/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.19725489]

Will you give permission to read these books /lit/bros?
https://www.themanual.com/culture/books-you-dont-have-to-read/

[Anonymous No.19725497]

>>19725489
No this seems like a pretty good list desu
None of this is essential reading anyway, I was expecting some important works of the western canon to be put down in the name of decolonialism or one of the other isms

[Anonymous No.19725512]

>>19725489
>Desolation Angels
This is a piece of shit, but so is On the Road. Should have just put that one.

>Across the River and Into the Trees
It's better than For Whom. I don't like Hemingway in general, but I never understood why this book is singled out.

Was expecting to see Moby Dick and roll my eyes, but no. Fine article I suppose, she seems cute.

[Anonymous No.19725513]

>>19725489
>14 books that filtered me

[Anonymous No.19725514]

>>19725489
Not a bad list. I thought this would be outrage bait but it's not. These are all minor books which some people will praise as essential but aren't. Across the River and Through the Trees is not a book anyone "must" read

[Anonymous No.19725520]

>>19725489
Weird and self important way to make a list of various books you didn't care for.
But then again, would anyone read a list of books that a literal who didn't like if it wasn't framed in this click baity way?

[Anonymous No.19725531]

>>19725514
>Across the River and Through the Trees is not a book anyone "must" read
Neither is any of Hemingway

[Anonymous No.19725538]

is gone with the wind that bad? does it have any battles in it?

[Anonymous No.19725539]

Funny to read the reviews of celeste ng all saying they felt like they should have liked the book and given it a higher score but they just didn't

[Anonymous No.19725544]

>>19725489
>The Da Vinci Code
>women and minorities on the list
lol what a bizarre list when it also includes racism sexism and problematic author picks

[Anonymous No.19725548]

>>19725531
It is if you're trying to read the "essential" books. Hemingway is too popular and distinctive to be ignored by lit types. It's not even about quality at that point it's about exposing yourself to unique language phenomena.

[Anonymous No.19725549]

>>19725489
I'm of the opinion that Hesse is some of the most overrated, baby's first philosophical novel and baby's first contact with eastern philo shit conceivable but this is written in such an adolescent, smug coping mechanism for being filtered, sneering self-important way possible.

>likes Camus' Stranger
Ah, I see, she's just retarded.

[Anonymous No.19725562]

>>19725548
Nobody after 1900 is essential.

[Anonymous No.19725565]

.

[Anonymous No.19725566]

>>19725538
I read half of it before getting burnt out. It was definitely solid, sometimes great. I just got doorstopper fatigue. It’s like a watered down W&P. Scarlett O’Hara is a great character. She is very human and her motivations are usually understandable. Surprised lit doesn’t read it more as it definitely glories the south. Even the slaves are sad to see their gallant young masters ride out to fight. I’d recommend it.

[Anonymous No.19725571]

>>19725549
>I'm of the opinion that Hesse is some of the most overrated
what are some baby's first philo shits that you would recommend instead of Hesses's?

[Anonymous No.19725573]

>>19725562
Joyce is essential, as are Kafka and Borges, as far as literature is concerned.

[Anonymous No.19725575]

>>19725571
plato

[Anonymous No.19725577]

>>19725562
>Ignoring Suzanne Collins this hard

[Anonymous No.19725581]

>>19725562
Nobody is essential. Read whatever you want, nigga

[Anonymous No.19725584]

>>19725539
literally the "she's a woman so i must like her works" crowd

[Anonymous No.19725586]

-Steppenwolf, Hesse
-Desolation Angels, Kerouac
-Gone With the Wind, Mitchell
-The Davinci Code, Brown
-Across the River and Through the Trees, Hemmingway
-ALL OF HARRY POTTER
-Porno, Welsh
-The Goldfinch, Tartt
-Sense and Sensibility, Austen
-Little Fires Everywhere, Ng
-Junior by Macaulay Culkin
-Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus
-The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Kundra
-I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Tucker Max

[Anonymous No.19725595]

>>19725573
>Joyce
He's not and I've never met anyone who's read Finnegans Wake in full.

>Kafka
Is that a joke? Really, Kafka? How on Earth is he essential? Such an incomprehensible pick desu.

>Borges
The only one of the four I haven't read in depth, much less any of.

