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/lit/ - Literature

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2584713 No.2584713 [Reply] [Original]

>Last book you read
>Thoughts
>Current book you're reading
>Thoughts
>(Optional) Next book you're reading
>(Optional) Predictions

For me:
>Last book
Leaves of Grass - Whitman
>Thoughts
Beautiful. I loved every part of it.
>Current book
There But For The - Ali Smith
>Thoughts
Saw it in a "recently bought" thread a while ago. The poster said that he liked her other books, so he had high hopes for this one. So far I really like the characters and the prose, but I'm not yet halfway through and I don't know how where it's going to head. Have you guys read this yet? Did you like it?

>> No.2584729

goodreads.com

>> No.2584735

>Last book
Open veins of Latin America
>Thoughts
Great book, it's horrible what it tells.
>Current book
Hijos de los dias (No translation yet, it's a new book)
>Thought
liking it a lot

>> No.2584754

>last book
And then there's this - bill wasik
Pretty good, raised some interesting points about nanostories and Internet culture, but I didn't really take much away from it.
>current book
Dhalgren - Samuel r. Delaney
I've been loving this, delany has such a lovely style, and the plot has been nothing like I expected. someofthesexscenesgavemeaboner
I'm about 100 pages from the end, and I can't wait..

>> No.2584753

>Last book you read
Sirens of Titan
>Thoughts
A mixed bag. Great ideas interspersed through a okay story.
>Current book you're reading
American Psycho
>Thoughts
Only read one chapter, but it seems good. Not sure if I like BEE's style though. We'll see.
>(Optional) Next book you're reading
Glamorama if I like American Psycho, if not then The Sun Also Rises

>> No.2584765

>Last
The Mote in God's Eye - Niven and Pournelle
>thoughts
pussy ass 3 armed ancient aliens
>Current
Ishmael
>Thoughts
Huh, Funny Monkey
>Next
Dune
>Predictions
Space Magic

>> No.2584785

>Last book you read
Blood Meridian
>Thoughts
Sometimes the temporal language and Spanish dialogues got on my nerves, but it's overall well written with some beautiful imagery. The Judge is brilliant.
>Current book you're reading
The Eye in the Door
>Thoughts
Just started it, I loved Regeneration though so I expect good stuff
>Next book you're reading
All the Pretty Horses
>Predictions
More of McCarthy's incredible prose with perhaps slightly less obscure vocabulary.

>> No.2584797

>Last book you read
Mocking Jay
>Thoughts
Not as good as first book doesn't make me want to read the third book.
>Current book you're reading
House of Leaves (3rd read)
>Thoughts
Good book. Every time I read it I find something deeper.
>(Optional) Next book you're reading
Ready Player One
>(Optional) Predictions
It's going to be good???

also /lit/ if you like sci-fi/horror/mind bendy check out The Raw Shark Text. My personal favorite book

>> No.2584804

>>2584797
>Ready Player One
I've considered adding this to my 'to read' queue

>> No.2584830

>>2584797
>>2584804
It's Gamer Girl for boys. Seriously bad exposition and writing. If he has your nostalgia number then it's a 3/5 otherwise it's a 1.5/5

>> No.2584834

>>2584830
i retract my consideration. that sound abysmal. thanks for the forewarning

>> No.2584838

>>2584804
I just read it. It's not bad. It's fluff, don't expect much, at times it can feel like "fanfiction"-tier writing but I let it slide because it made sense within context. I mean, it's better than your run of the mill fantasy book, and the bunch of references should make you nostalgic enough to get something out of it. I got through it in one day and don't regret it.

It's basically just tasteful pandering to the pop-culture obsessed/80's crowd.

>> No.2585085

>Last book you read
Catch-22
>Thoughts
this book was amazing, makes you cry and laugh at the same time... top 5 books I have ever read
>Current book you're reading
Roughing It
>Thoughts
Mark Twain is funnny hurr

>> No.2585107

>Last read
Of Mice and Men
>Thoughts
Better than I remembered. I hated it in high school.
>Current book
Let the Right One In
>Thoughts
For a vampire book written in the past 10 years, it's actually pretty good.

>> No.2585335

bump

>> No.2585363

>Last book
principia mathematica- russel
>Thoughts
very enjoyable, makes me kind of sad i wasnt aroud at the time. logicism is fascinating.
>Current book
demons. dostojewsky
>Thoughts
not the first time i read it. i am particularly fascinated by kirilow and his views on existential philosophy. noone can read this and still dismiss dostojewsky as just some christfag.

>> No.2585404

>Last
The Night Watch - Sarah Waters
>Thoughts
Interesting, but flawed. It provides a different view of the second world war than the usual - at the same time completely English but almost completely unpatriotic. The war as portrayed here isn't a heroic action adventure, but it isn't a tragic death machine - it's just a fact of life; something that you have to put up with and try to forget about. However I also felt that it went a bit too far with the soap-opera side of things.
>Current
If On A Winter's Night A Traveler - Italo Calvino
>Thoughts
oh my god this book fucking owns read it, it is more pleasurable than the best wank in the universe

>> No.2585433

>>2585404
>Italo Calvino
I was going to read Invisible Cities by him (I think that's the title)

So you'd recommend him?

