/lit/ - Literature

>>19162336
catcher in the rye

>>19162336
Breakfast of Champions does not have deep literary value. It's his worst book, I think by his own estimation. But I probably learned more about how to write from that book than any other. He really gets the point across that the crucial act in the art of writing is putting words on paper. A good artist can just keep going, and get to interesting moments. But I think he also made the point that jazz improvisation isn't a great way to generate novels, and more advanced planning and purpose is helpful.

>>19162336
Pretty much any novel which you put in the time to fully understand right down to the sentence structure.

>>19162336
Metamorphosis, Kafka
Berserk, Kentaru miura

>>19162336

>>19162349
Breakfast of Champions is one of his best books; he was self-critical of it because of how self-indulgent he let himself be while writing it. Even just the intro is one of the best things he did.

>>19162442
>>19162453
These don't sound very easy to read.

>>19162336
Book of the new sun

>>19162852
berserk is a manga. a child could read it.

>>19162336
dubliners.

>>19162336
Nabokov

>>19162471
>Open book
>This is an asshole (*)
>I am the asshole
>Stopped reading

>>19162336
The Bible.

Blood Meridian (wacky writing, characters)
Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
(for the insane plot)
The Rules of Attraction (for how "throwaway" it feels)
House of Leaves (for the formatting)

>>19162336
>Omit needless words!
>Omit needless words!
>Omit needless words!
I struggle to think of a book that will universally make someone a better writer than Strunk & White. (Yeah I know it's called "Elements of Style," that's just never what I called it)

To a casual, it may seem like this is just a style guide (or even a grammar book), but it nearly reduces great, effective, and powerful prose to a science.

>>19162336
the once and future king

>>19162336
>Which piece of literature will single-handedly boost the readers own capability and understanding of writing prose or fiction themselves?
The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow

>>19163870
This is the way

>>19163876
Sometimes I think that maybe I got filtered since I was still a teenager when I read it, and that I need to go back and give him another chance.
Then I remember that there were straight up drawings and other full-retard things like that. I just can’t do it.

>>19164369
>it nearly reduces great, effective, and powerful prose to a science.
Kill yourself unironically.

>>19162341
>TFW I still relate to Holden and I haven't matured at all

>>19162336
The Iliad

>>19162336
Dragon Lance first quadrilogy and War of the Twins.

>>19162471
No, it is terrible, it can only be enjoyed if you passively consume it, it falls apart if you analyze it to any degree beyond simple plot analysis. The majority of his works hold up quite well to analysis, even his early works hold up better than Breakfast of Champions despite their flaws in technique.

>>19165819
You got a problem with the book, or does saying that sound too self-assured to you?