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/lit/ - Literature

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12396959 No.12396959 [Reply] [Original]

>ITT: books that /lit/ memed you into reading and whether they were actually good or not

Pic related was actually good. So was Private Citizens by Tony Tulathimutte.

>> No.12396969

>>12396959
Eeee eee eeee

>> No.12397011

>>12396959
>Stoner
it was surprisingly good, thanks faggots

>> No.12397815

>>12396969
Isn't tao ligma complete worthless meme though?

Stoner is kino though.

>> No.12398277
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12398277

I don't know, Tao, I like how conversational Tai Pei is but why can't it be about the skyscrapers and ambitious asian futurism in place of the eyerollingly bashful and silly permathirsty twenty-somethings? God dammit I wanted to care about these characters. Where is the seduction? Why am I reading this? Where is the reward in reading Tao Lin?

>> No.12398328

>>12398277

Tao got very good at capturing the feeling of contemporary life but he's very bad at doing anything other than presenting surfaces. I hope his new spiritual awakening will give some spine to his books.

>>12397815

Tao is an interesting continuation of certain trends in fiction in the 1980s, as well as one of the better alt-lit early aughts writers. I suspect him, Marie Calloway, and the rest of the Tyrant crowd will be read in the future like the best of the Lish school are still read by an interested few.

>> No.12398386

>>12396959
go to bed tao

>> No.12398433
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12398433

Currently half way through. The writing is unreal, psychedelic almost. Some of the themes frustrate me but I admit I enjoy the subjects of death and systems and "Them". I don't enjoy his characterization of the European ethos. Not do I like way he chooses to portray the European psyche in relation to non-Europeans. Also, his pedestaling of non-Europeans is eye-rolling in some instances. Often in this book does white guilt take the form of gilded prose.

Much of the novel so far has lacked heart and warmth. It's not a novel's responsibility to ennoble my soul, but Pynchon simply denudes my spirit too often for my liking. The best parts for me have been the romantic narratives, the only places where the reader can find comfort aside from a few hilarious Slothropian escapades.

I thought I would be more interested in the supernatural narratives/characters, but they have been too hazy and shapeless for me to grasp. Hopefully I'll get better at it as the novel goes on. I do enjoy the motif of angels, supposedly a representation of the highest echelons of "Them".

It's not a moving work for me. Maybe I'm a sap for wanting my novels to move me, but this book is for the most part a cold and soulless rocket. I suspect that's the point.

All in all, my experience so far is 7/10. 10/10 for me is Cervantes, Plato, and Dostoevsky.