/lit/ - Literature

>>11555586
I read secondary literature before the main texts to get the subtle references and themes of an author

>>11555586
Only got halfway through Beckett's trilogy but still shill the fuck out of it because I loved Molloy.

>>11555586
I agree with Bob Dylan receiving the Nobel Prize for literature. It seems like an unconventional decision at first - he is a folk singer after all - but his lyrics are very poetic, relatable, beautiful and the tiniest segment of his lyrics are so full of meaning.

Bringing It All Back Home is a personal favourite of mine. Each song is full of relatable meaning as well as references and allusions to Moby Dick, totalitarianism, Christopher Columbus, loneliness, conspiracy, friendship, etc. He covers such a wide ground so beautifully, and that's just his lyrics. He genuinely has a voice and a flow that could make many rappers blush, it's genuinely impressive how quickly he can slide through so many polysyllabic words without feeling out of rhythm. It's a real treat to listen to his music and to read his lyrics.

If his lyrics were published as hardback poetry compendiums we wouldn't have this "did he deserve the prize" conversation as often on /lit/.

I just read the books I'm reading on a quietistic basis, I know nothing about how to actually read, I'm a pseud but am too afraid to read Schopenhauer even though I think he might solve my problem

I recommend books I never read to people based on the title.

>>11555596
But how do you understand the secondary literature without reading the main text, and what do you do if it spoils the main text for you? Not that I think it's a bad idea to read up on something before diving into it, but I think I'd prefer to read it blind, then read the secondary texts and if I thoroughly enjoyed the experience I could read the main text a second time.

I found certain moments of Joyce's Portrait extremely beautiful however most of it was boring to me.

>>11555626
Usually secondary literature summarizes the content of the main text

>>11555626
>what do you do if it spoils the main text for you?
When I have the impression that there might be a spoiler I just skip the passage

It really gets my autismo going when I see Rupi Kaur's books under "classics" in almost every book shop I go into. Bestsellers aren't necessarily classics, but if that's the bar that's been set then maybe we should just be putting the Fantastic Beasts photo book and BBC cookbooks under Classics too and while we're at it how come Jojo Moyes and Jodi Picoult under classics too with the next audio book of Jo Nesbo's Hairy Asshole extravaganza and the next Youtuber to write a book about how they came out of the closet as unemployable fucking wow

I literally make sure to take every copy of Rupi Kaur and hide it around the shop at this point it's my life's mission.

Memes aren't funny

>>11555601
if other musicians were to receive a nobel prize for literature based on the strength of their song writing, I think the only other two that would be eligible are Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen (r.i.p my dude)

most books bore me to death but i continue to read because i have nothing better to do

>>11555586
I'm quitting porn because I know I'm addicted and that it is destructive to my psyche.

I'm usually very active with writing and reading but this week, the one week everyone's out of the house, I haven't felt like working but I've just been watching films (Son of Saul, Ballad of Narayama, Predator, etc).

I'll definitely get back into work next week when people return back but I just wanted some time for myself to relax. I-is that o-ok?? :(

I was that kid who read Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, tried reading Naked Lunch, read A Clockwork Orange, 2001 A Space Odyssey and manga in school and self-proclaimed that I was "well-read." Makes me fucking wince thinking about it now.

>>11555617
that wont get you too far. recommending james Joyce's Ulysses to someone asking for more greeks would be silly
>>11555787
we're here forever

>>11555789
Same boat brother. Don't let the capitalist sex industrialists cuck your mind...

>>11555789
Masturbating at least twice a week is enough to ward off prostate and colon cancer as well as a release for anxiety so maybe don't completely go into "No Fap August" mode but trying to cut out porn wouldn't hurt.

Whenever I have a shower I always turn the hot water up ever so slightly until the initial scratching an itch on my back the hot water delivers becomes a burning of the skin. I always want to see how long I last.

I miss the adverts for J-List.

>>11555947
I miss when we could put our own advertisements on 4chan for a while (Jlist ad banners were still up too). I don't like these new clickbait links that take you down some rabbit hole that is probably one click away from giving your laptop HIV

>>11555947
Buy an onahole.

>>11555953
lol you mean a "parody onahole for parody and special prank"

/lit/ needs to have more film threads because they do film threads better than /tv/.

>>11555630
What did you think of Dubliners?

>>11555586
The confession threads are much better with a priest wojak.
Anime pic related usually leads to one sentence shit posting as evident by most posts in this thread so far and the past couple confession threads made by the faggot OP.

>>11556002
Confession threads are fun no matter what form they come in. You also see shitposting in both of them. They're not exactly the pinnacle of literary discussion so don't get yourself worked up about it.

