Change of scenery, change of mind

Thoughts

I am writing this from some place more than 250 kilometers from home, in a countryside region of the northern part of the Netherlands. My entire life, I have lived not more than 1 kilometer away from a busy highway, which explains the heightened level of awareness I experience here, in the quiet.

I started reading Fahrenheit 451, which had its backside summary tell me that the book is about books being burned (ironically enough). What stood out to me within the first 30 pages is the vibrant and speech-like storytelling used by the author. One particular paragraph consisted of at least 15 lines of an uninterrupted flow of words, never separated by dots, quotes or dashes. It felt rambly, until the next paragraph explained that the character in question was rambling to himself inside his mind, and cussed himself for it.

Reading a book which has been written in a very explicit and artistic style is something worth noticing. Books like John Williams' Stoner or Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation made me feel the same way.

Getting started on a new book feels like a real life change of scenery. And if an author somehow manages to adopt a highly characteristic tone of voice in their book, it strengthens that feeling of having a change of scenery. It feels like taking a peek into the author's mind, therefore giving myself a change of mind, next to the change of scenery.

With me having a physical change of scenery myself right now, and getting started on a new book yet again, this feeling creeped up again on me, with high intensity. Add those changes to the biggest change I have experienced only days ago (getting married), and I feel like I've just managed to cross some life-defining border as of right now. It seemed most logical to collect these thoughts and to write them down here, to preserve the train of thoughts and feelings I experience right here, right now.