English-speaking people, how can you live...

Do you mean using quotation marks to indicate spoken word?

Open speech:

"In judging of that tempestuous wind called Euroclydon," says an old writer—of whose works I possess the only copy extant—"it maketh a marvellous difference, whether thou lookest out at it from a glass window where the frost is all on the outside, or whether thou observest it from that sashless window, where the frost is on both sides, and of which the wight Death is the only glazier."

Dialog:

The doctor went to the boy and said:
- Do you have any thing that your father was holding in your hands?
- Here, - said the boy and took out a large red handkerchief from his pocket.

The last version is much easier to read and follow the conversation flow, especially if it takes a page or two...

So, yes, that is what you meant.

I read and write fiction in Spanish and English. Spanish uses that second form of dialogue. I don't find either way easier or more difficult. It's just a matter of accustoming yourself to the style.

Why do quotation marks give you a headache?

I am not sure it's English, it's just the style

You just don't dig the parsing, must be a programmer's pet peeve.

Nalo Hopkinson
Chimamanda Adichie
Lawrence Hill
Margaret Atwood
Sue Townsend
Cherie Dimaline
Zadie Smith
Bharati Mukherjee
Sylvia Plath
Daniel Richler
Colin Townsend
Miriam Toews
Esi Edugyan
Toni Morrison
John Steinbeck

(not even getting into lyrical prose)

could go on forever, but a brief short list off the top mi head

not a dig in any way, just curious cuz books are such a big part of my life. OP. what do you read?

Reading fiction is a long activity and not very useful, no?

Omnia vanitas, dude .

They both are used in Russian too and it's up to an author which style to use, but usually we use the open speech style to for some something like.. I was thinking - "...." or she told me - "..." etc.

When it's not a phrase said by someone or a quote of something, but a real dialog between a few persons, the second style is much better. I can't formulate why exactly. It's just easier to read and keep the track of who is talking at this particular moment even if that's not mentioned in the same text block.

Yes, but open any English fiction book and it will be the only style used there.

As a programmer I would say that the open speech is an inline code, while dialog is a set of standalone function calls.

I'm a sci-fi fan, but also read just everything which is interesting. For example right now I'm reading a couple of rather new Stephen King's books, written since 2020. I'm reading 'em in Russian so there is no problem with dialogues - they are formatted into that style I'm used to

First of all, it's not about usefulness (there are tech docs and manuals for that) but for fun and to relax. And actually these fiction books could be useful too. Many real-life things and situations are explained there. For example I'm literally live in the "1984" book. Yes, I said: "literally". The reality here is even darker, more surreal and hopeless than in the book, but it was predicted and explained by Orwell many-many years ago...

Where do you live, Russia?

A place where you will be arrested and get 15 years in prison for wearing a t-shirt that says: "PEACE" or even if has a white pigeon on its print. I'm not joking.

Have you read Dark Matter or Recursion?