/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.20850513]

Does anyone else get a little bit of anxiety from thinking about how much they want/have to read? For me specifically the problem is exasperated because I believe I’m probably a pretty slow reader though I’ve never timed myself. I love reading now but up until a year or so ago I only ever read stuff assigned in high school n college because I was simply obsessed with music up until then. So I’ve got a lot to read like the Iliad, Ulysses, all of Shakespeare, paradise lost, war and peace, etc. it’s all enjoyable reading but FUCK is it a lot

[Anonymous No.20850519]

no that’s dumb

[Anonymous No.20850520]

>>20850513
Exacerbated* sorry phone posting

[Anonymous No.20850527]

>>20850519
:( why would you say something like that

[Anonymous No.20850531]

Its gonna take me forever I just get paralyzed n come shut up this board

[Anonymous No.20850534]

This is why I originally liked poetry. It’s short which is good for my retard attention span

[Anonymous No.20850571]

>>20850513
Joyce admitted to only having read the complete works of 3 authors, one of which is Flaubert which comprises of 4 novels. regardless, consider that Joyce would have been Joyce whether he had read Dante or not, and that you shouldn't read to compete with one in a life time geniuses, but rather for a more noble, and humble end.

[Anonymous No.20850574]

No I don't get anxious, it makes me excited

[Anonymous No.20850823]

realize that a lot of those arent of high priority when your PERSONAL taste is considered. they are all the best-if even that-at something, but no one is or should be interested in everything.

>>20850571
he didnt say he was competing with anyone

[Anonymous No.20850841]

>>20850513
Relax anon, you’ll probably die before you’ve read everything you want to.

[Anonymous No.20851046]

>>20850513
wait till you realize how many things haven't even been translated.

[Anonymous No.20851958]

>>20850571
>Joyce admitted to only having read the complete works of 3 authors
Source? Curious to know Joyce's reading habits.

[Anonymous No.20851988]

>>20850513
>For me specifically the problem is exasperated because I believe I’m probably a pretty slow reader though I’ve never timed myself.
this is so fucking agitating. not to mention getting burned out trying to read classics 24/7

maybe it's just me but i try to discipline to read at least 10 books a year but I get so burnt out in the middle of it like right now. i'm reading farewell to arms and it's not a difficult book but i suddenly have no want or desire to read it because i'm so worried about finishing it by the end of the month and understanding it fully. i feel like i can't have fun reading lol
if i read easy schlocky shit i'd feel like a moron. i just want to keep my brain sharp and thinking so it doesn't turn to mush.

any help anons?

[Anonymous No.20852744]

>>20851988
>i'm reading farewell to arms and it's not a difficult book but i suddenly have no want or desire to read it

that's probably cause Hemingway sucks

> i just want to keep my brain sharp and thinking so it doesn't turn to mush.

you keep your brain sharp by eating well and thinking a lot, not by having anxiety attacks over how many pages you read in a day

[Anonymous No.20852746]

>>20850513
My lone ambition in life is to clear my Kindle backlog

[Anonymous No.20853250]

>>20850513
it's best to read what is interesting to you personally from the canon as well as browsing through obscure stuff. look at ants (and compare them to readers). they wanna find the best food (books) around their hill, so they send an infantery (critics) in every direction and almost all others (plebs) follow a successful route which is usually a good old trashcan (the canon) or a fresh half-eaten apple (bestsellers); but THEN there's a small minority of autistic ants that just go random into the world. You could call them geniuses (/lit/ patricians) or idiots (OPs). Those are the ones that find the stuff that counts (kick-ass books). be random. be the autistic ant.

[Anonymous No.20853366]

>>20852744
>that's probably cause Hemingway sucks
lmao when i read sun also rises in high school the same thing happened.
what about you anon? how do you approach books/getting in a rut?
I could read whenever and not worry about reading a certain number by the end of the year, but then i'd read 1 or 2 books tops and take 6 months on both. not because they're difficult but because i get lazy. there's no urgency. when it is urgent, i start to see it as only page numbers and chapters and not out of enjoyment

[Anonymous No.20853414]

I've been saying I would read The Critique of Pure reason every r=year for the last nine years, and I haven't even opened it yet.

[Anonymous No.20853445]

>>20850513
Read what you want. Following a lit "start at the Greeks" type chart won't give you the same spontaneous experience, and it'll feel like a burden to have to follow someone else's path. As long as you're not reading total shite you'll be fine. Having a solid culture and being well read isn't about knowing the same basic texts as every other well read person, but having your own take and spin on things. A lot of pseuds on here don't like reading but treat it as a prestige thing, where having read a prestigious or difficult book is like getting a skill point on the perk tree of a video game or some shit

[Anonymous No.20853571]

>>20853445
>As long as you're not reading total shite you'll be fine
what do you define as 'total shite'?

[Anonymous No.20853628]

>>20853571
Fair question. Chick lit, self help books, young adult novels (though there are some good ones), bestsellers by woke women. I'd also say most of what is published today is total shit too, because of the state of publishing and the fact that it has been corrupted no end by the sensibilities of woke types, but that's a bit harder to classify

[Anonymous No.20853659]

>>20853628
>young adult novels (though there are some good ones
such as? genuinely curious. i assume catcher in the rye?

[Anonymous No.20853670]

Something that has helped me a lot about this is having a fixed size for my to read stack. Nothing can be bought till there is space. I have an overly generous one at the moment that I need to shrink down. Currently I have a whole shelf, I want to get it down to half.

I read more because I want to make space for new things I am excited for. I read more to clear off things that have been on there too long. But more importantly I am much more selective in my book buying and much more willing to dnf a book

[Anonymous No.20853687]

>>20853659
Narnia, his dark materials by Phillip Pullman. Probably others I can't remember. I don't tend to read this stuff anymore, but I have find menories of them from childhood, so I understand their value even as an adult

[Anonymous No.20853716]

>>20850534
>It’s short

[Anonymous No.20853727]

>>20850513
that feeling killed reading for me after a year. took awhile to get over it and just look at reading as reading. there’s no pot at the end of the rainbow, you know

[Anonymous No.20853920]

>>20851958
Not him or have a source but I am a Joyce autist. Joyce read a lot of people obviously but he only read the complete works of a few. He didn't like Hardy from memory, not sure why. He famously didn't rate tennyson although I'm not sure how that changed as he aged. Shakespeare and Dante are the two he held in the highest of podiums though.