/lit/ - Literature

I'm...curious about what people think regarding this. To be more specific, I'm talking about the multi-generational stories. They usually (but not always) start off with one person, then that person's spouse is introduced, then the action shifts to POV children characters, etc. This isn't always the case, of course. Sometimes it's the reverse, telling the story in flashback from the POV of the grandchild or great-grandchild.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Freedom, and The House of the Spirits would be more choices. All great / excellent books. They have flaws, but are still very enjoyable.

>>3486529

The Savage Detectives is really bad, and this is coming from a big Bolano fan. FMTTPS is a good book, Dick's best. It's a shame that Ubik is a dreadful novel.

I saw a post about it yesterday on a certain literature image board, and was interested enough to check out it's Wiki. It appears to be postmodern satire. It is good or bad?

Saw this in a bookstore the other day. Basically just a comedy parody of A Game of Thrones, about 250 pages long, looked alright if you like the series that much. Anyone else seen this? Written by George R R Washington (lol).

>David Foster Wallace is amazing
>David Foster Wallace is overrated
>GRR Martin is the only fantasy author out there
>Fantasy is the best genre
>Postmodernism has been dead since 1990
>Postmodernism lives on!
>Tao Lin is an author...who exists
>Sasha Gray is an intellectual
>most books such, or are entry-level
>girls hanging out in bookstores
>James Joyce is a great author
>Orson Scott Card is a horrible people, please DIAF
>Don't read House of Leaves
>Stephen King rocks
>Stephen King sucks
>stoplikingwhatidontlike.jpg
>Why are you talking about books on a book board?

Somewhere between 300 - 350. About 250 are displayed on my two 'main' bookcases (one full size, one tall and narrow), about 50 are on another bookcase in another room, and 50 that I hate are up in the attic, where they don't deserve to see the light of day. Took me about 12 years to get this many, but 80%+ were bought in the last 3 years. Mostly paperbacks and trade paperbacks, but about 15 hardcovers. A nice mix of all fiction genres, and the occasional non-fiction and poetry book.

Les Miserables
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Count of Monte Cristo
War and Peace

I sellotaped the disintegrating spine of Franny and Zooey, which had degraded from reading in the shower. Good as new (except not really).

The Melancholy of Resistance – Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Little, Big – John Crowley
Who Killed Palomino Molero? – Mario Vargas Llosa
Mason and Dixon – Thomas Pynchon
The Joy Luck Club – Amy Tan
A Clash of Kings – GRR Martin
Starter of Ten – David Nicholls
Mr Vertigo – Paul Auster
Timbuktu – Paul Auster
The Girl in the Flammable Skirt – Aimee Bender
The Death of Artemio Cuz – Carlos Fuentes
Terra Nostra – Carlos Fuentes
The Invention of Morel – Adolfo Bioy Casares
Travels in the Scriptorium – Paul Auster
Man in the Dark – Paul Auster
Imperial Bedrooms – Bret Easton Ellis
The Return – Roberto Bolano
The Insufferable Gaucho – Roberto Bolano

You wanna know the sad thing? I'm poorer now than I have been in about 9 years or so, so I don't know if I can get ANY of them. Shut the fuck up about pirating them, I don't wanna do that. Also, my local library is A. bad and B. about to get demolished (lol Britain). I want these books, and just thinking about buying them, makes me feel better.

God, some of them were even recommended by the high and mighty /lit/, so they MUST be good.

Everyone always says to only read the Foundation Trilogy, but I think these are worth reading too. Foundation's Edge is good; FTF is great. Foundation's Edge has some really good writing, especially towards the beginning, and the inner workings of the SF are entertaining. FTF is just all round good, with a similar structure to Foundation, with 5 parts set over a few decades. Why the hate?

Ah, remember brownbear's stories? Those were the days. Someone should post a link to an archive.

>friends with a girl
>want her to think I'm 'smart'
>tell her I like books a lot
>'Oh'
>go back to whatever I was doing

This board, like most 4chan boards, is pretty fast around the year, with 2 or 3 posts a minute. During the Summer, is gets really slow. What's with this? I know that /lit/ changes differently to other boards during the Summer, but come on. You make a thread, even if it's poopular it takes 20 minutes to get a reply. Is everyone out reading in their gardens, in the sunny weather? That's actually what I do. A lot of the tripfriends have stopped or slowed down posting too, although some people would say that's a good thing.

>lots of plot twists, however stupid or unlikely

>cliffhangers at the end of as many chapters as possible

>only one POV character, who is both an Everyman and a Mary Sue (how is this even possible?)

>Western setting

>happy, conclusive ending

>love interest or love interests that the guy gets

>large and secret corporation or government group that is trying to take over

>CSI-level science / biology to engage the reader and make them feel smart

>plain prose that appeals to as many people as possible

>characters with stupid names

Oblivion: Stories - David Foster Wallace
Wilderness Tips - Margaret Atwood
Strong Motion - Jonathan Franzen
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Sussane Clarke
Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
The Easter Parade - Richard Yates
The Feast of the Goat - Mario Vargas Llosa
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

All very good books, whether it be due to plot, characters or prose, or 2 or 3 of them. Those writers = talented.