/lit/ - Literature

>>22107139
2666
Austerlitz
Solenoid
The Possibility of an Island
my diary desu

Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
Sudden Death by Alvaro Enrigue
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

2666
Austerlitz
The Passenger
Against the Day
The Road

Very weak beginning compared to the last century

>>22107139
The Pale King
2666
Point Omega
Anti-Societies
The Passenger

The Netanyahus - Cohen
The Pale King - Wallace
Freedom - Franzen
Against the Day - Pynchon
Fifth would be a toss up, maybe Outline - Cusk but I am thinking I am forgetting something...

>>22107336
Oh yeah, 5th would actually be Trust - Diaz. Outline was quite good though.

>>22107139
The Wake by Kingsnorth
2666 by Bolaño
The Passenger/Stella Maris by McCarthy
Border districts by Gerald Murnane
Harrow by Joy Williams
Train dreams by Denis Johnson
The master and his emissary by McGilchrist
When we cease to understand the world by Benjamin Labatut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91gT68xeDMM

>>22107139
The Kindly Ones
The Sluts
A Primer for Cadavers
A Sentimental Novel
Book of Numbers

>>22107185
>>22107290
>>22107311
>>22107432
>2666
There are four million books released a year
500k literary fiction a year
And yet all of you shill the damn goddamn books. Fucking hive minds. I'm baffled how people on this board survive without chart threads

>>22108320
>There are four million books released a year
>500k literary fiction a year
And they are not 2666. Sturgeon’s Law.

jon fosse - septology
roberto bolano - 2666
laszlo krasznahorkai - baron wenkheim's homecoming
george saunders - lincoln in the bardo
alice munro - dear life

>>22108320
maybe lots of people like it because it's very good
i notice you also have nothing to say about all the unique books people have selected

>>22108332
How much can be attributed to genuine crap, and how much can be attributed to marketing? There's tons of highly rated literature with low readership numbers. Some of the most famous have promotions. Notice how many of the short stories chosen for annual collections are from the new yorker. A disproportionate amount. Notice how many creators were students from other great creators. Does that mean only a narrow few have skill? To a degree, yes. But many have equal or better, but lack the platform. Not saying a rubbish book can be forced to be good. But out of the thousands of fantastic literature each year, I'd say only a hundred or so actually get recognized by awards or selections, often via networking. And most don't have longevity because people shill the same six goddamn books per era. Like how so many people who avoid contemporary fiction have only read fucking Cormac Mccarthy

>>22108320
>>22108398
Would y'all say 2666 is great literature? I haven't read much fiction before and I'm reading it now am about half way through. I will say it's a page turner, some of themes have clicked for me and I find analyzing them rewarding while others don't seem that impressive and some of it has gone over my head I think, I saw a Chilean anon the other day claim Bolaño is YA tier in Chile idk if that's true tho

>>22108746
>y’all
Just say you. Quit the nigger shit.

>>22108746
All classics are “YA” in their countries. Chilean youth is retarded, though. They read Stephen King, not Bolaño. You think a retarded zoomer is going to read a long book like 2666? Think again.

>>22107139
The Elementary Particles - Houellebecq
Mountainhead - New Juche
The Road - McCarthy
Klara and the Sun - Ishiguro
The Hill - Prtenjaca

Heavenly Questions
Dart
Transit
The Human Stain
Gilead

>>22107185
In no particular order:
The Last Samurai by Helen deWitt
Submission by Michel Houellebecq
By Night in Chile by Roberto Bolano
Seiobo There Below by Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson

Honorable mentions: A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by McBride, Divorcer by Lutz, Cadenza for a Schneidermann Violin Concerto by Cohen, Cosmopolis by DeLillo, Oblivion by DFW, My Struggle by KOK, My Heart Hemmed in by NDiaye, recently discovered Erpenbeck so I expect she will quickly ascend the list. Likewise I suspect Lucy Ellmann and Hilary Mantel are tremendous and it’s a shame I haven’t dipped into them yet.

Most overrate:
any literature written in Spanish or Portuguese, as well as Corncob, David Mitchell, Ellis, Sorokin, Cartarescu

>>22108955
> Lucy Ellmann
>tremendous
lmao you should just kys homo

>>22108967
No habla espanol

>>22108291
>The Kindly Ones
what is this
why would i read it
explain to me anon

>>22108994
?

