/lit/ - Literature

>tfw the depression comes back and can barely read a chapter or two

I could have easily made this a thread and decided against it, so give me some (You)s to commend me for my better judgement. Also, the book I'm reading is still Catch-22.

I read because I want to become a writer. In my research and shitposting, I've come to the understanding that in order to better my skill in writing, I must read. All my anxieties, second guessing, and overall fear will leave my soul when I have read enough to be confident in my ability.

It's been 12 years since I first read this book.
Does the pain ever stop bros

I just reread The Catcher in the Rye for a second time. The one thing that stood out to me was the fact that he never called Jane or said hi to her when she was at Pencey. He always came close to it, but never actually did. Was it because he didn't want his perception of her to be ruined? He just wanted her to stay the same old Jane that he knew?

>>20513602
fuck, this shit is full of typos.

>>19864956
Kek

>>19515175
the part in the catcher in the rye where holden just wants to talk with the prositute

What should I read next, The Great Gatsby or Moby Dick?

>>17879441
>“Timothée Chalamet, star of Call Me by Your Name – I want to be a beautiful boy.”
Awww man...

>tfw too mentally ill to write or read

What was Holden’s problem?

>>17040459
>underweight
average
>idolizes weightlifting but is DYEL
no. no idea what the latter even means
>idolizes war but won't join the military
fucking hate imperialism so no
>Mild to severe hatred of social media and computers in general; addicted to them anyway
highly accurate
>Listens to either post-punk or classical music near exclusively
more into electronics but I like both
>Studying informatics, mathematics, or mechanical engineering
phil major and stem dropout
>Politically either a fascist or anti-woke communist
the latter, though I would rather consider myself a marxist
>Chooses religious views based on ideal girlfriend preference
what?

He was a closeted twink

Don't you dare to campre my autistic twink bf to that goblin

>>16581790
>>16582418
>>16577547
>>16577537
>>16577530
>>16577498

Wonderful bait, but nah. I feel like this doesn't even require argument to dismantle which is why I call it bait, but I'll run over it anyway.

The book is about Holden and his inability to adjust to the adult world. It's an overarching symbolism of adolescence through a short time span narrative where he has a variety of encounters of the type of adults people can turn into once the infinite potentialities of childhood comes to an end. He constantly feels misunderstood, cut off, out of place, and part of that is his simple inability to act the way they want him too, he asks beyond surface level questions, gets emotional and holds expectations of everyone around him beyond what they're willing to give him. The book reflects on his frustrations with that feeling.

Every so often throughout the book we are reminded of his little sister Phoebe without actually meeting her, she is made a geist in the audiences head, this idea of childlike innocence which has yet to be corrupted like Holden is seeing in the adults around him. We start to get this idea after all his constant rejections that phoebe is the only one he can be himself around. He is simply scared to grow up, so he lives in fantasies of moving away and calling up old girlfriends.

Point is, he seeks her out as he knows she only has a few more years before that childlike innocence fades away and that's why the scene on the carousel is so poignant, he is just savouring the moment as his childhood has ended, but not hers. He's not 'sexually mature', he's sixteen. He LITERALLY rejects a prostitute then gets punched for it.

And hell, to finish it off I'll just quote a quote you used.
>"She wouldn’t take it off, though. You can’t make her do something if she doesn’t want to"

Anyone else feel "this is literally me" when you read it?

why even try writing if there's already more great books than could be read in a lifetime? who's going to read it?

Books for when you hate yourself and have cripplingly low self-esteem?

why did life turn out like this

>>15216941
>tfw I fell for the american dream

Why is this book important again? I literally have no idea what this all was supposed to mean.

>>14889683
not at all, it would be more concerning if you didn't feel alienated in today's society

https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2009/06/where_did_the_title_come_from.html

What books address the emotions of fantasy and obsession a male feels when he encounters a cute woman who he projects an idealistic personality of the perfect madonna on to but is instantly disappointed once he realizes that this perception he projects onto them doesn't really have much to do with who they actually are?

Hearing what I have to say is a waste of time. I am unloveable. No woman could possibly ever feel attracted to me. I will never have sex. I will never feel her warm blood under her skin as we hold each other in bed sheets. I will never kiss a woman in a moment of passion. I am a miserable loser. I lack even the plain initiative to even approach a woman. I am a sad sickly excuse for a male. I'm aroused by my own shame. I develop romantic passions for women I know I have no chances with. I feed these passions with grand delusions but I fear to act on what I think of. I will never feel a woman's skin with my hand. I will die sick and alone. I fear rejection almost as much as I enjoy being ashamed at myself. I often dream about being in a loving relationship with every woman I've ever fallen for. It doesn't take much, really. Just a smile and some general interest in my well being and I become obsessed, but too afraid to ever move. I think if I ever had a woman holding my penis in her hands I wouldn't move a muscle. I would mentally squirm and cry. I am a loser. I am unloveable. I have nothing to say. My brain is empty. When I think about asking a woman out, I quickly correct myself, and am reminded of how pitiful I am. How could any woman love a chronic masturbator? How could any woman love a man who cries himself to sleep listening to girlfriend experience ASMR? I am a trainwreck, a manchild, a stupid depressed clown. I still think about women from my days of elementary school. Sometimes I like to fantasize that if I had been kissed back then, I would be a more confident man. I realize often that there's no point in lusting after a woman because I already hate myself so much. I would simply be inconveniencing her. I don't deserve love. I bury my head in my own sadness and depression to cope with my inadequacies and general inexperience with life, and struggle to accept praise from anyone.