/lit/ - Literature

Shakespeare scares me.

good

>>4577777

>>4577777
Me too.

The guy sounds like a total perv.

>>4577777
may I congratulate you for receiving a distinctive post number for a semi-statementlike post that is sure to be the focal point of some screen captures

i find most contemporary journalists and writers in america ridiculous and idiotic since the publishing world only chooses to hire ivy degrees full time thus ensuring "writers of our generation" be a bunch of young clueless privileged white kids

I find 19th Century British prose mind-numbingly dull.

Shakespeare bores me.

It takes me the same amount of time to read 10 pages of a philosophical text as it does to read like 50 pages of fiction.

>>4577891
Tbh that's not surprising considering density of the text and how demanding philophy is compared to straight narrative fiction.

Ahem!

I mean....pleb faggot rand!!

I once wrote a 40k fanstory when I was 13 and read the whole fucking book to a bitch over the phone.

Guess her reaction

>>4577891
That's a good thing.

>>4577867

>butthurt state-school-educated 'creative writing major' detected

>>4577916
Pic related

>>4577916

>>4577916
nig emtrsp

>I've never read The Catcher in the Rye and probably never will
>I get bored anytime Marx is brought up
>I generally assume that people who think continental writers are obscurantist are stupid or lazy
>People who don't read poetry aren't true /lit/
>Replies that seriously still use "edgy" or "fedora" at this point with no other arguments are as bad as YouTube comments
>Half of these 'confessions' are just complaints about other people
>French poetry is based
>ITAOTS is overrated
>So is Infinite Jest
>The Day of the Locust is better than The Great Gatsby
>Virgins shouldn't be allowed to post here

>>4577916
drove her cray

>>4577947
>>4577937
>>4577934
She actually liked it - or at least so she said. She even reminded me 5 or 6 years later when I had long forgotten about it.
I think it wasn't the story itself that impressed her but my dedication. Beceause seriously, what would a 13 years old girl find appealing about a badly written 40k novel?

>>4577932
i refuse to believe that anyone dignified enough to get into an ivy would be hanging out on 4chan
>therefore state school stem major detected

>>4577961
>think the only alternative to state schools is the ivy league

I have never actually read a book from cover to cover

>>4577968
Then fucking leave. Seriously. Don't be selfish. This board isn't for you.

I just can't appreciate modernism. Woolf, Cather, Fitzgerald... Yawn.

>>4577961
>>4577966

worse, he thinks people who get into ivy leagues schools are necessarily "dignified"

>>4577957
m8..

Sometimes I'm contrarian just for the sake of it because of how mindless /lit/ sounds when praising certain authors.

>>4577968
Why do these kind of people even go on /lit/?

You can just tell they're the ones not contributing for anything, asking opinions on books they haven't read, etc.

Sometimes I argue against myself in threads in order to pick out weaknesses in my arguments.

>>4578000
sometimes i post something obscure that doesn't get many responses so i reply to bump my thread

>>4578000
sometimes i secretly check and admire digits without posting about it so that I don't disrupt discussion

>>4578000
>>4577777
>>4577788
>>4577955
>>4577966
>>4577977

Sometimes I like to point out repeating numbers.

>>4578000
I sometimes create threads going to the bump limits filled with posts I copypasted from reddit

I don't appreciate the literature of the '900, it's too (rightly) obsessed by the world wars.

i think anybody who requires some overdramatic storyline overlayed to ease the boredom for science documentaries about nature/space are idiots and this is a horrible way to "get young people interested in science"

siamese dream and gish are far superior to mellon collie

>>4577770
I consider myself head and shoulders above everyone who posts here.

>>4578066
me2

I read poetry but understand 0 of it.

>>4578076
wanna fck?

I think Austen was a boring conservative cunt and all her works are small-minded pieces of shit that have no relevance today

>>4577770
i fully am willing to admit that my "social/intellectual capital" could have only been possible to gather in the 21st century. had i lived in say, the 1960s (a world without internet or electronics) there would be no way to pursue literature/philosophy to the full extent i have done so due to my socio-economic restraints

>>4578091
how about back to back masturbation facing our full sized mirrors?

>>4577770
I didn't start reading seriously (<1 book per week) until I turned 21. I've read every single Bret Easton Ellis book. I call myself a writer but I only really write in binges and the only thing I've done to show that I'm serious is starting my MFA.

>>4578092
>overcoming ones pride and prejudice for the sake of love
>not relevant
do you even romance?

>>4578103
>Sensibility will get you no-where. Be mechanical and sensible about everything

Do you even Romanticism?

>>4578103
Ruining the social order out of egotistical desire is very relevant, yes.

>>4578060
no shit. mellon collie is bloated as fuck. quality >quantity billy

>>4578066
everybody here thinks that. thats why this board sucks. (now everybody is thinking about how they're the exception).

I think Vonnegut is the Stephen King of "real" literature
I've never read a SK book, but the things /lit/ thinks of SK is what I think of Vonnegut

>>4578111
i've only listened to american football once and i must say i laughed out loud at how white it was

I read an average of 44 classic novels a year.