>>11556002
> implying wojak feeling reaction pics are any better than anime girl reaction pics

They're both really faggy but you sound like a whiny autist acting like only you get to make these kinds of threads. Go fuck yourself.

>>11556004
No, the religiously themed ones always inspire better posts.

>>11556012
By that argument, the smug anime girl picture always inspires people to be embarrassed if they don't post.

I'm really glad the Corncob Tortilla shitposting has calmed down immensely as last year you couldn't make a Cormac McCarthy thread without someone trying to derail it with the constant shitposting. I'm not sure if it was just one or two people with a vendetta against Cormac McCarthy or if people just got really into posting those kinds of shitposts, but I'm glad they've stopped.

I've tried reading Infinite Jest three times now and I struggle to get past 20 pages as DFW's prose really becomes off-putting and it doesn't feel too cohesive, especially flipping between the novel and the notes. Really frustrating to read it. I'm sure I'll try again another time, it's very rarely I give up on reading a book but that one has bested me for now.

I'm worried people are going to give me funny looks if I read "The Nigger of the Narcissus" by Joseph Conrad on the train. Reading on the train is the best time I can read as I commute a lot and I'm dying to read that book but I don't know if I can do it.

>>11556002
>>11556012
these threads have existed way before you were posting a priest wojak picture with them, you don't own these threads, anon

Memoirs are some of my favourite reading material.

A Brief History of Seven Killings is one of my favourite books published in the past 15 - 20 years.

I read books that primarily focus on teaching writing techniques in an attempt to improve my own work. I know "self-help" is frowned upon here but some of them are spot on.

The Tempest is an awful, meandering bore of a play and this is coming from someone who loves Shakespeare.

Sometimes I need a month of non-reading.

>>11556012
>>11556002

lmao what the fuck, the quality of posts are the same. you get people confessing in confession threads, who gives a fuck whether you get one or two people posting off-topic confessions, so what, you get that in every fucking thread ever

the entitlement from this cunt, I swear to god

All the race-baiting, /pol/-posting on /lit/ is exhausting to me but some reason I keep coming back. I'd much rather focus on posting through Goodreads but I don't really like their get-up of groups rather than a message board. I dunno, I just wish people behaved themselves more here.

I read what I like and I like what I read.

I wish travel and geographical literature was discussed more on /lit/. I just finished reading Ernest Shackleton's South: The Endurance Expedition and I have no one to talk to about it.

>>11556038
I remember it was like this before (only been on here for about 2 years) but people spoke about Bell Curve instead. I think race realism will blow over soon. If Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux are latching onto it, it's bound to die with swarms of patreon-cucks annoying the far right.

Goodreads is shit. I don't like the dick measuring or bothering to write reviews. I'd rather have a discussion since this is objectively the best way to acquire knowledge (as per Plato).

>>11555586
I finished reading Lolita and about a year later I realised "the introduction" wasn't some academic talking about the book but it was actually the start of the novel. I didn't realise I had skipped the very beginning of the book.

>>11556050
My experience with Goodreads is everyone I've added as a friend (And everyone who has added me) so far we discussed what we've reading and more often than not I'll ask people what they currently think of the book if I've noticed they've started it/made progress on it. I think if you don't make the first step for a conversation then it's true very little conversation will take place but once you start to talk to some of the people on there, it's almost like every update you make starts a discussion and I really enjoy that about Goodreads. I don't like how dumb some of the reviews are and I very rarely bother to write my own reviews, but most people I've added through /lit/ have been pretty cool guys to chat with.

>>11555810
it's fine i m o, sometimes you just need a break from work, for me i usually have a day or two a week i don't do any work but on the other days i push myself to progress more to make up for those days. it's fine, you need some time off sometimes so you don't overload yourself. i usually go for a long walk somewhere and come back for a coffee or some water. gonna head out later to get some coconut water actually.

also predator is overrated, i thought it was boring until the very last twenty minutes.

>>11556002
Wojak posting like Pepe posting really needs to stop. Wojak posting is literally just one step away from rage comic posting.

>>11556070

>>11555787
what is it that you usually read?

>>11556002
too early in the thread my dude. youre obv. going to be biased for when you post your own thread but yknow while you're here you may as well just enjoy the ride and bask in other people's confessions, or at least express your own, no harm done

>>11556073
> Wojak poster complains about shitposting
> he shitposts in the thread

classic meme my dude simply epic you sure showed them haha

I bought A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking from my local Tescos for £3. I know it's a popular book and I remember someone recommending it to me so I thought I'd give it a go, but I know /lit/ doesn't care for pop-science books and stuff like that, plus I don't really like buying books from the supermarket as most of them are trash (saying that, I've also bought a few John Le Carre, Neil Gaiman and Jo Nesbo books from Tescos so maybe I am the pleb).

