/lit/ - Literature

>>10870450
Great start OP, go on, finish it and tell your first.

>>10870450
Here's a few of mine:

Les Miserables: I wanted to read it because I enjoyed the musical and now it's difficult for me to return to the musical because it re-arranges and removes so many wonderful moments from the book (although I'll give credit it couldn't be easy adapting a 1400 page novel into a 2 hour musical). The book is a perfect tragedy that goes out of its way to warm your heart in the best possible way (i.e. Cosette being told to go play with her new expensive doll; Marius receiving the letter from Eponine on the barricade; Marius reconnecting with his grandfather; Marius realising how much of a hero Jean Valjean is after talking to Thenardier; etc) and leaves you feeling so much sorrow for a character you've come to love. It's a long book but I think that works to its benefit - it took me 4 months to finish it and those 4 months I came to fall in love with everybody in the book. The ending left me in tears.

Don Quixote: it's funny, mischievous, playful and endearing. Despite all the misadventures and troubles that Don Quixote and Sancho Panza get themselves into, you kind of want them to continue going on and on into more misunderstandings and when, in part two, they come across the manipulative duke and duchess, you see a little of yourself in them and wish for the misadventures to stop because you know these two characters are getting screwed with. I love Cervantes' cheeky sense of humour - his criticism of a false sequel to book one of Don Quixote throughout his book two were very funny and I loved the playfulness of his treating it like accurate "histories." I fell in love with the characters - shout out goes to the student who studied the first book and pretended to be a knight who wanted to defeat Don Quixote - and that ending hits like a fucking sucker punch. Sancho's final words to The DON about becoming shepherds and having more adventures if the DON gets better fucking broke me.

>>10870469
I didn't post mine in the first post because I felt that if my OP post was too long then people might not read it. Some of my favourites are here though >>10870475

I also think Watership Down is near perfect. It's an enjoyable adventure with rabbits trying to find and defend a safe home that covers thematic ground with faith (the stories of the black rabbit and El-Ahrairah), art (poetry and storytelling is key for rabbits), philosophy, politics (why Watership Down should be a haven for rabbits in contrast to Efrafa being an exploitative colony), social and gender norms (female rabbits are seen as the bearers of children as well as the ones responsible for doing the burrowing too), environmental concerns (plenty of contrasts between the natural and the man-made: the rabbits leave their original warren because of the worry of building developments - the details given of how their original home was destroyed and smoked out is genuinely shocking; the rabbits encountering the cars on the road; etc). The movie is pretty good and it encouraged me to read the book but I didn't think the book would tread such a versatile ground. It's such a wonderful well-developed and well-researched book (Richard Adams specifically studied rabbits behaviours for the book - the rabbit hierarchies and actions are partially based in reality). It's definitely a book I would read to my children.

>>10870450
i really love wuthering heights by emily bronte and i wish people on /lit/ talked about it more. maybe people read it in school and maybe they already love it or hate it based on that experience but i finished reading it this winter and loved every moment.

it's probably one of the greatest explorations of psychological power play, and heres my ignant ass beforehand thinking it was a fucking romance novel

INVISIBLE

CITIES

>>10870450
Ishiguro's "Remains of the Day." There isn't a single misplaced word, and it is staggeringly good.

>>10870450
You know when people talk about books that changed their lifes? Althought not the only one, the one who did it mostely for me was ST. I re-read it like 3 or 4 times, and it just keeps strong. The fact the book is about not only Rico's journey to become a soldier but also has one or two reflections on society keep making it better.
But more than this, I feel like that ST is more a tale of personal responsabilite and fighting for stuff that you love. To don't give up when things are a bit harsh and to never let down those around you simply because you want something or dosen't want to do it.
I see a lot of military personnal saying good stuff about the book, showing that Heinlein realy hit the nail when it comes to reproduce the mentality of a soldier in training slowly turning into a real soldier.
Not only that, I will be honest and say many of my political beliefes come from this book. It realy has a impact on me, and it is one of the books that make me want to try the military someday (but not in the army. I would like to go to the navy).