I can barely remember the vast majority of them.

black sabbath is not heavy at all

>>4578134
>I can barely remember the vast majority of them.
does anyone?

I don't even know how to read. I pay an Ethiopian man five dollars a day to shitpost on 4chan for me

I'm a filthy monoglot ; ;

>>4578135
>meal
>not even once

I wrote an A+ essay for some Asian faggot back in high-school. He paid me $30 and wound up going to Harvard.

Apart from some fantasy shit, the only /lit/ discussed things I've read are non-fiction.

>>4578142
And you're posting on 4chan. Life's a bitch.

>>4577770

I havent read a single book [/spoiler]that makes me feel the same way anime does[/spoiler].

>>4578155

[/spoiler]i feel inferior when i mess up spoilers[/spoiler]

>>4578155
>>4578157


im so beta i sometimes erase my posts

>>4578155
Look how gay this comment looks without spoilers

I often judge books by their covers.

>>4578017
S'wounds.

>>4578127
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by that, but if you're trying to say that you don't enjoy Kurt Vonnegut, I concur. I gave him a fair chance and read three of his major novels and found that I was completely indifferent to each of them. Don't think I'll bother picking up another book of his.

I haven't read the bible

I'm gay.

>>4578134
>>4578136
I don't understand that. Either you guys have unusually bad memories or you're not paying enough attention to what you read.

I am a heterosexual, middle-class white male living in a first world country, and the majority of books I read are written by people belonging to the same demographic as me.

I don't like Crime and Punishment.

when i'm away i miss my cat more than my wife

>>4577968
Are you including forewords, afterwords, publisher's notes, translators notes, etc.? Because I only read them if they're written by the original author, or occasionally the translator's notes. Other than that I try to always finish a book, even if I don't like it that much.

>>4578278
go back to tumblr pls

>>4578284
TT

I think The Catcher in the Rye is a piece of shit

I suffer from a severe case of bibliophilia.
I own more books than I'll ever be likely to read, yet I collect and collect, and tend to take my time with each book. My meager apartment is becoming too small to fit them all and my fairly recently acquired Kindle only seems to add to the problem.

>>4578347
Oh, thank you. I have so much rage for that goddamn book.

>>4578360
I'd be that if I had money. Now I just download and organize my digital library and bookmarks of authors I need to check out and lists I need to go through.

>>4578142
Back in elementary school, it was always neck and neck between me and this Asian kid for "smartest kid in class." I remember beating him in the 5th grade spelling bee and finally achieving victory. He ended up going to Princeton. I'm on 4chan. TFW.

(nevermind the fact that I use this elementary school rivalry to boost my self esteem when it's incredibly meaningless and proves nothing.)

>>4577770
I once dated chick obssesed with Byron I told her i have read "Don Juan" but i actually read only summary

>>4578142
>>4578387
WHAT DOES IT MATTER THAT THE KIDS WERE ASIAN, YOU RACIST FUCKS

>>4578259
completely agree, it's not that his books are boring, they are just 'meh'
confession: i automatically assume that anyone who likes vonnegut studied him in high school and now 'get' him

>>4577770

It's okay, he isn't that good, I mean, his books are best sellers anyway.

I hate Ray Bradbury.

>>4578265
good for you anon :)

>>4578265
You an attention seeking idiot. "Confess" is something we do to sins and wrongdoings.

>>4578392
>tfw asian
>tfw did in fact try as hard as possible
>tfw not accepted to any good schools
>meanwhile
>all the lower income kids get into stanford or whatever because they got questbridge and a white girl gets into an ivy because she payed $5000 to go to a "prestigious summer program"

>>4578431
That might be because the white girl can spell "paid".

> I clandestinely believe that watching a movie is superior to reading the book it is based on, most of the time (come figure the time investment)
> I haven't read most of the canonical literature bs (i.e. joyce) but short summaries, so I can partake in smugly intellectualized conversations
> I believe literature and philosophy are for people who can't come up with interesting thoughts on their own
> I believe nobody should be solely a writer. Writing should be a second profession. Learn something real first..

>>4578443
>>>/out/

>>4577770

Read his short stories.

Also "The Body".

Also, "The Last Rung on the Ladder".

>>4578443
i'm with you on n.2
>even touching the western canon itself
>not reading harold bloom's the western canon to get the gist
>not regurgitating other people's analysis on canonical literature and having no one ever know because most people i know do not know who harold bloom is

>>4578443
ia with #4

now that i think about it, i don't think i have either, OP.

I've never read any of the books that /lit/ deems to be "entry level shit that everyone should have read when they were 14" like Catcher in the Rye, Great Gatsby, To Kill A Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies.

Are any of them worth it? Or are they just books that American kids always get taught about at school?

>>4577770
I've never read any of Camus' work in the original French.

;_;

I

prefer

genre fiction

>>4578347
That's funny because my confession is:

I first read the Catcher in the Rye when I was 15 and I felt really connected to Holden.
Now I realize how much of a whiny bitch he is.
He still makes some acceptable points.

