/lit/ - Literature

The Great Gatsby 7.9/10

Pimp by Iceberg Slim

8.2/10

i love barfly.

el tunel, sabato 4/5

>Freakonomics
7.5/10
Nice, light read. I prefer books on economics to have more depth - although, clearly this book wasn't intended solely for those well versed in basic economics. I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in it.

William Gibson - Neuromancer

8/10

Why does nobody discuss Willy on /lit/? Dem subtle allusions to eastern philosophy.

Man and his Symbols - C. G. Jung and his coleagues

8.9/10

Imperial Bedrooms

0/10

>>2707405
I would give it a 5/10, its BEE worst book but it isnt that bad. very mediocre though

Wise Blood - Flannery O'Connor
9/10 awesome book

Steppenwolf
7/10

Crime and Punishment
5/10

Dune
8/10

Non-existent Knight, Cloven Viscount
8/10

Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom

6/10

>The Road

9/10

Le Pere Goriot / Father Goriot / Old Goriot

8.5/10

I'm bad at rating things.

Crying of Lot 49
6/10

>The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories - Lovecraft

9/10

just finished this on my Kindle (shown)

Am starting <Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith> by Jon Krakauer also on Kindle.

>>2707477

sorry need to rate - Lundin's book was okay, he writes just like he talks on the show

the other book I hear is good

Cloud Atlas
6/10

Gilgamesh
7/10

All snakes are giant trolls in my eyes now.

Blood Meridian - 9.9/10

I never give books ten out of ten but damn, this one came close. I felt like the landscape descriptions were just a little bit too windy, so there's the .1 for you.

Naive. Super - 9/10
Reminded me very much of The Stranger. The characters naivety and simplicity made me laugh a lot, yet it wasn't even a funny book. Very enjoyable, might read again.
Last Exit To Brooklyn - 7.5/10
For something written in the early 60's, the depravity and degeneracy found in these pages amazed me. It was entertaining though. Overall kind of gritty and dirty, but it kept you hooked.

>>2707495

Bah, The Plague was what I previously read I read that before I started to read the Camus book.

Plague receives a 9/10 from me. Think I will read the essays in the omnibus until I start his next work.

Embracing Defeat 9/10 when I could understand it.

>>2707547

holy fuck I'm reading that, yeah it's a fucking slog in parts, fascinating though. Those japs are interesting folk, and their gradual taking on board of our glorious western ways is a good read.

Under The Volcano
9/10

I kept getting distracted so it took me about six months to read. I'll have to read it again sometime.
The 9/10 comes mostly from a six page letter around about page 40. I couldn't stop myself from reading it over and over.

2001: A Space Oddysey
7/10

The Metamorphisis

8/10

I found very personal reflections in this text, so I won't rate it higher than an 8.

mythago wood

6/10

actually decent fantasy recommendation from /lit/, such a fantastic setting that's made the usually boring morning walk to work through a small wood actually enjoyable

Reading this thread has made me realize that I've not read a whole book in a long time. Just chapters and academic articles. Ugh.

Lighthousekeeping (Jeanette Winterson)
8/10

I related to the loneliness of the lighthousekeeper and I really like stories about platonic closeness between opposite sexes. Plus, fiction and history is a good combination.

Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse

6/10. The prose was unrepentantly beautiful to the point that it lost it's effect on me about 150 pages in and I ended up taking a break, sometimes I got too caught up in the linguistics and the long flowing sentences that I didn't really absorb what I was reading.

Lines by Ryū Murakami

7/10

>>2707674
Brofist - my favourite book. I'm disappointed in your 6/10, but you're so right about the prose.

Bartleby The Scrivner

8/10

Last 5:

Hunger Games 9.75/10
Gravity's Rainbow 8/10
The Hobbit 10/10
Ulysses 4.5/10
Blood Meridian 6/10

>>2707719
5/10
almost got me

Flann O’Brien - At Swim-Two-Birds
8+/10

Slaughterhouse 5

2/10

If I want a WWII/Sci-Fi story, I would rather the author not insert his sexual fantasies in it.

Swamplandia 6/10

Little Star by John Advje: 8/10
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: 7/10
Battle Royale: 9/10
Hunger Games#1: 7/10 HG#2: 5/10 HG#3: 2/10

>>2707769
reasons:
John's work just rubs me the right way. I can't not enjoy one of his stories, since it melds skillfuly teenage angst, pretty prose, and excellent violence.

Portrait is great. A bit long winded, and i struggled through the 7-page sermon. But on the whole intelligent.