But what pisses me off is when someone comes and say this is a far-right book. I remember that I was a reader of a left-wing magazine and they published a article reproducing the same kinda of garbage that libtars speak about the book. I legitely made a open letter on how wrong they were, I even postes it on my old blog.
Also, it realy triggers me when I see this book on charts about right-wing literature and it says its fascist. For gods sake, ST ain't fascist, godammit. I even doubt it could be considered right-wing. If is right-wing because of the military stuff, then are the bolcheviks right-wing? (Dont even dare Chosmky...)

But yeah, this is one of, if not the favorite I have.

>>10870769
>see wall of text
>alright this is gonna be good
>see pic

>>10870769
Never could really understand who would have the patience to write so poorly to create pasta like this.

Kafka's Amerika

>>10870552
This was pretty funny but I don't think it's anywhere close to a 10/10. I'm sure Norm has a 10/10 in him somewhere though, and I hope he does write it.

Rio de Janeiro is the most famous; São Paulo the most full of itself; Recife is very humble and simple, but it is obviously the best.

(I am not from Recife.)

>>10870769
nothing wrong with fascism dude. Stop being so deathly afraid of agreeing with fascism.

>>10870863
confusing but good post

>>10870598
I feel the same way about Austens work. Used to believe they were romance novels but most of them are horror stories.

>>10870787
>>10870806
It ain't a pasta. I am 100% serious. You two aren't the first people to come around and say this, I am already used to plebs.

>>10870853
What is this book about anyway?

>>10870863
SP > all

>>10870903
I ain't deathly afraid. I don't agree. Fascism is totalitarianism. It kills freedom while saying it empowers people. I am yet to see a form of fascism that don't turn into totalitarianism.

>>10870598

Wuthering Heights is where it's at, no question about it.
I read Absolom, Absolom recently and it's amazing how many points of similarity there are between the two:

> Brooding, ruthless, driven patriarch, tormented by an unattainable dream (Heathcliffe / Thomas Sutpen)

> Two families, one very vigorous and strong, one more contemplative and weak (Earnshaw - Linton / Sutpen - Coldfield)

> Narrators partly or wholly removed from the story, recounting events long afterward (Quentin, Rosa / Lockwood, Nelly)

> Grotesque "Gothic" trappings (Coldfield locking himself up in his attic; Lockwood's dream with girl at the window, etc)

> Central character amassing a fortune in vague unspecified ways

etc

But good though Faulkner is, I find Wuthering Heights far superior.

The closest things I've read to a 10/10 is The Count of Monte Cristo. There were a couple of things that bothered me like the slow passages describing the old paralysed man and his facial expressions in great detail (reminiscent of Madame Bovary), and the clumsy timekeeping, but for a novel of 1200 pages this was insignificant - overall the plot, characters and prose were spectacular and I doubt I'll ever read something like it.

>>10870450
The Odyssey: I first read this some years ago in my native language , icelandic. Since I first read it, I have read it a couple of times again in icelandic, and in english and german too, and it's just always as good. I'm also probably rather biased toward the aesthetic of the prose in my native language since it was translated into icelandic in the 17th century by one of the, if not the best, ancient greek and icelandic linguistic scholar, giving the text a very beautiful, harsh, old-norse-inspired effect.

The story is fantastic, I mean it's really the archetypal hero story, an odyssey tour de force if you will (sorry, I had to). Everytime you find a small detail that just shows how fucking awesome Odysseus is. His guiles, the extremely elaborate adjectives for everything, the vivid depictions of the golden age of greeks and their gods, and the utter destruction of his wife's suitors. It's probably the one true masterpiece of human creation.

Some people say that the Iliad is the better "half" of Homer's creations but I feel like Odyssey contains the true message. While the Illiad is enlightening on the nature of human brutality, greed and madness; I think the Odyssey better depicts the human abilities that serve you better in life. Ingenuity, vigor, strength and strategy are all virtues that are depicted in countless ways in the Odyssey, and result in a far better result for the hero than in the Iliad. That the majority seems to prefer and know about Iliad (or more accurately Achilles) is perhaps a telling tale of how might is more valuated than intellect.