>>4578443
>I believe nobody should be solely a writer. Writing should be a second profession. Learn something real first..

I'm only a few months away from receiving my biochemistry BA, but I fantasize about being a writer who studied science first.

>>4578284
this.
>have to spend a few weeks in Germany
>daughter calls me to ask general how are you doing questions
>ask her how school is going
>ask about the cats
>ask if the elderly woman i help out sometimes has called about anything
>hang up
>realize my wife didn't even cross my mind

I only started seriously reading because of /lit/.

I jump-read a lot of the time so to speak, reading say chapter two, then chapter six and at the end of a reading session, chapter three. I don't always do this, just in books that are starting to bore me.

>>4578392
Lol fat nigger lover detected.

>>4578589
I graduated in CE; today, I'm starting a Literature degree. I dream of being a writer.

I don't think they're great, but I don't understand /lit/'s aversion to the beats.

>>4578259
My impression of SK, from /lit/, is that he's a hack who has written too many books because he accidentally had 1 good one, or one cult classic, and everyone (his readers) thinks his entire work is genius because of it

>>4578284
>>4578592
lmao im not married (tfw) but anytime my parents call i always ask/care more about the cats than anyone/anything else.

Well, since the thread was deleted I might as well say it here.

I've probably read three times as much comics as I've read literature.

hitchhickers guide to the galaxy is my favorite book series
neil gaiman is my favorite author
i cant fucking wait for the next book in ASoIaF
i still listen to radiohead

everytime i see something cute my instinct is not to go aww but rather be overcome with a strong desire to tip it over or trip it and make it fall over

>>4578020
You monster.

I liked Dan Brown's first two books.

>>4578687
Digital Fortress and Deception Point?

>>4578655
>neil gaiman is my favorite author
Implying that that's anything to be ashamed of. The Sandman Series is easily the best comic book series I've ever read.

>>4577777
ebin

I rarely read, and I just come on /lit/ to shitpost about politics, and regurgitate enough /lit/ posts to troll about classics.

>>4578695
Oh shit,, no. I confused myself by the movie releases. My bad. (DF was at least slightly better than DP though, in my opinion)

>>4578703
Neil Gaiman is awful and Sandman is pretentious bullshit.

>>4578660
>>>/b/

>>4578751
YOU'RE AWFUL

>>4578178
everybody does

>>4577777
penta....
this is amazing...

>>4578043
Agreed. A pretty duplicitous advertising strategy if you ask me. It gives kids the false impression that all physicists do is smoke weed and gaze at the stars, when most of their time is spent programming, doing complex maths, or setting up lab equipment (if you're an under/grad).

That doesn't mean I don't smoke weed and look at the stars

I buy more books than I read

>>4577770
The scare statistics that Americans read on average 1 book per year (or whatever it is).

It is better, in my opinion, to spend a whole year reading the "Critique of Pure Reason" than reading twenty Dr. Seuss books.

I suppose there are exceptions (childrens' authors, etc.), but overall these statistics seem much too black-and-white for me.

>>4578863
LOL WHAT? critique of pure reason is dogshit

>>4578858
Isn't this like the top bibliophile confession? At least you'll never run out of things to read. I have books to last me a lifetime.

>>4578870
Maybe by today's standards, but only an arrant fool would deny its impact on Western philosophical discourse.

>>4578751
Sandman isn't pretentious. It's just dumb fantasy

>>4578387
You should e-mail him that essay against Ivy League ossification:
http://theamericanscholar.org/the-disadvantages-of-an-elite-education/

I also knew a (half-)Asian who went to Princeton. He posted a rage comic on his fb that purported to debunk the above essay's claims. That's when I decided to delete my facebook and become a semi-recluse.

>>4578852
have you seen this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDkVS-AN4NU

>>4578870
>>/pol/

>It took me almost a year to read Ulysses because I kept putting it down.
>I frequently read the best known work by an author and don't read anything else unless I really liked it.
>I have never checked a book out from the library since elementary school.

>>4578903
>wah i'm too autistic to talk to working class proles
wow that's some disadvantage

>>4578141
We have a Jainit here.

>>4579189
*Jainist

>I never read the introduction or foreword because they sometimes give way to much details.
>I don't think books like 1984, BNW, A clockwork orange and Catcher in the Rye should be called classics in the same sense as Crime and Punishment, it just isn't the same league.
>I judge everyone depending on what they read. ( A lot )

>never read catcher in the rye
>never read any kafka (i hope to correct this very very soon)
>never read the iliad and the odyssey outside of high school translation
>never read the aeneid
>never read King Lear
>never read any joyce

these are probably my biggest knowledge gaps

>>4579305
>these are probably my biggest knowledge gaps
probably not man

>>4578287
i dont do that because i feel reading the whole thing influences me as a person. i'm kinda unstable i guess.

anyways, i completely disregard trying to get a complete knowledge of the classics. dont give a fuck. that's not to say i don't read some of them, i just can't be arsed to read all of them for the sake of it

>the best reading experience i've ever had was the last harry potter book

>>4579189
>>4579195
kek

I dislike almost every female author I have attempted to read. I swear, there is something inherently flawed about a woman writing. I once started reading "The Stars My Destination" and I felt that it was a little off. Sure enough, I checked on wikipedia and found it was a female author using a male pseudonym.