[Anonymous No.19725598]

>>19725571
Better to go big or go home regarding that. The Magic Mountain, Moby Dick, some of Clarice Lispector's.

[Anonymous No.19725621]

>>19725598
>Clarice Lispector
What are some of your favorites?

[Anonymous No.19725632]

>>19725489
>Steppenwolf
Why do so many people miss out on the second half of the book where Haller stops being a miserable loser and learns not to take himself so seriously? It's great, the book isn't a downer at all once you read it through to the end. Just thinking about the parts where he gets dabbed on by the ghosts of Goethe and Mozart puts a smile on my face.
The Trial is also pretty funny.

[Anonymous No.19725636]

>I’m about to get hate mail for saying this but skip the Harry Potter series. The point isn’t that the books are bad because they’re not — J.K. Rowling does a tremendous job at world-building, infusing symbols that reflect our own often scary realities (i.e. Dementors being a vessel to describe depression). However, the stark divide between what should be “good” and “bad” is too restrictive and uncreative. The true brilliance of the novel form is when the line between good and evil blurs. At moments you relate to the bad guys and hate the good ones. I also hate how the world and all its people revolve around one singular character. Everyone is obsessed with Harry Potter in one way or another and it’s b-o-r-i-n-g. Don’t feel pressured to read it.
Woah...

[Anonymous No.19725638]

>>19725489
>The true brilliance of the novel form is when the line between good and evil blurs.

I agree that this list is not bad but I think the author might be retarded

[Anonymous No.19725657]

>>19725638
Being able to see ambiguity isn’t a autistic trait.
So she likes it, so do Japanese, whatever.

[Anonymous No.19725685]

>>19725636
Initially was impressed at the restraint shown by the author in not even mentioning the Rowling/trans thing, but then saw it was written in April 2020.

[Anonymous No.19725712]

>>19725595
Post some material then pussy

[Anonymous No.19725720]

>>19725489
>female
lol didn't read

[Anonymous No.19725725]

>>19725632
I’m always curious how people interpret Steppenwolf. Apparently Hesse said most misunderstood it. What is the real message?

[Anonymous No.19725734]

>>19725621
An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures is my favorite, didn't personally like The Passion According to G.H. but most who read it do,

[Anonymous No.19725737]

>>19725725
>What is the real message?
It's literally "live, laugh, love."

[Anonymous No.19725746]

>>19725489
>Whoah, like, man is sort of a wolf but also sort of a man and the world is so strange and I have no place, wah
1 Reason We Give You Permission to Kill All Women

[Anonymous No.19725754]

>>19725737
That’s what I thought. How is it misunderstood?

[Anonymous No.19725840]

>>19725712
The closest that I've read to essential post 1900 is probably Robert Musil and Joseph Conrad. Richard Barham Middleton is also one of my favorite poets, but he's basically unknown so Idk how I could possibly call him essential, and even then IDK if he really is based on my joy for him alone. I guess Yeats is close to being essential. Maybe Eliot and Pound if modernism interests you, but I don't enjoy either much.
I barely read novels in general any more, much less after 1900. I read The Purple Cloud recently which was fun, but also retarded and clearly only written for money. It's 300 pages that could easily be read in a day or 2 at most. Unique enough style though, will check out another work of his. Obviously far from essential. The only novelist I've been intrigued by post 1900 is Joseph Conrad who is also an evil, vulgar man who should mostly be ignored, and no not because of the imaginary muh racism in Heart of Darkness. He's a good writer though, arguably great, the problem is his philosophizing. Someone suggested Algernon Blackwood and Lord Dunsany to me, so I've been hoping to try them at length. The stuff I've read has seemed fine-- hard to say. Doubt they're essential in all honesty. I sort of gave up on deep-diving Ford Madox Ford too, but maybe I'm being too harsh and should give him another shot. DH Lawrence underwhelmed me as well, but perhaps I was unfair. His poetry was abysmal though, whereas Ford's was competent if not good.
Of the more popular Americans I liked JD Salinger the most by far along with Raymond Chandler. I enjoy crime fiction a lot, so Ian Fleming is another one. Neither are essential. I haven't read the post-modernists, or much French literature of the 1900s though. I'm no expert, don't get me wrong. I liked Kafka as an undergrad (was never a huge Kafka fanboy like I was for Dostoevsky), but in retrospect it read as if it was in the same vein as fan-fiction. Of course, translations will do that so it's a bit unfair.