I can only try to imagine how utterly amazing it is to read it in fluent ancient greek.

>>10870903
>nothing wrong with fascism dude. Stop being so deathly afraid of agreeing with fascism.
t. fascist

>>10870598
I just finished it 3 days ago and I wholeheartedly agree, it's a great book. I also expected a romance novel but was pleasantly surprised.

The Most Dangerous Game

>>10870450
2666

I really wish Bolaño had more time and could've finished it but what we did end up getting was still superb.

>>10871079
>Some people say that the Iliad is the better "half" of Homer's creations
who says dat?

>>10870450
crime and punishment....

Life and Fate.

>>10871439
I <3 2666 too.

>>10870450

The Illiad
Heart of Darkness
My Antonia
Titus Groan
Charlotte's Web

Not really an objective list, just my favorite books

>>10870450
The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital.

>>10871079
Spot on. As every french engineering student, I have to pass a literature/philosophy test at the end of my preparatory classes. Each year, 3 books are chosen as the basis of our year's long analysis.
Well this year The Odyssey is one of them, and what you just wrote is exactly what we are taught here.
So yeah, just to say you're right.

>>10870450
Infinite Jest by Dave

Wealth of Nations

>>10871079
>tfw Achilles starts lamenting his fate when Odysseus meets him in the underworld

>>10870998
I need to read Faulkner sometime

>>10870844
I hope if Norm retires from comedy that he writes more books. He's so well read and intuitive that I think he could match Pynchon or McCarthy.

>>10870949
Don't worry dude, I read your post and it makes me want to read Starship Troopers even more.

>>10871439
How long did it take you to finish? I really want to read it but draught excluders are intimidating to me

>>10871458
To be honest i always preferred The Iliad because of its exploration of tragedy, honour, strategy and the double-crossing between the gods. Plus the pacing is near perfect and it reads like a Hong Kong era John Woo film. Ifucking love it my dude

>>10871486
Nice choice dude. I tried reading C&P when I was younger and didnt get far but i'm glad I read it fully now because it really is fucking great.

Pnin

>>10870450
Peace

>>10873418
why do you like Pnin anon?

Growth of the Soil is my favorite book. It used to be Walden or A San County Almanac.
This book really feeds an the outdoorsman/homesteader aesthetic better than any book I've read (which as you might guess is kinda my thing)

>>10871439
I expected so much more out of this book than what I got.

>>10870450
My personal 10/10s are
A Confederacy of Dunces
Infinite Jest
The Martian Chronicles

>>10870853
My man
>>10870949
What isn’t it about really

Crime and Punishment & The Brothers Karamazov - Dostoevsky

Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann

The Eighteenth Brumaire
of Louis Bonaparte - Karl Marx

Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy
The Sound and the Fury - Faulkner
Gravity's Rainbow - Pynchon
Mason & Dixon - Pynchon

For me, it's Ficciones.

>>10870450
Apart from obvious ones like Ulysses, Hamlet, and L'Étranger, the two best 10/10s for me are Wuthering Heights and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Wuthering Heights because I find Heathcliff an intriguing character, and especially after Catherine dies and Heathcliff becomes the villain the book is absolutely amazing! Completely makes up for the somewhat boring first half, which is essentially just necessary setup for the second.

The Count of Monte Cristo because it's complete escapism. I love the culture of France it portrays, and it is possible the best revenge tale of all time, seconded only by Hamlet. It also has the deep philosophical aspect which I feel is severely overlooked on this site, which is a shame. Also, I hate the meme that Dumas' prose is shit, because it really isn't, and managed to make a 1200 page book completely engaging that whole way through.