I haven't finished 25-35% of the books I own.

I find that books involving incest as a central theme tend to be very good.

>>4579385
Have you read "The Kindly Ones"?

>>4578880
I've had to keep myself out of bookshops otherwise I won't make rent.

I've hired over twenty prostitutes within the last year and a half (mostly from backpages.com). Several of them were dominatrices who paddled and caned me so that I was bruised for days afterwards. One time I put on an adult diaper, shat in it, and had a black hooker change me then fuck me.

I sometimes masturbate five times per day (a monthly occurrence).

I have incorporated all of this in my writing.

Shit, I need to go to confession.

I only read 1-2 books a month but I buy 4-5 a month.

>>4579443
>I sometimes masturbate five times per day (a monthly occurrence).

I do this daily unless I'm with my girlfriend.

>>4579450
What is the strength of your ejaculation, if you don't mind me asking?

>>4579456
Why don't you come find out? ;)

>>4579456
It oozes out. It doesn't spray like in porn.

I'd masturbate less but I work from home and every time I want to take a five minute break I just jack off.

>>4578510
Those are all great books except To Kill a Mockingbird (bretty bad) and Catcher in the Rye(bretty average).

The only reason I don't buy e-books is because I like to stretch my patrician-peen by reading obscure, political/philosophical wankfests in public.

I have never experienced an emotional reaction to, or gained intellectual insight from any work of poetry. I disregard the medium entirely.

Growing up I only read fantasy novels.
I burned myself out on reading in college. Haven't read a novel in three years.
I start philosophical works and stop about half-way through. Every time.

>>4578274
Not them, but I have a shit memory. I don't even know why I read seriously, I can never remember more than the most basic of details. Hell, I often have to turn back and reread the previous page of a book because I forgot what was on it.

>>4579521
try something easy first, like Shel Silverstein

I'm monolingual.

>>4579533
My MA's in philosophy and I've taken plenty of grad level literature courses. I don't need easy, I just have never been affected in any tangible way by poetry. I appreciate its relevance and the skill involved, but not much else. I like my information dry and coherent, I guess. It's just me, I'm sure.

I never proof-read my posts on 4chan and am embarrassed by the grammatical mistakes almost seconds after posting.

I like easy stuff with a good story. Hard literature is boring.

I struggle with anything beyond basic symbolism and regurgitate opinions from people more educated than me.

>>4579385

Bonjour tristesse nigger.

>creepypastas scares me more than a lot of horror literature

I'm always trying to find good horror books that really scares me

I think I am better than people like this >>4579584

I act turbo-pretentious around "low-brow" people and then fairly quiet and timid around those actually deeply involved in the arts.

I popped a boner several times while reading American Psycho.

I can't tell if this is just a handful of people posting over and over again or if the near-entirety of /lit/ are intellectual posers.

I relate more to Space Marine protagonists in Warhammer 40,000 novels than I do to any character in proper literature.

I actually don't read as much as I should but still pull /lit/ bitches because I list authors I know they haven't read. And if they have I name books I know they haven't

>>4578655
whats wrong with radiohead?

>>4579679
Nothing, he's probably been trolled by /mu/ into thinking OK Computer is anything but the defining album of our generation.

>>4579679

IT IS ONE OF THOSE "BANDS" THAT MOST "MILLENNIALS" LIKED WHEN THEY WERE PRETEENAGERS, AND/OR TEENAGERS, WHEN ONE'S PERSONALITY WAS MOST MUTABLE; LIKING IT IN ADULTHOOD IS CONSIDERED A SIGN OF IMMATURITY.

I STILL OCCASIONALLY LISTEN TO "KID A", AND "AMNESIAC" THOUGH.

>>4578928
>I frequently read the best known work by an author and don't read anything else unless I really liked it.
>I have never checked a book out from the library since elementary school.
...what's wrong with these?

>>4579685
You didn't have to type in all caps. Everyone would have gotten your point if you typed normally.

>>4579692

>>4579685
Using gimmicks to draw attention to yourself, such as typing every post in all caps, is also a sign of immaturity.

>>4579694
>>4579692
Why are you even butthurt with him?

>>4579699
Cause it's obnoxious, if your post doesn't stand out through its content alone then why even bother?

>>4579699
oh god what the fuck, does ry actually have a secret admirer

>>4579705
No he just dropped his trip to post that.

>>4579709
i certainly hope so

btw did you know he maintains a tumblr? its just as schizophrenic as you'd think, with spinning swastikas and shit

>>4579579
All of my this.

>>4579705
>there are people on this board who don't read and re-read REI's posts as works of literature

>>4579685
The only reason there might be a stigma attached to listening to radiohead is because they've gotten too popular for the /mu/ crowd who banks on the obscurity of what they listen to to give their personality a depth it would otherwise lack. Radiohead is king and OK Computer its claim to the throne.

