/lit/ - Literature

What unique and sophisticated taste in books you have, OP. Did your year 10 English teacher recommend that to you?

9/10

>>3603806

>lel highschool books

This response is stupid.

Since I read it in High School, I've been in love with Les Miserables. I loved the book as a teenager. I loved the 90's film, I loved the newest film, and I love the musical. The book, though, is so astounding to me. It's approachable, yet sophisticated. It's easy to read, but the themes make you think for nights on end. I just really love it. I need to check what translation I've read, though - I know it was originally in French when Hugo wrote it, but whatever translation is pretty wonderful.

Hurr...

>>3603806
>>3603816

Nothing wrong at all with books you discovered in High School. In High school alone, I discovered Les Miserables, Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Red Badge of Courage, Lord of the Flies, among many others. High School is the first time that kids/young adults are first exposed to real books and novels that they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives. No shame in that.

>Les Miserables
>Approachable
I don't think you've read the book, or if you did, you read a simplified version.

>>3603831

Well, like I said, I must have picked up a really great translation, because I found the story extremely approachable and rather enjoyable. Now I'm wondering - I'll go check to see who translated it.

>>3603806
Did you have a book to recommend or are you just going to fog up the air by snarking like a bitchy little queen?

>>3603830
>>3603816
1984, while a good book, cannot be considered the best book by anyone bar those who've read no book but 1984. It has dry prose, and a story that, while interesting for its comments on totalitarianism, has very little merit beyond that.

>>3603835
The only reason I come to this board is to make snarky comments in threads I think are retarded, so I'm going to take the latter option.

>>3603831
>>3603834

Same guy here. Norman Denny translation is the one I'm familiar with. That's the one I've read a couple of times, if you're interested.

Catcher in the Rye. It was very easy to identify with Holden Caulfield, since we are alike (I think people are phonies too). Even people say I remind them of Holden Caulfield, but they never notice anything.

Moby Dick

yeah yeah whatever, still my favorite

>>3603843
I don't think it's anything to do with the translation. The book is unapproachable because it's long, because it deals with some very complex themes, and because Hugo is very keen on writing entire chapters about these complex themes. These chapters have only a tenuous relationship with the actual story.

I can't imagine they'd be lost in translation, and while I love them, and find them wonderfully interesting, they do deter anyone but the most devout of reader.

>>3603845

I enjoyed the narrative of Catcher, but I really kind of hated the character of Holden Caulfield. He reminded me of the kind of person I really don't want to be... no offense, since you said you are quite alike, hah.

>>3603828
I'm not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing that no one commented on my favorite.

>>3603851
It's famous for a reason.

Because it's excellent.

>>3603855
That's the point. Caulfield is exactly the kind of character we don't want to be, but in most cases is the person we end up being.

You don't like him precisely because he reminds you of yourself.

>>3603854

I can understand that - I don't know, usually, when it comes to classic literature, it puts me to sleep. When I picked up Les Mis, it's gigantic size was really intimidating, but when I started, I loved every second of it. I don't know, it's kind of an anomaly to me.

I still recommend it. It's beautiful. Even though I tried to read other Hugo books, and I found it difficult and uninteresting. Les Miserables, though... I don't know. It's really great.

>>3603859

Great observation - you're probably right.

>>3603865
Th-thanks Anonkun

The Man in the High Castle

There are a lot of "hurr durr I like whatever /lit/ likes" people posting in this thread.

I mean, that's not a problem in itself. God knows /lit/ likes what they like because people on the board like those books, and because those books are good.

But shit, there's absolutely no variation in this thread.

>>3603831
I read it in the original french (and I'm french, so I'm not posturing as some smatass foreign language aficionado). It is indeed quite approachable. Far easier to read than most great french novelists. Maybe a bit too wordy and overdone (reading it is like being hit by a literary nuke, but somehow you recover from it). But definitely readable by any dedicated and not-too-illiterate high-schooler.

>>3603905
It requires a knowledge of French history, and French literary figures/ enlightenment philosophers, so I imagine that would contribute to your finding it approachable.

I found it easy too, precisely because I had a knowledge of those things.