>>22108320
It's unreasonable to expect someone to read 4,000,000 books a year.

>>22109073
A novel written by a Jew about a Nazi psychopath who fucks trees and his sister.

>>22108320
>500k literary fiction a year
I don’t think you know what literary fiction is, anon.

>>22108746
>Bolaño is YA tier in Chile
That’s just ESL cope from a retard who seethes over the fact that Bolano revered in the angloworld. That’s like saying Juan Rulfo is YA. You’re a retard for even considering that retarded thought

>>22109103
It’s retarded, yea, but I don’t see how it’s cope. It’s more like personal envy.

>>22107139
Wow this thread made me realize how little 21st century lit I read

>Code Talker - Nez
>Black Rednecks and White Liberals - Sowell
>Unbroken - Hillenbrand
>Takin' Over By Imposing The Positive - McCartney
>Ballots and Bibles: Ethnic Politics and the Catholic Church in Providence - Savidge

>>22109103
>>22109115
How is that cope. My Spanish is dogshit and I can read BolANO just fine. You shoud have said Gabo if you wanted to a difficult writer.

>>22109094
i'm always impressed at the depth to which semites can accurately represent germanics. this sounds like something we need more of. i think i speak for all of us in our gratitude that we are truly blessed to be able to read such an illuminatingly original portrayal of the nazi menace, especially now in our post-trump world.

>>22107139
Never read one, never will.

>>22109151
Splendid b8

>>22107139
Great question, because the closer a work is to our own time, the less its value with respect to the canon can be known, so it's more of an open field for discussion. But this interesting dynamic is greatly amplified if you exclude already-established authors, so I think a better question would be:

Who are your favorite writers who published their first major work in the 21st century?

This puts us in more truly unfamiliar territory, it frees us from McCarthy, Bolano, Krasznahorkai, Houellebecq, DFW, even from Knausgaard, leaving us with... who? Mathias Enard? Joshua Cohen? Fernanda Melchor? I really don't know, that's the point.

>>22109147
YA is not about how easy to read the prose is.

>>22109451
>Joshua Cohen
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

>>22109467
I don't really know anything about him but I know he's regarded as a serious and talented author, at least relative to the other authors I know of that fit the criterion I mentioned. If you have better ideas feel free to share, like I said it seems like there's interesting discussion to be had, if you would choose to engage in it.

1. Behead All Satans
2. The Road
3. Choke
4. Skinny Dip
I think that's all I've read from worst century. Passenger and Pale King are in the rotation.

>>22109254
Based

>>22109095
That number was a typo. It's much lower. But still, there are thousands released a year.

>>22109093
BAKA fake readers

>>22107139
>reading living authors
Yikes

>>22108955
>liking the Hungarian con artist
No wonder you posted your most overrated list. You are as pretentiously juvenile as that jew conman.

>>22107139
Besides Cormac and YA in my teens I don't think I've read any 21st century lit.

>>22107139
2666
The Madman of Freedom Square
Something to Do with Paying Attention
Canonball
The Books of Jacob

Laura Warholic, or the Sexual Intellectual by Alexander Theroux
Solenoid by Mircea Cartarescu
2666 by Robert Bolaño
The Garden of Seven Twilights by Miquel de Palol
Zibaldone by Giacomo Leopardi

>>22109558
He is really good, especially if you want your reading to challenge you and not just feed your ideology. Ignore the /pol/tards who soil their undies at the sight of a "Jew."

>>22110065
> Zibaldone by Giacomo Leopardi
Isnt that from the 1800s?

>>22110084
Yes. I included it because it was translated into English about 10 years ago.

>>22110304
Ah, got it.

>>22110304
So I can just list my favorite 5 novels and find a language for which they did not translation before the 21st?

