/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.10699473]

Just finished. Damn good book.Any thoughts on Stoner?

What have you read this week?

[Anonymous No.10699477]

>>10699473
It's fantastic. A real American tragedy, one of my favorites.

[Anonymous No.10699494]

>>10699473
I read it a few weeks ago. It's great, especially for anybody going through hardship. The only thing that threw me off: were the 2 humpback guys lovers, or what?

[Anonymous No.10699497]

>>10699494
i think lomax was just bullied growing up so he felt bad for the other cripple and wanted to help him out

[Anonymous No.10699501]

>>10699477
By far one of the greatest books I've ever read. I really feel for Stoner, so much to the point that just reading this is humbling.

[Anonymous No.10699613]

>>10699473
I’m reading a book that also happens to be a NYRB Classic!

It’s Late Fame by Arthur Schnitzler. I’m halfway through and enjoying it. It’s about this Viennese civil servant in his old age who suddenly becomes a cult figure in a bohemian literary scene where young artists have rediscovered an overlooked book of poems that he published as a young man. I had never read Schnitzler before this but I enjoyed Eyes Wide Shut which takes inspiration from a novella of his. I think after finishing this one I will add some more of his works to my to-read list.

I haven’t read Stoner. What did you enjoy about it?

[Anonymous No.10699623]

>>10699497
IIRC Stoner thought there was more to it than that but didnt want to think too hard about it.

[Anonymous No.10699635]

>>10699494
I think Stoner thought there was, and there definitely was an implication.

[Anonymous No.10699671]

>>10699613
Like I said above, seeing Stoner's struggles is pretty humbling because it just reminds you that even if you're going through hell, you're not the only one.
I just love how John Williams set this book up, too. The characters are fantastic and the different plot turns all keep you really engaged.

[Anonymous No.10699679]

Please post a different cover next time you make this thread. The last 2,000 stoner threads all had the same cover publisher, which makes it seem like marketing. Please use a different brand, different cover next thread. Thanks.

[Anonymous No.10699688]

>>10699679
Yeah I've realized that this is a common cover, but it's honestly the best one imo. It's just the same with Infinite Jest.

[Anonymous No.10699711]

>>10699679
Shut up

[Anonymous No.10699714]

The NYBR edition of Dead Souls.

It's fucking good!

[Anonymous No.10699726]

My favorite book of all time. I've always preferred the smaller, low stakes stories in books, movies, etc.
Just simply about the drama of ordinary life, especially the life of someone who doesn't have it so great. Shows that even if you didn't grow up in a war zone, or see your parents killed before your eyes, you can still struggle and suffer. Everyone has drama in their life
The last paragraph of the book is so beautiful, I cried so much when I first read it

[Anonymous No.10699754]

>Stoner was a hero.

[Anonymous No.10699762]

>>10699679
NYRB, in quality of construction at least, will never be unthroned

[Anonymous No.10699804]

>>10699473
I just finished it a few days ago, I'm glad to see this thread.
>>10699494
I didn't get that vibe. I think Lomax just held a particular bitterness from his early life. Him being crippled might have had a bit to do with it, but I think the driving factor was misanthropy rather than empathy.

[Anonymous No.10700015]

It’s not bad but the praise it gets on this board is a bit exaggerated. It’s by all means very good, but nothing about it is “best book ever” tier like people around here say. There’s an entire 40-50 page middle section that is just completely unremarkable.

[Anonymous No.10700223]

Am I the only one who thought the melancholy of the book was more comfy than straight up sad?

[Anonymous No.10700234]

>MFW his friend Dave Masters dies in WWI.

[Anonymous No.10700502]

aye lmao 420 blazit u on fortnite senpai

[Anonymous No.10700520]

i finished lolita yesterday. absolutely fantastic, often hilarious and sometimes disgusting read. would highly recommend if you somehow haven't read it yet

[Anonymous No.10700529]

>>10700234
This fucked me up as well.