>>3603903
Fun fact - I accidentally clicked on the 1984 picture on the 4chan home page, then shared my thoughts about Les Miserables. I've never actually been on /lit/ before.

Swann Way

>>3603903
wut? it's all just standard canonical shit with a couple of genre fic choices, hardly "/lit/core" (dfw, pynchon, joyce, etc.)

>>3603917
I'm the guy who was discussing the merits of Les Miserable and its approachability with you, and I actually wasn't referring to that. Les Miserables actually has very little exposure on this board.

>>3603929
THat's what I was referring to

Sure, it's a bit simple, perhaps even childish, but I think that is mainly due to the age of the characters. I love the whole Ender universe, especially the Shadow series that started with Bean. I think I was lucky to read this for the first time as a kid, because I appreciate it more than I would have if I had only just read it now at 20.

>>3603863
Les Misérables is a late work, probably Hugo's most achieved. Tolstoy even called it the greatest novel ever witten (at his time).

Hugo was something of a literary child prodigy (you could simply say a motherfucking child prodigy) of impressive proportions. His tendency is to write big in any sense of the term-overemphasizing, writing endless paragraphs, using all kinds of long and convoluted propositions. He is a minimalist's nightmare and that's probably why Edgar Poe called young Hugo an idiot. Because he was the kind of guy who gets drunk on his own words. That said, is language is still incredibly strong. Nobody can make endless paragraphs overwhelming and exhilarating like him. With Les Misérables, he achieves full mastery over his overflowing genius. I remember reading it and thinking "how the hell can a man write like that ? Even after reading it it still doesn't sound possible." Yet he does it, consistently, and over one thousand pages.

>>3603935
>giving money to a man who advocates revolution if homosexual marriage is legalised.

>>3603933
well it's not specific to /lit/, as you implied - it's the case with most readers, period. that's where the concept of a canon derives from.

>>3603903
I don't understand your post. You are surprised and disappointed that /lit/ likes what /lit/ likes? What do you expect /lit/ to like?

>>3603863
Les Misérables is a late work, probably Hugo's most achieved. Tolstoy even called it the greatest novel ever witten (at his time).

Hugo was something of a literary child prodigy (you could simply say a motherfucking child prodigy) of impressive proportions. His tendency is to write big in any sense of the term-overemphasizing, writing endless paragraphs, using all kinds of long and convoluted propositions. He is a minimalist's nightmare and that's probably why Edgar Poe called young Hugo an idiot. Because he was the kind of guy who gets drunk on his own words. That said, is language is still incredibly strong. Nobody can make endless paragraphs overwhelming and exhilarating like him. With Les Misérables, he achieves full mastery over his overflowing genius. I remember reading it and thinking "how the hell can a man write like that ? Even after reading it it still doesn't sound possible." Yet he does it, consistently, and over one thousand pages. Granted, I was fifteen at the time. But I already had read more than one masterpiece (including Dante's complete works, at least those that have reached us, some Shakespeare and Don Quixote) and he quite literally blew my mind.

>>3603951
Fuck sorry for the double post. I thought the first hadn't passed through. Read only the second, it has a bit more content.

>>3603943
>implying any amount of money will make his crazy opinions matter
I don't really give two shits about OSC's beliefs, but I like his fiction

Don Quixote.

Basically, the greatest book ever.

>>3603951
>Some Shakespeare and Don Quixote
>Don Quixote
>I've read some Don Quixote
Y-you don't actually think Don Quixote is an author, right? Please say you don't...

>>3603954
Delete the first then.

>>3603916
Oh yeah I hadn't thought of that. Besides, it was a highschoold required reading, so it fit in the cursus. But I still think the language is not out of reach for most highschooler, despite its tremendous epicness (in the classical sense).

>>3603955
He denies global warming too, supported Newt Gingrich in 2012, and is a Mormon.

He's pretty much the least intelligent man alive.

>>3603973
Please don't turn this into a political thing. He's a good writer, can we just leave it at that?

>>3603973
and yet, he writes quite enjoyable novels. fancy that

>>3603958
>Y-you don't actually think Don Quixote is an author, right?