>>11556045
i read that one ages ago! the saddest part was when he returned to england and no one gave a shit because of the war

I recently started watching anime and I am deeply ashamed.

>>11556045
Walden is discussed here a lot but that's barely anything. I wouldn't mind reading Mark Twain's travel books or Steinbecks' My Travels with Charley. I hear Bill Bryson has some enjoyable books too but I've never read him for myself - didn't he win a Pulitzer or Nobel Prize or something for his book about walking across America?

>>11556101
>>11556101
I know deGrasse Tyson is a meme but his "astrophysics for people in a hurry" is pretty good.

>>11556002
No, anon. The real faggot is you.

>>11555599
just shill Molloy then, don't shill the rest of it if you didn't finish it, ya mook

>>11555586
I read Moby Dick this summer and I wish I had spent that time reading some other book. I do not care at all for all the whale trivia and I had to power through. The rest of it was alright though.

>>11555996
I liked it. Overall I like the Portrait more and it struck me harder personally but Dubliners was a bit more enjoyable to read.

>>11556157
I scanned you irl.

I love writing scifi/fantasy/superhero/high school romance stories. They're very cheesy, packed with awkward romantic tension, and always have a happy ending. They all take place in the same continuity/universe. I'm a guy in my 20s.
I consider I Know why the Caged Bird Sings the worst book I've read to completion.

>>11555586
I find it very difficult to read books <300 pages long and even 300 pages is just barely over the threshhold of something I would consider worthy of my attention. The sweet spot is 500-800.

>>11556194
this is weird and just stupid

>>11556194
how do you feel about 3 200 page books?

>>11556217
No because it still suffers from the same problem. It's short so I inherently believe I'll be able to run through it, so I get lazy because "I can just catch up tomorrow". A long book keeps me on the ball to complete it in a timely fashion so I have to try harder. Plus, such a limited amount of text only lets you get so comfortable before it's over. I like to get nestled in and put myself in the place and time for the journey, and get to enjoy it for awhile. Short books are just uncomfortable. And short stories are the absolute worst. By the time the wheels get turning and I start getting into the rhythm of it, it's already over. Sad!

It took me three months to read the Iliad.

>>11555586
I haven't read a fiction book in years. At most I'll listen to it on Audible, but even that bores me to tears. I'm just reading philosophy and academic papers on historical things I care about.

I got fucking bored by lolita

>>11555615
Schops is an easy read, just dew it.

>>11556002
I honestly don't give a fig about the image but anime is fucking trash for children and dogs there is no doubt in my mind op should be killed

I read half way through Madame Bovary, and I got so angry that I refused to pick up the book again. In fact, I promptly sold it.

>>11555586
lately all my books are harlequin/YA books because there are short and my job leaves less than 4 hours for me.

>>11555586
I read translated version of Tolstoy and now Im not sure if Tolstoy is a mediocre shit or if all the beauty of the text was lost in translation.

>>11556562
anime is form of media

>>11556501
always the case when you go into "scandalous" books to enjoy the scandalous parts.

>>11555586
>sin
Sounds spooky.

>>11556610
anime is a form of cancer

>>11555599
Molloy is great but the rest of the triology is better

>>11556002
What? Is this some form of thread-quality divination?

>>11555601
Lmao get back to /mu/

>>11556562
Le autism

>>11556194
Recc me some good longboy books please anon

>>11556248
How come? I read it last year and I think it took me just over two weeks. Did you enjoy it in the end?

>>11556612
Not that guy but Story of the Eye and 120 Days of Sodom were thrilling solely for the scandalous bits

I left my english lit major for life sciences because I couldn't stand writing post-structuralist essays anymore

>>11555586

The Prince is shit

>>11555755
Isaac Brock

>>11555586
I hardly read. I'm more into the publishing and creation aspect of books.

I haven't read the Greaks, Hegel, or Neetchie but I'm reading Stirner and Land now and I comprehend them perfectly.

>>11558780
/mu/ hate Bob Dylan wyf

I found it very difficult to get through Moby Dick without using shmoop

>>11556002
Usually I'd agree but Sucy is truly a patricians waifu.

I rush through my reading like a chore sometimes. I do that with basically everything in my life, workouts etc. There’s no reason for it but I do it, and I know I would probably understand more if I went slower.

I think part of it is my giant backlog. I have this irrational fear that my time is running out so I have to work through my stacks before it does.

>>11555601

Dylan wrote great lyrics, but if they were published on their own as a volume of poetry, they would be completely unworthy of literary recognition. It is their suitability for the melded mediums of word and music which makes them great. It is a different skill which requires a different balance. He's a songwriter and they're lyrics, you absolute mong

>>11555703
big if true

I'm trynna enjoy literature but I have schizoid pee dee and I literally cann't feel emotion so I get nothing out of it. But I read regardless of that because I want to brag to my english professor that I read Infinite Zest.