>>10874705
Oops fucked up the spoilers sorry

Some of my favourites:
>Redwall
>Watership Down
>The Old Man and the Sea
>Dr. Bloodmoney by PKD
>On the Road
>The Hobbit / The Lord of the Rings
>Nineteen Eighty-Four
>Hells Angels by HST
>The Gospel of John
>House of Leaves
>Siddhartha
>The Road by C. McCarthy
>I Am Legend
>Misery by S. King
>The Painted Bird
I generally don't read what I don't end up liking.

>>10871576
are you taking the exam this year or next year ?
Which section are you enrolled in ? Fellow French student here

A hero of our time

Something just majorly struck a chord during the time in my life when I read it and I've adored it ever since

I have only one 10/10

This books spoke to me like no other. I read it when I was 17 or something and all these characters 10 years later are still in my head like they were real, like I knew them personally.

I'm a bit afraid of rereading it, because it wont be as good as I remember the second time.

>>10874705
I'm happy to see another person consider The Stranger a 10/10 because the way /lit/ talks about it you would think it was a worthless read, but it really resonated with me. I felt moments were dryly funny like when Meursault is saying he could've seen his mother more often but that would waste his whole Sunday and he wasn't committed enough to that.

>>10874809
I'm planning on reading this sometime this year, really looking forward to it.

I always considered Lolita a solid 10/10 because of the beautiful prose (love that first paragraph about Lo-Lee-Ta being the tap against the teeth) and the intelligent empathy displayed for an otherwise abominable character like Humbert Humbert. My appreciation went even further when I started to consider that Humbert Humbert wasn't telling us the truth in its entirety and it made me doubt a lot of what he was telling me as the reader - things that happen so conveniently for him, his fucking name and other details definitely come under scrutiny on the second reading.

I was wondering, if I love Lolita so much, where should I go next with Vladamir Nabokov's books?

>>10871254
Not him but
>Be me
>Wouldn't mind a fascist dictatorship
Maybe just a far right nationalist uprising rather than, fascism because to some degree I think the that concept of men having inherit rights is justified, but yeah if we could get a Mussolini 2.0 to mow down all the cartel members and stop people from poisoning themselves with what they sell that would be fine.

Clerical fascism is tolerable too.

>>10874997
Not him but
>if we could get a Mussolini 2.0 to mow down all the cartel members and stop people from poisoning themselves with what they sell that would be fine.
Kinda sounds like
>Communism has never been done
Like suppressing the opposition when they are really the baddies is ok, but when the suppressing force are the baddies... Red Fascism etc.
>Clerical Fascism
This makes Jesus migrate to Sweden, put on corpsepaint and start playing D&D while wanking it to wooden statues of bobs and vegage. Or you just really like Boko Haram.

Your pic related faction is made up of 'choke me daddy'-men lead by a retarded computer.

>>10870769
It describes a fascist utopia as a response to the contemporary threat of Asiatic Communist hordes (i.e. bugs) of the Korean War (and that's a good thing.)

Mason & Dixon.

I've read a bit of Pynchon - Bleeding Edge, V, 49, tried GR but gave up after a while - and I liked it, but until I read M&D I haven't really fallen in love with Pynchon. The prose in M&D is singular, exceptionally rich, beautiful, with no unnecessary words despite its verbosity and it's just plain fun to read, too. It's a lovely, comfy book and I actually can't recall ever having more fun reading anything, I know I'm gonna be occasionally rereading it for years and loving every minute.

>>10875138
Well then why doesn't it say so on the blurb? I would have bought it a long time ago. Book marketing is a dead art.

>>10875159
I definitely need to read it sometime, I've enjoyed what I've read of Pynchon so far but he usually takes me a while to get through. How long did Mason & Dixon take you to read?

>>10875173
I'm finishing it right now, about a hundred pages to go, started it around a month ago. Took my sweet time.

>>10875182
That's not bad time, anon, I was kinda expecting it might take longer. Definitely want to read it sometime, often hear people say M&D is Pynchon's best. How challenging is it to read in comparison to his other works?