>>4579385
Try Virginia Woolf. Her prose is - and I believe this sincerely - second to none in all of English language literature. I have the same problem with female authors, but every prejudice evaporated with To the Lighthouse.

I don't really hate any author or book. I believe they all have their own strengths and I respect other peoples' opinions on them.

>>4579624

Who didn't?

>that scene where he feeds his girlfriend a chocolate-covered urinal cake

wololooooo

>>4577928
>>4577902
>implying that 90% of any philosophy text is actually necessary and not just deliberate fluff to bolster book thickness

It's like Camus never fucking happened.

Me and my gf were in New York and we went to one of Tao Lin's readings. We got to hang out with him afterward and took some E. We all decided to head back to Tao's place and we and his then wife ended up in a "snuggle party". I am so not gay, but I spent most of the time touching him (to my eternal regret)

>>4579923
>camus
>philosopher

>>4579934
>(to my eternal regret)
You fucker. Anyone on /lit/ would give up their girls for life to touch Tao Lin's strong 5.

i like alt lit

>>4579641
What's the best 40k novel? And best source of lore? i never get a fucking straight answer

>>4577770
I listen to books on tape/audio rather than reading them

I am intimidated by BDSM novels.

>>4579936
>implying objective truth

>>4579813
original poster about radiohead here. they have better albums. i really dont understand the hype surrounding OK computer

>>4579989
Among the authors for Black Library, McNeill, Abnett, and Dembski-Bowden are generally considered the "big three" of the novels, with all having different flaws and frankly varying levels of quality within the work. My personal favorite 40k novel is probably A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill.

As for "best source of lore", there really isn't one. All of it is inconsistent and variable in quality, and the official policy is that there literally isn't a cohesive canon for the franchise. "Everything is canon and nothing is". Generally though, I find Forge World fluff (Imperial Armour, the Horus Heresy game line) to be superior in content to the codex fluff, and Fantasy Flight Games also usually is pretty solid. Codex fluff is highly variable, as is Black Library.

>>4578598
Same here. 4chan saved my life from the dullness.

>>4580010
Thanks, everyone just tells me there is no source of lore, and never tells me speficic book names

>>4579990
There is nothing wrong with that, anon.
Some people don't have the time, or can't hold a book while working.

I unironcially enjoy the works of Clive Cussler.

>>4577770
read his short stories to get a good idea of his writing style. read one of his novels if you want to be able to form an opinion about literally all of his novels.
>>4577777
if you mean Shakespeare as in Shakespeare's works, perform it. if you mean Shakespeare as in the person, then he would probably be delighted to hear that.
>>4577867
this issue has existed since the beginning of publishing and unfortunately self-publishing is not a way around it.
>>4577884
he wrote things that were to be performed. obviously if you're reading it and not seeing it on the stage, you won't like it that much. same goes if you are seeing it performed, but by a bad cast.
>>4577891
that's not a bad thing at all and shows respect for the work.
>>4577916
pic related
>>4577952
you're retarded
>>4577968
"I've never actually listened to an album start to end"
you think that person should be posting on /mu/?
>>4578000
just do shower arguments like the rest of us
>>4578041
how much do you know about the world wars? they changed life as we know it. also, you're probably not reading a wide variety of work if you've picked up on the theme but not seen any exceptions.
>>4578043
too too too fucking true
>>4578060
this isn't a confession it's just a fact
>>4578066
not only do i consider myself head and shoulders above you, but i know for a fact that i am. if only you were more confident.
>>4578087
poetry is as versatile as canvas. it's more often than not just what you make of it.
>>4578092
yeah tbh i don't really like her but she was very influential
>>4578100
that's your confession? you must suck at truth or dare
>>4578102
you're Brian from Family Guy

I dont like, or just dont get sentimental stuff like Shakespeare
I hate poetry
I read really slowly, i read something like 120 pages per day, but it takes me something like 4 to 5 hours

>>4580130
>sentimental stuff like Shakepseare
have you ever read Shakespeare

>beast with two backs
>Villain, I have done thy mother.
>her very C's, her U's, 'n' her T's

>>4577770

I never read any shakespeare
I never read any aristotle
i never read any nietzsche
i never read any karl marx
i never read the bible cover to cover
i never read any kierkegaarde
I never read any feminist literature
i never read any edgar allan poe
I hate poetry
I never read any sigmund freud
I never read any hg wells
i never read any mark twain(except for mysterious stranger)
i only read like 12 pages of a book a day
I have really bad reading comprehension
I am not intelligent
i was in special ed in middle school and all of high school
I mostly browse /tv/

>>4580154
pleb

>>4580154

That wasn't even the pic i used. As you can see i used to a jpg, and that's a gif

I go months at a time barely skimming books, but then when I finally dig in I usually read 3-4 books in a couple days

>>4580147
Just hamlet, and didnt even finish it, maybe sentimental isnt the right word, more like dramatic

>>4580154
it's never to late to start on that list friend!

