I read Solaris during a time I binged on hard sci-fi, so naturally, because of Andrei Tarkovsky, my next book was Roadside Picnic. I had the biggest sense of existential dread for a month. I was a total lump just staring out the window thinking about life and shit.

Anyways, both books I would best describe as Eastern European Cosmic horror. Just so imaginative in what alien life would be if we encountered it in real life. Indifferent and unable to really communicate with us, and what we do witness leaves us traumatized and feeling even more alone than when we started.