/lit/ - Literature

Is there anything more pretentious?

I saw a grrl reading Tristram Shandy in public and she tried to act clever and funny when I talked to her

>>12552873
Pseuds are concerned with how they appear to others. Real intellectuals just get on with the work, regardless of circumstance or setting. Intent is everything; if you're carefully selecting the most "impressive" classic novel in a nice edition so you'll be picturesque, it's pseud. If you just need to finish the damn thesis by Wednesday and the train will give you an extra hour's work, it's legit.

Reading anywhere at all is nerd behavior.

for most people reading on the commute is the only way to read, especially if you have other hobbies

I only get to read for a few minutes before bed and during commutes. It probably looks gay as fuck and pretentious but I don't care. I've mindlessly browsed instagram too many times and it makes me feel like a piece of shit.

>>12552873
Being worried about it is. Why would I care that people can see me reading?

No, Jesus Christ. You must be so fucking insecure to even have this thought. Just read wherever you want, you autist. Why would you waste 15-30 minutes of reading?

>>12552907
This. Go full Diogenes mode, read Lolita and wank in public.

only if you're not dual wielding books and reading both at once.

>>12552873
Pseud because it shows that you are desensitized to bugman life and feel at home and comfortable reading in the subway.
Should practice meditation.

>>12552873
Good old b8 thread, each board has its own version of "doing x in public is x".

>>12552942
The question was with regards to reading "in public." The library is "in public." Restaurants, coffeeshops, schools, and parks are "in public." Most places are "in public." If you're any sort of serious scholar you have to read in public.

Nigger im home for maybe 10 percent of my day. If I want to get any substantial reading done im going to have to read on transit and whatever public place when I get the chance. I blame this go go gay lifestyle our society has adopted.

>>12552888
She wanted the dik, but you blew it

>>12552873
For one, my favorite reading place is the window seat of a provincial bus ride(6hrs or longer travel time).
The feeling of not having any distractions of other possible things to do like play games and shit forces me to read. Time just slips by then poof, I finished a book.

>>12552972
This. I have to read at work since it's my job to scan large as-built plans and it takes forever for one page to get through but not long enough to go back to my desk to work. I got a system where I read a page during each scan and since some plans can reach over 30 pages, I can actually get a lot reading through.

>>12552873
I like reading in the bus and in the subway, just because i've saw the view so many times that i got bored (more than 2 hours in transport). I don't actually care about people, i'm at college and sometimes that's the only time to read my own literature list instead of the grad one.

Anyone else like to fold it like a newspaper so people can’t see the cover? I feel fine reading in public as long as no one sees what I’m reading. I don’t know why, I’m not reading anything worth being embarassed about.

>>12553034
Forgot to say that each class has a list of 10 mandatory books minimum + professor's additionals + few short texts. I usually take about 4 to 5 classes, so, it's a lot to read in 5 months if you still want to pleasure your partner, go out with friends, keep your home tyde, things like that. At least i'm lucky, i don't have to work yet.

Reading in public is the only choice, you teenagers/neets

>>12552942
Meditating on the train is an easy way to miss your stop, or get robbed. I'd rather pseud it up, in the hopes of a cute /lit/ girl (read: future wife) approaching me.

You pathetic faggots are so insecure it's laughable.

>>12552873
Guys. I take the bus a long way. The only other options are podcasts, music, and phone games. I hate podcasts and phone games, reading is really the only option for me.

I take a 15 minute subway everyday and usually stand because the seats are unhygienic (in my mind it's disgusting) so I usually stand like OP's pic reading a book if I can get through a few pages.

Basically who gives a shit about what some literal who thinks as long as you do you. If you want to read go read.

>>12553089
When I read Infinite Jest I tried to keep the cover and spine hidden as much as possible

I was reading it on the way back home on the metro, sitting in the back and sharing a car with only one woman a couple seats up, but still she kept glancing around at what I was reading and staring at me. It was very distracting and eventually I just put the book away

Apparently reading a book is some sort of social performance now that invites commentary and attention. You can't just read a fucking book on a train and go from point A to point B. If you're not staring at your phone screen and sharing your text messages with everybody standing and sitting around you, you're engaging in a political act

I hate this sick culture

>>12552987
I did not, in fact, blow it

>>12552889
All I got from this is reading novels is pseud and reading basedboy academic nonfiction is not

>>12553175
Are you in the US? Because in Argentina it's as common to read a book in the metro as it is to browse social media or read newspapers.