>>22110316
Yes

>>22110304
>Every Man Dies Alone By Hans Fallada

>>22107275
>>22107290
>>22108835
>>22109579
Can The Road enjoyers tell me what they got out of that book? I just finished it last night. I didn't hate it, but I thought it was just okay. I enjoyed the atmosphere and the monotony of the prose. The repetitiveness of it. It's exactly how I'd imagine trying to survive in a post-apocalypse would feel. There's no exciting adventure story to be had, or any sensationalist bullshit like that. It's just a constant trail of anxiety, boredom and frustration and misery, with no reprieve whatsoever. That was cool, and I love how the reason behind the apocalypse is never explained.
I had two problems, though. 1). McCarthy's writing style (good for you, you proved that you don't need punctuation marks to tell a coherent story I guess, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't use them), and 2). I just felt next to nothing for the characters. Maybe it's because I'm not a father and never will be, but I found myself struggling to truly care for the father, the son, or their relationship. The boy in particular was just sort of annoying to me. How much of a perfect sweet little angel he is. I found it unrealistic that he wouldn't have the disposition of a child raised in a post-apocalypse. He can still want to help
The ending was also pretty weak for all the build-up, I thought. I was told the book would emotionally destroy me, but with an ending like that, I don't see how it could. I genuinely thought the boy would end up getting captured and eaten, or something. I won't be so bold to claim that would've made for a better ending, but it definitely would've affected me more.
Yeah, so I thought it was decent and I think I understand the appeal of it just fine. I'm just not sure if I'd call it a great story, or one of the top 5 books of the 21st century. If anyone could elucidate me on what I'm missing about it, that would be great, because I wanted to enjoy this book more than I did.

>>22110571
(this whole line got deleted somehow whoops)
>He can still want to help
**He can still want to help the people they come across on the road, but he doesn't need to cry as often as he does, or be so pesterly about his morals. I get it, he represents the father's lost humanity. That doesn't mean they can't give him likable character traits or hint of a personality.

I could forgive all this if the story were trying to make some kind of point about the futility of survival, or the tendency of humanity to want to survive simply for the sake of itself, with no greater purpose beyond that. But I'm not entirely convinced that that's the point the story is trying to make, especially because of the way it ends.

>>22110571
>I genuinely thought the boy would end up getting captured and eaten
The fact that you "genuinely thought" such a thing would happen, or that such a thing could be at stake, should maybe tell you something. Whether things like this happen or not in a story shouldn't REALLY matter. The fact that you genuinely thought that this possibility were even on the table is enough to say that the story had stakes, and that you were invested somewhat in what was happening. The fact that you didn't get your misery porn ending shouldn't make you question why you wanted to see that happen in the first place. You can either be happy the boy made it out alive, or you can question what the point of survival is, as you do here >>22110578

The story is functioning as intended, I guess it just didn't resonate with you for whatever reason. Maybe play less video games, or something? I don't know.

>>22110571
>I genuinely thought the boy would end up getting captured and eaten
The fact that you "genuinely thought" such a thing would happen, or that such a thing could be at stake, should maybe tell you something. Whether things like this happen or not in a story shouldn't REALLY matter. The fact that you genuinely thought that this possibility were even on the table is enough to say that the story had stakes, and that you were invested somewhat in what was happening. Personally, I think the fact that you didn't get the misery porn ending you were looking for should make you question why you wanted to see that happen in the first place. You can either be happy the boy made it out alive, or you can question what the point of survival is, as you do here >>22110578 (You) It seems like you just wanted the story to be something that it isn't. This is why you should read books you're on the fence about multiple times so you can take the story on its own terms, rather than comparing it to whatever lofty expectations you had for it. That's what I would do, anyway. Read it again in a year and see how you feel then. Or not. McCarthy has better stuff in his bibliography anyway.

>>22107139
My Year of Relaxation
The Sympathizer
White Teeth
The Sellout
The Brief, Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao

>>22108746
>y’all
giga cringe nigger

>>22108332
>>22108344
No, that anon's right. This board is a mutually-reinforcing bubble. If you think that people choose the same books ITT because that's literally the only fucking good shit released this century then you're simply not deeply invested in modern publishing. You presumably get most of your knowledge of what's released this century from.../lit/. That's a bubble.

>>22108769
>>22110596
It warms my heart to know that there are undoubtedly many racist US southerners on 4chan who are mad as fuck that their language gets shat on by other anons because they associate it with black Americans.

1 million hours in Paint.

>>22108291
>The Sluts
epic meme book about gay sex and being a pedo, not good at all

>>22107139
>Goblet of Fire
Order of the Phoenix is objectively better. Prove me wrong

>>22110617
The thing is people are only reading that book because most novels being published in the 21st century truly are rubbish. As pretentious as it sounds, Bolano, Pynchon, McCarthy are all as close as contemporary literature gets to the quality of the older literary fiction that become 'classics'. These authors are also ones which are already established to be 'good' in this sense, and most people don't really want to waste time reading a new book from a new writer because they're not as established. Very rarely will this kind of book be read by one of us, and even more rarely will it become popular through us.