>praising Cervantes
>not praising Cide Hamete Benengeli's translator

shiggy diggy wiggy figgy

>>3603982
What are you talking about?

>>3603973
>He's pretty much the least intelligent man alive.
You do realise that overstating it that way makes your point somewhat weaker?

>>3603960
That's funny I had never figured out you could do that on 4chan. Sounds quite at odds with the "wild spontaneity" ethics but after all we're not on /b.
>>3603958
Nice one I hadn't thought about this way of reading the post. I meant "some Shakepeare" and "Don Quiwote" as two separate entities, each one being a work or a set of works.

>>3603801
2/5
It's didactic as fuck. The setting serves a blatant rhetorical point. It's a political essay, not a novel. Blah.
>>3603845
3/5
Solid YA fiction, Franny & Zooey is vastly better however. Does a great job characterizing thru narration. More subtle stuff going on than most people will acknowledge or see.
>>3603891
4/5
Fantastic. Has lots to say about historization, value in objects, and is still an enrapturing read.
>>3603935
1/5
Nerd porn, didactic, lame.

>pic is my choice

>>3603995
Ah, my apologies. It's quite late, and I've been up for a long time.

The Sun Also Rises

>>3603987
It's rather funny joke. I'd like to explain it but i think it's better to suggest you read Don Quixote instead. Then you will understand the joke (not the first guy, by the way).

>>3604004
I have read the book, albeit a long time ago. Yet I don't get it.

>>3603806

What a fool you are. A complete and utter fool.

>>3604007
Please, one can hardly be judged a fool from two sentences.

>>3604009

You can, and when you say something so incomprehensibly stupid and pretentious, you are nothing but a fool.

>>3604012
That seems like a ludicrous assumption. A man's character compromises a great many things, and I insist that two sentences alone are simply not enough to get the measure of a man. I defy you to prove otherwise.

>>3604012
What a fool you are. A Complete and utter fool.

>>3603806
>year 10

Imagine that. A shitposter who's derailing on-topic threads and starting trouble happens to be a britfag.

Surprise index: 0

>>3604016

Well, I must then simply proceed to direct you to your very own post, as I believe it proves my point precisely. Perhaps not, then, a "complete and utter fool", but something of a fool nonetheless, for only a fool could even think of writing something as unintelligent as you did.

>>3604026
Oh please, I completely failed to derail the thread. At this epoch you are the only person who stands to derail this thread, just stop.

>>3604036
Even the greatest genius can act like a fool from time to time.

>>3603822
French translates well to English

this is the most articulate and civilized shitposting i've ever seen.

jesus christ /lit/

>>3603917
>I've never actually been on /lit/ before.

We can tell, because you're actually talking about books and not bickering about anarchist philosophers or asking us to solve your existential crisis.

Please stay; we need you.

>>3604045
Welcome to /lit/. Identical to any other board, just with more literacy.

>>3603845
I hated this book
am I a pleb or is this ok?

>>3604054
Everyone hates it. I hate it. But it's a clever book when you think about it

>>3604045
/lit/: Idiots with thesauruses.

>>3604069
Yet here you are. Surely someone as intelligent as you has no place among us barbarians.

>>3604063
The only people who hate it are casuals who think they have to "like" or "identify with" the narrator/protagonist.

It's incredibly well crafted. It's the best that it could have been.

>>3604074
That was my point. It's a good book, wonderfully crafted, but you hate it on a skindeep level.

>>3604054
I started reading The Catcher in the Rye today, and I am almost done...I love it and hate it at the same time. Hate it because Holden is such an angsty depressed kid, love it because the narrative perfectly illustrates his angsty depressed attitude. I definitely love this book more than I hate it, and I do not plan on trading it in at my local used bookshop when I am finished.

>>3603822
>sophisticated
>themes
>implying it is deep and thoughtful

No, it's just typical romantic crap.

>>3604006
Then you must have forgotten it. It took me a few seconds to remind it. In the beginning the story of Don Quixote is introduced as a translation of a (fictional) Arab writer named Bennegeli. It was a common literary device at the time.

>>3604087
>I have never read it.