I think Bukowski is a shit writer.

>>4580005
Kid A/Amnesiac are probably on the same level as OKC, though in a very different way. OK, for me, is amazing for the sheer beauty of the sounds. After it they lost interest in Melody (for which OK proved they had a great gift) and focused more on Rhythm (and The King of Limbs is the natural consequence of that)

>>4580154

Continued from this^

I never read any hp lovecraft
i never read any stephen king
i never read any camus
i never read any ligotti
i never read any thomas aquinas
i never read any augustine
i never read any emil cioran
i never read any schoepenhauer
I read mein kampf
I read every book by marquis de sade
I read virtue of selfishness by ayn rand
I read the first five dialogues of plato
i read much of the bible, not all of it.
I read the quran
i read the state and revolution by lenin
I read pollyanna
i read the king in yellow
I read alice in wonderland
I read the satanic bible by anton lavey
i read confessions of a mask and sun and steel by yukio mishima
i read some book about epilepsy
I read the bhagavad gita
i read the dhammapada
i read some biography on buddha

>I have always considered music to the most entry-level of the arts.
>It can be appreciated by a 6 year old, provided he or she is not deaf.
>The experiences of Proper Literature do not come so easily.
>One does not simply understand a man as cryptic as Ahab or Raskolnikov.
>Yet, anyone can play a little Motzart or Bach in the background as they eat their Spaghettios.
>Music hardly requires attention.
>It demands virtually nothing of one's cognitive abilities.
>Such cannot be said for the rewards offered by Finnegan's Wake or Borges' Ficciones.


>In today's world of decadence and sitcoms, the epaulettes of intellectualism are handed out like blue participation ribbons at a public elementary school.
>I am above all else, humble.
>And so I confess, I only appear as an intellectual relative to the mediocrity of the mass populace.

>>4580247
this just reads like it's coming from a sentient fedora god damn

>>4580154
>I never read any shakespeare
>i only read like 12 pages of a book a day
HOW

>I didn't like or finish TKAMB
>I find early philosophy in general to be really dry and boring

>>4580247
>the epaulettes of intellectualism

>>4580275
Pic related.

>>4580292
>requisite fedora tipping

I haven't read any sacred texts.

>>4580292
what a fucking fag

>>4580247
>>I have always considered music to the most entry-level of the arts.
Music is technically the most abstract of arts bro.

I'm a /mu/tant originally and I don't read books but as it turns out this board isn't really about them all that much anyway.

I have never read harry potter, Lotr, or the hobbit

>>4580429
hey fellow /mu/tant nice

>>4580470
>>4580429
/mu/ is the worst board on 4chan and I hope you both have bad days.

>>4580488
jokes on you, I'm going to sleep in 2 minutes.

>>4580493
I hope you have a dream where you get a flat tire in the snow.

>>4580488
subjectively the greatest. I love it. Not that I care that you don't /lit/ doesn't help me find anything. I just enjoy seeing a community of idiots bicker once and awhile.

Also it helps me motivate myself to read. I don't know why, maybe seeing pictures of novels convicts me to grab mine.

>>4580508
>I just enjoy seeing a community of idiots bicker once and awhile.
That's like the whole of 4chan not just one board.

>>4580508
Maybe seeing pictures of your mother convicts me to grab my dick.

>>4580508
>Not that I care that you don't /lit/ doesn't help me find anything.

and you think we're the idiots

>>4578655
h2g2 is fucking goat

I read House of Leaves and thought I was going crazy afterwards

other than Shakespeare I can't read anything pre 1901

>>4580525
>>4580519
>>4580515
what does /lit/ think of my cassette collection?

>>4580543
Ugh. Come back when you're done being a teenager.
For now, I have 4 words for you. He should be enough to open your mind.
John Wilmot, Lord Rochester.

>>4580558
no ITAOTS
no Macintosh+

It's fucking shit.

>>4580558
my audiobook collection is better than that pathetic excuse

>Only works of philosophy I've read and enjoyed are the greek and romans, mostly out of historical and contextual interest
>Won't ever bother with any contemporary 'sophers, because from what I've gotten after talking with people that has studied them, it all deals with stuff I've already gotten around on my own (you know, with the power of thinking, that function of the brain that philosophy students seem to be unaware of)
>I realize how pedantic this sounds and am not bothered by it in the least because I know I speak the truth
>I did give a shot to the quintessential philosophers past the olden though, and thought it was mindnumbingly boring. All these assholes do is stretch a rant across ten pages to make a point that could have been done in a paragraph, or waste time of the reader by re and over exposing the same fucking subject a dozen times. Fucking wankers.

I don't read books, but I look at /lit/ dauly

I think philosophy is the most useless, worthless concept ever invented.

I think people who study philosophy are wasting their time.

I failed high school English

>>4580631

This.

I would rather study poetry than philosophy.
I genuinely think that I'd get more out of it.