>>12553175
Fuck, tell me about. I was taking a bus back to college once and this dude asked me what I'm reading. I was unironically reading the God Delusion. When I told him he scoffed and turned his back to me for the rest of the trip.

The other time I was taking a plane and was reading Asexuality: The Invisible Orientation at the airport. I had the jacket covered with my plane ticket and my passport but some dude literally shifted my fingers to see the book title. He looked at me weird but like dude, you wanted to know. It felt like he forcibly yanked me out the closet.

>>12553199

>>12553190
Yes. This was on the Washington, D.C. metro; the region is supposedly one of the best educated in the country. Another instance: I was reading a book while waiting for a taxi to pick me up from the airport. Two African guys came over and asked me, "Why are you reading? What are you reading for?"

Not "what are you reading?"
Not "is it any good?"

The question was,
"WHY are you reading"

They literally could not fathom the idea of somebody reading for pleasure. System fucking error.

>>12553175
Same thing happened to me. I was reading Mein Kampf on the way home and this annoying young woman kept staring at me and even came and sat next to me and tried to read over my shoulder.

>>12553199
Is every non-hetero a pussy? Why not be proud of your sexuality? Why hide it?

>>12552873

Read, dont read: do whatever you want.

Insecurity is far worse a defect than pretention.

>>12552873
So pseuds are concerned about how they look to others. Aren't you a pseud for caring how you might be perceived while reading in public?

>>12552873
Regardless of it being pseud behavior or not, I can't understand why anyone would want to read in a crowded and noisy public place instead of home or a library, you're just ruining the experience.

>>12553245
This.

>>12553245
see>>12552900

>faggot op starts thread about being a pseud for reading in public
>well educated /lit/izens stop by to say there is nothing wrong with doing it. they leave
>actual pseuds come by
>"HURR DURR WHY PEOPLE KEEP LOOKING AT ME WHEN I READ."

>>12552873
No, sometimes when I am in public I pretend to read so that people don't try talking to me.

who gives a fuck. if i want to read a book, i'm gonna read it. insecurity is for women, faggot.

>>12553284

>>12553179
Of course you did, homo

>>12553245
>I’ve never worked a full time job
>I don’t have to commute over 30 minutes by bus, metro, or subway to my job
>my only activity outside of eating, sleeping, and maybe working is reading
Having trouble understanding peoples’ lives and way of thinking do not coincide with your own is a strong sign of autism or being a female.

>>12553175
Why were you reading her instead of your book lmao?

>>12553288
yes, i am a badass... good looking too. wanna fuck?

>>12552873
A man reads where and however he can.

>>12553318

>>12552873
no, but assuming everybody around you actually cares is

>>12553234
I don't want to seem like I'm flashing it

>>12553296
seethe harder wagecuck

>>12552896
Based

>>12553329
you haven't been loved the way you need it. don't worry bby, i can touch the untouched. can you feel me bby?

>>12552888
>Is there anything more pretentious?
Caring about looking pretentious

My buddy gave me a a ton of .mobi files so I read them on my phone.
I blend in, I get to read my books, and I don't have to be seen in public with an e-reader or a physical book.

>>12553382
>reading on your phone
leave this board immediatly you heretic

Just get a phone or ebook, reading dead tree ware is at the same level as wearing a fedora.

I don't give a fucking shit what people think, I just like to read whenever and wherever. Watch me read Lolita in your mother's funeral, fag.

>>12553416
Based

Whenever I'm in a public place I always make sure to hold my copy of Ulysses, Hamlet, or whatever patrician literature I happen to be engaged in at the time at an angle such that the cover is clearly visible to those around me, thus announcing my intellectual superiority with efficiency and effectiveness.

>reading book during lunch break outside on a nice day
>co-workers walk past and incessantly interrupt my reading to ask what I'm reading (which I'm now not)
>"blah blah blah" title of an obviously non-fiction book
>they immediately assert that they like a certain genre of fiction
>I don't give a shit because that's not what I'm trying to read right now and our differences in preferences could really matter less
>what I'm reading is not fucking important to you people, it is not interesting, you clearly do not jive with my preferences anyway
>stopped reading at work
>still haven't finished the fucking book
And not to be totally autistic, but this first-name-basis "Good morning, Anon" shit could really just fucking stop. If I'm in the middle of my work with my earbud in, why is that, combined with my usually-disappointing response, not enough to get people to check themselves before executing polite_dogooder.exe on me every fucking time they walk past me? Do you know how much of my concentration is fucking broken by this, motherfuckers? I love to talk with you people but only on purpose while I'm not busy, christ alfucking mighty.

