I came upon your website, TB Library, when I looked up a passage from DFW's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," which had struck me as odd (the passage). I enjoyed your review of him. I, as well, enjoy his observational approach and humor, and found the despair writing quite relatable, too. But I also thought some of his remarks were weird and creepy, and I don't consider myself sensitive. I couldn't quite pinpoint what it was until I read your review and you accurately named it. Anyway, I ended up looking through your site and also enjoyed your book funness grading system. And then I ended up here. I'm also someone who becomes quite emotionally invested in the spaces they inhabit. After moving from Venezuela to the US, it took me a long time to mentally and emotionally let go of what had been my apartment in Caracas. Now that I have a home here that I love and actually consider home, I find myself often fearing what happened to you—my landlord telling me that he's selling and I need to move out. The house belongs to his mother and his mother is in her late 90s, so I'm assuming when she passes, they will sell. From an outsider's perspective, though, it looks like you found an overall better place, and that gives me hope (and Ripley undoubtedly got an upgrade). But I know it's not about that; I feel everything you're saying about the memories accumulated in a place, the life lived there, the stripping of which becomes compounded by the inability to physically go back to that place. As a fellow space sentimental, I wish you the best of luck and many, many piles of good, new memories in your new home. I think for people like us, it takes some time to feel that level of connection to a place, and for that matter, to people, too. Meaning comes from depth which comes with time. I've also found that this makes me resist change and I would probably stay forever in any given situation as long as I'm comfortable enough in it (I'm not proud to say that most of the good changes in my life have had to be imposed on me). So again, best of luck, and hoping that time will, like it always does, do its thing.
Thank you so much for your comment! I’m glad you liked the DFW review; it blows my mind that it would show up in a search like that. I recently bought the anniversary edition of Infinite Jest because Michelle Zauner wrote a foreword/introduction for it, and I love her writing. Unclear as to if I’ll ever try to get through the book itself.
The book-fun system started as sort of a joke response to colleagues asking if I ever read fun books. What started as data cleaning turned into that little review site and I like maintaining it!
I appreciate you sharing about your home in Caracas and now in the US. I hope you’ll be able to stay in your current home for a long while! Ripley is definitely pleased with the window and the bird feeder, there are times when she bats at the windows as if she’s defending the last castle, but she’s doing well.
“Meaning comes from depth which comes with time” - I think this is really well said and appreciate it a lot. I also tend to resist change and it’s hard to change when even a certain level of uncomfortability is more comfortable than the idea of the unknown.
Hi Thomas,
I came upon your website, TB Library, when I looked up a passage from DFW's "A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again," which had struck me as odd (the passage). I enjoyed your review of him. I, as well, enjoy his observational approach and humor, and found the despair writing quite relatable, too. But I also thought some of his remarks were weird and creepy, and I don't consider myself sensitive. I couldn't quite pinpoint what it was until I read your review and you accurately named it. Anyway, I ended up looking through your site and also enjoyed your book funness grading system. And then I ended up here. I'm also someone who becomes quite emotionally invested in the spaces they inhabit. After moving from Venezuela to the US, it took me a long time to mentally and emotionally let go of what had been my apartment in Caracas. Now that I have a home here that I love and actually consider home, I find myself often fearing what happened to you—my landlord telling me that he's selling and I need to move out. The house belongs to his mother and his mother is in her late 90s, so I'm assuming when she passes, they will sell. From an outsider's perspective, though, it looks like you found an overall better place, and that gives me hope (and Ripley undoubtedly got an upgrade). But I know it's not about that; I feel everything you're saying about the memories accumulated in a place, the life lived there, the stripping of which becomes compounded by the inability to physically go back to that place. As a fellow space sentimental, I wish you the best of luck and many, many piles of good, new memories in your new home. I think for people like us, it takes some time to feel that level of connection to a place, and for that matter, to people, too. Meaning comes from depth which comes with time. I've also found that this makes me resist change and I would probably stay forever in any given situation as long as I'm comfortable enough in it (I'm not proud to say that most of the good changes in my life have had to be imposed on me). So again, best of luck, and hoping that time will, like it always does, do its thing.
Hey Christabelle,
Thank you so much for your comment! I’m glad you liked the DFW review; it blows my mind that it would show up in a search like that. I recently bought the anniversary edition of Infinite Jest because Michelle Zauner wrote a foreword/introduction for it, and I love her writing. Unclear as to if I’ll ever try to get through the book itself.
The book-fun system started as sort of a joke response to colleagues asking if I ever read fun books. What started as data cleaning turned into that little review site and I like maintaining it!
I appreciate you sharing about your home in Caracas and now in the US. I hope you’ll be able to stay in your current home for a long while! Ripley is definitely pleased with the window and the bird feeder, there are times when she bats at the windows as if she’s defending the last castle, but she’s doing well.
“Meaning comes from depth which comes with time” - I think this is really well said and appreciate it a lot. I also tend to resist change and it’s hard to change when even a certain level of uncomfortability is more comfortable than the idea of the unknown.
Thank you so much again!
Thomas