/lit/ - Literature

Perhaps a book of the month club or something like that?

>>5255932
Make a tab of tripfags to filter.

>>5255932
Flesh out the recommended reading section
Make better descriptions and add the book covers to liven things up and maybe links to sites where you could buy said books

>>5255943
How many tripfags are on /lit/?

>>5255932
Perhaps encouraging people to post OC on the wiki?

>>5255939
I would like that :)

I'm against the use of a wiki because 1. clearly based on the amount of "what should I read" topics, nobody uses it and 2. it makes this board too accessible. This board should be used by people already well-read, not pseudo-intellectuals who want to read.

>>5255975
I'm not especially well read but I only make posts when I feel I genuinely have something to contribute - how do you feel about that?

>>5255979
>I'm not that well-read

You probably have nothing genuine to contribute

>>5255981
Everyone has special areas

>>5255979
>>5255981
>You probably have nothing genuine to contribute

OUCH haha

>>5255975
>>5255981
Pleb detected

>>5255982
My mom told me I'm only supposed to show my special area to a doctor when getting a checkup.

>>5255968
How would you go about it?
- A new book each month/week?
- 5 books a month and you could choose what to read
- Something else

>>5255993
One book per month imo, based on a consensus vote the previous month. Not everyone has the opportunity to read a book in a single week on short notice

>>5255999
Yeah but what if you have already read the book that was chosen? or if you did not want to read it?
Then you would have to wait a whole month

If we have a couple of books each month and you could just pick and choose which one you would like to read or you could even read many, then I think everyone would be more happy.

>>5256010
If you've read it then that means you have a lot to contribute to the discussion threads (which I would guess is the whole point of the thing). If you don't want to - sit a month out. No-one's gonna do every month anyway

>>5255999
trips confirm history made
>>5256010
Tbh it generally takes me about a month to read and reflect on an above average length novel anyway, I need to digest

>tfw /lit/ will never create ebin memes like /tv/ does

>>5256034
(discounting /b/) /mu/ probably has the highest volume of memes but the majority of them are enormously dull

>>5256012
>>5256025
Agreed
But if we would have like 3 categories or something
One would feature classic books
Another would feature new books
And the the third would feature miscellaneous books.
Then we could go through 36 books a year instead of only 12 and people would probably be more happy

Every time someone uses the word "/lit/" and the phrase "book club" (or "book of the month club"), I am obligated to remind you that a /lit/ book club has been attempted at least 10 times, and has never succeeded.

>>5256074
Any idea why though?
So we could avoid those pitfalls

>>5256074
But I got trips
>>5256061
Hmm maybe, what do you consider miscellaneous though? Also would the votes just be elected by suggestions->replies to suggestions->strawpoll? Might be a little tricky to organize

>>5256084
Miscellaneous could just be any book that does not fit into the other 2 categories and I think strawpoll is the best option I know of

>>5256080
A lot of reasons.

Keep in mind that "projects" (I use that word very broadly) on 4chan fail the vast majority of the time. /lit/ isn't alone in that. If I had to give an estimate, I'd say that 90% of 4chan projects don't last a week, and 9% more don't last 2 weeks.

Once you get off the ground (i.e. lasting at least 2 weeks), the sky's the limit. 4chan has the potential to do some pretty good stuff. The two most prominent "4chan projects" are probably KS and /g/'s Tox, but there have been smaller, successful ones. /vg/ made some game, and /v/ made a half-decent album.

The first thing you need is a leader. A strong leader who isn't afraid to say no, but is still reasonable. That's why most of them fall apart - everyone wants to be the leader, and if one leader does "emerge," they make 1 controversial decision and everyone hates them.

>>5256096
Yeaaaa but then you've got contestation of what constitutes a classic

>>5256099
butterfly is queen of lit and spends all her time here, seems an obvious choice

>>5256104
Too many people hate her. A leader needs to be someone that (almost) everyone likes. As in, if some other board comes and talks shit about them, you have to rally behind them.