>>12553245
Some people are just very uncomfortable when only in their own company.

>>12552951
>the library is "in public"
Why the fuck would someone be embarrassed to be seen reading in a library? What a shit thread

>>12552873
Who gives a shit

/thread

>>12553509
I wouldn't want anybody I know see me reading in fucking library when I have perfectly fine flat.

>>12553497
>could really matter less

heh, nothing personnel, kid

i only bring paperbacks with me on commutes, and i always fold the cover over and hold the book in one hand so people can’t see what im reading

Rather read a book in public than stare mindlessly at my phone in public.

>>12552896
And

I just browse 4chan

I read in the faculty breakroom on my lunch hours at work because if I tried to read in my office people would pretend they dont know I'm on a break and try to bother me.

>>12553186

You never read a novel for research?

>>12553116
This.
Who the fuck cares? Gigachad isn't going to come up to you and step on your toes because you're reading.

Nobody cares if you read on the bus you faggots

>>12553497
99% of litfags have a punchable face.

I sometimes commute 50 minutes by train. On these journeys I usually bring a book, though I prefer something light as the crowd in the train can be annoying and ruin good literature.

That said, reading on the train isn't that uncommon, especially in the early commuter train I am definitely not alone. Of course I look at the cover and feel superior because even my choice of commuter book is superior to the trash they are reading. Needless to say I do not have a girlfriend.

>>12553210
>best educated
>48% african american
something seems off. source?

Just use a Kindle and have never to worry again what other people think.

>>12554087
You realize that most people in the metro area don't actually live in D.C., right? The black share of metro region proper is more like 25%

People go to D.C. for work and school and then head back to the suburbs at night. The city's population nearly doubles during the work day and then halves after 5 PM. The people who live there are generally very rich or very poor

As to the actual educational level of the area: 1 in 4 adults who live in the D.C. area have a graduate degree, and 1 in 2 have a bachelor's degree or higher.

To put that in perspective, less than 10% of the total U.S. population has a graduate degree, and a little more than 3/10 have a bachelor's degree or higher

So people who live around Washington like to brag about how smart and educated the region is. If you can stomach its self-congratulatory tone, you can read this drooling article from the Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/01/20/most-educated-city-in-u-s-data-says-its-washington-d-c/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.01372ad398ed

numbers:
https://censusreporter.org/profiles/31000us47900-washington-arlington-alexandria-dc-va-md-wv-metro-area/
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/326995-census-more-americans-have-college-degrees-than-ever-before
http://cms.montgomerycollege.edu/edu/department.aspx?id=45952

Manhattan subways are pretty book friendly
Usually you see genre garbage but I did see a gril reading Spring Awakening and another time I saw a gril reading Brothers Karamazov.
Another time a woman grabbed my arm while I was reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and asked me what I thought of it. I took one look at her and realized that she was a lesbian, so I told her to fuck off and not ever touch me again.

>>12554173
If I see someone with a Kindle I think 'look at that faggot with his Kindle'

I always just gaze off blankly into space when I'm on public transit. No phone, no eye-contact, just the 1000 yard stare

>>12553210
Calm down bill hicks

What is this thread about. I read in public when travelling etc. so that I won't be bored and if I'm particularly enjoying whatever it is that I'm reading I relish the prospect of having that extra time to read..

/lit/ anything else is crazy.

Reading in the metro or while waiting on the bus are for pseuds. If you aren't reading at least one chapter at the time, you are a pseud. You are reading for the attention, wanting to appear smart. Reading in long bus trips and train rides or on the plane is acceptable.

>>12552873
Where else am I supposed to read? It's the only free time I have in week days.

>>12552873
Only pseuds care about such things.

>>12552896
redpilled

>>12554752
You wouldn't know since you don't go outside.

>>12552873
Literally who gives a fuck. If you want to read in public, then do it. Why the fuck do you care what other people think? Particularly people on a Uzbeki D&D Mini's Trading Forum.

>>12554763
I read in public.

>>12554773