/lit/ - Literature

I am eighteen and have had the luck of being introduced to literature at a very young age.

My mother and grandomther would always accompany me to the library and buy any book I wanted, which made me develop an interest for science fiction and surrealism while I was still in elementary; some of my favorite authors at the time were Asimov, Orwell, Kafka, Bradbury and others.

One thing I have noticed is that, in my early years of high school, I completely stopped reading as a form of conformism since books weren't popular at all among my peers, with whom I wanted to socialise.

Later on I got back into literature thanks to an amazing professor, although I lost basically all of my friends as none of them are keen on literature. I currently have no one to discuss with apart from professors and my girlfriend.

One thing I have noticed is that, at least in my [EU] country, books have started to become popular among my peers - who compulsively buy them at flea markets - as a form of aesthetic commodity rather than an actual medium to share information.

Many of my peers have a very superficial understanding of philosophy based exclusively on online resumes (eg. School of Life) or poor school textbook readings.

One time, for example, I had a ''friend'' asking me whether I preferred Doxa or Aletheia (?)

I started Dostoevskij's Idiot back in November and I'm halfway through it; I haven't picked it up in two months as these past ~8 weeks I've been in an existential quandary about my future, being completely inactive in my free time as a result. I really like Dostoevskij's oeuvre, but I feel completely anihilated to be able to enjoy reading anything in this period.