/lit/ - Literature

The bottom is Seeing & Writing, the text I teach from.

DON'T LOOK AT ME! DON'T LOOOKK AT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

No stacks here.

>>1852057
>uses e-readers
>2011

OP, you awwright. high five

>>1852019
beekeeping is tangentially related to sherlockania, so you get a high five too

>>1852005
What do you think of Barthes/Mythologies?

>>1852058

It's either this, a tablet, my phone, or an actual book.

I like my eyes, so that takes out the middle two.

I like having free 3g, thousands of books, and a free web browser.

They makin' a 3G book by any chance, mista?

>>1852064
Uhm.....

Books can remain on a shelf for thousands of years without re-charging, and still be usable!

Books 1
E-reader 0

>>1851978
Mostly garbage.
>>1852005
Mostly garbage.
>>1852019
Half garbage.

My pile.

Just have to wait one more week for my copy to get here...
Right now I'm not reading anything since most of the books next on my list I can't finish in a week.

not pictured: Watership Down

The kanji book is damn interesting. I haven't checked up on the guy's accuracy yet, but he gives really cool descriptions of the origins and evolution of each kanji, along with supplying a fair amount of conjecture in their symbolic significance

the real hard to see title is "Origins of the Japanese Language".

I've just recently started in on the structuralism book and I am really loving it. The Hume book has been loaned to me by a friend and I haven't looked at it yet. Don't know shit 'bout philosophy, so some advice would be welcome

>>1852076
How are you liking high school so far?

>>1852063
I like Barthes a lot, and I really like mythologies. I don't know if you know anything about the book, but it's a collection of really brief critical/philosophical essays on popular culture. He opens with an essay on professional wrestling.

my stack

>ITT: books we have to make us look well-read but have never read.

>>1852123
So likeh.....are you a chick?

>>1852137
no, but i do have a feminine figure
>BBW

>>1852005

Consider the lobster is a very interesting collection. The opening essay about pornography and the review of the usage dictionary were my favorite pieces.

>>1852019

Never read Atlas Shrugged, but I thought The Fountainhead had some interesting ideas in it. And a lot of ideas I found abhorrent as well. Be prepared for flat characters and less than subtle writing in general. She does make use of the occasional metaphor that's rather interesting though. Keep an open mind, you'll probably hate it plenty enough without any help from us.

>>1852057

You'll like androids. Just about everything Dick wrote was at least good, and that one's great.

>>1852123

Crime and Punishment is excellent. I can't quite articulate why, but I'm sure you'll love it.

Anything else pictured I'm not familiar enough to comment on.

I don't have a picture, but my upcoming reads include:

A Loyal Character Dancer - Qiu Xiaolong
The Girl With Glass Feet - Ali Shaw
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

I've been trying to explore more contemporary literature.

>>1852137

>>1852099
Blah Blah blah, WATERSHIP DOWN!
You win at life.

Current to read pile is depressingly tiny, I need more money for books.
Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style
Bloodsucking Fiends, a love story.

>>1852113
Highschool was 7 years ago. Sorry my opinion made you upset.

>>1852156
Which of those books have you read? And what are your actual thoughts on them?

Godel Escher Bach
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
The Illuminatus Trilogy
The Darkness That Comes Before

>>1852165

>The Darkness That Comes Before

Don't do it! It's terrible! The 'hero' will be the person you hate the most in the whole story, and you'll want to cry because of all the shit he does to the characters you actually like!

http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/4206268-capsguy?shelf=currently-reading

CONTINUALLY WORKING THROUGH ESSENTIAL SHORT FICTION AS I TAKE A BREAK FROM LARGER WORKS (IN PAST YEAR READ LES MISERABLES, DON QUIXOTE, SHIT-TONNE OF SOLZHENITSYN, WAR AND PEACE, LIFE AND FATE, THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO AND YEAH....)

>>1852123
let me know what that sartre is like, never seen it before

>>1852123

sure is high school in here

>>1852228
what high school you at bra?

>>1852233

One where we read all those books, sans Sartre

>>1852116
I don't know anything about the book beyond what a google search tells me, but I'd really like to read it. It sounds really interesting. Even more so now that I know it involves wrestling.

