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Had to read for class. It's a very smart novel, but doesn't feel like it has characters or a plot. I can recognize the Quality of the book, without finding it particularly interesting.

It seems to be commenting about manifest destiny and the paradoxical nature of enlightment rationalism and the sheer amount violent that occurred in the name of manifest destiny and westward expansion. It's probably the second most violent book I've ever read after American Psycho.

The violence in Blood Meridian doesn't exactly bother me, it all feels so impersonal and though it graphic and pretty detailed, it isn't very personal and, given that no one is strongly developed as a character, it just doesn't really cause much of an emotional response.

It kind of seems like a book by a man that is aware of his writing prowess that wanted to write something Risque and Notable, and it worked. It's a book you can probably read 10+ times and continue to get things out of, but I will likely not read it again.

I have finished the Ethics \o/. I was caught offguard by the end of it because i still had like 90 e-reader pages of footnotes x3

The Ethics as a book is Spinoza laying out a framework for the physical world (part 1), how human bodies and minds operate (part 2), how human emotions operate (part 3), the state state that humans are in when they're not living according to reason and humans as they live according to reason (part 4), and finally how to become a free person/person that lives according to reason (part 5).

The book is written in a geometric style, which essentially just means that the arguments are laid out in terms of axioms, definitions, propositions, etc. It's pretty unintuitive and can be somewhat dry and annoying to read.

I've heard people claim that the Ethics is a really difficult work to read, but I didn't really find it that way. I will admit I never really attempted to work out the chain of propositions that Spinoza used to prove later propositions, I essentially just accepted that his justifications worked. If I were to read the Ethics again, I would probably be more thorough in that regard.

I read both Edwin Curley's "Behind the Geometrical Method" and Steven Nadler's "Spinoza's 'Ethics': An Introduction". Of the two books, I would recommend the latter more than the former. It's a lot more indepth as a guide, though, I also liked the first.

I also don't think I would recommend that someone read this just for Spinoza's ethical philosophy. I think it's mainly if you want to see how Spinoza justifies his ethics and to get a taste of his method of argumentation. If you want Spinozist ethics I would recommend "Think Least of Death" by Steven Nadler.

If you want Spinoza's political/religious views then read his "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus" (which I have not yet), or Steven Nadler's "A Book Forged in Hell" (which is about it).

Welp, I'm free! I can return back to Deleuze and Guattari \o/