>>3604074
Exactly! I think it is silly when someone hates a well written book just because they don't agree with one of the characters, or something like that. I may not agree with the character/plot/what have you, but if the book is well written I will love it.

>>3604090
Yeah, I think i need to reread it.

>>3604077
>>3604082
I just found it very boring and I thought Holden wasn't at all like me, or rather a bad, overdone characterization of teenage angst

maybe it was the fact that I read it during MCAS (no child left behind tests) but that should have made me feel more angsty

pic related but I also really liked To Kill a Mockingbird

>>3604077
>You
>>3604092
It just goes to show that there's a huge percentage of readers who are barely reading at all.

Am I patrician, /lit?

>>3604041
non-sequitur, for clearly you are no genius. Back to your masturbation cave, you piffling troll.

Probably War and Peace, it has a bit of everything for everybody.

>>3604087
Typical ? Maybe. Romantic ? Sure. Not sophisticated ? I can let this past (that wasn't the point of the book anyway) Crap ? I'd be curious what you call not crap then.

>>3604074
The way some people act like Holden is a real person and judge him like a real person is a testament to Salinger's abilities of characterisation. Holden is, above all else, human.

>>3604101
Please, resorting to frivolous insults is the domain of the simpleton.

You're upset because you disagree with my initial post. That's fine, but don't try to pretend it's for any reason other than that.

>>3604093
Well it is a pretty minor point anyway, but rereading is surely a good idea.

Preemptive " Fuck off, you elitist shit eating faggot"

Paper Towns by John Green

>>3604115
>John Green
Go fuck yourself, the retard can't write for shit.

>>3604115
This is not a board for people like you.

>>3603956
>>3603997
These two are both 10/10.

pic related, mine

>>3604123

FUCK YEAH! This board is for people to be miserable and never enjoy anything!

>>3604130
No, it's a board for people who enjoy good books.

>leave /lit/ for a few months
>need a fiction recommendation, hoping there is another burst of interest in some obscure title like Stoner or Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea last year
>same old shit
>summer reading list books are my favorite
>garbage intellectual shitflinging

My favorite book changes alot, but right now it is either Foucault's Pendulum, Blood Meridian or Outlaws of the Marsh

>>3604130
It's okay to enjoy things, don't be silly. But just like a 40 year old man who still reads Spot the Dog, there are some things that you need to grow out of.

>>3604135
I loved the first two, and have never heard of the latter. I'll look it up.

The Name of the Rose is my favourite book.

>>3604134
>American psycho
>The Road
>Good books.

>>3604142
The Road is a mediocre book by an excellent author.

>>3604138
Its one of the 4 great chinese classics, with a lot of aspects of 70s grindhouse chinese action movies and high minded classical moralism. Its also long as hell, but an immensely fun and violent read. I would recommend the version in pic

>>3603801
8/10
>>3603845
7/10
>>3603891
8/10 (and PKD's best)
>>3603921
10/10
>>3603935
5/10
>>3603956
10/10
>>3604003
9/10
>>3604007
9/10
>>3604094
6/10
>>3604096
5/10

>>3604149
Thanks, I'll give it a look when I've finished the complete Hemingway collection I'm currently balls deep in.

I've never read much Asian literature, so hopefully this will be an enjoyable departure.

>>3604153
>9/10
Th-thanks, Anon.

>>3604135
>>need a fiction recommendation, hoping there is another burst of interest in some obscure title like Stoner or Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea last year

Daniil Kharms is flavour of the month, bro.

>>3604161
>wiki
>absurdist

This makes me nervous, what cover is everyone posting of his works.

>>3604156
Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Tale of the Heike are other asian classics you should get into as well.

>>3604170
pic related

it's pretty funny and strange. the post-1935 is significantly better than the older stuff.

Go ahead, talk shit. I don't care. Best fucking book ever penned by mortal hands.

>>3604205
It's a good book, but implying that it's in any way objectively better than every other book is just plain retarded.

>>3604169
Better cover

>>3604179
Did we ever find out if Iranman got it?

>>3604223
worse translation, though.

>>3604176

Any thoughts? Curious about soem of your opinions?

>people favorite book is 1984
>people even particularly like 1984
Absolutely disgusting.