>>22110620
It's like watching kids fight in a ball pit.

>>22110816
didn't need to be 8 billion pages, rowling was definitely stroking her dick
anyway PoA is the good one if you're gonna mention any

>>22110594
Sell me on The Sellout. I got it for free but never drew the energy to read it because I wasn't even clear on the appeal. Premise wasn't too fascinating alone.

>>22110818
No, this board really suffers from being full of people under 20 who are basically just getting into literature. They are still fixated on reading the best material possible, and have not yet discovered that it's often better to read books which aren't literally the best ever written but which do appeal to some niche interest you've discovered you have.
They haven't had a fairy tale phase or an early 20th century modernist Japanese short story phase, and they haven't read niche interest books like domestic handbooks for colonial women or the badly-written diary of a mercenary. They don't WANT to read those things, because they're not the best books ever written. And, like, isn't that why they decided to start reading literature? To read the best books ever written? So we get the same endless fucking threads about Homer, Plato, Dostoevsky, Pynchon, and Joyce.

>>22110594
>My Year of Relaxation
Have you read McGlue, anon, and if so what did you think of it?

>>22107139
I think this board is a lot more Hispanic than I thought previously.

>>22110620
It’s associated with niggers and hicks, yea.

>>22110924
It's in the same vein as 'The Boondocks', a surreal satire of black culture and race relations in modern America, it's humorous while still being poignant and like all of Beatty's novels the prose is simple but effective and it's perfectly paced.
>>22111049
It's in my 'To Read' book pile, I just read 'The Caine Mutiny' and 'Billy Budd' so another book set on a ship is not particularly appealing to me right now.

>>22110647
>Ishigookuro

>>22107139
arundhati roy ministry of infinite happiness
against the day by thomas pynchon
scott mcclanahan the sarah book
Open City Teju Cole
something by William Vollman
Preparation for the Next Life by Atticus Lish

>>22110594
good list

>>22110079
>He is really good
This has to be b8. Post an exemplary passage illustrating his “greatness”

>>22110304
Fucking moron

>>22111890
lmao

>>22111893
He said good not great

>>22111893
I will make a Cohen thread sometime this week when I have the time.
>>22111908
I said "really good" which is more than good and could very well be great.

>>22107139
2666
Austerlitz
The Passenger
Against the Day
The Road

Austerlitz
2666
Stella Maris
Piranesi (inb4 pleb, I loved it)
Shades of grey

>>22107139
Fifty Shades of Grey series
Twilight series
The Hunger Games series
Ready Player One
Harry Potter GOF-DH

>>22111959
I forgot to mention Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

The Help - Stockett
The Thirteenth Tale - Setterfield
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khosseini
Middlesex - Eugenides
Three Body Problem - Ching Chong

I haven't read all the books mentioned in this thread, but I don't think there has been a serious 21st century book that I have enjoyed that I could compare to the classics.

I have read and enjoyed some schlocky stuff, but all of the serious literature from this century falls flat on me. I think its because the stories I have read wears its 21st century authorship on its sleeve. I find myself not being transported to the author's world and unable to respect the author's ideas that are within a 21st century Overton window that I don't respect.

>>22111979
We get it fuckface, you're a reactionary """"""intellectual"""""" who slices meat the local Krogwr delicatessen who believes the WVRLD has no SOVL.

>>22111979
>I think its because the stories I have read wears its 21st century authorship on its sleeve.
What classics do not? The only reason the classics seem timeless is because you are removed from their time and context.

>>22112035
Yeah, but that is why I like them admittedly. I get that it may seem a bit superficial, but being removed from time and context does a lot for me when reading.
>>22112016
You don't know me at all.

>>22112035
Which is ironic because you would think that would make them feel dated, like a shitty comedy from the '90s is going to feel dated. Instead, classic novels feel like time capsules, even if they are deeply set in their era. Why is that?

>>22112046
Okay, I get it, you corral the carts at the local Kroger. My bad, it's an important job that keeps society functioning and you're a hero for donning the safety vest and keeping America fed.

