/lit/ - Literature

the member of the wedding by carson mccullers

Common Sense, by Thomas Paine

>>3019539
You into political texts too?

>>3019550

Not particularly, just OP's caveat that the work be readable in a day or less led me to think of the shortest literary work that I consider essential.

I've read some politcal texts but I'm no expert on the subject by any means, and there's a lot more I still have on my "to read" list.

>>3019557
Fair enough.

It certainly looks interesting.

It's very rainy today, typhoon. Got plenty of time to read, so I made this thread.

Bartleby the Scrivener and Billy Budd, Foretopman
Heart of Darkness
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Notes from Underground

>>3019567
Read them all, but thank you.

If you happen to know any more, would be appreciated.

Here's another contribution for others who may be interested.

Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott

>>3019573
Try:
Waiting for Godot
The Crying of Lot 49
The Trial and Metamorphosis
Siddhartha
Candide
The Outsider
The Prince

>>3019586
I've read pretty much all of /lit/'s essentials, hence having read these too. But thanks.

>>3019580
I am by no means a lover of math, but I really appreciated Abbott's experimenting in Flatland. Not the best story ever told, but because of its uniqueness I found it a welcomed change.

Rasselas

>>3019591
Been on my to-read list for some time, but never really looked into it


"Rasselas and his companions escape the pleasures of the "happy valley" in order to make their "choice of life." By witnessing the misfortunes and miseries of others they come to understand the nature of happiness, and value it more highly. Their travels and enquiries raise important practical and philosophical questions concerning many aspects of the human condition, including the business of a poet, the stability of reason, the immortality of the soul, and how to find contentment"

Looks interesting, and accessible. Thank you!

The Zoo Story and The American Dream, both by Edward Albee, are pretty great. I really prefer the first though.

Franny and Zooey is wonderful.

>>3019636

it's the bee's goddamn knees, except for dat sudden feelgood ending.

>>3019640
I fucking hate feel good endings.

>>3019656

it just came suddenly and out of the blue. here's franny breaking down from phonies and zooey agreeing with absolutely everything she says and suddenly he tells her to cheer up buck-o and franny cheers up.

then zooey goes off to be a famous handsome talented misanthropic actor in new york city.

bad resolution in my opinion, though i love the rest of it to death.

>>3019660
Know any short depressing stuff?

the end of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made me shed man tears. i don't know why yet.

>>3019663

http://www.scriptorpress.com/burningmanbooks/46_2006_carver.pdf

carver's later stuff really got marred by that bit of "optimism" at the end of it, though the whole tone of it and the fact that nothing's truly changed make it better than franny's sudden "enlightenment"

The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince)

>>3019707
Cheers.

It's hard to specify the exact types of books I like that are depressing.

Vasilly Grossman's 'Forever Flowing' fits it though.

Anyways, open for all suggestions

The Old Man and the Sea - Hemingway
Animal Farm - Orwell

Both are a quick read. Animal Farm reads more like a children's book in places and so you just FLY through that book.

>>3019712
I went to the bookstore a while ago to look for that book. It got out-of-stock status just yesterday.

Btw, Tuesdays with Morrie

The Stranger

it's a masterpiece

>>3019842
I do not really dig erotic fiction, but Venus in Furs wasn't too bad.

The Great Gatsby
Of Mice and Men
The Art of War
The Red Badge of Courage
Fahrenheit 451

I just looked at my bookshelf and chose some. Don't judge me.

>>3019842
>>3019842

Goddamn that was an excellent book.

It's harder to find a book that CAN'T be finished in a day

>>3019882
What a shitty post

>>3019916
Least he got me a bump.

>>3019850
I don't get the stranger. I read part of myth of Sisyphus and still don't get it. His mother dies and he shows no emotion and is looked on with distain by everyone else there for putting his mother in the home. He goes on a date the next day, and to a comedy.
He just sorta rolls with it
at the end he realizes how great life is and wants to show the crowd unaffected he is by their execution because he is confident he lived a fulfilling life, so he hopes a lot of people show up. I just don't get it.

