/lit/ - Literature

I think it's just an evolution of this adolescent feeling of
>i wanna finish all acclaimed games ever released
>i wanna see all good films ever made
>i wanna read every great book ever written
>i wanna listen to at least one huge album on every musical genre
>i wanna travel the world and visit every content
>i wanna date 90 different women before i settle down
I find it oblivious, if not immature. Do whatever.

>>11918723
I tried to do it, but I realized I couldn't read a book every week and actually enjoy them or learn anything (when it came to nonfiction). The good thing is that it got me to read more in general.

>>11918739
k

>>11918723
It’s as pleb as you make it, you pick the books you want to read after all.

I kind of tried this year and I’ll probably only make 30-35 books, but it got me to read more than I did before so that was a good thing

>>11918723
seems like something that would shoehorn you into reading particular types of books. I don't know if the end goal would have any value either, reading alot of books isn't an achievement if you can't recall what you've read or if you've lost out on meaning since you had no time to reflect on what you've read

>>11918739
NPC core thinking anon. Outside of your last point there's nothing wrong with experiencing all the facets of human culture, we live in a time where all of it is available almost instantly and freely. The other option of just listening to whatever plays on the radio, watching the latest blockbuster and reading whatever new book is popular seems pretty shitty.

52 in 52 weeks is very possible but requires you read things that you are already have a background of competency in, or picking less challenging works (reading 50 fantasy books for example). Maybe if you wanted to learn about a specific topic you could try to arrange it so you scale from entry level to more advanced work, and if you are a reasonably intelligent person with a little bit of willpower that could be a great way to go about things. I think, for example, trying to do this approach with something like Philosophy, or any other field that benefits from careful consideration, note taking, re-reading and giving yourself time to let ideas take root and mature in your head, is going to be somewhat counter-productive and you will find not a lot sticking.

Seems like a downgrade of the 100 Books a Year trend that went around kind of a while ago now. Guess a book a week is slow enough for enough norms to catch onto it.

>>11919037
My point was to place focus on how most of the people who care about this are not the type "who would read 52 books in 52 weeks" (naturally). Which is to say, the whole thing just reeks of a cluelessly self-imposed "hit the gym, dress up, pick up a new hobbie, go outside, love yourself xoxo" self-improvement plan. It just seems overly concerned with others conception of how one should live a life - so they think they'd be "more" (intelligent, happier, prepared) if they read more books. And I'm not talking so much quantity/quality, it's more in how it strikes me that these people don't really think for themselves, how they're just aping the behavior they associate with a fuller live, "a life that has been TRULY lived".
Or at least that's my experience. Because I was there, and also have known people like this.
>The other option of just listening to whatever plays on the radio, watching the latest blockbuster and reading whatever new book is popular seems pretty shitty.
Whichever makes you happier, really. That's all that matters anyway.

>>11919237
I want you to try to read Phenomenology of Spirit in a week.

>>11918739
> not wanting to experience everything great that humanity has to offer

yeah sure stay "enlightened" in your mom's basement haha nobody gets you so epic

>>11918723
I sort of wanted to try it sometime but I'd be limited to reading short stories and plays instead of actual novels or non-fiction because a book a week I think I'd struggle to retain what I read as well as struggle to keep up to that pacing with anything over 100 pages.

I aimed for 20 this year and will get just north of 60

I don't really care about the numbers, I'm having fun reading.

Last year I think I got araund 50 sci fi books.
This I may even get more since I'm reading the classics and they are better.

>>11919256
>My point was to place focus on how most of the people who care about this are not the type "who would read 52 books in 52 weeks"
Completely agree

> It just seems overly concerned with others conception of how one should live a life.... it's more in how it strikes me that these people don't really think for themselves
This point you made here contradicts this point
>The other option of just listening to whatever plays on the radio, watching the latest blockbuster and reading whatever new book is popular seems pretty shitty.Whichever makes you happier, really. That's all that matters anyway.

In both of these cases the media has been curated. In the second the movie theatre and radio station choose media that will make sales, not necessarily media of the highest quality, While in the first you can make the assumption that the person coming up with "the greatest x" is at least doing it with an eye towards quality. Some of the best stuff I've ever read didn't make me "happy" but I'm gad I read it.
I also don't think it's necessarily wrong to go through a "best of" or "recommendation" list since so much trash is created along with the good stuff. In the interest of time and sanity finding someone you like who can go through all the junk and pick out the better stuff isn't a bad idea. I think lit is lit is kinda spared this since it's been around for so long, books that have been preserved and talked about for hundreds of years are probably of a very high quality. As things get more modern, and movies and television are very modern, you find more and more trash.