I tell my girlfriend I'm broke but I buy more books all the time and she always pays for the restaurant, bar and club bills without complaining while knowing full well I'm buying a shit ton of books I'll never manage to read

She always borrows my shit though, and I believe today she said "Oh, you shouldn't need to borrow all those books from school with all the shit you have to read at home"

>>4579668
>mfw I do this

>>4579668

i got stung by some waspy lit chick at a party for trying to hipster victory and speak about an author i didn't really know while she did

fucked my shit up big time and ruined any game i had going. don't play that now.

I'm reading Infinite Jets for the /lit/cred.

I believe audiobooks are superior to books

Just dropped another hundo on bucks that will collect dust on my shelf. No regrets.

I started reading a lot to impress my dad because I was in love with him in a way I was sexually conscious of. He has since passed away and I still love reading.

>>4580738

And by 'bucks,' I mean 'books.'

Money on my mind nigga

As long as I can read it, I don't care about the physical quality of a book, at all.

Death of the author is a load of bullshit

>>4580739
I've received a conspicuous boner from this person's post.

>>4580752
holy fuck yes

>>4580754
I'm not sure whether that means I qualify for "daddy issues" or not, but I don't think so.

>>4580752
>the reader must see things as I do or else they aren't reading my work right!
Nah.

>>4578137
He's doing an excellent job; you should tip him a few bucks today.

>>4580760
>the reader must see things as I do or else they aren't reading my work right!

More like "you are literally reading someone else's thoughts right now, your interpretation means fuck-all because you didn't write it down".

PS: Any and all replies to this post will be subject to my own interpretation regardless of what the author intended.

>>4580769
You aren't "reading their thoughts" anymore than when you look at a painting.

It's subject to your interpretation while you read it, mine while I read it. When you write it is object, when you read it is object; neither the writer nor the reader are ever objects to the writing as subject.

>>4580247
>>It demands virtually nothing of one's cognitive abilities.
Everyone is taught english, and analyzes literature in high school. Not everyone is taught how to read music. You are given all of the tools to understand literature, you are not for music. Unrelated, how many fedoras do you own?

>>4577770

Are you me?

>>4577777

He sort of annoys me. Old english annoys me and what's funny is I have a hard time understanding English accents too. I think it's my Irish blood and I have some ancestral hatred or something.

But yeah never read any Stephen King novels either. I turned down an opportunity to be in The Mist movie as an extra in the store scene because I was in school. When I saw the movie I regretted it a lot.

>/lit/ confession:

I haven't read a lot of classic stuff. Like Farewell to Arms, Les Miserables, Hamlet, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy,

I mean it's a long list. I need to catch up.

>>4580772
I don't know, I kind of like it. Shame everyone stopped talking about it when we found out he was a neckbeard. The second album was a let down though, I don't think there was a single song I liked as much as any of the ones on Sorry.

I sometimes tell my friends that I have finished a book before I actually have, because I am ashamed of how long it takes me. I do always finish them though.

I have severe difficulty focusing, and I am also ashamed of how slow I read.

>>4577916

>>4580776
Except you are relaying your interpretation to me as a response to what I wrote. If we are two readers of the same text--what I wrote--then we find common ground in that readership with which to share insight. It's not the same as reading a poem alone.

>>4578598
This.

>>4580782
Two more,

When my professors critique my writing they always say they enjoy the style, but the points lose focus and I get distracted by ideas that aren't related to the thesis. It's because I can't focus in general, and for that I know I will never become a relevant author.

I also hate reading novels that are assigned, purely because it makes them feel like school work rather than something I'm passionate about.

>>4580784
Nah, I've been a vegetarian for about a year now. I don't think I plan on doing it forever though.

>>4580792
If I tell you, "Eat shit!" and by that I demand that you understand that I was complimenting you, you are under no obligation to take that as a compliment.

>>4580791
>>4580782
Are you me?
Though my professors always say my ideas are good, I just lack a strong enough thesis to really lock them in.

>>4580795
I wish. I tried reading Schoenbeg's "The Fundamentals of Musical Composition" but it was just so fucking drab. I like my informational reading outlined in a more orderly, less wall-of-text-y fashion, y'know?

>>4580807
You've made no argument. The idea that your words can mean whatever you want them to wouldn't be crazy, except you demand that everyone else acknowledge your words to carry precisely the meaning you intend them to. Saying each reader can see what meaning they wish is reasonable, since that's exactly what they do; saying every reader must accept your meaning of words is not; you could say anything and demand others take it to mean anything you want, demand it from everyone. A reader who finds his own meaning, is not demanding anything of anyone.

>>4580797
I know the feel, man. I'm in the process of getting back on medicine for ADHD and anxiety, and I'm hoping it will take care of this. I just can't bring myself to finish a thought without being distracted by something else, and it always leads to choppy writing.

>>4579990
why do retards like you get so ashamed for not using your eyes to consume books?

I liked Looking For Alaska, but the Fault in Our Stars was pretty shit, Green tried too hard in that one

>>4580847
I'm recommended Looking For Alaska frequently, what makes it special? A good many of my friends say they enjoy it, but I can't really deal with a complicated relationship book thing right now. From what I've heard that's basically it

This is going to sound stupid, but I don't exactly understand why Judaism is considered a race and not simply a religion.

