Obscure/underread /lit/ thread

[Anonymous No.17017765]

What are your favorite books that are rarely talked about here?

[Anonymous No.17017803]

>>17017765
Svevo. Eternally underrated.

[Anonymous No.17017826]

Reminder that these threads are shit if people merely drop a title instead of describing why they liked the book.

[Anonymous No.17017891]

>>17017826
reminder you can google something and determine whether or not you want to read it yourself.

[Anonymous No.17017923]

>>17017803
>>17017826
Well, it's a deep look into the psyche of a troubled man, the story is presented in diary format in small memoirs written by Zeno by request of his psychiatrist. It's similar to stream of consciousness works, but written in the more classical modernist style. Zeno has human problems and we get to see his inner thought processes as he deals with various aspects of his life. He's at times egotistical and at others self-deprecating, but I still found that common thread of human thought flowing throughout the book. There's many a reference to Freudian psychology in the book some jabs, others corroborations. Overall i think its one of my favorite "psychological" novels of all time. Svevo was good friends with Joyce and Joyce praised this book in particular.

[Anonymous No.17017963]

>>17017826
This.

>>17017891
Googling every suggestion is annoying and simply reading a synopsis sometimes doesn't adequately convey what the person suggesting it found so enjoyable/stimulating.

[OP No.17018027]

>>17017765
I just wanted to say that this is a forgotten modernist novel from the early twentieth century that I thought was great. Takes place in the Italian countryside. It's reminiscent of James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Djuna Barnes et al and written truly ebullient prose. You should go into it blind.

[Anonymous No.17018366]

>>17017891
The point I was making was to encourage discussion and getting other anons like oneself (with potentially similar tastes, speech and other idiosyncracies) interested in reading something.
Posting a book cover and title forces the ignorant to judge said book by the cover —an online board doesn't work like a bookshop where you can read an excerpt, the back cover, etc.
Posting a brief description or review costs the poster literally nothing, so why would you advocate in favor of laziness and noncommunication?

[Anonymous No.17018388]

>>17018366
We've both included such. You made a good point, as did he.

[Anonymous No.17018421]

Following my own suggestion (>>17018366), I learned of pic related in a similar hidden gems thread. More of a curiosity than a masterpiece.
It's written by a woman, about a young girl, later a teenager, about her coming of age in a boarding house of rich aristocratic girls, somewhere in Switzerland or Austria. I've seen its prose described as telegrammatic, which fits the concise detached sentences and it was probably its most interesting aspect. It's a very short book, about a cold girl with daddy issues interacting with other strange girls. Just an interesting perspective with not much of a plot going on.

[Anonymous No.17018913]

>>17017803
>Svevo
>underrated
pick one
Svevo is one of the best 20century writers

[Anonymous No.17018934]

>>17017765
just finished this, it slaps.

[Anonymous No.17018992]

>>17018934
cool cover. tell me more about your experience

[Anonymous No.17019104]

>>17018992
it could loosely fit under Cyberpunk and Sci-fi but doesnt focus at all on author's fictions, instead it's written as if you're a part of the world with no extra explanations, but you catch up quickly. terminology,slang and all that meta is phenomenally well-executed.
i had to double-check if author wasnt russian, his subtle additions felt like it was a translation by a russian-second-language anglo at times (t. ruskie), maybe he's just fond of that setting - didny feel out of place. imagery is great as well as themes he touched, some well-versed thoughts here and there, shitload of excellent if too theatrical dialogue, doesnt feel like every other shitty high-tech dystopia, wouldnt even call it that.
overall 8/10 not mindblowing but a pleasant fresh read

[Anonymous No.17019181]

>>17019104
I'm sold.
>t. ruskie
what do you think about nadsat?

[Anonymous No.17019224]

>>17019181
tell what you think afterwards.
frankly found it pretty boring in the original text, but i only seen chunks of it, the whole book i've only read in russian - there i must say the translator jumped over his head and made it slap louder than this guy who broke his hand trying to clap some bypasser's ass on motorbike. he added more linguodiversity and actually jargon words instead of plain ones, typed them in latin as a witty way to outline slavic-based vernacular in a russiam text - a delicious contrast with the rest in cyrillic.

[Anonymous No.17019269]

>>17019224
excuse the fucking typos and axcidentally omitted modal verbs, my hands are still frozen and screen as cracked as this hunter biden guy. wont be assed to correct it all, just read in thick russian accent

[Anonymous No.17019288]

I really like CRONOPIOS AND FAMAS by Julio Cortazar. The first two or three sections are a series of seemingly unrelated microfictional vignettes, very funny, charming, and which leave you wanting more. The final section was bizarre but somehow fitting, an explication of the titular characters (species?). The book is only 160 pages and is one of the most memorable prose volumes i've ever read, as I'm mainly a poetry reader/writer. I think Neruda blurbed the book thus: "a man who had never read Cortazar would be deprived of one of life's small and exquisite pleasures, as a man who had never tasted peaches, or seen moonlight."

[Anonymous No.17019327]

>>17019288
based cortazar reader. ive read Hopscotch by him (cool but underwhelming) and a short story collection titled We love Glenda so much, idk if english version is named the same, but that one was great. especially loved 'moebius line' and a story titled something like 'newspaper cutouts'. the subway people one was cool too

[Anonymous No.17019379]

Sienkiewicz's Trilogy is rarely (if ever) talked about here, and its a damn shame. They're some of the best historical novels of all time, and though they aren't Pynchon, they are great fun. I'm reading pic related, and its been a wild ride--I legitimately don't want it to be over.

[Anonymous No.17019443]

>>17019269
>>17019224
кeк кaк тeбя зoвyт в гyтpидe?

[Anonymous No.17019516]

Isabelle Clarendon by George Gissing is one of my all time favorites. It's about a NEET college dropout who spends his days reading and wandering the English countryside, until one day, and despite being a deeply insecure person, he manages to charm a giga Stacey who falls in love with him. Things go well for a while until his fears and insecurities bring the whole thing crashing down. The best part is that this isn't some modern Houellebecq-esque novel. The book was written in the late 19th century, and the writing and craftsmanship are just sublime.

[Anonymous No.17020543]

Bump

[Anonymous No.17020627]

>>17018913
Do you not know what underrated means?

[Anonymous No.17020646]

>>17018421
i read her short story collection today, i am the brother of xx. it's really great. very dark, beautifully written.

[Anonymous No.17020932]

I love these threads, frens. I just downloaded three books by Svevo, I will definitely give it a try this month. Thank you!

[Anonymous No.17021047]

wolf solent by john cowper powys

wolf solent is a young man returning to the town of his birth, the first time since his father died when he was 10 years old. he had a breakdown in london where he taught english, a breakdown in front of his class. now he finds a new job in his hometown, that of an assistant author to a macabre history of the town. whilst there he falls in love with two women, and wrangles with his mother who moves back to town soon after, and deals with all of the ancient grudges in his town as he relives his father's footsteps of philandering, all the while he is possessed by his own strange fantasies and neuroses.

the novel is verbose and highly gilded, and at its best when describing the odd inner life of wolf solent and the natural world he loves. philosophical, pagan, romantic....

[Anonymous No.17021406]

Flicker by Theodore Roszak. It’s about this film scholar named Jonathan Gates who gets into a conspiracy about an old b movie director from the 50s named max castle.

[Anonymous No.17022331]

Bump

[Anonymous No.17022340]

Bump.