>>22112016
And you are so brave for believing the current thing. Go back to /r/bookscirclejerk.
>reactionary
lol

>>22112067
You don't know anything of my politics, and you are so far off regarding my occupation its not even funny. Can't help but feel that you are projecting. Why get so upset?

>>22112068
>Getting this triggered by a post that wasn't even a reply to you

>>22112046
Not really superficial, more escapist which I do not consider the terrible thing some do, everyone has their ways to escape their present and life would be very difficult without that. But you are missing out on some great stuff.
>>22112048
Because you lack context and do not get the allusions, what was new and topical to them is banal to you. With stuff from the 90s you still get enough of the context that you can date it.

>>22112075
Oh, sorry, you stock the shelves at the local Kroger and you're an authoritarian leftist transsexual, good for you m8.

>>22107139
Every Thing Must Go, Basic Proof Theory, and picrel

>>22109579
>1. Behead All Satans
yes!

>>22110617
Ok, so give some examples of things that aren't talked about here, I'm genuinely interested.

>>22112444
Just...things that aren't generally talked about which I find interesting and wish were talked about, or specifically 21st century shit?

>>22111912
There’s an ocean between very good and great. Great has been cheapened quite a lot as a descriptor.

Anyone else read Brooklyn? Jane Eyre with a proper structure and less simping for Jesus
>>22112444
Most modern poetry. /lit/ likes to pretend it's all Rupi Kaur and identity politics nonsense, as if that describes Prynne or
Schnackenberg or Oswald.

>>22112488
Specifically 21st century, I have plenty of things of my own that fall into that first category, but that's a much larger topic that doesn't fit into this thread. As for contemporary stuff, it's only quite recently that I've paid any attention to it but I would love anything that I could interpret as a reason to be hopeful for the future. Hence why I posted this: >>22109451 ; but it seems like either 1) there's actually nothing good out there, 2) people haven't bothered to look very hard, or 3) the lack of a canonically accepted answer makes people scared to voice there opinions. I think all three are distinct possibilities, but I'd prefer it to be one of the latter two.

>>22107139
I only read books written by dead people, sorry. Nobody living has anything interesting to say.

>>22112556
>give me attention pls

just put 5 volumes of my struggle in there

>>22112556
>t. living and has nothing interesting to say
The world is bigger than you.

>>22112584
It’s a single work

>>22112547
>Prynne

Funny you mention him, I've been struggling for the past few days to get a single worthwhile takeaway from him, or rather from this particular poem. Obviously his earlier stuff is closer to comprehensible, and even some of the later stuff has a good rhythm, a good "vibe" - like Ashbery's poems do, but with more of a sense that there is something real going on there, just in a very fractured way.

With this one, however, I can draw very dubious connections between one line and the next, but never a strong enough connection to actually justify his choices. There are only 4 poems in the whole collection done in this particular style, but I'm an autistic completionist and if I feel like there's any part of an author that goes over my head, I get insecure about whether I actually "get" any of his work at all. So please, either make me feel retarded by explaining it all straightforwardly, or say you don't understand it either; either way it will help me be less autistic about it. Schnackenberg and Oswald both seem like great choices though.

>Brooklyn

The movie was pretty mid, is the book significantly better? I didn't know Toibin was the author, he seems serious/respectable enough, I just didn't find anything in the story particularly striking or memorable.

>>22112610
forgot image, fuck me

>>22112614
Fucked if I know m8, he beats me up a lot too. The ones I do understand are often so self evidently brilliant I spend a lot of time banging my head against the mad bugger's wall.
>>22112549
I only fastidiously keep up with contemporary poetry (because you sort of have to if you want to get yours published) rather than novels. But to keep to your strict 21st century rules, I'd go for Fiona Benson and especially Toby Martinez de las Rivas as, to channel Henry James, the 'real thing'
I wanted to hate Benson as she's such an irritating head girl type writing what you're supposed to write and duly getting put forward for all the prizes. But no, she's good, can't fault her.
Martinez, though, I really think could be the one. He's intellectual ambitious and willing to be difficult and risky in a way he doesn't need to be.

>>22112537
Great is just very good that has withstood the test of time.

>>22108835
Elementary Particles was 1998, otherwise it would tower over much of the rest of the 21 Century

>>22110974
Thanks for articulating my feelings better than I would have.

A Brief History of Seven Killings by James
Jimmy Corrigan by Ware if it counts
Flights by Tokarczuk
Autumn by Smith
The Sellout by Beatty

>>22112701
Not necessarily.

