/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.1907986]

So it was the last day of Sixth Form at my school and I was helping to clear out the books/files etc. They let me keep the books I wanted.

Recent books thread?

[Anonymous No.1907990]

>Paperbacks
laughinglibrarians.jpg

[Anonymous No.1907989]

Your reading list looks like fun. Was this A-Levels or AS?

[Anonymous No.1907995]

>>1907989

Just finished AS.
Well, I don't do English (Physics, Maths, Economics and Chemistry), I just read for my own enjoyment. I just took everything there was, except The Kite Runner because it didn't sound interesting.

But yeah, I mean, I've read Dubliners and Animal Farm but it's nice to have a copy. I'm thinking of reading The Great Gatsby first because it's quite short and then Dracula.

[Anonymous No.1908001]

I've read everything there except for Dracula and Gatsby. My favourite is probably Metamorphosis, which is a fascinating story and I could re-read it endlessly. My least favourite is probably Dubliners, which is largely dull except for the endings of each story which are often evocative. I question if people would still be reading Dubliners today if it weren't for the other books that Joyce wrote.

[Anonymous No.1908007]

>>1907995
>Physics, Maths, Economics, Chemistry
If you had picked Biology, you would be one of the many 'Asian Equations' we had at our school. Indians with 5 A-Levels that were applying for Medicine.

Also
>mfw no Kite Runner
It's pretty great, mang. I personally prefer A Thousand Splendid Suns, but they are lovely books.

[Brownbear !Wfn4kkpLag!!fEGZw8wphGR No.1908012]

>>1907995
>>1907995

>except The Kite Runner because it didn't sound interesting.

you wanna read gatsby first?
he gets shot and killed by Wilson who then commits suicide,
that was a god-tier book, go back and get it

[Brownbear !Wfn4kkpLag!!fEGZw8wphGR No.1908016]

>>1908007
>>1908007

i never read ATSS after kite runer, would you recommend it? i really liked Kite Runner, but i'm not sure how similar they are apart from setting

[Anonymous No.1908017]

>>1908007

Nah man, I'm intending to do Mathematics or Economics (or both).

>>1908012

You already ruined the Trial for me BB. Not falling for that.

[Anonymous No.1908021]

>>1908016
Definitely. Obviously it has lots of references to Afghan culture, but it's completely different to The Kite Runner (though probably just as tear-jerking a story).

[Brownbear !Wfn4kkpLag!!fEGZw8wphGR No.1908025]

>>1908017
>>1908017

>reading books for the plot

[Brownbear !Wfn4kkpLag!!fEGZw8wphGR No.1908029]

>>1908021
>>1908021

thanks a lot, i think it's downstairs somewhere, but i never read it, i'll be reading it definitely over the next few days!

[Anonymous No.1908035]

Just bought:
All about H Hatterr by GV Desani
Exercises in Style by Raymond Queneau
The Voyeur by Alain Robbe-Grillet
Dark as the grave wherein my friend is laid by Malcolm Lowry

[Anonymous No.1908042]

I got Cathedral by Raymond Carver in the post this morning. Bought it on a whim. Anyone read it?

[Tom 'Hooting' Harper !agc.6D4SKQ!!6S3i+JD8/EQ No.1908071]

I just bought a copy of Yukio Mishima's Confessions of a Mask on eBay.

[Anonymous No.1908086]

I haven't bought any recently, but I can tell you what I got from the library today!

>Selected Stories by Robert Walser
>The Street of Crocodiles and Other Stories by Bruno Schulz
>Kornel Esti by Deszö Kosztolányi

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908092]

>>1908071
xD

i give you my condolences, bro

[Tom 'Hooting' Harper !agc.6D4SKQ!!6S3i+JD8/EQ No.1908093]

>>1908092
Feel free to elaborate.

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908096]

>>1908042
book is really awesome. not my favorite carver set but still great.

[Anonymous No.1908100]

>>1907986
>>1907986
>>1907986


mad score.

I'm jelly.

[Anonymous No.1908109]

>>1908007

Asian equations. lol

They're just trying to make their parents happy man. It's not their fault that your parents are just proud to have you as their son?

[Anonymous No.1908104]

GK Chesterton - The Man Who Was Thursday
Marcus Aurelius - Meditations
Thomas Hardy - The Mayor of Casterbridge
Montesquieu - Persian Letters
EM Forster - A Passage to India

[Anonymous No.1908130]

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908131]

>>1908093
first off there are tons better jap writers than mishima. he's like a japanese rand who can actually write beautiful sentences. or better yet a japanese don quixote. his pacing in most of his books are good. really good writer. i can hate all of his characters, the ideology i think motivates them all and still find it hard to put his books down. dude was batshit crazy and totally oblivious to himself. also, there are better places to start with mishima.

spring snow or the sound of waves for romance
sailor who fell with grace from the sea, or temple of the golden pavilion for fucked up shit.

and his short stories or plays for a mixed bag of brutality and poignancy.

