Salman Rushdie

I really enjoyed the Satanic Verses. You're not wrong about "too amazing" at times. Salami is definitely a hit you over the head with how smart and irreverent and cute I am guy.

But then people want different things out of books. Like I don't need everything to "hit" like I do with a record or seeing a band. I grew up reading for entertainment and to pass time. It is a habit and something I ride or die with, for better or worse. I need my time to be occupied and I don't want the feeling that my crank is being yanked in a hapless manner. If the yanker in question gets a little flamboyant, self-indulgent with his or her technique, that's okay, I'm patient, as long as the yanker eventually finds their way into a more natural, pleasing rhythm. It's like, I don't consider all my friends to be perfect people, or even predominantly good people. But even though I like to spend most of my waking hours alone, in my basement, even I recognize that human relationships can be beneficial on some level and perhaps even necessary for a reasonably happy life. I like my friends, generally, to be smart. I pretty quickly get sick of listening to drunken reminiscences of fucking high school football games from 30 years ago. Sure, maybe my friends can be a little self-aggrandizing, maybe they take self righteous political stands on Facebook that earn them death threats from middle aged shut ins. But they're entertaining. They believe in this shit they're pushing. It MEANS something. And, most importantly, they are turning somersaults for my approval. So, yeah, Salami is a bit much, even a little embarrassing...call it tragic-intellectual-porn. I can't watch commercials with starving children or for summer camps for children of dead war heroes...but books are different. I don't have to see the people's faces. Just my medium I guess.