>>3604142
fuk u
whats /lit/'s gripe with The Road anyway?

please tell me you've read more orwell since

>>3604354
>what's lit gripe with plebeian, unremarkable literature that for some held as world quality books despite it's blatant flaws and simplistic premise?

>>3604354
I don't know americans hate it.

suck my dick

>>3604241
Haven't read it but why don't you just make a new thread?

>>3604415
that book probably would

thisyo

>>3603943
>implying this is a bad thing
>implying a revolution isn't coming anyway

Shouts out to Wintermute

>>3604538
The edition of that book that I have has such a butthole cover. I wish I would have gotten that one.

Best book I've ever read. My favourite of Conrad's novels. Plus I read most of it high. So I'll always remember spending minutes on each sentence, trying to imagine the scene in all it's detail. I have never felt the same about any other book that I have read. Good times

Gatsby

>>3604542
it's the one I received for christmas, I enjoy it too

read it for the first time in 8th grade, must have read it a dozen times since

>>3603845
8.5/10

i'll probably get shitted on, anyway i admittedly have some bias as i read this while i was going through some rough times and it had an impact blah blah blah you know, but i've never read a stream of consciousness novel that uses the style so well, the unreliable narrator thing is also used wonderfully, basically salinger is a boss, that being said most of the stories in nine stories and franny and zooey are on par or better

VALIS trilogy by PKD

>>3604094
6.5/10

never really took off, the pacing was very similar to dracula which is awful, i did like the thinly veiled soviet criticism though

This.

>>3604827
Same guy from the girlfriend thread?

bump

Canterbury Tales for me.
Also, I'm pertty disappointed with the responses here, most of the books mentioned are uninteresting or painfully normalfag. The polarity of /lit/ is pretty uncanny, as i either see people with fantastic taste, or the exact opposite. No middle ground.

The only book I've read over 10 times already.

I know it's not the best from a strictly literary standpoint or whatnot, but I keep coming back to it, so that has to count for something.

It has to be this for me.

>>3605697
What's your favourite book from a literary standpoint, otherwise?

>>3603997
first 5/5 I've seen in this thread

>>3605705
War and Peace. I like history to begin with, and it's just so beautifully crafted.

>>3603801
Only plebs have 'favorite books of all time'.

>>3605723
at least this thread has the possibility of involving book discussion unlike most other threads on this board, and it won't immediately die because people will bump it with their choices. it's a good thread.

I'm hoping that this isn't rude, I read through the recommendations wiki in the sticky, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I did not want to make a new thread just for this, nor do I want to hijack this thread, it just seemed appropriate as it's inviting a range of readers. I'm hoping to have a book recommended to me of a similar style to Lolita. Not in plot, and by a different author; but of a similar style of writing. The passionate adoration of past fond memories, be it of love/sex, or of adventure, or just inertia of a bliss summer.
tl;dr books of a similar writing style to Lolita? (By a different author).
Thanks in advance, and my apologies for any lack of etiquette.

Yep. Go ahead. Hate me. But goddamn I love this book and Les Miserables, no offence meant /lit/.

I've never thought this is actually my favorite book before today.

>>3605694
and Canterbury Tales is a particularly interesting choice? It's like one of the staples of the English canon...

>>3605763
>The passionate adoration of past fond memories, be it of love/sex, or of adventure, or just inertia of a bliss summer.

You just described In Search of Lost Time.

>>3605790
And yet it recieves so little recognition nowadays.

>>3605808
I studied it for my English GCSE...

>>3605822
Ah alright then. I am neither from the UK/US so I never did. It's one of the most significant works ever written, but here where I'm from (or even on the internet) it is rarely mentioned when great books are discussed. Now that I think of it, it's probably the GCSE that caused it.
Anyway, touche.

I'd almost say Crime and Punishment... but I have to go with pic related just for the feels it gives me.

>>3605842
For the record I have no problem with the Canterbury Tales, it's a great book -- and it hardly needs vouching for from the likes of me -- I was just a bit rankled by your dismissal of everyone else's favourites.

>>3605848
This is on my to read list. The only thing I've read by Hemingway so far are a bunch of short stories. Gonna read The Old Man and the Sea in the near future because I already own this one. Would you recommend reading For Whom the Bell Tolls next or should I read something else first?