>>1852151
Haha. Well, The Plague Dogs is one of my favorite books, but I read it years ago. Only now have I decided that i ought to read some more things by Richard Adams. I'm really enjoying Watership Down so far.

>>1852144
Are you the anon who made a thread about Qiu Xiaolong recently? Regardless, I'd never heard of that guy until I saw that thread, now I'm really interested in checking his writing out. Do you have a suggestion?

wow they give you nietzsche in high school? wouldn't that just breed a culture of fighting ?

>>1852076
You've read any of the books in my stack? How'd you enjoy Bet Me?

Actually, let's just see your stack boyo.

jonathan strange & mr. norrell was very good

very very good

Top one is what I just finished reading:
>Our Twisted Hero by Yi Munyol

Next three are the books I'm currently reading:
>Acts of Worship by Yukio Mishima
>Today I Learned Nothing by Daniil Kharms
>Folk Tales From Korea

And the bottom three are those I plan to read soon:
>The Centaur in the Garden by Moacyr Scliar
>Three Plays by Kobo Abe
>My Friend Hitler and Other Plays by Yukio Mishima

This book is FUCKING AMAZING.

No stack. I only read one book at a time, and worry about what I'm gonna read next once I'm done.

I am currently reading Stranger In A Strange Land, by Robert A Heinlein. The last book I read was 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C Clarke. Before that, I read Science As A Candle In The Dark: The Demon Haunted World, by Carl Sagan. And before that I read Foundation, by Isaac Asimov.

If I had to guess as to what I'll read next? Probably Speaker For The Dead, by Orson Scott Card. It's been a while since I finished Ender's Game, and I've been procrastinating.

>>1852743
Do you ever read non-science fiction books? Jesus.

>>1852743
>Carl Sagan

This is /lit/, not /b/.

>>1852735
Do you know much about Japanese/Korean lit?

>>1852761
I know a pretty decent amount about Japanese literature, but the two Korean books I mentioned are all I've read of that so far. How come?

>>1852757
>>Carl Sagan
>This is /lit/, not /b/.

And Carl Sagan was a real astronomer, and a good writer, not some hack.

>>1852752
>Do you ever read non-science fiction books? Jesus.

*shrug* I've read a lot of Stephen King. He's more fantasy/paranormal than science fiction.

>>1852767
Because i know next to nothing about either, and I'd like to change that. I assume you are the person who posted a book recommendation image of some japanese literature recently; I saved that. Since I don't have much knowledge on the subject I'm not sure what questions to ask. Do you read in Japanese? What one or two books would you really suggest that someone trying to understand japanese literature start off with? Why do you read/like Japanese literature?

(by no means do you have to answer that whole barrage of inquiry, but I am quite curious about anything you could do to enlighten me on this stuff, as you can see)

Currently reading Count Zero and I will probably read them in the order that I've stacked them.

>To the left; recently read.
>To the right; currently reading.

>>1852789
Picture got lost, but here it is.

>>1852774
I'm not reading in Japanese, though I just recently started learning the language so I can eventually. Right now I'm at a pretty low level of comprehension, but I'm doing an intensive course next semester, so! Maybe I'll be at children's book level by then.

The two that I usually recommend for people new to Japanese literature which tend to hit off well are Patriotism by Yukio Mishima and Rashomon and Other Stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. But as you are Sherlock Holmes Guy, I might also suggest Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edogawa Ranpo (or at least "The Human Chair"). I'm not sure these would give you an "understanding" of [modern] Japanese literature as a whole (that would probably be Kokoro by Natsume Soseki), but I think they're good introductions when you're more used to Western stuff.

As for my interest in it, my main concentration periods are the Meiji and Taisho. It's just extremely interesting to see a country's literature and how it changes after being in isolation for several hundred years, then suddenly being exposed to centuries of literature from places throughout the entire world. That sudden introduction of so many ideas new to them had a really interesting effect on the authors, one which I love to read about. But I'm also fond of Tokugawa era literature because of that same isolation, and my interest in how a country's literature develops when the authors are in seclusion. And then there's WWII and all the post-war literature. And the Heian period court lady diaries. And Noh and Kabuki and all the theare and poetry. I dunno, there are just a ton of interesting periods and trends to Japanese literature that make me love it.

