/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.20859384]

Is there a /lit/ top list of fiction? I don’t know which of these works are fiction and Googling each one to determine that is tedious.

[Anonymous No.20859395]

>>20859384
>Googling each one to determine that is tedious.
You probably are not going to make it far in your reading if that is too much work for you, considerably less work than even the simplest book on that list which is mostly fiction.

[Anonymous No.20859403]

>>20859384
Philosophy/religious/biography/non-fiction: The Bible, Book of Disquiet, The Reoublic, Capital, Process and Reality, Meditations, Phenomenology of Spirit, Industrial Society and Its Future, Antifragile, The Reign of Quantity, Essays (Montaigne), Mein Kampf, The World as Will and Representation, Arcades Project, Decline of the West, The Quran, The Prince, Critique of Pure Reason, Beyond Good and Evil.

All the rest is fiction proper.

[Anonymous No.20859431]

>>20859403
I see. I guess I’m looking for a well-written book about uplifting, fun, or motivating subjects. Many of these books seem absorbed in self-introspection and self-defeating thoughts. Are there any among this list that are actually inspiring/joyous to read instead of something really melancholic and brooding like many of these seem to be? I wish there was a list that focuses on things that are uplifting in this way.

[Anonymous No.20860686]

>>20859431
I think there's a bloomer chart if someone will post it.

[Anonymous No.20860811]

>>20859403
>>20860686
Lol, I love how kind and helpful everyone is being to this guy

[Anonymous No.20860927]

>>20860686
Bumping for interest in the "bloomer" chart.

[Anonymous No.20860948]

[Anonymous No.20860964]

>>20859431
>uplifting
that is ultimatively up to you

[Anonymous No.20860967]

I'm basically rephrasing my post here >>20859431 in terms closer to what I'm looking for in my picrel. Basically I want something as fun and uplifting as manga/anime but also being "well-written" since /lit/ equates manga/anime to being "trash" or "genreshit fiction".

[Anonymous No.20860974]

>>20860964
Brooding introspective stuff isn't uplifting to me. Much of the lit 100 has a brooding introspective vibe. That's not me.

[Anonymous No.20861048]

>>20860967
Not sure why but I made another visual representation. But honestly it could just be asked in the form:
"What's literature that has the same fun and uplifting nature of a manga or anime but considered 'well-written' by /lit/'s standards?"

Idk. I guess it helped me sort my ideas. Ignore if it seems stupid to you.

[Anonymous No.20861067]

Not sure why but I made another visual representation. But honestly it could just be asked in the form:
"What's literature that has the same fun and uplifting nature of a manga or anime but considered 'well-written' by /lit/'s standards?"

I mean I could be incorrect to interpret much of the /lit/ list as being brooding. I'm willing to accept I'm wrong. But it hasn't been my experience so far. I don't like brooding stuff. I like stuff that celebrates life.

Idk. I guess it helped me sort my ideas. Ignore if it seems stupid to you.

[Anonymous No.20861070]

>>20861048
Interesting diagrams. What kind of stories would you consider uplifting? Give me 5 examples of an uplifting story in any media (except video games as I don't know too much) and I will recommend you five books.

[Anonymous No.20861120]

>>20861070
>Give me 5 examples of an uplifting story in any media (except video games as I don't know too much) and I will recommend you five books.
In-general, I like stories where the main characters endeavor to achieve their goals and find love through facing problems/ethical situations that might not have clear answers. This way, as an audience member, I too also feel like my own goals and my ability to find love is possible. "When the characters succeed, it feels like I do as well."

I don't mind depictions of worlds with harsh realities, but it ultimately has to be wrapped up in some method of "dealing" with such hard realities so I as the reader don't feel hopelessly demoralized. I just don't like that sort of thing.

I like much of the obvious shounen and seinen stuff you'll see in manga anime. Ranging from romance/comedy/drama/action. My favorites are Rumiko Takahashi's works.
> 1/5: Ranma 1/2
Blend of romance/comedy that works in a format men can enjoy which I don't see in literature. Some supernatural/action elements for flavor (main character can willfully change genders which plays with the love triangle dynamics and adds comedic opportunities) with minimal drama for character arcs. It just feels exactly like the sort of entertainment I enjoy. It's fun. It's heartwarming. But it also has themes of hard work and pursuit. My favorite piece of fiction/entertainment period. Always makes me smile.
>2/5: Maison Ikkoku
Also a blend of romance/comedy but takes its dramatic angle more seriously. Main character is a guy studying for university entrance exams in a boarding house of social misfits who ambiguously sabotage his studying efforts (either because they want to see someone fail so they don't feel bad by comparison or just because they're oblivious). Every character surprisingly gets a satisfying arc in the end and thinks about their actions by looking in the mirror. The main character ends up marrying the boarding house manager as she's the only person who sticks up for him in his efforts of studying.
>3/5: Kill La Kill / My Hero Academia
I've grouped these together because they perform a similar function. Bombastic action and music following a character down on their luck in some manner. The standard shounen schtick of "believing in one's self and working hard" in order to achieve the impossible. /lit/ probably mocks entertainment like this, but I can't help but feel invigorated/motivated about my life after watching things in this sort of format.

