/lit/ - Literature

I'm being unreservedly sincere when I state that I have barely read any books. I just really like to spend time on /lit/ because of the discourse that goes on here. Am I retarded?

I've genuinely never read a book in my entire life

What are some books to help one through the conundrum of seeing through the trappings of society, including the concept of “making it”, while simultaneously recognising that one is at the same time beholden and a slave to aforementioned trappings?

>>16101091

So I can fit in with the rest of /lit/.

>tfw have no strong thoughts on translations because they all read more or less the same

I've read different versions of Homer and Tolstoy and Dante, and the differences feel so minor. I know they can be drastically different in the actual words used, but when I read them and actually get into the story and characters there's not much difference. It just feels like reading the same book again. I read on literature blogs people comparing translations and praising or shitting on one over the other and it feels so arbitrary. I found on a blog comparing these Dostoevsky translations:

>"As I begin the life-chronicle of my hero, Aleksey Fyodorovich Karamazov, I find myself in something of a quandary." McDuff translation
>"Starting out on the biography of my hero, Alexei Fyodorovich Karamazov, I find myself in some perplexity." Pee 'n' Vee translation

Apparently the latter is bad just because and I don't get it. The blogger doesn't bother to explain why. She just says it's bad. I know there are other articles going into more detail, but I don't want to be too informed going in, so when I actually read the texts myself, I don't see a difference. I imagine if I knew the original language and read it in the original it would be the same too.

I don't understand post-modernist literature.

I have never read an Edith Wharton novel.

None desu.

>tfw never watched an anime ever

What's an anime to watch?

>>13984719

I don't have a sister and my mom doesn't read.

>tfw everyone has interesting heartfelt stories about the one life-changing book they've read or were gifted by a dying relative or something
>tfw have no real stories or deep relationship with books other than I just like reading them

I can't imagine my life being drastically different if I haven't read any certain book I like. Do I secretly not like books?

>Neey-Chah

how do I get a gf?

>>13424223
Why?

>tfw everyone except for me has read a book or books that changed their life
>tfw have read most of the western canon, including the bible and many philosophy books, and don't think my life would be any different if I hadn't read them

Of course I think a lot of them are beautiful works of art, and some of the more didactic ones, like Marcus Aurelius's Meditations had some good advice, but personally I don't think they changed my life.

Looking up lists online, it looks like that most life-changing books are bestselling self-help or memoirs, which are genres I've never been into. Should I get into those? They look kind of plebby but I want a book to change my life. I hate my life.

What is a book that changed your life?

>>13074891
>talking to women

>mom doesn't read
>dad doesn't read
>brother doesn't read
>I don't read

>>12629831
Proof? Thought so retard.

>>12081889

Why don't you?

>at bookstore
>flipping through 12 Rules just to see what it's like
>someone asks me if I'm gonna buy that book
>see him and am taken aback by how much of a faggot he looks
>say nah it doesn't look like my type of book and put it back on the self
>"Do you even know who Dr. Jordan Peterson is?"
>not in the mood so play dumb and say no
>"OH MY GOD! Here I'm going to buy this book for you. It will change your life."
>"n-no thanks that's okay."
>"No seriously IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE."
>have to insist harder that he not buy me the book
>looks at me like I'm the biggest asshole ever and just sighs and walks away
>turns back once and says, "You know what?" pauses, shakes his head and says, "nevermind" and then walks away

Did I do something bad here? Should I have let him buy me the book?