal with such real life issues interest me a lot.

I don't like fantasy tales. I never thought about reading LOTR or Harry Potter, for example. Those may be good books, but they surely are not about real concerns.

I want a novel of any character that could be a real person struggling to live despites of real life problems; problems that are part of the ordinary life; problems that can be related to money, disease, death, or someone who has suffered an accident and is recovering from it, someone who lost a member in an accident... Anything like that. I want to read about the psychological struggles of human mind in such situations... In few words, I want a really involving story, a book that could change the way I face life and it does not necessarily have to have a happy ending. Above all, it must be real. Happy ending or sad ending, it does not matter.

A great book I read years ago is Of Human Bondage. It's great. It's the story about a boy who is born with deformed feet and his search for happiness. It's a classic from British literature.

These problems above were examples. Nothing alike has happened to me. Also, I'm not handicapped.

But all of us face situations or facts (more or less important) that bother us or make us unhappy. And there are the good plots, because such situations deals with the humanest feelings. A great struggle can be set inside someone's lair, mind or life. It's not necessary big events like battles to fit huge sufferings. Authors who realize it are great artists.

So what I'm looking for is something very original, a book that will make me think, meditate. The theme could be any.

It's so hard to explain what I'm looking for, but I think this detailed description will give you a clue.
 
Revised, have you ever read Of human bondage?

It's great, it made me change the way I face life. Since then, I'm looking for something alike. That's the reason for this weird topic. I finish reading a book and now I'm in search of my next read, but I don't know what to buy :sad:
 
bookworm fellow said:
Revised, have you ever read Of human bondage?

It's great, it made me change the way I face life.
Click to expand...

No, I haven't read that book but it sounds like something I would like to read now that you have told me a bit about it (I added it to my wish list :flowers:).

If you don't mind answering, in what ways did you change the way you face life because of reading the book?
 
Revised said:
No, I haven't read that book but it sounds like something I would like to read now that you have told me a bit about it (I added it to my wish list :flowers:).

If you don't mind answering, in what ways did you change the way you face life because of reading the book?
Click to expand...

The invalid character always suffered not only due to his deformity, but also due to his indecision about what professional career he'd follow. So he graduates in Medicine, then he goes to Paris to study Arts, to become a painter. Then ho goes back to England, in the countryside and become something like a farmer. He realizes that money is not everything, but he also learns the importance of job. He learns how do deal with his faults, not to care about how others would see him.

It changed the way I see life because the moral of the story is something like “it does not matter what you do, all that matters is to find happiness”.

The book may be understood differently by each reader.

Gilgamesh said:
How about Les Miserables? It was a sad story, especially Cosette's mother.
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I still didn't read this book.

Now that you mentioned it I think it would be a good idea to take it as my next read :D . I always wanted to read this book, but I never found a good edition. I got time to search for it now.
 
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