u/FocusCantFocus

Does anyone have recommendations for books that are similar in vibe to Part One of 2666: The Part About the Critics?

Key things that would interest me (of course it doesn't have to have all of these): A realistic but fake author/artist/figure like our good friend Archimboldi, obsession that becomes unhealthy or takes over the lives of the characters, academics that have "lost the plot" so to speak, an uncanny atmosphere is a plus.

Or, if there is something you've read that made you go "wow, something about this reminded me of The Part About the Critics" and you can't even pinpoint why and it doesn't fulfill any of the above requirements, I'd love to hear about that too.

Anyone else have the flavor of ADHD where they suck at everything they try for way too long? I know some of y'all out there kind of have the opposite, where you can pick up a lot of different things quickly, I'm jealous.

Recently I've overcome some long stranding health issues and have been working on prioritizing fitness and physical activity in my life, it's overall going great. Problem is, I am kind of annoyed that I suck at it.

Most recent example: I took a beginner pickleball class at my gym and I had a ton of fun! We learned the rules, how to score, basic moves, all that stuff and it all stuck (yay for me for understanding a deluge of verbal instructions). Well, I started beginner open play (basically where if you are a super beginner you play matches with random people for fun, not a league or a competition) and I didn't win a single game.

I started to notice that whoever was paired with me (it's doubles so two people per side) would seem kind of disheartened to have to team with me. Every other person seemed way better than me at playing even though they were all completely new and had only played 1 or 2 times just like me. Where are they getting the intuition for this stuff? How are they so good at playing after just starting?

Then I was thinking about how I am like worried about things neurotypical people maybe aren't? Like I kept worrying about my position on the court in relation to the other person. I'd worry I was "stealing" the ball from their play area. I was watching the ball but then like not moving/reacting fast enough because I was focused on just making sure the ball wasn't going to hit me or watching the trajectory of it.

I expressed that I was a little disappointed to not have won a single game and the response was "well are you here to win or to have fun?". And it's like yeah, I am here 95% to have fun but also it would be nice to win sometimes like everyone else. I want to practice more, I am not going to give up, but damn it feels wild to be the only one struggling somethings.

This is just one example but this happens to me all the time. Sometimes it feels like everyone around me has this magic intuition for things that I have to build brick by brick.

Thanks for reading this rant