The Master and Margarita. It's hilarious, has inspiring messages about art (manuscripts don't burn), has an interesting form with the novel-in-a-novel, unforgettable characters, and is a brilliant satire to boot. I wish I knew Russian so I could experience it properly. I also adored seeing the Soviet Union through a lens other than
>MUH RED MENACE USA NUMBER ONE
or
>MUH USSR DID NOTHING WRONG

The Trial is also as close to a 10/10 for me as an unfinished book can get.

>>10875224
> The Trial is also as close to a 10/10 for me as an unfinished book can get.

I feel this way too but I feel a little guilty reading Kafka because he never wanted anybody to read it. It almost feels voyeuristic like reading something one of your friends wrote but never wanted to share it

>>10874711
The Old Man and the Sea, The Road, The Hobbit, House of Leaves, Nineteen Eighty-Four all rank on mine as well. Great list.

Suttree, Blood Meridian and The Border Trilogy are 10/10s for me but I suppose I'm biased because I think Cormac McCarthy is the greatest living American author. I'm also quite glad the YeCarthy tortillaposting has died down too because that shit was way too frequent and idiotic.

>>10870608
MY

NIGGA

>>10874705
I need to read The Count of Monte Cristo sometime. Never had an interest in reading it before I saw how people talked about it on /lit/. Man, this place does have its influence over me

>>10874995
Ada

I think it is his best.

>>10874239
>I'm not the original poster
Apart from being witty and hilarious ("comedy of error" kind of hilarious) it just hits too close to home for every Russian speaker who lives abroad. I do not think that there is any book (excluding the bar episode in "The Night in Lisbon) which comes close in terms of depicting the condition of Russian immigrants.

>>10874995
Ada is most similar in theme to Lolita. I liked Pnin more than Ada, though both are great. I think Pale Fire is sort of a different animal; great in its own right, but a departure in style. I'd recommend Pnin -> Ada -> Pale Fire

I've still never read anything earlier than Pnin, or any of this Russian -> English self-translations.

>>10870475
Pretty boring choices.

Unironically IJ, it's a masterpiece, not that anyone here has read it.

Lolita.
The book of disquiet.
Ulysses.

My personal favorite of all time is Lolita, probably my only 10/10
>>10870552
I liked this book, but not that much. I feel like Norm could have done better.

>>10874809
They'll be the same. The book hold up.

Iliad, Odyssey, Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, Hamlet, War & Peace, Moby Dick

>>10870450
The Wind in the Willows, bar none.

>>10874522
Please elaborate on a confederacy of dunces.

I find it to be bland and annoying.

>>10874809
You know russian?

>>10870450
Ficciones by Borges blew my mind and I'll forever chase that high

>>10870608
T O P T I E R

>>10870636
Agree 100%

Moby Dick

>>10875517
>>10875598
Thanks guys, will check those out

>>10875613
What can I say, man? Those books hit me hard and I get why they resonated with the readers before me

>>10873418
>Pnin
Serious question, is it worth reading? My mother has read nabokov in the past and we had discussions about his pedophilian tendencies

Tristram Shandy is probably the best and funniest book written in the English language.

Miles Davis' autobiography 'Miles' is a solid 10 for me. Even if you don't like jazz he offers a lot of fascinating stories varying from travels to Europe, pawning off other people's things and his trumpet for drug money, experiences with performing live, his family especially his grandfather who was a freed slave who owned land but was chased off it, dropping out of Guilliard because he felt it was outdated, etc.

He was a fascinating yet confrontational personality so if you want cool rants on America, rock music, free jazz, women, his contemporaries in music, etc then this book is for you. He also offers some insight into how he recorded music, improvisation, art, painting and religion. Miles Davis felt like he was in the room with this book, I love it.

Perfection

Plato’s Laws. Basically socialism is the highest form of civilization. It’s what we are constantly striving to achieve through legislation

>>10876976
Or I take that back, Laws was more of a managed free market.

