/lit/ - Literature

Why would you want to read a sad book if you're sad?

>Books I'd want to read if depressed
Don Quixote
Growth of the Soil
Some comfy fantasy

>>11889086
Kill yourself.

>>11889091
I want to feel that I’m not the only one who is suffering

>>11889095
Thanks

>>11889097
Serious answers please... I know there are other sad anons lurking this board all alone on friday night, they might pickup a thing or two from this thread

>>11889137
The Sorrows of Young Werther

>>11889086
You are literally me, I was gonna make the exact thread. Here is some of the depressing shit I’ve read to cope so far, it’s not that obscure so it’s possible that you’ve already read some of ‘em.
>Welcome to the NHK
A quick read and probably the most accurate, true to life book about depressed socially isolated losers in the modern age ever written. Anime is also decent.
>No Longer Human
A book about someone who, despite his ability to socialize with others, never feels connected to humanity. It’s Semi-autobiographical and chronicals the slow spiraling path to the authors unfortunate conclusion.
>Notes From The Underground
A book by Dostoyevsky himself. It’s his take on the pseudo-intellectual, socially isolated auristic hermit type character. Definitely very relatable and worth taking a look at.
>Flowers For Algernon
A mentally deficient adult man gets to be part of a special new operation that could possibly exponentially increase his intelligence. Charts his growth as an individual. Don’t wanna spoil it but there are some parts where you’ll be jelly of him, some where you’ll heavily relate to him and others where you’ll just feel plain bad.
>100 Years of Solitude
This one is a bit different than the other books but it’s still quite sad in its own way. It covers a couple generations of a single family and takes you through all the ups and downs, from the founding of cities to the waging of wars. At the heart of it all though is the dwindling humanity of the characters.
I’ve also been meaning to read more comics lately so I’ll rec some of those as well.
>Goodnight PunPun
Oof. Read this if you haven’t, super super dark and depressing. Inio Asano is a legit master and he executes this perfectly by combining his realistic art with Surrealistic story telling elements. It’s all done in a hyper realistic style while the main character is a simple doodle. Just from looking at the art you can tell how disconnected he is from the world around him. The story covers his growth from adolescence to young adulthood and every single one of his failures along the way, of which they are many.
>How to be Happy
Pic related. Just read this one recently. It’s a collection of short stories, some are sad others aren’t. You could probably finish the book in an hour or two and it has lots of good stuff. Definitely worth giving a look.
>Ressentiment
This one is more of a fun read. It’s still good but I wouldn’t consider it quite as “literary” as the other ones. It’s about, you guessed it, a middle aged ugly lonely loser. He starts playing this VR game and gets heavily involved in it, meets a ai waifu, etc. pretty fun stuff.
>My Friend Dahmer
This was written by a friend of Jeffrey Dahmer’s, that’s right the serial killer. It’s mostly true to life and quite sad. It goes over how isolated and lonely Dahmer was, all the wierd shit he did in high school, his sad home life, lack of supervision, alcholholism

>>11889227
Hit the limit, off the top of my head that’s every thing. Also I’m currently reading another comic called “Beta Testing The Apocolypse” (pic related) and I’m not too far into it yet but it seems promising. It’s got some depressive overtones while also blending it with this surreal weirdness. I’d give it a look.
Anyways, hopefully That was helpful.

>>11889137
That was a serious answer.

>>11889086
The Mind Illuminated by John Yates aka Culadasa.

Pain is inevitable in life but suffering is completely optional.

Start meditation m8, good luck.

>>11889086
Stoner
The Book of Ebenezer Le Page

>>11889086
Goddamn I feel you today sadbro. It gets even worse when you're making progress and still can't escape the loneliness, like an asymptotic curve that smashes you against a glass wall, with love and togetherness staring at you on the other side, mocking you.

>>11889086
Anything by Schopenhauer, might want to start with On the Suffering of the World
Stoner
Dubliners
The Elementary Particles
Memoirs of Hadrian

The Maimed
Golem
Book of Disquiet
Boy Detective Fails
Confessions of a Mask
When I Was Five I Killed Myself
Jimmy Corrigan the Smartest Kid on Earth

>>11889095
As somebody who is overwhelmingly depressed, I couldn’t get past the first chapter of Don Quixote.

My mind is so twisted with irony that I can’t appreciate the innocent concept of it. I can’t be a sincere reader for nine pages, let alone 900

>>11889086
Dream of a Ridiculous Man. it's short, read it right now.

Maybe try something that is completely independent of your depression. If you read to wallow or read to enrage you're probably not going to have a positive experience.

It's okay to treat literature as escapism every now and then

>>11889086
under the volcano

M.L

>>11889086
Demian.
It's short af too.

>>11889086
Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig.

>>11889227
>>11889235
Not OP but thanks for putting in the effort, very sweet of you.

>>11889086
That will only create echo chamber for you.

>>11889086
The thing that makes me feel better when I'm suffering is some sort of cathartic emotional event, something that can purge out your negative emotions by having them expended on an external source. This will sound stupid but the only things I've found that are capable of delivering this are anime and visual novels, not books. I'd recommend the Clannad anime, which is probably the greatest tearjerker ever created by a human. I think if you watch through the whole thing, you'll experience a strong purgation of your negative feelings by the end. It's not going to solve your problems (though it might, depending on what they are), but you will feel better.

>>11890764
>I'd recommend the Clannad anime
Forgot to mention that I meant the 2-season TV series, not the movie. Don't watch the movie.

Read Kant -> Schopenhauer -> Nietzsche. This should make you an optimist you sad faggot.

>>11890433
OP this will be good for u

>>11889227
good post.