>>1852788
You sir, have excellent taste in literature

i just read Rendezvous with Rama and Eating the Dinosaur.

I'm reading the Brothers Karamazov just now.

>>1852807
>Eating the Dinosaur.
Is that the series of short 'essay's, that includes a look at Primer? If so that's on my list.

>>1852806

Yay! Some random person on the internets approves of my taste.

>>1852791
Wow, ありがとう。

>It's just extremely interesting to see a country's literature and how it changes after being in isolation for several hundred years, then suddenly being exposed to centuries of literature from places throughout the entire world.

Yes! Precisely. Highly intriguing.

Thank you for the very informative post and titles/eras to explore

>>1852814
Yeah. That was forgettable though.

>>1852790
Damn, son, that is a fine lookin photo. Those books look edible.

>>1852830
Why thank you.

>>1852790

Ahh, a fellow Swefag I presume.

>>1852144

Start with Cloud Atlas. It's a good read.

>>1851978
>implying I prefer reading books to reading about reading books on an internet imageboard

>>1852242

>Are you the anon who made a thread about Qiu Xiaolong recently? Regardless, I'd never heard of that guy until I saw that thread, now I'm really interested in checking his writing out. Do you have a suggestion?

Why yes I am! Definitely start with Death of a Red Heroine. It's his first Inspector Chen novel, and it's an excellent one. It really lets you get to know the character well.

>>1853060
>implying you aren't the downfall of civilization

>>1852886
Oh, look, Tao Lin is posting again.

bump

>>1853066
Ahh, alright, I will. Thank you.

To be read in order from top to bottom in order

>>1853603

Why would you read Sartre before you read Heidegger? Sartre's works are largely responses to Heidegger, and he misinterprets him in many ways. If you read Sartre first, you'll probably end up misreading Heidegger also.

>>1853624
Because heidigger looks harder than sartre. you say sartre misinterprets him? I thought Sartre was clever lol.

Heidegger can be misinterpreted? Get the fuck out? I dont know why, but that seems like a bold claim. the things thinging in German to French seems like a total wash.

>>1853644

... OK, I'm going to assume that you're not the person who posted the books. If you are, I'm going to make the safe assumption that you won't make it through any of those texts.

Heidegger is 'harder' than Sartre, but I have no idea why you'd read systematic philosophical texts if you don't want to be challenged. Both Heidegger and Sartre wrote easier works (Sartre's novels in particular are good introductions to his more general philosophy), so if difficulty is a concern, you made bad choices. In terms of the specific manner in which Heidegger thought Sartre read him incorrectly, it mostly relates to the concept of 'Dasein', which is a being for whom Being is a concern (i.e. human beings). However, while for Heidegger Dasein only exists as something 'thrown' into the world, and there is no conception of the self as something separate from one's surroundings. Sartre turns that around so that the self comes first and it then interacts with the world.

Sartre was incredibly clever, but that doesn't mean he was correct about everything and it doens't make it less worth your while to read him. Schopenhauer misinterpreted Kant in almost every respect, but he's still one of the most interesting and thought-provoking philosophers of the 19th century.

Inb4 /lit/core

>>1853673
Aha, someone who uses the library

I wish I was an efficient reader enough to utilize a library.
Late fees, late fees errwhere!
;_;

>>1853685
It was my first time ever going to a public library, I still can't believe how amazing they are, fucking free knowledge dude, why isn't everyone at them?

>>1853688
At my library, you can renew your books online.

>>1853668
I do want to be challenged. I will read all of these books anon. Not sure if I will finish the last two completely as they are not novels like the first three.

I don't really see the problem with misinterpreting other philosophers anyway. If he is clear on his interpretation and he discusses and analyses that, then he can still come to conclusions. He is just working on a different philosophical question than that that was intended by the author.

>>1853694
libraries are good, but if you only read a book a month or so, and some are only a couple of dollars then having your own copy can be useful for future reference.

>>1853697
>renew
>online

>>1853706
I know I couldn't believe it either, you could hold on for a book for the longest time.