>it's more in how it strikes me that these people don't really think for themselves, how they're just aping the behavior they associate with a fuller live, "a life that has been TRULY lived".
rip religion lmao, nothing wrong with everyone trying to live like Jesus Christ, I guarantee that would make society happier

>>11918723
>alot of the books I saw on peoples list were shitty pop psychology, self help and garbage fiction books
Surely that has everything to do with the kind of books people like and very little to do with the number they plan to read. Although I guess forcing a numerical target does encourage reading shorter/easier books, so maybe there's some influence.

>>11918723
no, but I've done the 0 books in 52 weeks challenge

>>11920609
everyone's done that it's called being a literal shit-in-your-diaper baby

>>11920637
Not all of us wasted their infancy, anon

>>11920647
but they waste their adulthood reading a literal 0 books? i'm impressed

all who practice this should perish

>>11918723
w-wait, you guys don't read at least a book a week?

>>11919037
Traveling is degenerate. Grow up, kid. Start a self-sustainable farm like I did and start a family. That trip to Morocco isn't going to change your life.

>>11918723
Some books cannot be read over a week, so this challenge is demoralizing for anyone who reads somewhat difficult literature. I average 2-5 books a month, depending on what I'm reading. Usually a difficult book won't take me longer than 2 weeks unless I'm being lazy. To succeed in a challenge like this you'd have to pick relatively short or easy texts. Otherwise the challenge is stupid because it treats all books that same.

i don´t give a fuck about these challenges, stuff for mindless birds, just read at your own pace

>>11920356
Sure, if it makes you happy.
>>11920467
>This point you made here contradicts this point ... not necessarily media of the highest quality
But I mean, the objects of popular culture that are imposed by the media, they're adopted and enjoyed quickly by most who are the target. It's not about whether they're curated by others or not, or whether they're canonical novels or some waifu manga - it's about how people receive them, about whether they're at peace with their object/consume relation or not. When I say they're "overly concerned" I mean just that - it's not that they have to think it out for themselves so much as it's about how they're in a place were they obsess over "what they should be doing" instead of doing it. The implication being that I honestly believe most of these people will never read 52 books. And they won't travel the world. And they won't pick up mountain climbing or whatever. Quick enough, they'll face themselves right back at the same type of comfort they derided and denounced. But now they can bear this complacency because they "tried".
Even if they succeed in enjoying all these pursuits, they would be just as a complacent, just as much in a safe zone, as they were before they did it all. The "numbed" consumer of pop culture, and the "enlightened" readers are equally content. And, again, the "enlightened" can justify to themselves having put in all the work because they "tried", and because it was the only choice they ever had - all this comes down to "ignorance is bliss": if you're questioning whether you should stop playing videogames or go pick up a book for the first time in your life, you don't really have a choice, you're now trapped on a limbo between commodity/work, were you just HAVE to try. But eventually you'll be at either side, at ease again.
>some of the best stuff I've ever read didn't make me "happy" but I'm gad I read it.
So maybe you read these books that didn't make you happy, but they gave you a deeper understanding of the world - still, this knowledge doesn't make you happier, it just satiates your need for having read them. You are able to enjoy "more" things now, but you aren't physically capable of enjoying more than before. It's only that now you can justify it.

>>11921950
I think I understand your points and I agree with them, though I wish you used better sentence structure

>So maybe you read these books that didn't make you happy, but they gave you a deeper understanding of the world - still, this knowledge doesn't make you happier, it just satiates your need for having read them.
I think I gave off the wrong idea when I said that line. I wasn't happy that I read them because I could tick off a box like "Ah, yes I read this difficult book!" but more because I felt like reading them changed/affected my personality. LIke I enjoyed how the knowledge effected me in a permanent fashion, but the act of just learning something doesn't give me pleasure, something like that.

>>11922099
Yeah by the end I thought it read awkward.
>but more because I felt like reading them changed/affected my personality
I know what you mean, and I realize you do like yourself "better" now, but had you never adopted these different outlooks you wouldn't have been unhappier. Point is something like - you can't miss something you don't have if you don't know you don't have it, but once you realize it exists, there begins the troubles In the end, I find the feeling of completeness to be illusory and evasive.

i shoot for 50 books a year and i'm above par at the moment

i guess it seems phony to some people but i genuinely do enjoy and get a lot of fulfillment from reading, but i'm also a lazy fucking shit and need to do this kind of arbitrary challenge to motivate me to do things that will ultimately reward me because if i don't i'll just pass out in an alcoholic slump on 4chan every night of my life

I've read over 110 books so far this year.

>>11920730
This guy got it. I came here to voice this opinion. A book a week actually self selects out a lot of /lit/ worthy titles. Read War and Peace in a week? Read Greek classical philosophy in a week? The nature of the challenge limits your choice of material.

>>11923238
post your reading list

>>11923107
That's cool, man. Whatever works. What sorts of books do you read for the challenge?

>>11924143
all sorts, some classics, some modern things, some slim novellas, some big doorstoppers. i don't necessarily do one every week though; i spent a month reading anna karenina for example. but it all comes out in the wash when i burn through a bunch of sci fi or whatever