A more detailed version of what Plato intended The Republic to be, Im sure

>>10870450
Also Battles in the Desert

>>10875613
>criticizes OP for boring choices
>oh btw I love Ulysses and Infinite Jest

>>10870450
Not sure that I'd call it a flawless 10/10, but no book has spoken to me quite like Steppenwolf by Hesse

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse changed at least one year of my outlook on life, when I finished the book I felt peace and harmony

I am not into buddhism or religion but this book is wonderfull and it would be a shame to try to say what its message about life is when you should just go ahead and read it and find out for yourself, its not long at all.

This is the only book I have ever given as a gift for its content and not just as a cheap gift like most books that are gifted. It will give you a good outlook on life, at least for a little while.

>>10871439
Should I read this in English or in Spanish?

>>10870492
you and I, we could be friends
I read this when I was in middle school and it floored me then, though that was simply on how engaging the story was to even a 13yo. It wasn't till college that I realized all the other intricacies Adams had woven into it.

On that note I also feel as though Plague Dogs gets a 10/10 for me. While not as complex a tale as Watership Down, as a treatise on the nature of freedom it is amazing to me.

and despite him getting some shit here Vonnegut's Mother Night is another personal favorite and I still think the best he ever wrote. His tongue in cheek narrative is basically replaced by an earnest tragedy. I felt devastation from every awful thing the main character went thru and loved it.

East of Eden is definitely a 10 for me. I hate how hackneyed this sounds, but it's simply beautiful. The characters, their emotions, and the writing all blend together to create an incredibly impactful story that resonates on a personal level. It had me in tears by the first few chapters, and I still find myself thinking about its messages and memorable scenes. There's just so much to love.

>>10877476

nice cover


the book of laughter and forgetting by kundera for me

>>10875613
>Infinite Jest, even though no one has read it
>Has a bad word to say about Don Quixote and Les mis

>>10874748
Hear, hear! Also Moby Dick, just timeless humor, great pacing, excellently chopped up (can read a section every 20 minutes or so) and just a perfect story really, great metaphor for America. And Stoner.

i don’t care about it being a meme or being reddit, the memory alone of reading it for the first time in high school is enough for me

>>10870998
>>10870998
I once wrote a short essay on the similarities between these two novels, theorizing that it was likely Faulkner had been strongly inspired by Wuthering Heights in his writing. My professor refuted this and said that it was highly improbable, but wouldn't give a reason as to why... surely it's not that unlikely?

>>10871017
Did you read it in French or English?

>>10875643
Not the guy you responded to, but it's probably a 10/10 for me too. I just thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish and that it was funny but it also had heart, as lame as that sounds. In many moments Ignatius really made me feel deeply uncomfortable, but in ways that are probably important for me to think about. I see some of myself in him, which is a terrible thing, but something I should have self-awareness about, so I can work on it and not fall deeper into it. I think his thought processes and behaviors are some of the richest and most painful of any character I've read, almost tragically so considering the end of John Kennedy Toole. I also still think about the ending of the book frequently, even though it's been many years since reading it.

>>10874705
What philosophical aspects of The Count of Monte Christo do you feel are overlooked?

Augustus
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Lonesome Dove
Moby Fucking Dick

Some of mine I guess would be Invisible Man by Ellison. It is just packed full of small little wonderful moments that have stuck with me for years. The part where he eats the sweet potatoes for whatever reason hit me hard and the crazy veterans he meets in the hotel are all awesome

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

>>10870450

Little, Big.

>>10870492
Watership down is the best book anyone gave me as a kid excellent taste.

Honestly I don't know what books i'd call 10/10 I always wind up hating some part of it or reading it again to find it's much worse than I remember. Asimov had some excellent stuff and i'd definitely consider some of his robot stories 10/10 but not sure which ones.

>>10874711
I haven't read every book on this list but the ones I did I really enjoyed, I remember getting pissed off at a bad review of Old Man and the Sea by some millennial calling it a masculine fantasy.

>>10874997
Mussolini and his friends were corrupt as fuck. I can't believe people still fall for propaganda almost 100 years later.

>>10875613
>>>/highschool/

>Gatsby
Succulent prose; an elegant, wrenching story; and the age.
>Under the Volcano
It's impossible to describe why without spoiling it. I highly recommend it to any Faulkner or McCarthy stans.