>>3019882
>It's harder to find a book that CAN'T be finished in a day
Life and Fate

is it mathmatically possible to finihs infinste jest in 1 day

>>3019922
>/lit/

>>3019920
Another person that likes Grossman?

Fuck. Yes.

>>3019926
So simple, yet so effective.

The Sun Also Rises
Decline and Fall
Officers and Gentlemen

>>3019932
Decline and Fall of what?

Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World in Our Time

>>3019956
It's the title of the book, it's by Evelyn Waugh

>>3019956
I assume he means the book by He-Evelyn

>>3019985
Apologies. Thought it might have been something like The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich for some reason.

Chess Story
Too Loud a Solitude
Heart of a Dog

I can only contribute to the euro/anglo centrism here

Any of Shakespeare's plays.

>Not being able to read Don Quixote, Les Miserables, and the Count of Monte Cristo in a day

Tolstoy's "Hadji Murat"
The Crying of Lot 49
Breakfast of Champions

today im reading near to the wild heart by clarice lispector, its really good, short

>>3019636

Franny and Zooey is thirded. Brilliant book, read it 8 times. I wish it was twice as long though (although obviously then it wouldn't really be a single day read).

Anything (else) by Imre Kertesz.

Jesus' Son

>>3020192
People who read for speed don't deserve to be literate. (Burn in hell along with the retarded landwhales from hot-dog eating competitions.)

Ubu Roi and related plays by Alfred Jarry

Pedro Paramo
Miss Lonelyhearts
Day of the Locust

>>3019882
Try reading the Bible in a day.

>>3020366
What do you have against competitive eaters? Most of those guys are really fit.

Penguin Books has a series that was created with that criteria in mind, OP, but for the life of me I can't really remember the name nor can I find it on their site. It might be a UK-only thing.

Foam of the Daze by Boris Vian.

Longer than a lot of other ones mentioned here, but could still easily be read in a day if you were dedicated. ~260 pages.

Beautifully written.

>>3020423
My does Modern Library have the shittiest covers? The one for A Hero of Our Time is suitably atrocious as well.

>>3020423
Jesus that cover is horrendous.

I tried reading the crying of lot 49 but i found it a boring book.

Should I try again? Also - Nausea seems good for OP.

>>3020423
I was sad so I sprouted another head.

>>3020465

Oh god, you reminded me...

Why the fuck would even think of putting some guy who looks like an MTV presenter as a cover for a novel from the 19th century?

>>3020542
Give V. a shot. If you don't like that either, maybe you just don't dig his style.

>>3020553
What the Everloving Fuck

>>3020553
I think they just looked at the title and just assumed it was about some don't-give-a-fuck-the-police-YOLO guy( which it is)

>>3020553
gotta get it now
same with the penguin edition of the vivisector
they're playing the old mst3000 gambit

>>3020553

I didn't even know they wear dark glasses in the 19th century!

>>3020581
Jesus Christ, do you actually know anything? Are you that fucking dumb? Of course they did. I bet you think they didn't have telephone lines either you fucking imbecile.

>>3020581
8/10
Very funny.
Choosing to ignore the most obvious things wrong with that pic, like electric streetlights and automobiles, and focusing on something which isn't all that inaccurate, thus fulfilling your daily quota of being called a retard and a piece of shit after which you will, I assume, proceed to masturbate furiously. Humiliation being your preferred way of getting off.

>>3020591

>>3019707
absolutely love that story

Also:
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

excellent read, highly recommend

>>3020423
>>3020553
These covers are just a poor attempt to appeal to today's youth.

>>3020656
Yes

Look at the Birdy - That short story collection from a young Kurt Vonnegut who had somehow avoided the black hole that was his own ass.

anything less than 1000 pages can be read in a day so ....

The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder, was a pretty good one for me.

>>3021039
>that feel when very fast readers assume all other readers are also very fast, thus making readers of average speed feel inadequate

Great thread, thanks everyone.

I consider anything 100 pages +/- to be fair one day reading material

>Old man and the Sea