[Anonymous No.19725880]

>>19725725
Smoke hash, listen to jazz, have sex with vaguely whorish young actresses, YOLO

Peak boomer core

[Anonymous No.19725890]

>>19725734
thank you!

[Anonymous No.19726363]

>>19725636
What was Voldemort's tax policy?

[Anonymous No.19726377]

Desolation Angels sems like a strange choice, it's not gonna be the first Kerouac anyone picks up.

[Anonymous No.19726790]

>>19725840
Not reading that lmao

[Anonymous No.19726893]

>>19725489
kind of embarrassing list for this dumb bitch to put online. she doesn't appear to be well-read enough or cultured enough to understand that no one even considers the majority of these books to be must-reads in the first place. seems like just a handful of random books she has read and didn't like.

[Anonymous No.19726917]

>>19725880
That sounds like a good life, though.

[Anonymous No.19726925]

>>19725586
I've read Porno and want the hours of my life back I had to wade through that Scottish shite

[Anonymous No.19726965]

>>19725598
Mann wanted to fuck his son, so no thanks. Which is a shame, since I like Schopenhauer too.

[Anonymous No.19726979]

>Whoah, like, man is sort of a wolf but also sort of a man and the world is so strange and I have no place, wah.
???? Where is this coming from? At what point did people (mostly women) decide that characters you wouldn't be friends with IRL aren't good characters? Also yes
>muh wolf
being cope is quite literally the point. Surface reading garbage.
Don't care about the rest of them though

[Anonymous No.19726983]

>>19725489
>Donna Tart
Kek

[Anonymous No.19727246]

>>19726965
Mann’s legacy will survive you

[Anonymous No.19727254]

>>19725538
Frankly my dear, i don't give a damn.

[Anonymous No.19727258]

>>19725489
Thanks, added these all to my reading list.

[Anonymous No.19727264]

They should just add all the american high school curriculum.

Gone with the Wind, Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, Death of a Salesman, Maya Angelou books and so on, they are all terrible books and its no wonder so many people get put off from reading if thats their only experience with it.

[Anonymous No.19727709]

>>19725538
It's not bad at all. It's just impossible for it to thrive in our political climate. It tells the truth about women, the Civil War and what we lost by "advancing" to a modern industrialized society. It's a long book though, I would recommend watching the movie first and decide if you want to read the book.

[Anonymous No.19727795]

>Recently turned into a terrible Hulu show, Celeste Ng’s best-selling novel Little Fires Everywhere is a trite drama that reads like a lazy young adult book and fails to bring any new revelations or situations to the category of books that explore family structures. Its characters and plot are shallow, punctuated by an ending devoid of heat or epiphany.

Honestly? Based.

[Anonymous No.19727840]

>Sexist, sexist, sexist. For everyone. The complexities of human behavior are boiled down to stark simplifications in this purely stupid book about how to self-analyze your relationship.

[Anonymous No.19728222]

>>19725595
>t. delusional contrarian.

[Anonymous No.19728244]

>>19727709
>It tells the truth about women, the Civil War and what we lost by "advancing" to a modern industrialized society
By "what we lost" do you mean the enslavement of other human beings for the purpose of maintaining the wealth of an outmoded political and economic elite who had no real regard for the prosperity of wellbeing of anyone below they station? The same elite who started the war then payed others to spill blood in it?

[Anonymous No.19728253]

What would drive someone to even bother writing this article and giving it such a title? "We Give You Permission". What kind of authority are they trying to claim?

[Anonymous No.19728255]

>>19725725
My reading of it, in the most reductive and concise sense, is: Spending an incredible amount of time wandering through the realm of ideals and abstractions causes one to lose sense of reality. The point is not simply that “Wolf” and “Man” exist within Haller, or that they are bad representations, or that they are an oversimplification of the self, but that too much self-referential, cyclical toiling over symbolic ideas such as archetypal self-hood and invented dualities lead ones inner world to overtake their real life and external reality in an unhealthy way. Haller rediscovers the beauty in peaks and troughs of great profundity and senseless pleasure. It would be foolish to give such a black and white answer as “bro just like party bro!”