>>3605863
Read whatever you can get your hands on. It's Hemingway, so there's not really anything difficult or inaccessible about his novels. Especially if you've read his short stories and are used to his writing.

>>3605870
alright thanks

>>3605863
quite frankly, i thought The Old Man and the Sea sucked dick. why the fuck he won a Pulitzer for that piece of shit, but never won for For Whom the Bell Tolls just floors me.

>>3605792
Thank you very much!

>>3605901
3/10
>didactic, vehicle for a thesis
>>3604595
5/10
>subtly racist, stale, not crafted with very much attention
>>3604415
6/10
But that fucking chapter about the yellow book
>>3604128
6/10
>so edgy & yet still so christian

>>3605944
Hi. Are you a troll or a legit moron?

>>3605959
I am a legit moron

>>3605916
7/10

It's my favorite too but it's twice as long as it needs to be because Gaddis wanted more room to continue talking shit about all his Greenwich village colleagues.

For me, it's a tie between the following books:

Cervantes - Don Quixote
Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse 5
Clarke - Rendezvous with Rama
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Vonnegut - Mother Night
Dafoe - Robinson Crusoe

Though I haven't read as much as I want to

>>3606021

2/10 for dragging Cervantes and Dafoe [sic] down among the pedestrians.

>>3606013
Agnes Deigh is one of my favorite characters, though. I don't think it works if he doesn't explore every avenue of falsehood with such deep treatment; I think its part of the essential style of the book.

>>3606002
Wouldn't mind a rating.

>>3606021
What did you like about Rendezvous with Rama? Did you experience the cold war yourself?

>>3606025
>Cervantes and Dafoe
>and

go home

Second Foundation, Isaac Asimov. I've read it about a dozen times.

>>3603822

One of the few books that ever made me really emotional. Fuck the Thenadiers. Exploitation is pretty damn bad.

>>3606043
It spoke the part of me that likes science, the future and the unknown.
I agree that it lacks some in a few aspects.

I should say that I haven't read much SF

>>3606043
For all his faults, Clarke is very skilled at evoking a sense of childlike wonder at the immensity of the universe, and I like how plausible it all seems.

>>3604032
MAHHH NIGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAA
10/10

>>3606025
>implying Dafoe [sic] wasn't a Grub street peasant

>>3603845
I couldn't like Catcher in the Rye to save my life. All the time I was reading it, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was reading some whiny teenager's angsty blog. And I do my best not to read those.

Please, somebody explain this book to me.

>>3606125
you just did, it isn't anything special

add to the fact that the author was a ... and that should explain it

>>3603828
Best Pratchett book, one of my favorites

>>3604096
8/10

>>3606125
Read it again when you're an adult.

>>3604205
>>3604209
Not the best book ever but one of the best Sci Fi books ever written

This book made me feel so much

2001, rama 2, the end of eternity or the steel caves.

I-i like science fiction

>>3606231
Don't let the bastards get you down.
Science fiction has a lot of value to literature. Well, some of it.

>>3603801

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce

>>3606192
I first read it five years ago. I'm twenty-two now. Will I get something more out of it?

>>3606289

10/10

my favorite too

David Copperfield.

... It's the perfect book.

Hey there litfags

How do you guys like the Child Ballads? I've read a couple of 'em so far, fucking awesome stuff. Can you recommend any? Any other books like this?

I'd love to own this collection, but I don't have 125$ to spend on fucking folktales so yeah...

Also, Anaïs Mitchell and Jefferson Hammer's new album is actually them singing some of this ballads. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Acj-UPqzWbY Yay folk music.

So yeah basically English/Scottish folktale talk here.

Gordon S. Wood : The Idea of America

The man knows how to write a book. One of the greatest works of history ever written.

Honestly I didn't think 1984 was all that great. It was kind of annoying how black and white it was. The government was just pure evil for the sake of being evil, and it didn't go into a lot of depth with the government, it was just competely one-sided. It had some great ideas strung throughout the book, but the pacing was just annoying and overall it's just not as great as people give it credit for.