>>1853694
it's probably the constantly sneezing guy with some kind of teeth-gnashing tourettes who's always bumming around the study tables that drives them away

>>1853673

Ulysses! Just finished that! Great fucking book, but be ready to use all kinds of online resources and such (good luck to the person who just... -reads- it and doesn't die). You'll love it though, I'm sure of it. I can't wait to read it again myself.

>>1853738
Yes, I'm looking forward to it, but I was actually meaning to pick up The Odyssey and read that before, but I forgot about it. Did you read it? Would you say it's necessary?

>>1853740

I actually did not. I had planned to read Ulysses now as a precursor to a close reading (it's tedious until you fall into it, which happens late for me in doorstopper novels). A lot of the online literature and stuff will give you a rundown, and honestly, I would read it once for pleasure and just the sheer getting-over-the-shock-of-reading-the-best-novel-ever attitude that you'll hit. Then read Ellman's biography, all the background lit (Odyssey, Yeats, Shakespeare/Shakes criticism, all that jazz) plus the accompanying lit for Joyce's OTHER stuff (excluding Finnegan's) and THEN read through with a companion. At least that's how I plan to tackle it. Honestly, for the first go through, just plow your way through it. It'll be hard as fuck at some places (I'm lookin at you Oxen of the Sun and Sirens) but it's worth it. Just really really remember to keep at it, and that you're not the only one who doesn't fuckin get what the hell is happening right now. Cause that will happen. Hey though, anytime you wanna start up a thread, I'd love to chat about it, and I'm sure wiser and betterly read anons will join in.

not going to post a picture but heres my list:
the mind's I reflections on self and soul
lord of the rings
art of war
tao te king
anthem
diamond age

>>1853743
Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. I have been reading Joyce's work in order and have enjoyed it a lot so far, so I'm definitely going to keep at it and not give up. Also, you can always re-read it and get your mind blown.

>>1853673
Starting from the bottom. I'm about fifty pages in.

>>1853673
Have fun with dat Ulysses. Have you read any of his other books yet? Reading Joyce is like playing an RPG. You really have to grind hard on the easier stuff until you can fight the final boss.

>>1853758
Whoops double quoted

Not in order but here's my expected reading list for the summer:

-The Hobbit/LotR/Beowulf (For fall semester class)
-Shakespeare comedies (For another fall semester class. These include (The Winter's Tale, Midsummer Night's Dream, Henry V, Henry IV [1+2], The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, Richard II)
-UBIK
-Last and First Men
-A Dance with Dragons
-Possibly some Doyle as well. Haven't decided yet.

Hopefully I can finish all this in 2 months before I get back to school. We will see.

>commenting on what I've read

>>1851978
Holmes is an enjoyable, readable classic immortalized for good reason.

>>1852005
Mythologies and Consider the Lobster are interesting.

>>1852057
Hesse is incredible! Vonnegut's great. Dick and Foer are pretty good. Cosmos is written eloquently, but note that some of the information is indeed outdated.

>>1852123
I like 'em all! Just read Nietzsche with a critical eye, of course.

>>1852735
I see some good writers in there, though I haven't actually read any of those particular books.

>>1852788
I like Feynman, Vonnegut, and your camera.

>>1852790
I'm assuming you've seen all the bullshit this board gives Catcher. I'll tell you I personally think it's okay, but I'd advise you to read it before you get through all that Bukowski. Otherwise you're bound to appreciate Holden less than you would without the more grown-up bitterness of Bukowski as it were.

>>1853603
You're a bro. Have fun with all of that.

>>1853635
I see you're currently on Celine. Hopefully enjoying?

>>1853758
Blood Meridian is my favorite by McCarthy. I like Dick and especially Wolfe much less than the rest of this board seems to. I also like Inherent vice a lot more than /lit/ seems to... Vineland's cool too, though I imagine if you're reading those two, you've read Pynchon's other, generally better work - right?

Kafka's, well, Kafka. His stories merit rereading and more rereading. [I think Camus even wrote that in an essay.] Since a lot of those stories are extremely short (some fitting on less than half-a-page), keep that in mind.

>>1853794
I actually haven't read Pynchon's other work though I do have most of it for later. I got about a hundred or so pages into Vineland and lost my place when I tried to read something else, but as far as I can remember I loved the hell out of it.

