Best Book

No, I'm absolutely not going to talk about the best book. It's nonsense, as if one book were the best. So many books have been written that it's impossible to say just one is the best. What's best, of course, depends on the moment and, in particular, how you feel or how you approach life. I've only written about the best book here on SteamIt before, and that was definitely one that spoke to me and still does. It's quite possible that I'll be completely different in a year or 20, probably because my sense of smell will have disappeared, and at best, I'll still be able to remember what a scent is. Although, on the other hand, the main character in this book has a very good sense of smell but is scentless himself. That makes you think. Could it also go the other way? After all, scent is quite important to humans, even if you don't notice it. It's one of those things that makes you find someone attractive or repulsive. It's something that happens in a forced way. You smell it, register it, and you react instinctively. In relationships that break down, the aversion to the ex-partner's scent often plays a major role. How strange.

That best book? I wouldn't know at the moment, although I did talk about books with @almaguer this week, and most films are also based on books, even if you've never heard of them. Perhaps after watching a film you like, it's not recommended to read that book. Very few film scripts stick to the book and accurately capture the subtleties, the very things that make it so special, in a film set in a specific time period. I've always found it disappointing to read the book first and then watch a weak copy of the film. There are only a few exceptions where the film might be better or more insightful, or make a particularly dull book suddenly interesting.

I'm currently reading very few books, and I have plenty. Although I've gotten rid of all my books in the past, and I've actually given away the current ones as well. There's still plenty I could read, but reading is hard for me right now. I could say I don't have enough time, but time is the same for everyone. While some are bored stiff and the minutes tick by slowly, for me the days fly by. And honestly, right now I'd rather paint, I'd rather try my hand at drawing, and I have so much I want to do and try out in that area, and I can do it for hours on end with such a passion, that I simply don't have the time. And by time, I mean the time I want to spend on it.

Is it possible that the best book has never been written, or that the best book hasn't been read? That's probably the case. Not all books are equally readable, and therefore there will be a very large group of books that many will never read, or that even label reading as boring. Times have indeed changed, and so has writing style, and it's not always the case that I find a pleasant new style. The current writing style caters to people who can't or don't want to read for long, or who can't sustain their attention for whatever reason. Perhaps short stories are best then; you can read one or two and then just get back to work while you let your thoughts drift over what you've read. After all, what you read needs to sink in first.

I do miss those cold or wet days of my childhood, curled up in a corner reading for days. I never encounter those kinds of books anymore, and those moments don't really exist anymore. Not because I couldn't sit curled up in a cubicle, not because I couldn't hold a book, but the cold definitely plays a role. And sitting in a bitter cold isn't pleasant for reading and holding a book. In those cases, it's better to just be a bit more active. Audiobooks might be an option here, but I've never actually owned, or should I say heard, an audiobook where I enjoyed listening to the narrator's voice. In that regard, there's still a lot of improvement needed to make audiobooks interesting. Anyone who comes up with AI that might be able to read aloud, I want to say right away that all those voices sound annoying, unnatural, they're not reading voices, and the same goes for Al and all those idiotic YouTube videos with AI voices. Speaking of voices, few people have a pleasant voice to listen to and they can actually narrate well.

When it comes to reading, I do mean reading yourself. Listening to an audiobook isn't reading, of course, it's just listening.
Did you read the book in the image? Let me know what you thought.

_{Prompt: see title
21-1-2026}