Kurtis, I hope the success of Green Wake and other projects help you bring down the massive workload. I'm usually only at about 45 hours/week and still feel like I don't have as much time as I'd like to read
I added The Bothersome Man to my Netflix streaming queue and will give it a viewing, it definitely sounds like my thing. I personally identify strongly as an absurdist so I'm sure I'll find lots to like. I know you don't have loads of time to read and I don't want to be "that guy," dropping too many suggestions on people who won't be able to follow up on them, but I would suggest one book to you if you haven't already read it:
Hunger by Knut Hamsun (1859 - 1952). The Penguin Classics Edition (apparently the definitive translation) is an absurdist treasure.
Why I think you'd like
Hunger:
- It's a deep psychological examination of a totally insane, poor and starving individual (who also happens to be the narrator)
- The narrator seems to be conscious in a dark, parallel world while bumbling through the "normal" world
- It's loaded with absurdist elements and dark humor
- It's beautifully written
- It's brief (excluding forewards, notes, etc, the actual story is under 200 pages)
- It's Norwegian (a nice tie-in with your experience of The Bothersome Man)
I strongly suggest you check it out when you think you can take on a new book:
http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Penguin-Twentieth-Century-Classics-Hamsun/dp/0141180641/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312904733&sr=1-1Thanks for the recommendation, Euge! I'll definitely put it on my list of things to read (which currently sits at about 500, haha). I've recently made a pretty big decision to give notice at my day job and try this writing thing full time.
Scary as hell when you have a mortgage, but sometimes you have to throw yourself full on into these situations so you are forced to make it work. I think I have made enough contacts that it shouldn't be a huge concern.