>>5256100
We could start with this list for the classics category

>>5256099
We could use the /lit/ wiki forums to find a leader

>>5256109
Good call. Doesn't 1965 onwards constitute modern though? Idk

>>5256118
It does even need to be a classics only category
We could make it /lit/'s favorite books category or something like that

So what would the book club's current priorities?
- Find a leader
- Find out how many categories of books we would want to have (If any)
- If we would have categories what categories would they be
- What books should be read

Anything else?

>>5256162
OP

you're not even looking at the right part of the wiki

We already have a recommendations section with many, many separate areas in it.

http://4chanlit.wikia.com/wiki/Recommended_Reading


How do threads get this large with no one knowing how to use a wiki?

>>5256183
As an example, several other of the charts that are already made and on the wiki.

Yet somehow no users can find them. It's directly in the sticky - what the hell is the problem?

>>5256190

Because human beings are terrible at making choices for themselves and often feel so overwhelmed in such situations that they just give up.

I'll be the leader.

>>5256183
I already know about them, I am referring to the fantasy, philosphy, sci-fi, japanese, russian sections of the wiki.

>>5256210
what is your name leader

make a trip

>>5256212
Those weren't meant to stay on after we made a separate section for "literature by origin."

Japanese and Russian are now on the by origin page, Philosophy is on non-fiction, sci-fi and fantasy are on the Genre Fiction section.

>>5255939
>>5255968
>>5255993
>>5255999
>>5256010
>>5256012
We've already tried this. It doesn't work. It will never work. End your delusion.

>>5256218

I think this should work.

>>5256360
Faggot.

>>5256360
what should the first book of the month be dear leader

>>5256392
Boku no Pico

>>5256392

Actual leader here!

I think it should be an Alice Munroe collection of short stories, the vintage classics compilation

>>5256248
>no Curious Casebook in Japanese section

http://www.amazon.com/The-Curious-Casebook-Inspector-Hanshichi/dp/0824831004

>>5256392
Actual leader here!

I think it should be collection of short stories by Melville.

It needs a Lolita thread per day.

>>5256422
>Alice Munroe
Holy fuck, you have shit taste in literature.

A recommendation chart of classical Indian literature.

>>5256446

I was going to say Mason & Dixon but real leaders understand they also have to appeal to the lowest common denominator you presumptuous fuck. Please don't think I don't know what I'm doing. I assure you I have much more experience and success with winning over the masses of the internet than you ever will.

>>5256422
tbh i feel like if we start off the book club with a short """lit core""" sort of novel that might get the ball rolling a bit more. maybe the crying of lot 49 or cat's cradle or notes from the underground maybe? hell maybe even shoplifting from american apparel

>>5256460
I was going to sayLA BOUTIQUE OBSCURE but real leaders understand they also have to appeal to the lowest common denominator you presumptuous fuck. Please don't think I don't know what I'm doing. I assure you I have much more experience and success with winning over the masses of the internet than you ever will.

>>5256473
vote #1 for notes

>>5256460
>Mason & Dixon
holy shit, you do have shit taste in literature. You're a terrible leader.

>>5256473

I'd be up for notes from the underground because I own it and have yet to read it. Starting with sub /lit/core doesn't sound like too bad an idea anon.

>>5256503
>have yet to read it.
pleb as fuck

>>5256492

None of your posts show any signs of discernible talent.

>>5256514
>Harold Bloom insult
Yup, please forsake your leadership role posthaste, cunt.

>>5256506

Haha, apologies if I can't take you seriously but, like, is this your game? Is this what you do? Go around image boards and try to knock people down for their not-so patrician tastes in literature when all they're trying to do is get some people reading, maybe have a discussion? You just wander in and what - try to impress some females with your encyclopaedic knowledge of Boku no Pico and make some kid with good intentions look bad?

Listen, pal. I don't know you. I don't know anything about you other than what you've supplied me with here. But at some point you're going to have two major epiphanies. One: don't do that. And two: Thomas Pynchon is the greatest living writer there is and interest in his works is indicative of a true patrician. Stay fraudulent.

>>5256548
Haha, apologies if I can't take you seriously but, like, is this your game? Is this what you do? Go around image boards and try to knock people down for their not-so patrician tastes in literature when all they're trying to do is get some people reading, maybe have a discussion? You just wander in and what - try to impress some females with your encyclopaedic knowledge of Alice Munroe and make some kid with good intentions look bad?