As "entry level" as it is, I think Cat's Cradle is my favorite. Perfect execution of dark comedy.

Plato's Republic. Incredibly eye-opening. Read for the first time in high school, absolutely loved it.

>>3608060
bumping because I want to hear someone else's opinion.

>>3608060
Must the thread die as soon as I post?

>>3608054
I just finished that about a month ago. While it isn't my favorite book, holy hell I loved it. As you said, perfect execution of dark comedy.

>not being this edgy

>>3603837
its shit like this
if that's all you are going to say WHAT IS EVEN THE POINT OF THIS BOARD

>>3608060
Pretty sure most undergrads here have probably read this and if so what did you think of it?
I know it's really should not be judged in terms of literary components because it is fundamentally a work of philosophy, but surely you at least have an opinion on it.

>>3608165
*it not it's. my mistake.

The Dark Tower series (can't really name one book, they all seem to be the same, haven't read the latest one).
I just loved this... and the end... it was terrible

Also
Nausea, by Jean Paul Sartre

>>3608140
>implying

>>3608060
Have any of you even read this and remember it?

>>3608060
>>3608120
>>3608131
>>3608165
>>3608166
>>3608203
Wow. Is there nothing else in your life?

What do you even want someone to say? It's the Republic dude

Imaginative Qualities of Actual Things

>>3603845
Troll harder.
I actually like The Catcher in the Rye

>>3604099
A simply brilliant piece of work, with clever symbolism, relatable characters, and a marvelous plot line. 11/10

>>3604205
Mah nigga.jpg
Not the best book ever, but I do enjoy my Douglas Adams.

>>3604346
Yeah, well, you know, that's just like, uh, your opinion, man.

>>3608054
I like Cat's Cradle, but I have trouble seeing why it gets so much more recognition than Vonnegut's other work. He's written much better IMHO.

>>3605783
I read this book once within a span of 5 hours and have no idea what happened / 10

>>3606201
for some reason I thought this book was about joseph mccarthy so I was waiting for him to come in the entire time / 10

I refuse to name only one, as they are all a whole, but the Belgariad by David Eddings is probably my favorite.

>>3603917
>Swann Way
Interesting. I clicked on the Watchmen image out of curiosity of context. My first time as well.

It appears this thread is bringing in new blood.

Winesburg, Ohio

feels the likes of which had never been felt before, nor since

>>3605944

What the hell is wrong with Christian? Doesn't change if a book is good or not.

I'm tempted to go with Gravity's Rainbow or The Brother's Karamazov, but I think my single favorite book of all time is Silence.

>>3608362
Good show

I'm tempted to go with Gravity's Rainbow, Candide, or The Brothers Karamazov, but I think my single favorite book of all time is Silence. It's not really 'accessible' for a lot of people, but it's an amazing book if you're interested in spirituality.

>>3608386
Are you trying to be hilarious?

It makes me sad that no Steinbeck has been posted. Pic related, it's my personal favorite.

If on a winter's night a traveler

i've only read the english translation but I wanted to post the original cover.

i really them space suits and shit

>>3608404
I only read the English translation as well, but I really want to read the Italian one eventually. I just have to advance a little more in my studying, but I've been doing it on and off for years now.

>>3604094
I just finished this book about two hours ago. It was an awesome read. My translation had a lot of colloquialisms involving the devil (like "The devil be right if we can get out of this mess,"). I really enjoyed the fantasy and the way that the devil attacked the theater and the bourgeois theatergoers.

9/10. A little too long.

First read it when I was 8 or 9 and have reread it every 3-4 years since. I enjoy it and can't put it down every time.

>>3608422
3 Musketeers Truffle Crisp, fuck, 2deep4me

>>3608429
3 deep 5 u?

get over it, couldn't find a pic with the book cover

>>3604538
Reading it now. I don;t know what the fuck is going on most of the time. The slang is so bizaare. I usually miss important facts until they are reiterated/explained a couple pages later, then i go back and re-read the scene and I'm all like "ooohhhhhhhhh. thats cool". Fuck I feel like a pleb.
>>3608048
the government isn't "evil". They are just totalitarian.