[Anonymous No.19728261]

>>19728253
Untransmitted mirth, perhaps.

[Anonymous No.19728299]

>>19728261
>When Nicole isn’t playing with words and images, she is eating ridiculous amounts of tacos and spending time outside.

Perhaps you are right, unless "tacos" are supposed to be vaginas

[Anonymous No.19728306]

>>19725489
>first novel on the do-not-read list is Steppenwolf
Opinion discarded; didn't even check out the rest of what she didn't like. Teaching women to read was a mistake.

[Anonymous No.19728310]

>>19725489
Brb reading all these books now.

[Anonymous No.19728373]

>Steppenwolf
I'd only recommend it it to a teenage boy or a man in his early twenties. It just wasn't written for her, and that likely frustrates her.

I really have no issue with the rest.

[Anonymous No.19728409]

>>19725562
Only people after 1900 are essential. Get with it.

[Anonymous No.19728424]

>>19725562
*blocks your path*

[Anonymous No.19728431]

>>19725636
>(i.e. Dementors being a vessel to describe depression).
I was under the impression that they're personifications of death. since they literally succ out people's souls and all.

[Anonymous No.19728554]

>>19728431
It's clearly depression since one remedy against Dementors is eating chocolate

[Anonymous No.19728866]

>>19728255
So kinda like a ying and yang thing?

[Anonymous No.19728870]

>didn‘t list Mein Kampf

Ok based

[Anonymous No.19729091]

>>19725489
a book being offensive isn't a valid reason to not read it

[Anonymous No.19729112]

>>19725538
Gone With the Wind is a bodice ripping trash romance novel.
The movie, however, is a masterpiece.

[Anonymous No.19729301]

>>19725489
>https://www.themanual.com/culture/books-you-dont-have-to-read/
not a bad list desu, was expecting IJ to be on there

[Anonymous No.19729471]

>>19725586
This is fine, the author didn't even mention JK's troon "controversy", it's like reverse rage bait.
The list is actually pretty good.

[Anonymous No.19729489]

>>19725489
>https://www.themanual.com/about-us/
No one noticed it's a shitty men's website from Portland and the midwit who wrote the article was the "former managing editor." The highest-ranking person listed on the "about us" is also a broad.

[Anonymous No.19730683]

>>19725489
I've read Steppenwolf. It was okay, but not brilliant.

I haven't wanted to read any of the others.

I thought the list would be full of stuff like Infinite Jest and Ulysses.

[Anonymous No.19730770]

>>19725586
I was fully expecting a rage bait article, but this is a good list of shit

[Anonymous No.19730787]

>>19725595
>Really, Kafka? How on Earth is he essential? Such an incomprehensible pick desu.
The Trial is an extremely accurate analysis of how the modern business administration environment actively suppresses happiness and innovation, while sabotaging the workers it employs, in the name of "fairness" and "independence."

[Anonymous No.19730821]

>>19730787
Reductive analysis in general and not the aim of literature. Could say the same thing about Charlie and the Chocolate factory or other books. Literature is not merely a transfer of information wrapped in a story.
His best book is also The Castle

[Anonymous No.19730861]

>>19730821
>implying

[Anonymous No.19730897]

>>19730861
You gave a synopsis of the plot of the trial. I thought of it more along the lines of general existentialism and meaninglessness, leading to the church scene and acceptance of death. I certainly enjoyed it, but I didn’t consider it that well-written compared to what I consider essential or great literature. It’s certainly not a bad book and I liked Kafka enough to read all of him when I was younger

[Anonymous No.19730964]

>>19725586
>Junior by Macaulay Culkin
Is it even worth mentioning something like that?

[Anonymous No.19731984]

>>19725538
GWTW is good straightforward stuff. it will make a nice change from whatever else you're reading. seriously.
>>19725595
you need to meet more people

[Anonymous No.19732092]

>>19725725
For madmen only

You wouldn't get it

[Anonymous No.19732218]

>>19725565
>TUCKERED

[Anonymous No.19732235]

>>19728244
>payed

[Anonymous No.19732405]

>>19725489
I was expecting that list to be composed of western canon classics but turns out they are books which I'd never read anyway