[Anonymous No.20861144]

>>20861070
>4/5: Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Excellent depiction of moral situations without clear answers. Nothing is melodramatic. Characters don't scream battlecries or verbally announce their special attacks (like in 3/5 above). It's a long-form exploration of the pros and cons of a democracy at odds with an autocracy. It doesn't make an attempt to try and frame one or the other as being inherently good or bad. It shows both sides with honorable and dishonorable characters. Ultimately uplifting as it shows common threads of humanity that exists between both sides valuing life/honor above mutual destruction/dishonor.
>5/5: Steel Ball Run
Highly surreal actiony wacky adventure of a deeply cynical paraplegic who enters a continental horse race across the United States. The main character is genuinely an awful misanthropic person with a lot of reason to feel this way based on the life he's led. Ultimately through the use of his wits (and excessively researched/technical explanation on the author's part) he overcomes obstacles (environmental or human) and literally regains the ability to walk again from learning to trust in his supernatural powers. Tons of themes and tons of stuff going on in this manga overall. Excessively detailed and beautiful drawings. Highly researched locations and mechanical structure knowledge. This was a manga intended at a more "mature audience" but it's still really over-the-top and shounen-y.

[Anonymous No.20861147]

this thread is unbearable

[Anonymous No.20861195]

>>20861120
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Three Musketeers by A. Dumas
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Pure life.

[Anonymous No.20861213]

>>20861195
Because you took the time to read all I wrote, I'll grab each of these and read them. The hardest part of reading a book for me is the "trapeze act" of hoping the author is going to "catch you" by the end of the book. I am always terrified of getting really invested in a book and then "getting dropped" with a downer/introspective ending because... I guess some people like those sorts of things? But not me.

But yes. Those books. I'll read them. I'll also include a handful of Shakespeare/romance stuff (Pride and Prejudice, Much Ado About Nothing, Midsummer) which was recommended to me by someone else. Romance/drama/comedy is the genre I enjoy writing little short stories/comics in (which like two people read) so I'm trying to "read in my chosen genre" along with reading "the greats" but I'm biasing in favor of stuff that's uplifting/fun.

Thanks Anon.

[Anonymous No.20861380]

>>20861147
What makes you feel that way?

[Anonymous No.20861473]

>>20859384
There's a 2020 top 100 novel archived somewhere. That poll had not many respondents since it was seen as absolutely redundant given the top 100 books was already compiled

[Anonymous No.20861480]

>>20860967
Pickwick papers by dickes is essentially a comedy slice of life

[Anonymous No.20861493]

>>20861480
>Pickwick papers by dickes
I'll put that on my list as well. Thanks Anon.

[Anonymous No.20862630]

bump

[Anonymous No.20862672]

>>20859384
Most of these I can see the reasoning for, even if I didn't enjoy them myself, but the quran? Seriously? It may be influential in that it brainwashed a billion people, but how is it in the top 100?

[Anonymous No.20862789]

>>20862672
Same way capital and mein kampf did. Most threads in this board that see any kind of activity are about political and/or religious shitflinging and each camp every year tries to get its ideology of choice higher than the adversaries to show the stranglehold they have on board culture. Even the bible would not be nearly as high if not for that reason

[Anonymous No.20862794]

>>20862789
Capital is an actually good book to read. It's not just propaganda like some fags might think.

[Anonymous No.20862814]

>>20860967
Rousseau's Reveries and Voltaire's Candide are pretty jolly, but judging by your other posts you're also an animeretard, so I doubt you would know good writing even if it smacked you upside the head.

[Anonymous No.20862816]

>>20859384
I've read about 80% of that list and for every of those books I understand why they're there, except Moby Dick. I don't get it. A dude wrote about whale fishing because people thought it's a shitty job and he thought it isn't. 60% of this fucking book is about whale anatomy. I wanted to blow my brains out reading that slot.
Why has this book filtered me so? What do you people see in it?!

[Anonymous No.20862829]

>>20862794
It's economic theory. I studied the damn thing and read the first book on my own volition again years later to see if there was actually something good about it. Unless you are studying economics there is absolutely nothing you can realistically get out of it aside for talking points for propaganda

[Anonymous No.20862834]

>>20862816
>A dude wrote about whale fishing because people thought it's a shitty job and he thought it isn't
If that's what you came out thinking about it I have a hard time believing you actually read it, let alone that you read and appreciated the rest of the list

[Anonymous No.20862887]

>>20860967
Are you trans?

[Anonymous No.20862892]

Percy I know you’re in here show yourself

[Anonymous No.20862895]

>>20861120
You will probably love The Sound of Waves by Mishima. Well written, uplifting and has barely any conflict. Just a story of a naive boy making it because he works hard and truly loves his island and believes in its gods.

[Anonymous No.20862923]

>>20860967
People love to dunk on him but you'd probably love Murakami. His style is pleasant and readable without sacrificing much in the way of literary depth. I'd recommend Kafka on the Shore.

[Anonymous No.20863177]

>>20862834
Don't be dense. The message about revenge and pursuit is clear, I was mentioning authors real life intentions and the insane padding around the main themes.