I miss Tallis.

>>4580859
Green has a good writing style, its not really just a love story, it's more than that.

after Alaska, I did a marathon of Green, like 2 books in 3 weeks and all his characters are literally the same, but Alaska's story was the most entertaining for me, took me like two days to finish, go read it

>>4580967
isnt Green like angsty teen reads??

>>4578598
I don't think I'd have found good lit without /lit/. My country has no lit education/awareness and the only decent physical books I've found in bookstores were Penguin classics(bretty good but no contemporary stuff), Kafka, Murakami and an obscure Mishima book.

Thanks to /lit/ I've gotten into Pynchon, Nabokov, Bruno Schulz, Bolano, Kawabata, Kenzaburo Oe, Calvino, Achebe, Marquez, Bohumil Hrabal, Bataille, Voltaire, Delany, Stanislaw Lem, etc.

>>4580130
>I read really slowly,

I know that feel bro.

>>4580993
feelin that feel as well

>>4580967
Alright, I'll pick it up next time I head to the bookstore.

>>4579385
Dude, wtf are you saying? The Stars My Destination wasnt even written under a pseudonym, let alone a woman taking up a male pseudonym:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Bester

>>4580993
So do I. I wonder sometimes if it has anything to do with me never really reading as a kid/teenager.

>>4580410
It's actually the most concrete. It doesn't rely on forms.

>>4581010
The creative process is the most concrete, the comprehension process is the most abstract.

>>4578000
>>4578009
Sometimes I stutter
Sometimes I like to put on Cocoa Butter

>>4581004
Probably. I read all through my life and I have to slow down to read books now or I miss stuff.

>>4581020
cocoa butter used to be my groove, but then i upgraded to coconut oil

>>4580187
get out you plebeian piece of shit

I didn't like old man and the sea and was almost a chore to read

>>4577867
I find the destain of "privilaged white kids" in certain intelectual circles to be extremely annoying, and much prefer to spend my time with rich white kids in STEM feilds to hanging around with some of the bitter college dropouts you meet here.

i'd rather shirk responsibility with pseudo-intellectual "depression" than face adversity with pride

>>4578142
>>4578387
I had a 20% average in elementery school, in highschool I pulled ahead of even smart asian kid and got known as one of the smartest kids in my school, then in 1th I read A rebours and dropped out so I could spend my time staying out late at opera houses and soup kitchens or smoking a pipe by myself in my room. Now I'm taking some classes at my highschool so I can finally go to university I probably could have made something of myself but I let french literature get to me and now I'm nothing but a sloth.

>>4581052
I had to laugh, I saw this in the last five replies and said to myself, "That one is directed at me."

You buk guys are getting too predictable.

I prefer my friends to be half-crazy drug-users instead of intellectuals.

I once tried to seduce my french teacher by giving him a copy of Tropic of Cancer I picked up at a second hand store with my phone number scrawled on the inside cover. It was probably one of the most awkard things I've ever done and I later dropped the course.

>>4581204
You probably aren't an intellectual yourself so its not a big deal

>>4580111
>tfw uninteresting posters reply to a bunch of posts

>>4581178
>I let french literature get to me and now I'm nothing but a sloth.

lol. french literature. not even once.

My confession is that I am disgusted by this thread. This board no longer has the right to use "pleb" or "patrician." Not even ironically. God damn, you liars and YA readers make me sick.

I view comedic prose as a viable literary type

I read The Brothers Karamazov to introduce myself to the world of classic literature.

Whilst I made it through the whole book, I feel at least 90% of it went over my head; especially all the philosophical stuff (I mean, were the elder Zosima's homilies supposed to be intellectually stimulating at all, or even coherent?).

Now I'm scared to admit that I read it incase somebody who actually understands it wants to have an in depth discussion about it.

I would have loved a sequel though :(

>>4578347
>>4578368
>I hate The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield is an insufferable whiny brat
>But silly Anon, can't you see it was all on purpose, he's complaining about people like himself, 3deep5u lelel
>Is that supposed to make the book better?

Fuck this book.

>>4581193
Comon man, you cant give up one author. Read Ham on rye, Love is a dog from hell, Pulp, Women or Luck. Buk is a great guy, i would actually go as far as saying that he is quite superior to J.D. (Ham on rye > Catcher in the rye)

>>4578347
>>4578368
>>4578574
Samefagging, the book is still good, but I hate it so much. I've read it 3 times, and it was a 4/10 at it's best.

I just lurk here

>>4582148
I feel you, anon. I do wish to develope a greater interest in reading, but it's difficult to set time aside for something that in comparison to other things I do seems so bland. The Old Man and the Sea has been sitting next to me for awhile, it's a thin book, yet I still lack the motivation to pick it up.. due to reasons which might be dificult for people to relate.

..Anyone here got Tinnitus?

Man, what a fucking snooze-fest. Did anyone on /lit/ enjoy this? Herbert's writing is so convoluted and opaque. Someone please tell me God Emperor is worth it.

>quads