>mah favurite bukk

>>3604116
So what novels have you published lately?

>>3603801
It is a book that was written to inspire social oriented change when what was necessary was individual change.

yolo

>>3608458
Shit, that edition is a bitch to find.

Madness could never hold my attention like his other stories.
Hear it has a lot of filler.

Y'all want some YA fiction? I think y'all want some YA fiction. Saint Iggy by KL going. It isn't deep or cerebral or any of that. I just read it in 5th grade, it still effects me and I still love it.

somebody had to post it

>>3604094

Yes to this ! - Love it

>>3603845
Lol looking like him isn't a good thing, bro. He was very immature.

Some Herman H. up in this bitch

>>3608295
Bold. 4/5.

>>3608850
My favourite book as well, if I had to choose one.

>>3608880
really m8?

Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveller. Beautifully done, captivating, and innovatively written

>>3604176

10/10 for Levin's story. Anna's drama is a nice bonus, 7/10.

>>3605701

Great, 10/10.

>>3603801

8/10

>>3603822

9/10

>>3603828

6/10

>>3603839

8/10

>>3603845

2/10

>>3603935

3/10

>>3603956

7/10

>>3603997

7/10

>>3604003

9/10

>>3604007

5/10

>>3604032

haven't read/10

>>3604094

4/10

>>3604096

4/10

>>3604128

3/10

>>3604176

5/10

>>3604205

6/10

>>3604400

5/10

>>3608390
Wonderful. Steinbeck is great.

>>3608393

After reading this novel you can never get the image of the footless soldier running to avoid artillery out of your head.

ww1feels/10

>>3608945
Don Quixote: 7/10

u srs bro

>>3608411
>Classic pulp science fiction
10/10

>>3604415

8/10

>>3604472

6/10

>>3604538

8/10

>>3604595

10/10

>>3604644

7/10

>>3604827

7/10

>>3605697

8/10

>>3605701

9/10

>>3605706

9/10

>>3605783

8/10

>>3605848

10/10

>>3605901

1/10

>>3605916

6/10

>>3606002

5/10

>>3606201

4/10

>>3606289

8/10

>>3608000

3/10

>>3608060

10/10

>>3608140

you're on 4chan, do you think you are the fittest?/10

>>3608167

2/10

>>3608221

10/10

>>3608295

2/10

>>3608386

1/10

>>3608390

7/10

>>3608393

7/10

>>3608411

9/10

>>3608445

3/10

>>3608458

9/10

>>3608507

7/10

>>3608754

lit/10

>>3608880

0/10

>>3608951

Yeah it's a bit overrated. It's good shit, but not the best shit there is.

Yup, high school book. I wouldn't say it's the book I enjoyed the most, but it definitely is the one that has had the biggest influence on my life thus far, just in terms of being a catalyst for change.

Please don't laugh at me ;_; I can't help it.

Seriously though, add this to your list if you haven't read it yet.

>>3608945
>>3608953
>>3608958

Judgemental elitist/10
What's your fave? so we can give it some hurtful and arbitrary number score as if art works that way.

On the other hand it's nice of you to give feedback so Helpful/10

>>3608982
Its not that bad anon.

>>3608965
Davies is very good, and Fifth Business is his best. Don't make a bunch of allowances for "high school book" and other bullshit. As if Davies has any control over some faggot making his novel high school curricula.

>>3608985

I thought the point of this thread was rating other people.

My favourite? Not sure, actually. Might be Les Chants de Maldoror

>>3608986
Eh, it's not that good either.

probably

there's just something about Maupassant you guys. I've only read this, Pierre et Jean, and a bunch of his short stories, but I haven't had a moment of displeasure.

all you kiddies play safe

people's opinions of your favorite book don't really matter

unless you like john green

>>3609020
monsieur maupassant, mmmm, my favourite french novelist after montaigne

>>3609127
>montaigne
>a novelist

>>3604115
good book. not his best, imho

>>3608908
Invisible cities is a perfect 10/10 book, its one of those books so beautiful you are afraid to recommend to people because you would hate everyone who didn't appreciate it as much as you did.
For some reason I've never read other Italo Calvino books, maybe now I should.