[Anonymous No.10700625]

why couldn't this thread have waited until I finished it, im only half way thru

[Anonymous No.10700831]

Brilliant book
In 300 pages it manages to convey an entire and complete life of an ordinary man. Most book need +600 pages to even get to adulthood but in Stoner you feel like you actually lived his life and without realizing it you went from being a young boy falling in love with english to an old man that literally has to turn his head in order to hear people.

[Anonymous No.10700850]

I'm about 70% through. I regret that I started reading the intro in the NYRB edition because it's basically just a synopsis of the plot and spoils a bunch of things.

[Anonymous No.10700859]

>>10700831
i loved how everyone changed over the spread of this book, and without seeming like they just jolted up in a spurt.

[Anonymous No.10700979]

>>10700234
Made my jaw drop.

[Anonymous No.10700984]

>>10700223
I think this is a common feeling people get from reading this.

[Anonymous No.10701009]

Is this how you pictured Jesse Hall?

[Anonymous No.10701023]

>>10701009
Not at all, although I knew that's what it actually looked like. Everything seemed much darker in this book.

[Anonymous No.10701034]

>>10699473
>he found that his father had hired a Negro field hand who worked with a quiet, fierce intensity, accomplishing by himself in a day nearly as much as William and his father together had once done in the same time
mm im loving it. gotta take a break to masturbate to black on white porn

[Anonymous No.10701317]

>>10699679
>Best cover
>Best typographic design
>Best overall edition

Go away, shill

[Anonymous No.10701344]

>>10700234
I had to re-read that passage just to make sure. Fuck.

[Anonymous No.10701355]

>>10700850
Same. I'm never reading introductions again because of it.

[Anonymous No.10701360]

>>10699726
>didn't have it so great
>an academic at a university
That's a better life than 99.99% of people alive now and throughout history. The whole book is just whiny masturbation about not getting a full professorship and how this is such a travesty.
Boohoo. Fucking babies.

[Anonymous No.10701370]

>>10701009
I imagined it more like the William Jewell clock tower building.

[Anonymous No.10701382]

[Anonymous No.10701398]

>>10701360
You might want to read the book again. It's not whiny at all. In fact Stoner doesn't complain about his situation ever if I remember correctly. It is simply the story of an ordinary mans life, who didn't achieve all he set out to accomplish, but was satisfied in the life he lived anyways.

[Anonymous No.10701402]

>>10700223
It's quite contemplative in tone, it gets you to really consider what's going on. Aside from the occasional gut-punch like Masters dying it's all presented in a low-key and evenly-paced way. I don't see it as a tragedy, just an intimate look into someone's life with all its ups and downs.

[Anonymous No.10701410]

>>10699679
>stop shilling this book that came out quite literally over 50 years ago

[Anonymous No.10701419]

>>10701398
He's not an ordinary man. An ordinary man will not have the IQ to be a university lecturer. He is at least in the top 10 - 15% of the population.

[Anonymous No.10701644]

>>10701360
>>10701398
>>10701419
This. Middle class aspiration masturbation.

[Anonymous No.10701708]

>>10701644
Not an argument.

[Anonymous No.10701725]

>>10699473
I remember it was well written, but kind of like eating saltine crackers. I much prefer Maugham when it comes to this kind of stuff.

[Anonymous No.10701727]

>>10700859
Exactly, it's all very fluid, there are very little direct causes that make people change, it's just the draining of time

[Anonymous No.10701764]

>>10701708
why does everything have to be an argument? it's just plain old true.

[Anonymous No.10701767]

>>10699477
>american tragedy

wtf means that

[Anonymous No.10701773]

>>10701767
being shot in your school while you watch Fox news and eat McDonalds with your asian friend

[Anonymous No.10701780]

>>10701773
>not being in McSchool eating your asian friend with a fox

[Anonymous No.10701782]

blood meridian was funnier