Battle Royale has some excellent deaths. But also I found myself liking the characters. Also, the plot wasn't too ridiculous.

HG#1 Alright, you're pastiching BR. Okay. But it's not as good. Stop mixing all that scifi bullshit with the story. HG#2 Tolerable. Just some more excuses to drag the protagonist to the arena again. HG#3 total unadulterated crap.

Waiting for Godot:
8/10

>>2707778
>7-page sermon
Nigger did you get an abridged sermon, that section with the entire description of hell was about 30 pages long. But, yeah, that section really makes the book drag, I guess it serves to explain just how intense the religion torture was, but 7 pages would've been enough for me to get the point.

>>2707799
i read seven, and skipped the rest because I GOT THE FUCKING POINT; HELL IS BAD

Song of Solomon

7.5/10

>last 2666 10/10
currently Im through Pynchon's V. And really It's amazing, now I understand why everybody loves him. 10/10.

I missed Lord of the Flies in high school some how and read it the first time last week. Loved it. Loved the relation to Heart of Darkness the most.

The man in the last scene reflecting on himself and society... 10/10

im reading cyclonopedia i dont really know what to think yet

>for whom the bell tolls

7/10

bump

Frankenstein, 8.5/10

It gets 0.5/10 more than it would due to the surprisingly high levels of homoerotic bromance, which is always a good thing.

The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - 8/10

The Crying of Lot 49 - 7/10

>>2708349
Other than the fact that there's stalking going on, I don't see it. Some bromance would have made me enjoy Frankenstein a lot more.

Or just, Cumberbatch's ass on the cover of the novel.

Swann's Way

12/10

>>2707584
Under the Volcano is painful to read if you've ever lost a loved one because you couldn't kick an addiction

Rx- 6/10
It was fun and clever, but the author got completely lost in all his new space terms he made up. It's supposed to be a trilogy, so maybe the others will be better.

>>2708390
I was more referring to Frankenstein's relationship with his friend (Henry, I think he was called?), which seemed very close, and the sailor's longing for a companion. There's not loads, but it's there.

finished the great gatsby today for the second time. Even better the second time around. And it's my birthday. "and so we beat on; boats against the current, ceaselessly borne into the past"

>>2707814

Fuck yeah, V. is great.

>Heart of Darkness

8/10

The Sound and the Fury
6/10

The weird ass style felt forced, like Faulkner was just trying to be a special snowflake. Good story though.

>>2709008
You troll

Song of Achilles ...7/10

House of Leaves

>6/10

And since I was picking that one back up after giving up, here's a bonus.

The Red Tent

>9/10

Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep

>9/10

Best Served Cold by Joe Abercombie:
8/10, and that eight isn't a ten because he chose a very unoriginal plot: a standard revenge tale. He spiced it up with Machiavellian characters, a dark, oppressing world, and unlikeable, almost monstrous characters, but the damage was done in terms of originality (or lack thereof). Still a damn good revenge tale.

>>2709101

>picks up book titled Best Served Cold
>removes points because it's a revenge tale

True Grit by Martin Portis
>7.5/10

Finnegan's Wake
0/10?
Maybe it'd be better if I knew what was going on, but I felt like I was reading the ultimate troll novel.

> A Farewell to Arms
< 9/10

Well done Hemingway

Life of Pi
4/5

>>2709157

I would have enjoyed that book a lot more if someone on this board hadn't spoiled it for me. Oh well.

>>2708432
Ah yeah, true enough. There is some bromance. Hell the book has like one major female character in it and she doesn't really have a personality anyhow. Good job there, Mary.

Railsea- Chine Mieville. 9/10. Worldbuilding was great, characters interesting, fuckload of trains. Nice, short, and fun little book.

I literally can't tell you what book I just finished

3/10

>>2709118
i highly, highly, highly doubt you read that whole thing. but if you did, congratulations; you have patience of steel. i tried reading it and couldnt get past 10 or so pages.

anyways, finished these two at around the same time

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Invincible (audiobook)
8.5/10

Brief History of Time
7.5/10
Pretty confusing in some parts. If it were longer it could have been better but I don't think his editors wanted him to write a textbook. What was easily understood was very interesting information however.

>>2707407

I thought that the writing was pretty good. It honestly reminded me of the big sleep, where the atmosphere and writing was more than enough to keep me reading.

City of Glass- 3/10, I just didn't get it. I don't care how dumb this makes me look.


Also, why does /lit/ seem to read books that I might actually want to read?

