Didn't mean to deter you from Hesse forever! But you may want to try something other than Steppenwolf if you do give him another shot... Someone was telling me I might like Siddhartha better, but I'm going to take a break from him for a while.

I haven't read the Game of Thrones books but my girlfriend has, and I know she struggled with the fifth one. If I remember correctly, she actually took a long break from it in the middle and read a couple of other things because she was so ready for a change.