This book hit me pretty hard, and it's definitely a 10/10 for me. I was spellbound, and found it beautiful. I feel like I often just consume books, but Stoner really made me feel. I felt quite connected to the protagonist.

>>10870450
C&P, and The Sorrows of Young Werther

>>10873418
I agree anon, Pnin is such a lovable character.

For me Under the Volcano by Lowry and the Castle by Kafka both really struck a cord.

>>10875613
> Don Quixote and Les Miserables
> "boring choices"
> smugly posts Infinite Jest and Ulysses

wew lad did school shut early for summer

>>10877018
>>10877020
Definitely need to read both of these still

>>10877373
I wish I read Watership Down when I was younger because although I probably wouldn't have picked up on all the wonderful intricacies, it would have motivated me to read more seriously from a younger age because of how engaging it is. Richard Adams really was a wonder and it's heartbreaking he's died.

Always wanted to read The Plague Dogs but just haven't quite got around to it yet. I heard the film was how Richard Adams truly wanted his story told but I still would love to read the original book (the film fucking destroys me, dude - I fucking love dogs and it fucking breaks me every time).

Did you know the BBC is currently making a new TV series adaptation of Watership Down?

>>10877454
Yeah but when doesn't Steinbeck put out 10/10s my guy

his works are just beautiful

>>10879499

Grapes of Wrath is in my top 3 books and it's unlike any of the stuff I usually read. I am fearful that East of Eden is too religious for me.

>>10871079
>Comparing the Iliad with the Odyssey

Something something apples and oranges

>>10874809
This

spring snow honestly

>>10877712
I get that, anon. I remember first hearing about House of Leaves on /x/ when I first came to 4chan in secondary school (pls no bully) and the enthusiasm people had for the book really got me interested. I didn't care for much of it outside of the Navidson report and I think it would've been a better book if it was solely that, but it was fun discussing the book with people reading it along with me at a time where I knew nobody else was reading anything like that. It felt a little like a dorky reading club for people wanting weird shit.

Although I blame that book for making me only read edge-lord literature like Palahniuk and Bret Easton Ellis through my teens.

The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow is probably the greatest book I've ever read. It's painfully American, and beautifully tragic.

>>10878865
> Gatsby

Not a 10/10 for me but I do love it and it always surprises me when people don't enjoy it. I guess to each their own and all that but how do people not empathise with a man falling in love with a girl way out of his league so he works his ass off to become successful, escape his old poverty-stricken life and tries to appeal to her in every way, and he's STILL out of her league? Shit, the book broke my heart, man.

I think Ubik is a 10/10. I kinda shrugged PKD off as genre fiction but after making the dive into Ubik and thought I have been sleeping on this guy's works for way too long and I've been hooked ever since, but Ubik is likely always going to be my personal favourite of his because it's what got me into more of his work.

Moby Dick has no flaws because it is sincere in the purest sense

>>10875613
Couldn't have sounded like a bigger cunt, mate

>>10879501
It’s really not all that religious. The Bible, particularly the story of Cain and Abel, is used only as a device for exploring human morality and the related questions (for instance, are people naturally good, bad, or neither? Can they go against their nature? Should they?). Of course, our definitions of religious literature might differ.

People who claim women can't write have never read this or were too much of a Grug to understand it.

>>10879990
10/10 can agree

So, I dont really know how to ask you guys help for this, but Im gonna try

I'm lurking the thread, and I enjoy reading people's opinions on why they like books
But at the same time, although being an avid reader, I'm realizing my ''opinion'' on the books I read seems shallow compared to other people

look up>>10870769 for example. I do really wanna pay respect to a book and it's author by understanding it on a deeper level than I actually do

Am I a pleb?
I read The stranger from Camus the other day

I got it's an existentialist novel, the message of the book and the nature of the protagonist
Yet I truly thought it was a mediocre book, and I felt bad about that

Help me appreciate books better /lit/

>>10880321
don't look at the general message of the novel, explore what the novel means to you

>>10880321
Try writing your thoughts on paper after finishing a book. Then read go read some reviews from critics that you like and compare em and think about them and blablablabla

>>10879496
This or Crying of Lot 49

Rabbit Is Rich by John Updike.

