Wouldn't it be better just to slow down? They're not books that can't be understood. edit: I've spent years reading some books. Sometimes I stop and realize th

Wouldn't it be better just to slow down? They're not books that can't be understood. edit: I've spent years reading some books. Sometimes I stop and realize that the words are just washing over me; I backtrack until I'm at a place that I've understood the path I took to get there. I go forward again, maybe realize that I'm actually missing the background to go farther. If I've been fascinated up to this point, I find another book that will give me the background. I may come back to the original book a month later or ten years later. The other material may obviate the need for the original book altogether, or even give me contempt for the original book. This seems more like somebody who doesn't speak French reading French books, and claiming that imagining the sounds that might be made from the sight of the words in the book leads them to some sort of transcendence. People write to be understood. I read to understand. I'm not just checking off things and trying to come up with a review filled with vague evocative metaphors that I can impress people with at a party. There's an obsession with appearances and presentation rather than actual engagement. Associative dream logic in the place of understanding. Why not just meditate on the cover painting and say you read it?