I need to reread The Road. I was obsessed with it when I was 18 and read it for AP English Lit. I think now that I'm a dad it would be even better.

>>22113293
>ok, you are right but could you throw me a bone, I could really use it.
Sure, there are always exceptions.

>>22113317
I’m not talking about exceptions. You’re saying very good and great are the same. They aren’t. Stop trying to weasel your way out of this and just admit you don’t even know what you’re saying.

>>22113325
Shut the fuck up, retard

>>22113343
seethe

>>22113325
I literally said they are not the same, time differentiates them, that what is very good could vert will be great. But go ahead, show me where I said they were the same.

>>22113386
>vert will
lol. VERY WELL. Drink is starting to kick in.

Austerlitz
2666
The Passenger
The Road
Against the Day

Against the Day
Your Face Tomorrow
Solenoid
4321
2666
Honorable mentions
Antkind, The Pale King, Bleeding Edge, My Struggle, Freedom.

>>22107311
Antisocietes by Cisco?

>>22112692
>Fiona Benson
>Toby Martinez de las Rivas

Coincidentally the first poems I found by both of them seem to be centered around the need to protect a daughter, very sweet. My reaction to Benson (based on this https://granta.com/three-poems-fiona-benson/ which I assume is a representative sample, at least of a certain period of her work, judging by the description of Vertigo & Ghost) is complicated, because this whole subgenre is very, very questionable when dealt with on a purely intellectual level, but when I got to the Chimp House poem I realized she understood the topic somewhat more deeply than the other purveyors of myth-retellings; and as you say she is highly competent, wonderful imagery and pace of development. De las Rivas seems great, a bit attached to the modernists as he very clearly admits himself, but there are few better masters to start out under, he has a lot of promise.

>Fucked if I know m8, he beats me up a lot too. The ones I do understand are often so self evidently brilliant I spend a lot of time banging my head against the mad bugger's wall.

Yes, I need to get better at approaching things this way, thanks for the sanity check. Good luck with your publishing efforts, if these contemporary lit threads continue to happen regularly you could even attain to the dubious honor of having your name mentioned here.

>>22113527
yep

>>22107139
I don't read much modern day stuff

Septology
Seiobo there below
2666
A brief history of seven killings
Lincoln in the Bardo

>>22111878
What, too mainstream for you now?

The Psychology of Money
Where the Money Is: Value Investing in the Digital Age
The Millenium Series
Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life
Poor Charlie's Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger

>>22113386
> show me where I said they were the same.
Here, drunktard >>22111912

>>22110571
I thought it was overrated desu, would have made a better short story. BM was much better.
Maybe it was just cuz it was a HS English assignment.

>>22114227
Oh hey finally something I’ve read

I liked some of the stories a lot, but I think I would’ve liked them more if Ligotti wrote them, I think his prose would be better for that kind of stuff

The Road
Austerlitz
The Passenger
Against the Day
2666

>>22115005
>doesn't know what "could" means

>>22111979
No one cares that you suck at reading lol

Rising Up and Rising Down by William T. Vollmann
Your Face Tomorrow by Javier Marias
2666 by Robert Bolano
The Brunist Day of Wrath by Robert Coover
Solenoid by Mircea Cartarescu

>>22110974
Best post I've seen here in a while.

Against the Day
2666
Austerlitz
The Passenger
The Road

>>22110974
I couldn't have put it better myself. Additionally, I think that only reading the classics diminishes them a bit, since you'll only be comparing them to other classics. If you read broadly and to your interests you'll notice things in the classics you otherwise wouldn't have, and draw connections and parallels that make both texts more rich and fulfilling. I try not to hate on people who get into reading through the canon, since everyone starts somewhere, but many would benefit from not following it so rigidly.

>>22107139
Hmm... gave it some thought and finally went with this. I don't read much.

The Passenger
Against the Day
2666
Austerlitz
The Road

>>22109791
I can just tell you're that one schizo from the way you type

I can only think of 5

The Passenger
Kafka on the Shore
2666
The Master and His Emissary
Right Concentration: A Practical Guide to the Jhanas

>>22109147
spanish is one the easier languages to read

The Road
The Passenger
Against the Day
Austerlitz
maybe 2666

The Passenger
2666
Austerlitz
The Road
Against the Day

>>22118004
Fuck off shill.