Listen, pal. I don't know you. I don't know anything about you other than what you've supplied me with here. But at some point you're going to have two major epiphanies. One: don't do that. And two: Boku no Pico is the greatest piece of writing there is and interest in the work is indicative of a true patrician. Stay fraudulent.

on september 1st, we'll sticky a "book of the month: notes from the underground" thread. end of discussion

>>5256586
>we'll sticky
No we won't.

>>5256563

Ah, the old copy paste method. You are quite the card young 4channer!

>>5256586

I think you have become the true leader

>>5256593
Ah, the old genuinely getting angry over 4chan method. You are quite the card young 4channer!

>>5256586
Agreed

>>5256592
haha ouch

Can't tell if everyone is just calling themselves The Leader or if this guy is same fagging hard.
Either way I like Alice Munro but going for a general collection is pleb level.

>>5256609
You caught me. I am samefagging cause this thread is shit

>>5256609
>>5256586
Also I vote Notes from the Underground.

>>5256616
It's only been brought down by your stupidity. If you don't like it fuck off and make your own pleb level thread. People trying to get shit organised in here for people who actually care about /lit/.

>>5256586
this is probably the most plausible option, if it doesnt work with notes then we'll call it quits

>>5256609

There's two of us. I'm The [original] leader.

> mfw I specifically didn't make a secure trip ode in the hopes something like this would occur and the other leader fell straight into the clutches of my genius plan

>>5256586
Hell no it's a short book and it's the 7th, we can start now

>ITT:summer's dying breaths

>>5256609
There's two of us. I'm The [original] leader.

>> mfw I specifically didn't make a secure trip code in the hopes something like this would occur and the other leader [myself] fell straight into the clutches of my genius plan

>>5256640
I think it's better to wait and properly advertise the book club

>>5256645
Yeah I can't wait to get back to proper /lit/ where no-one reads or discusses literature

Add instructions on how to read.

>>5256656
Me too.

>>5256656
>implying actual literary discussion is taking place in this thread
How summer are you?

>>5256649
by then summer will be over at last

Lurker here. Wanted to get back into reading last year, the wiki helped me a ton.

Just saying, it's not all bad.

>>5256695
Yeah, everyone needs to start somewhere

The wiki's a bit thin, but it's still a useful resource. I've been thinking of adding some stuff myself.

>How should we go about fixing that problem?

I think some original research and opinion would help. What you want is for a first time reader to come across a guide and get something useful out of it - why or why not this or that book is or is not.

To work this would have to be kept to some limits:

a) Very short comments, not essays.
b) A willingness to be somewhat imperfect that it might capture /lit/'s take on things, not something exhaustively rigorous.
c) Aimed at a general audience.

A certain amount of controversy working up the comments would be good, but it needs to be kept from becoming an essay, and kept from being a homework assignment checklist resource.

Next up would be actual articles where the essayists could be unleashed. Here's where you stand back and watch the edit wars. The content will suck in the beginning. Over time this sorts itself out into something interesting.

Finally, we're gonna need active editors, someone with 'knock that shit off' powers, and a user-base willing to scan and revert spam.

>>5256723
Why don't we just leave the wiki as it is, then, just consider this, be like /mu/ with their chart threads wherein everyone creates their own chart and posts them. That way everyone may get something different .

>>5256436
We have it in the detective/mystery section on genre fiction.

It's pretty great - if you like Japanese detective fiction, a collection of Edogawa Ranpo's detective stories are coming out later this year.

>>5256739
But there are already a very large amount of charts on the wiki.

What areas do you think are missing? We have novellas, short stories, essays, surrealism, travel literature, romance, mystery, erotica, charts for almost two dozen countries and one geographical area...

>>5256770
Well not necessarily charts per se. For example, see my pic. This is what someone in /mu/ in a create your own chart thread posted (let's ignore the quality of music for the sake of the discussio. Now if we follow this, everyone will differ from the standard charts. Let's say someone fascinated with Japanese /lit/ posts their own chart with Kokoro instead of I am a cat, then someone will be introduced to that book, or maybe even the author.