I got the impression from every other topic that /lit/ only reads "The Big Boring Book of Philosophy" or "Old Timey Literature- 90 % Description Edition".

>>2709231

Because that's what /lit/ wants you to think. We're kind of like /mu/ in that respect. We'll say we're reading Shakespeare, but we're really reading the Hunger Games.

>>2709231

That's because its target audience is tweens.

I read that series at the high recommendation of a friend (who also recommended the Twilight series to me, and considering the quote on the front from Meyers, shoulda both been big red flags). Terrible books, especially if you're over 15 and not female.

Catcher in the Rye. 5/10
Maybe read it too late in life.

>>2709245

Nah, read it in high school. All of my rage at my AP English teacher for making me read that angst-ridden POS.

Maybe it resonates more with the emo crowd.

Magician - 9/10
It was brilliant, had a good variety of fast and slow paces. Brilliantly described throughout. The only thing I didn't like is the fact that when Tomas had grown into a more manly form, he was described in detail. Pug wasn't described much at all, the only let down.

Seven Deadly Sins - 9/10
I loved it, it had me laughing and I agree'd with everything that was said, in it. It's missing the 1/10 because the amount of swearing was ridiculous, it worked well because it made it more personal but it was annoying, reading it was like talking to a Scotsman.

Pride And Prejudice - 2/10
Had to read this for college towards my essay. The storyline was a good idea, it was... cute. But it's missing description, I had no idea where everyone was and what places looked like, I had no idea what the characters looked like properly, I constantly lost the idea of what was happening. I actually had to watch the film to know stuff about it. In terms of story, it wasn't entirely bad, although it still sucked to me. In terms of the book itself, it was terrible.

Norwegian Wood 7/10
I enjoyed it, but not quite as much as I expected to. I didn't care for the ending, the whole sex with Reiko scenario was weird. Midori was the only character I liked, not that that detracted from my enjoyment, just saying.

But yeah, good book. Reading As I Lay Dying now.

>>2709308
That's a common criticism about Norwegian Wood. It seemed so out of the blue! The best I could make of it was that murikami was trying to demonstrate the sexual freedom that had blossomed during the 60's (since he is so driven by this era)

>>2709313
That is to say that the two had sex, and no reason was needed beyond 'it would make them feel good, and Naoko would want that.'

A Game of Thrones 9.8/10

A Traveler's History of Mexico

5/10 - poor writing, but a comprehensive history. Now I know a bunch of stuff about Mexico!

The Great Gatsby
9/10
The Fault in Our Stars (friend lent it to me, thought why not)
5.5/10
Kafka on the Shore
8/10

Lots of people reading Gatsby! Guess I'll add to it. 9/10. I'm a sucker for romance... and tragedy

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
8.5/10

I liked The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, more.
9.5/10

>Reaper Man
9/10

Fucking love Terry Pratchett. I'm almost done with the Death novels (only have Thief of Time left), which Discworld 'series' would /lit/ recommend next?

Fault in our Stars: 6/10
Oryx & Crake: 10/10
The Trial: 10/10
Pale Fire: 11/10
Gravity's Rainbow 11/10

>>2709362
Not in the series but I highly enjoyed Nation a few years ago.

>>2709384
thanks, I'll give it a look.

>>2709362

My favourites are The Guards series followed by the witches.

The Guards ones are more parodic, while the witches ones are more character driven. Granny Weatherwax and Sam Vimes are Pratchett's two best characters, I think.

It makes no difference though - you'll end up reading them all anyway. Pratchett is addictive. If you like one, you'll read the lot.

Malone Dies. 5/10. I just could not get into it. I haven't much enjoyed any Beckett now that I think of it.

The Stranger

4/10

Dune part 4
8/10

The Andromeda Strain
Michael Crichton
4.5/10

Plain not good.

Tao Lin - Richard Yates.
4/10.

The Pearl - Steinbeck

7.4/10

>>2711887
I'm reading Eeeee Eee Eeee right now, and I was hoping that Richard Yates would be better... I'd say I'm enjoying it slightly more than 4/10 at least, but maybe you're just harsher than I am! (Or maybe Richard Yates is actually worse than Eeeee Eee Eeee?)

And, since I'm posting ITT,
>Oryx and Crake
>Margaret Atwood
7/10
Better than underwhelming, effectively depressing, engaging, but not mindblowing or edge-of-my-seat compelling. Might be better served with the sequel/compainion novel that I haven't read yet.

