/lit/ - Literature

What novels touch on the following?
>raves
>sex/love
>femme fatale
>drugs
>shitty suburban culture

Can you be a reader without also trying to write? Tons of people listen to music, yet few try to make it. What is it about writing that makes nearly every reader want to write?

What subject if any are you knowledgeable enough about that you could have and defend a position in in a legit patritian-intellectual debate?

I, like you, am usually considered a smart person. But I know that my 'smarts' only appear so relative to the lack of it in ordinary people. But I know that the moment any person with real knowledge on a subject appears, my 'smarts' will vanish quicker than piss in a pool.

What would be the most efficient way to acquire more than just superficial knowledge on a wide variety of subjects? That's the biggest problem with the things I know: too much surface, not enough substance, fuzzy notions vs. hard facts.

I want to be genuinely smart. How to?

At what point in history did it become impossible for a person to read every book ever written even if they dedicated their entire life to it?