>>5256801
You're talking about favorites charts?

We do sort of have an equivalent, in the "what have you read this year" threads, and all the "top 5 poets/philosophers/authors" threads.

I don't think asking dilettantes to try and create definitive charts for various subsections is that great an idea though. Why would you not rather have the ones curated by people actually studying the subject?

>>5256819
I think, maybe, there is a misunderstanding: I am not asking people to create definitive lists. I'm just saying people follow the outline in the pic, or something systematic. Honestly, trying to condense the 80 books that I have read this year into a top is bloody difficult. plus, there is not enough of these threads compared to the amount of "where do I begin" threads.

>>5256844
I'm sick of both the favorites threads and the where do I begin threads, personally.

But if you want to make another favorites thread, you're free to do that, and it was probably hit the post limit, because it requires little thought. Or just post in the "what have you read so far this year" thread.

>>5255932
Build it up as a network of related concepts (and literature that fulfills it).

>>5256739
>>5256755
>>5256770
>>5256801

I think what we're missing is pithy analysis. Don't just post charts, tell me why something is great in twenty words or less.

Dune: SANDNIGGERS IN SPAAAACE! What's not to like?

Then a link to an entry on Dune, with a section for why Dune is great and one for why it falls flat.

We'd want to encourage /lit/ styled content while avoiding academic theses. One can link to these so there's no need to bias free, nor waste wiki-space through duplication.

My personal favorite 4chan wiki is the one for /tg/. While their style and tone is not something we'd want to shoot for, it's a hell of a resource and quite active in the community.

>>5256856
>>5256870

I share the same sentiments. However, I am looking at this in terms of how /lit/ users normally act. There is rarely a long and good discussion about books. Philosophy, on the other hand, is different: it is long and terrible. I don't expect too much from /lit/ users, especilly when people try to discuss a book, Murakami for example, there is the invariable shitposting.

>>5256866
>>5256870

Also, the problem might be that a wiki is not the correct format for us. Maybe something like Everything2 would be better?

Stop pretending to be me leader #2

>>5256870
We've done this a bit, as with the female authors thread.

Would more of this sort of content be worthwhile? What do you think of the author flowcharts?

>>5256908

Yeah, these work. No need for scholarly dissertations, just some neat stuff in a condensed format.

This is aimed at a general audience.

You can combine that with links to each author in question, inviting people to be more vigorous and duke it out, hopefully getting /lit/'s take and not a copy / paste of wilipedia.

>author flowcharts?

Are great, again with little snippets of explanation as to why someone starts here and ends there.

Some kind soul back in one of the /irc/ channels gave me a run down on Crying of Lot 49, which got me started on Pynchon. I didn't need any further reading order guide, but it's still not a bad idea to help people path in from the darkness.

>>5256945
>wilipedia

Things like this drive me insane, and make me wish moot would add a post edit function, but there's a bit of poetic truth here.

I did mean Wikipedia.

>>5256945
I think you're vastly overestimating the amount of non-top-100 authors that most people on /lit/ read.

For most of the women I recommended in that thread, I remain the only person on this board to have ever mentioned them.

I think, unless /lit/ magically gets an influx of readers willing to step outside the canon, just linking to wikipedia would be far more productive at this stage.

Let's all just read what Butterfly suggests.

She said she'd started the Second Sex the other day. I was already reading that book. Therefore she is my soulmate.

Should we also make author pages with flowcharts just like >>5256945 was talking about

>>5257164
We already have flowcharts for a lot of authors - it's not worthwhile making a separate page just for a flowchart. Just link them in the "recommendation images" section below the appropriate rec table. That's where the others are.

Can i be your leader? :3

>>5257211

No.

You've yet to provide a feminist perspective analytic dissertation of Gravity's Rainbow.

FADoGR or GTFO.

>>5256844
This doesn't promote discussion, only pretension based on peoples' differing tastes. Charts like these are shit, I hate how 'mu' treats music preference like some rpg

>>5257011
get off my /lit/ you disgusting orbiter