Home Land - Sam Lipsyte
6/10
The Ask was a thousand times better. Lipsyte says he writes with no idea knowing where his story is going and it kind of showed. Started as a 9/10 but petered out 3/4 through.

Cavalier and Klay
8.5/10
It was probably the best modern book I've read. (I haven't read many modern books.)

Second Foundation
8/10

Cannibals of Candy Land by Carlton Mellick III
>7/10
my first bizarro book. it wasn't that bizarre but it was short fun.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

8.5/10

Extremely Loud...

4/10. Insipid trash.

Ulysses
2deep4me/10

>>2712192
that high ?
I liked the first Foundation better
Also,
Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve caesars
7/10

Snow Country

:'(/10

>>2712520
I see what you did there

His Last Bow by Doyle.

I gave it a five out of five on Goodreads, but being perfectly frank, I'd say three out of five. While some were very interesting, most of the stories were forgettable, to be kind about it.

currently reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

8/10 so far

Catcher in the Rye, 8/10
Clockwork Orange 8.5/10

>>2712240
Ulysses isn't that deep... It's just a bit confusing to keep track of the plot sometimes and really raunchy. Joyce is a dirty old man.

The Great Gatsby: 9/10

>>2707394
is were many good. i am also recently read these book

Confederacy of Dunces

Definitely worth the hype this place gives it. Great book even though it became a bit slow just prior to climax

Metamorphosis
(there is more literature on its analysis than the piece itself) :P

9/10

Hemingway's In Our Time.

Some really brilliant prose bouncing around in here. Dislike the man, but he can write pretty damn well.

Also, OP is good man.

7/10

>>2714745
I'm also working on Diary by Chuck Palahniuk right now. Can't rate it yet, but I'm really enjoying where it's going.

niiiiiggers

>>2714808
9/10

you so sexy aw yeah i love 4chan /lit/ yayayaya

The Power of Habit
7/10

>Underworld
>Don DeLillo

9.5

Reamde 7.5
a little bloated, need to shave about 200 pages

Dune 9/10
Longships 7/10
Musashi 8/10
Interview with the Vampire 5.6/10
Tai Pan 10/10

>Michael Harner "The Way of the Shaman."

7/10

Some cool bits about his experiences with S. American shamans, marred a touch by longwinded, vaugley articulate testimonials from the workshops the author runs. The how-to bits on shamanic journeying seemed useful nonetheless.

This is Civilisation - Matthew Collings

7.5/10

Ragtime
8/10

>>2713522
He's not dirty, we all are.

And while Ulysses isn't difficult to understand in terms of plot, the overarching symbolic language is pretty fucking complicated.

>tfw this thread stays relevant for days and has less than 130 replies

>>2709157
Good book (though I read it in the eighth grade), but the trailer (saw it during the Prometheus premiere) was cripplingly retarded. Just fish flying around and the guy and the tiger catching them.
>>2709106
No, I read it because my favorite author wrote it. Abercombie is a great storyteller, but it pissed me off he didn't even try do any original twists, which he regularly has in abundance. It's just a crew of questionable people betraying the main character in a very unsurprising manner. It's the protagonist's fault she trusted a poisoner.

For Whom The Bell Tolls
9.8/10

Could have been more tightly organized in the second half and the ending while great wasn't as perfect as I wanted for such a damn fine novel.

I'm rereading the Prydain books. I just finished The Black Cauldron.
> 8/10
it is refreshing to see a character driven story in the YA fantasy genre, or hell, just the fanatasy genre period. and there is wisdom in his stories.

Last Six:
> Lolita
9/10
> As I Lay Dying
9/10
> Blood Meridian
9/10
> Naked Lunch
8/10
> Perdido Street Station
8/10
(judging it as a work of pulp fantasy fiction since that is it's context).

And let's not forget that required reading:
> Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
3/10.

Eeeee eee eeee.

6/10. He tries too hard in some places but it still makes me laugh and I think he does a decent idea of mixing the nonsense with actual ideas and a little bit of social commentary. If you expect too much out of it or try to take it seriously you probably won't enjoy.

The Beautiful and Damned 6/10
Le Grand Meaulnes 8/10

Rule of the Bone

7/10

>>2707503

>Last Exit To Brooklyn - 7.5/10

This upsets me.

Currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo.

7/10 so far.

It takes a while to get moving, and there a some very long speech segments where characters regail stories and sometimes stories within stories, which can get a bit tedious but overall I do find myself enjoying it.

Cicero

7.84/10.00

The Wasp Factory

1/10

literally