Hard-mode: try not to be /lit/

>>1853865
Well, with Atlas Shrugged, you're trying hard not to be /lit/. But seriously, why would you read that?

Well, as I pick them up from the library as I read them, I don't have them in my possession, but the books on my to read list are, in no specific order:
The Trial - Franz Kafka
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Underworld - Don DeLillo
V. - Thomas Pynchon
Tinkers - Paul Harding

Just this ugly motherfucker at the moment. I'll pick a random book from the shelf after I finish this.

>>1853889

is this portnoy's complaint? shit is so backwards, upside-down and blurry that idk wtf is going on

Bottom is one I'm currently reading. Others are in no particular order, maybe they'll end up that order.

I want to read Mein Kampf just to see what all the fuss was about, and because this is apparently the "Original, Official Nazi translation"

In case you couldn't guess by its thickness, the middle one is War and Peace, and the second from top is Poetic Edda.

The bottom one with the black spine is "The Wavering Knife" by Brian Evenson.

>>1852057
Your Nintendo is illegible.

Just kidding."Large Scale Kernel Machines" (pic related, but no pic of book).

total bampsauce

No pictures, but I'm halfway through Lolita. I recently started reading The Prince.

Two books I plan to read next are No Longer Human and With Fire and Sword.

yeah

the translated books are kenneth j. dover's greek homosexuality and süskind's perfume: the story of a murderer

I'm uncomfortable reading this many books at once, but I'll try.

>>1853865
>Dostoevsky
>not /lit/
I just read On the Road. So joyful of life. Definitely going to go and buy it.

>>1853673
Let's be friends?

>>1853673
You check out that many books at a time? How fast do you read?

>>1854970
That's nothing man, I have 12 checked out from the library just right now. My library usually allows them out for a month at a time though, and you can renew them online. I don't have anything as heavy-hitting as Crime and Punishment and Ulysses though.

>>1852790
Your house looks cool, man, and kudos on the Hunter Thomson.

Here's mine:
Currently reading Why does E=mc^2 (and why should we care); Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw

Iain Banks, Transition
Iain M. Banks, Matter
Keith Richards, Life
2001: A Space Oddysey

and I should probably get around to finishing For Whom the Bell Tolls. I was really enjoying it until my sister read the end and told me how it ends.

Recently I read The Stranger, a book called Gone which was Lord of the Flies mixed with X-Men and utterly terrible, The Old Devils (Kingsley Amis), and just finished American Gods.

I'm currently enjoying some light reading with some Gaiman short stories and the odd Michel de Montaigne essay while I rush to finish my work before term ends. I just got Infinite Jest out the library, though, and I'm going to read that over summer.

>>1854970
I can renew these online at least 4 times so I'll have them for the entire summer. I'm not a fast reader, but I have a lot of free times, although I've read Vonnegut novels in a day.

>>1854865
How are Orlando and Greek Homosexuality?

WENT INTO LIBRARY TO PICK UP SKETCHES FROM A HUNTER'S ALBUM BY TURGENEV.

COME OUT WITH THAT AND THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED, STEPPENWOLF, THE IRON HEEL, EUGENIE GRANDET.

WILL TAKE PICTURE OF IT AND POST LIST OF WHAT I HAD ON IMMEDIATE TO-READ (ON KINDLE) LIST TOO, WHEN I GET HOME FROM EXAM, WHICH STARTS IN 3 HOURS.

The Book Thief is surprisingly good OP. I read it a few years ago.

Atlas Shrugged (ARI purposes)
Great Gatsby
Posionwood Bible

KICKED ASS IN EXAM, BUT THEN AGAIN, WHEN DON'T I?

ALSO, ON KINDLE TO READ IN NEAR FUTURE:
THE BRIDGE BUIDLERS - KIPLING
THE MASTER BUILDER - IBSEN
THE BOOK OF TEA - OKAKURA
THE HAIRY APE - O'NEILL
A LEAR OF THE STEPPES - TURGENEV
THE MIRROR OR THE SEA - CONRAD
THE GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN EYES - BALZAC
A LETTER TO A HINDU - TOLSTOY
SERAPHITA - BALZAC
AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE - IBSEN
BEL-AMI - MAUPASSANT

Im a novice reader

>>1857053

Also a novice photographer.