>>22117916
What really rubs me the wrong way is the "start with the Greeks" way of thinking. It's like they think literature is some sort of self-improvement task or maybe like a video game. They treat it like Starting Strength. You've got to draw up a plan for how you're going to most optimally consume the entirety of the Western Canon and then you're going to methodically check every Big Book off the fucking list without any thought paid towards what you actually enjoy or find interesting. Reading as a duty. Imagine.

>>22110974
I disagree. We get the same threads on Homer, Plato, Dostoevsky, Pynchon and Joyce because they're the all common denominator between the literature read (obscure or not) by all the anons here, and not because they're the only literature that is being read. Yes, a lot of anons read them because they are 'the best of the best', but you see shelves here, most of the shelves aren't even 50 per cent filled with these books.
In general Pynchon and Joyce are more popular than, say, Attar of Nishapur. I would love if we had daily threads about Sufi poetry, but very few of us have read Attar of Nishapur or Rumi. This doesn't mean that none of us have, only that a few of us had. And for what reason? Well, because Pynchon and Joyce are generally (outside of 4chan) more popular in the West than Sufi poetry.
If you got three anons, all of whom have read Pynchon, but at the same time each of which has an obscure literary interest, then what do you think is more likely to become a reoccuring thread premise? One of the three obscure literary topics, or Pynchon? Moreover, if these three anons had their own obscure literary interest, then why should that preclude them from also having an interest in Pynchon?

>>22118142
>>22118129
>>22117944
>>22117915
>>22115385
>>22113487
>>22111924
>>22107290

>>22107432
Kingsnorth is interesting but his novels are underwhelming.

I really liked The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro.

1. DFW - The Pale King
2. Cormac McCarthy - No Country for Old Men
3. Denis Johnson - Tree of Smoke
4. Aaron Gwyn - Wynne's War
5. Mark Danielewski - House of Leaves

>>22110974
This is really true. When I first got here 10 years ago it really was "let me read all the best classic lit ever" and then something shifted after I graduated college where all I wanted to read was specific stuff amd genres, like horror fiction, short story collections, comedic guys like Robbins, Moore, and Brautigan, Elmore Leonard and Jim Thompson crime books, etc.

It's good to read the classics but you have to grow beyond that. So many of these people treat reading as spiritual enlightenment and they never learn that it's okay to read just for fun sometimes.

>>22119301
>Elmore Leonard and Jim Thompson crime books
based

>>22119301
Shut up, retard.

>>22119261
has to be samefagging

>>22119261
you wish your taste was as good as mine, pleb

>>22112950
Did you really like flights that much? I thought there were some great moments (e.g. the dutch anatomists and transporting chopin's heart) but it didn't feel that well written to me. Maybe because I read the translation?

>>22118306
Yes

>>22114208
Moved to uk somewhat recently and wanted to acquaint myself with the worthwhile recent poetry.
I like stuff I don’t fully understand but activates the ear and mind in a compelling way, so Prynne has been pretty great.
One of Prynne’s poems that sticks with me is The Bee Target on his Shoulder
Check out Keaton Sutherland if you like maximalist blasts of text.
I also enjoy some Geoffrey Hill, later stuff like The Triumph of Love.

>>22108320
This is why we need more chart threads. Also, how do I make charts? I've read a few hundred books I need to tell this board about.

>>22107139
>Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
>Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
>Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
>Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

>>22121829
Yes, I like most of what I’ve read from Prynne, I was just thrown off by the lack of rhythm/momentum in those few more sparse poems.

>Keaton Sutherland

Looks interesting, thanks.

>Geoffrey Hill

Yeah, definitely want to read him too.

>>22107139
The road
A storm of swords
a dance with dragons
Pastoralia

>>22122256
If you're on windows paint 3D is unironically good enough

>>22123897
Keston Sutherland*
Check out his The Odes to TL61P. They are amazing.

>>22112692
>Toby Martinez de las Rivas
Kek and you think this is some obscure shit that /lit/ doesn't know about and needs you to enlighten us about?

>>22107139

2666
The Road
My Struggle (Book 1)
Little boy
Memories of Ice

>>22110974
true

Cormac McCarthy - The passenger
Cormac McCarthy - The road
Thomas Pynchon - Against the day
Roberto Bolano - 2666
WG Sebald - Austerlitz