Friedrich Nietzsche: Beyond Good and Evil
This was the first complete Nietzsche book I read, before that I pretended to understand him by watching Youtube videos. It was fun, I still consider him the best motivational literature out there, he really fueled my will to power. I only noticed now what a sexist asshole he actually was (something my beloved Youtube series on him tended to ignore). It is interesting that upon realising that all truth is just made up, he didn't go on to think that commonly held beliefs and prejudices about women might also not be true. He also says something detrimental about structuralism, but actually I don't see how describing structures of power and oppression as main drivers of human history contradict the stuff he's saying.
The first picture you find of Nietzsche on Google.
But as someone told me, you don't have to understand Nietzsche, you have to feel Nietzsche. That kind of makes sense - there is a very charming, river-flowy fire-breathing style he has - the guide in the darkness, the provider of fundamentals, the hold-your-hand-and-tell-you-the-truth certainty. He breaks down systems of authority and gives you the hammer and sickle to build your own reality and sow the seeds you've grown into your own aesthetic ideal of grain. He provides you some things he realised about the world - but that is only a pointer to the deeper drive, the will, the realisation of you. Nietzsche doesn't want you to be a sexist asshole, he doesn't want you to follow him, he wants the Übermensch to rise and "experiment" and give shape to the aesthetics and texture born in their mind.
Jókai Mór: És mégis mozog a Föld (Eppur si muove) (first half)
I rememered vaguely from a high school literature class that I wanted to read this book, so now I did. It came in two parts, which I came to realise when I was reaching the end of the first but no conclusion was in sight. Sadly, the second part wasn't on my shelf and I didn't care about it that much, so I'm satisfied with it as it is.
The first picture you find of Jókai on Google.
It is a classic romantic novel, guy moves to big town and loses his illusions and struggles to realise which woman is the nicer one, the cute one or the willful one, wants to write poems but everyone wants him to be a lawyer etc. After this I read Lost Illusions by Balzac and realised how similar they are, but this is distinctly Hungarian and cutely-naively Romantic; Jókai has a very descriptive style, but is really a master of his language and it just feels so good man. Of course, I'm writing this in English, so I cannot really convey the exact feeling, but oh the acrobatism of description and elegant choice of words and the random anecdotes and things he knew...
It is not his best novel by far, probably not very valuable, one out of dozens he wrote. But still, this is a master of his craft, sitting down one Tuesday afternoon to write a novel and bringing in all his texture and wit to craft a story and characters and tell a tale of love and common sense and revolution.