ANYWAYS confessions isn't a bad place to start either. i found some of his books better than others, but none of them really bad. i read his books for the story then i put him out of my mind. when it comes to insights about life i find his ideas leave a bad taste in my mouth. i think i'm going to read thirst for love and then be done with him for good. i never finished the sea of fertility either. i doubt if i ever can. the overdone sense of independence in his characters pervades until it deranges. it got old to me.

i always suggest kenzaburo oe's the silent cry or his story 17 as an antithesis to what seems to be mishima's philosophy (imo).

anyways you should read it yourself anyways. i've had a fever for jap writers lately, and there are so many good ones. much better than mishima IMO.

[Anonymous No.1908147]

>>1908131
Pretty sure Tom has already read Patriotism and The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea and liked both those two. I think he'll be good with Confessions of a Mask.

[Tom 'Hooting' Harper !agc.6D4SKQ!!6S3i+JD8/EQ No.1908151]

>>1908131
I'm currently reading the Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea.
I'm going to get Kenzaburo Oe's a personal matter too.
I'm interested in Confessions because it is his earliest novel with an english translation (or so I think) and I just like reading from the beginning of someone's work if I can.

[Anonymous No.1908164]

>>1908151
I've heard a lot of people say that starting with Oe's A Personal Matter is a bad idea; though I guess if you want to start with an author's earlier works, it makes sense (though 17 would be earlier).

Personally, I think the Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness set of four stories/novellas is a good starting place for Oe. But everyone has their own opinions on all that! It's awesome enough that you're reading them to begin with.

[Tom 'Hooting' Harper !agc.6D4SKQ!!6S3i+JD8/EQ No.1908169]

>>1908164
I'll probably buy A Personal Matter and whatever else (I'll research it more) when I get back at the end of the month.
I went into all of Edinburgh's second hand bookshops looking for the out of print ones I've been looking at with no avail, so I'll eBay them.

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908190]

>>1908151
i won't comment on sailor yet then. i don't want to spoil anything.

patriotism is another example on why i think mishima is retarded.

>>1908164
seconding the thought about a personal matter. start with THE SILENT CRY. or, "nip the buds, shoot the kids" if you want to start elsewhere.

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908194]

>>1908164
>Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness

great set. the first story in it is a turn off to a lot of readers i think. it's tough. the rest are cake though. and the story the catch aka prize stock is incredible.

i recommend this set but suggest reading the first story last.

[Tom 'Hooting' Harper !agc.6D4SKQ!!6S3i+JD8/EQ No.1908198]

>>1908190
I don't see how Patriotism can be viewed as bad but that's your opinion
Thanks for the recommendations will look into it another time.

[Tom 'Hooting' Harper !agc.6D4SKQ!!6S3i+JD8/EQ No.1908212]

The Silent Cry is the only one of Oe's novels availible from Amazon itself at a reasonable price? Should I go for it?

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908217]

>>1908198
the couple was totally irresponsible. the caricature of virtue for them spelled out quixotic foolishness to me. but you're right. this is just my opinion.

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908229]

>>1908212
oh man. do it! you'll make me happy. it's one of my favorites.

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908239]

>>1908217
to add to this

i respect mishima's writing. the story itself as with most of mishima's stuff was well-written. i'll give it that. it's the sense of life that the author extols that irks the fuck out of me.

[Tom 'Hooting' Harper !agc.6D4SKQ!!6S3i+JD8/EQ No.1908242]

>>1908239
Okay I'm going to order 3 books from amazon, give me some more recommendations. They might not be in stock though.

[Tom 'Hooting' Harper !agc.6D4SKQ!!6S3i+JD8/EQ No.1908244]

>>1908242
Wait. Turns out it's a preorder on amazon, I'll have to eBay it.

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908248]

>>1908242
for jap lit?

oe's the silent cry

osamu dazai's, "the setting sun"

yasunari kawabata's, "snow country"

uhhh three jap faves that first came to mind.

[Anonymous No.1908269]

A great place to start for Oe is with his short story "Lavish are the Dead," which he wrote in 1957. It predates the birth of his son, and yet many of the themes that he will use to write future works already seem to be appearing. Its a hard story to find in print, but here it is: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=805VFVKX

[None !!4tV++0AG5iF No.1908290]

>>1908269
thanks, anon.

[Anonymous No.1908347]

>>1907995
You missed out, Kite Runner was p good.
But yeah that's a good selection.