Best read an essay at a time, here and there, when the mood strikes. Taken that way, there's little better company than Max Beerbohm.

Sonja was at the zenith of what Kaspar would later call her "Athena phase," a period during which nothing could disturb her equanimity.

It is a mistake to assume that I am gloomy only with you.—Robert Aickman, letter to a girlfriend

Boredom can be viewed as a kind of fossil fuel, poured into inertia and ignited with fabulous results, but I am skeptical of this view, which reeks of unempirical optimism.