>>11559825
Wtf I think stimulants uniranically transformed me into a P-zombie. I feel like Gregor Samsa in the Metamorphosis.

>>11558795
*blocks your path*

>>11555586
Sucy best witch

>>11555586
I don't mind reading YA and genre fiction when I want a break from literary classics. I know they rarely are of the same standard but if i still want to continue reading then neil gaiman and philip pullman are enjoyable light reads.

Im posting from my phone right now. its so slow.

When i start slowing down in pace while reading i tap my foot and start singing or rapping the prose and youd be surprised how rhythmic some books are.

>>11556605
What are harlequin books?

>>11559190
Lmao no i love modest mouse but cmon dude

>>11559646
Thats a first im hearing of this.

>>11559808
I know that, no need to be rude. I only mentioned a compendium because /lit/ seems to get frustrated with the choice of Bob Dylan getting that award when really it was deserved and I was spitballing the idea that Dylan would be easier to comprehend winning the award for this board if he was a published author.

I know his lyrics suit the medium of music, I literally said how he effortlessly expresses and flows without losing his rhythm of the music. I thought I made it clear enough in my original post.

>>11560045
Will check it out. Thanks anon

>>11559808
> having a reading comprehension this poor

Maybe you should reread the post you replied to, retard

>>11555617
fucking kek

I just started Perdido Street Station Audible version and I'm really enjoying it. I love how descriptive it is - I'm so tired of books that just rush the description and focus all on action.

>>11555586
I am the greatest living writer but I don’t write.

>>11555596
based

>>11555626
>>11555665
proof that lit is dominated by minors who’ve never stepped foot in an survey undergrad course

>>11556022
Corncob will come back once he croaks and The Passenger is released

>>11561613
>an survey undergrad course
you are fucking idiot

>>11555601
Get. Out.

>>11555688
The hero /lit/ards don't deserve

I’m unemployed, blowing a lot of oppurtunities at not being employed, and neglecting both my reading and writing right now. I wake up at 7:30 and purposefully roll around until 10 or so and mostly masturbate and check /lit/. After that I mostly cook, dick around on the internet, and find ways to forget the fact that I’m mostly wasting my life away. I think about killing myself often but I’m a pussy and recently I reread Revelation which has me 2spooked about my atheism. Every day I end up crashing into bed wondering what I did with my day, why I feel so horrible, but above all, why I can’t do anything. I’m a recent college grad so that’s a big part of it I think, and I never got treatment for my anxiety and depression. I probably should’ve just went to grad school, but I didn’t so now I’m stuck with two humanities degrees not really committing ro anything. I have a gf though. That’s nice. And some friends. They’re all nice. I miss school and the time and purpose that gave me. Also, I think Ernest Hemingway is unironically the best American prose stylist and I’m reading all his works to figure out how he did it.

>>11556268
That's not a sin but a bless, anon

>>11561628
you’re retarded. there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that statement and if you want to be a contrarian fuck you should just save us the space and kill yourself.

I don't understand Notes From Underground. When the Underground Man makes a distinction between men of action and men of acute conciousness, that's what gets me. Does Doestoyevsky really belive in this distinction or is it satirizing how some intellectuals and narcissists believe that they can only be understood by special people?

>>11561616
I hppe we see The Passenger released before he dies. Hes 88 and says its a long book but hes had a decade already to finish

>>11561665
Notes is full of contradictions because the underground man is an egotist and believes himself to be profound when in actuality he meanders a lot.

>>11561607
Then you're not a writer.

>>11561652
>a contrarian
>an survey
Which one ?
Am I a retard or an retard ?
Are you a faggot or an faggot?

>>11561590
Whats audible like?

>>11561928
Quite loud

>>11561988
Hey thats not bad have a nice day

Out of all the boards I frequent on 4chan, /lit/ is my favourite.

>>11561744
>muh grammar
>message board
a red herrring is not going to cover your semi-retarded ass you mongoloid faggot.

I enjoyed Atlas Shrugged unironically

>>11562429
You still didn't answer my question you cretin cur.
Are you a faggot or an faggot ?

>>11555586
I actually enjoyed it

>>11555596
Rip out page 666 and it still has a 666nd page. You have to rip out ALL pages after the 665th, you blasted heathen.

My favorite genre fiction is a pokemon fanfiction.

The Game of Champions

I liked worm

>>11562587
I bet its good t b h

I prefer the works of Archimboldi to those of Menard

I love literary fiction but honestly some of my favourite books are about unicorns frolicking. The Last Unicorn is a great one.