>>10880321
Don't worry, anon, it is mediocre.

>>10871578
It infuriates me that you call him Dave

>>10880362
>Then read go read some reviews from critics that you
but that's the thing. How do they critic a novel.
Whenever I finish a good novel I'm in a state of near shock, deeply lost in the feelings said novel has given me. I dont come up with shit like
>''Oh, now that I finished this novel, I can clearly see how a scarecrow in chapter three simbolized the writer's awful relationship with his father''

I want to admire a novel not only by what I think of it, I think the messages or symbolisms of the author are essential
but I don't really get them
What does a writer write for? so his novels are completely understood? Or so his messages are never found by presumptuous cholars?

>>10880469
I just don't know, as I said. For all I know, it could be an exquisitely written piece of art, and I wouldn't know why

>>10880735
You just need to learn to articulate your feelings. All art is intuitive at the most basic level.

>>10880370
How does it compare to the previous 2 in the series? I was a big fan of both though the cuckoldry themes in redux were laid on a little thick

Any good self-help books?

I picked up Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life and wasn't very satisfied. I need something more concrete.

>>10876785
i also really like this book

>>10877567
>great pacing

>>10880473
is that you dave, how's life in cuba

>>10880803
I always recommend reading the whole tetralogy from the beginning as it should be experienced as a saga, but the last two books are light years above the first two, and I really like Redux actually. Rabbit Is Rich is just on another level. Updike had really hit his groove at that time. Probably the peak of his career as a writer. Rabbit At Rest is almost as good but a bit saccharine (in an effective way, though).

>>10880942
Well that’s an exciting prospect. I ran through the first two back to back and then decided to take a break and save some angstrom for later but now I’m tempted to dive right back in. Do you suggest they be read back to back for maximum impact or is letting them sink in a little fine

>>10870998
just finished the sound and the fury. now that you mention it it did remind me of wuthering heights.

Mason and Dixon, Blood Meridian, Libra, The Brothers Karamazov, Great Expectations

>>10874711
My nigga

>>10880745
do you know more of this stuff

>>10880321
How do you feel when reading the book? Does it resonate with you or does it trigger an emotion?

Which chapters or sequences do you enjoy? Why is it? Is it the characters, the prose, the setting, the narrative development, symbolism or subtext, thematic development, etc?

Although it is fine to enjoy something and not be sure as to quite why, some things have that effect. It doesn't hurt to start a discussion on the book you read or to look at reviews and analyses.

>>10881383
Not that guy but sometimes I collect my thoughts for a day or two if a book has an impact on me and thinking it over does help me when it comes to commenting on the book. Sometimes rereading will help for a book I didn't quite grasp but that's usually a few years after my initial reading.

>>10874711
Redwall is the only acceptable YA novel ever written.

>>10881805
>>10881831
thanks anons

I'll think about this
but If I wanted to know more about formal analysis of books, where should I look out?

>>10881859
His Dark Materials is good though.

>>10881873
I know he's memed a lot but Harold Bloom's lectures are insightful and you can usually find them on Youtube. After reading and falling in love with Moby Dick there was a video where he elaborate on its thematic connections to the Bible which I hadn't even considered but it made a lot of sense which definitely enhanced my love for the book. Looking up lectures for a book isn't a bad way to go, it doesn't have to be Bloom. Many classics also seem to have a foreword and suplementary notes, depending on the edition, which are helpful too

>>10881859
EULALIEA OR HOWEVER YOU SPELL IT!!!

Finished C&P last night, absolutely adored it. The ending description of Raskolnikov and Sonya together made me genuinely tear up. A true 10/10 for me. Honestly right now I can't think of any others but I have a lot of classics bought and am itching to start. Probably am going to start Wuthering Heights or Anna Karenina