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/lit/ - Literature

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2488788 No.2488788 [Reply] [Original]

>Go to the book fair
>Look at international lit table
>Coelho
>Coelho everywhere
>Go to English lit table
>Austen, Trollope, Bronte, Austen, Bronte, Austen
>Sci-fi, romance, crime pulp tables make up 1/5 of all tables

But really it was pretty good. A whole warehouse full of books, and it was great to see so many people of all ages there. Picked up pic related for $40, pretty good if you ask me.

Any good book fair stories?

>> No.2488794

>Go to any bookstore in Australia
>Literature section takes up three shelves
>Chuck Palahnuik
>Murakami
>Poe
>Safran-Foer

We suck. We are the country that pays 46 times the money on tickets for Transformers than we do intellectual movies. Shit just doesn't get released here.

>> No.2488798

Nice haul. That's a pretty sweet copy of Don Quixote.

I've never been to a book fair before, though I probably should go sometime. I hear there's a particularly good book fair here in Los Angeles. My main excuse for not going before was that I didn't have a car but I have one now so yeah.

>> No.2488802

>>2488794
Often quite true. University campus bookshops are the best places to buy lit and philosophy.

>> No.2488809

>>2488794
THE INTERNET EXISTS FOR A REASON

BUT SERIOUSLY, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM AUSTRALIA? JUST GO ONTO THE STREET AND LOOK AT THE AVERAGE PERSON. NOT A VERY GOOD SIGHT.

>> No.2488812
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2488812

>>2488788

>Plato's Republic

>all of my why

>> No.2488815

>>2488788
My step-brother worked at the Brisbane book fair once, apparently it's the biggest in the southern hemisphere. They have a section for first editions, rarities, etc., and when they opened the doors on the first day there'd be about a dozen people who would literally sprint to that section to madly fill as many bags as they could.

Also he said that in the 90s sometime, a piece of old sheet music was found in with the donations, and it turned out to be an unpublished work by a dead composer, someone like Chopin or Lizst but not quite so famous.

>> No.2488820
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2488820

>>2488812
>All of my what's the problem, man?
I'm just interested. It was $1.50.

>> No.2488823

Only that for $40? At most book fairs and flea markets I go to I can pick up three times that for $40.

>> No.2488848

>>2488802

I live in New Zealand and I can tell you that this is not generally true. They dedicate an entire shelf to someone who comes to the university to talk - Tariq Ali, for example - even if all they do is insult the place.

>> No.2488853

Picked up some decent hardcover hemingway novels for about $2 at my local book sale earlier tonight. Wanted faulkner, though.

>> No.2488862
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2488862

>use the lower entrance to the library for once
>book sale's over, free stuff out on table
>this haul

And to think I almost passed it by assuming it'd all be pulpy romance.

>> No.2488923
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2488923

>>2488862
Lucky.

>> No.2488930
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2488930

>>2488862
Some damn good picks in that stack.

>> No.2488933

>>2488862
For some reason there is a copy of the Life of Samuel Johnson at every used book sale in the world.

>> No.2488945

>>2488794
Whats wrong with Poe and Murukami?
(I agree with you for the most part, though. And when it comes to books and films- i suggest you avoid the chain places, if you can find an independent store or cinema sometimes you get lucky.)

>> No.2488952
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2488952

Just went to a local used bookstore and picked these up
War and Peace was $0.50
Got the whole lot for $11
Pretty happy

>> No.2488975

>>2488809
Protip: if you want second hand books in australia go to Canberra. Trust me it is worth the trip.

>> No.2488979

>>2488975
Also don't sage on topic

>> No.2488981

>>2488952
HORRIBLE TRANSLATION THOUGH.

GOOD PICK-UPS HOWEVER

>> No.2488998

No, but really, whats wrong with Poe and Murukami? ...I don't frequent lit as much as I should, and I actually like these authors, is there some kind of bias here or am I missing something?

>>2488975
Not the one you were replying to, but really? That sounds sort of vague...

>> No.2489018

>>2488998
I have done a lot of second hand book shopping around Australia. Canberra has the best second hand book shops. Reason is simple: large, well educated, transiant population from all corners of the globe. They read a lot then sell their books when their contracts end.

>> No.2489030

>>2489018
hm, really? I haven't really been to Canberra- maybe i ought to find out more about it, other than the 'Politics and Boredom' stereotype. Im from Sydney, and there are a few nice second hand book stores around, but i've been meaning to see a little more of the country and this interests me quite a bit. Thanks.
(again though, really, whats wrong with Poe and Murukami?)

>> No.2489044

>>2488945
Sorry, left the thread.

There is nothing wrong with Murakami. He is an average guy and an average writer, but since he is exotic he gets massively elevated to epic status in the west. A man snobbier than I would say he writes fiction, not literature.

And what is wrong with Poe? Nothing, I suppose. His writing leaves something to be desired, but I suppose it is a personal preference for Borges. People go from Lovecraft to Poe, a natural progression, but stop there when it gets SO much better if you continue on to Kafka and then Borges.

Anyway, Radelaide has the best 2H book stores. I live in the adelaide hills, so you plains peasants may not know what I am talking about. Can you even survive the cold and thin atmosphere and superior everything up here?

>> No.2489081

>>2489044
Oh, okay then. That makes perfect sense- and i agree. I find both writers enjoyable though, and in a way I can identify with their fiction. I don't normally care what a bookstore has something under so long as they have it- and im practically always happy to see writers I like, because sometimes bookstores just don't have anything worth even looking at (I once went to a certain bookstore, a chain bookstore, that i forget the name of now- and it was practically all 'best sellers' and 'whats hot' why.) and for the longest time I've had to make do with things from awfully lacking libraries.
I'm more the type who would happily sift through a pile of books to find what I want- and that IS the preferred method, I suppose. I guess being a youngin' and all I'm not awfully picky about arbitrary things like that. And i honed in on the 'Poe' and 'Murukami' who i'm rather fond of- though I agree with your critique.

I think what people need to remember is that there is no perfect writer, no all in one brilliant shining star. and yes, there is good writing and bad writing but almost all writing has its very own flaws once you become more familiar with it, and I personally don't find that a bad thing at all. There are other authors to fulfill what may have been lacking in the last. And you can love the authors you love for what they actually do right, as well as their flaws.

anyway, enough ranting. I sort of love /lit/ (although i only recently wandered over here...)