A Sense of Loss

A very moving piece about reading, life, and the shocks that occur that throw us for a loop. The last time I tried to read Godel, Escher, Bach was in January 2002 when I suffered an attack (I now recognize it for what it was, back then nobody was very helpful) of post-traumatic stress disorder, brought on by the events of September 11, 2001 and days afterwards of smoke, bodies and girders. I tried many times that night in the hospital (as I was suffering symptoms of what I thought was some sort of heart issue) trying to read and re-read the book, getting further than I had been on the bus when I started to have issues (well, more issues). I couldn't make the words work and haven't gone back to that book since.