>> No.2585441
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2585441

>Last book
Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness
>Thoughts
Some brilliant short stories, mostly boring ones. It's a work for who's already a Bukowski reader, I would not recommend it for a first-timer due to the high number of mediocre short stories. But the good ones are so damn good.
>Current book you're reading
Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity
>Thoughts
It's very pertinent, but it is a technical reading, therefore it's painful to read. I have no discipline at all, so it's very hard for me to get it going. But it's a nice thesis, and Beck's writing is quite forward, which is essential in books such as this one.

>> No.2585451

>>2585433
I haven't read Invisible Cities, and I've only read the first ~60 pages of If On A Winter's Night A Traveler, but based on what I've seen so far then definitely.

>> No.2585452

>>2585441

What would you recommend for a first time Bukowski reader? Sad to say I have not read anything by him :(

>> No.2585470

>Last book you read
Orhan Pamuk - Snow
>Thoughts
Interesting, thought provoking(considering I can relate to the story - ideologies etc), decent

>> No.2585471

>>2585452
Not the same guy, but Post office or Ham on rye.

>> No.2585478

>>2585451
Cool

>> No.2585487

>>2585486

Meant to quote:

>>2585452

>> No.2585486

>>2585471
>>2585451

Definitely Ham on Rye.

>> No.2585525

>Previously read.
Confessions by Rousseau

>Thoughts.
Pretty interesting, especially the parts with Diderot, I need to look into his works later in the year.

Currently reading:
Brothers Karamazov.

>Thoughts.
i'm only one third of the way through it, Alyosha is an acceptable main character, but I wish the other brothers would get more development. It's also probably the most preachiest Dostoyevsky novel i've read out of all his works so far.

>> No.2585544

>Slaughterhouse-Five by Vonnegut
I thought it was a great, accessible read. Though, I don't understand why they call it an anti-war novel because Vonnegut, in my opinion, didn't exactly focus on the war so much as Bill Pilgrim's life. it did, however, convince to read more of his books.
>The Heroes by Joe Abercombie
I assume you guys don't care sense it's "hurr durr pleb fantasy", but it's a good war novel.
>Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald which I'm reading for school
I've heard it's a good book. It's short, so I won't feel like it's dragged out.

>> No.2585555

>>2585544
>it did, however, convince to read more of his books
Read Cat's Cradle
>didn't exactly focus on the war so much as Bill Pilgrim's life
And in doing so showed how the war had fucked him up. It's all anti-war as hell.

>> No.2585579
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2585579

>Last book
Notes From Underground
>Thoughts
Identified too well. Too many terrible feels that I didn't ask for. Not sure if it's made me more confident with myself.
>Current book
Pale Fire
>Thoughts
Beautiful and clever but sometimes slow-going.

>> No.2585584

>>2585555
Quads don't lie.
All though I agree that he was very emotionally distant because of the war (red: fucked up), I just thought the anti-war aspect was a smaller part of the story, but people call the book "the greatest anti-war novel of all time".

>> No.2585585

>Last Book
A Golden Treasury of Selected Poetry
>Thoughts
Good. Too many poems about the mercy of God and the legacy of Jesus though.
>Current book you're reading
I, Lucifer by Glen Duncan
>Thoughts
I'm five pages in. But it seems shitty
>Next book you're reading
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
>Predictions
If it's anything like Nietzsche's other works, I'm expecting to have to re-read it to get anything out of it and still feel confused and stupid.

>> No.2585631

>Last book you read
Ulysses
>Thoughts
Spent about 7 weeks on it and it blew my mind every day, some times it was incredibly frustrating and sometimes mindboggling at the beauty of the writing and the depth of meaning, but always rewarding, especially the final chapter. Though Joyce continually hinted at the virtuousity of his writing in Nausicaa, Oxen of the Sun and (though it's commonly considered boring by scholars) Eumaeus; The final sentence of Penelope just brought on so many feels, it was transcendental.
>Current book you're reading
Hamlet (though it only took me a day to read)
>Thoughts
I can definitely understand why Hamlet is considered Shakespeare's greatest accomplishment, I was vaguely familiar with the story but the uncertainty of Hamlet's ever increasing madness was remarkable, my favourite part being when he kills Polonius and can't convince his mother of the ghost.
>(Optional) Next book you're reading
Franz Kafka - Meditation
>(Optional) Predictions
I read the first short story 'Children on a Country Road' already but if it's a signal to go by I'm looking at the same, snapshot of mundane, run down life as Joyce portrayed in Dubliners but with a different, although similar beautiful, kind of prose.

>> No.2585634

>Last book you read
The Art of Fiction by John Gardner
>Thoughts
Interesting. Though Gardner's writing style could get tiresome, the book seemed to clarify a lot about literary theory and god writing.
>Current book you're reading
The Stranger (second time)
>Thoughts
I like it more this time. I think I'm able to appreciate ti better.
>(Optional) Next book you're reading
Franny & Zooey, A Canticle for Leibowitz (started but never finished), Outer Dark
>(Optional) Predictions
I expect Canticle to get better. Franny & Zooey will be good I hope (only Salinger story I haven't read yet). I'm not sure about Outer Dark. I wasn't interested too much in the premise, but I read Child of God and the Road by Cormac McCarthy and I liked both of them.

After all that I'll probably read Blood Meridian, Candide, and The Big Rock-Candy Mountain.

>> No.2585645

I enjoyed it OP, but it doesn't really find direction. I've found her short fiction to be better than her novels.

>> No.2585713

>>2585584
fair enough

>> No.2585748

>Last book you read
JD Salinger - Catcher in the Rye
>Thoughts
Pretty bland prose, boring story, horribly dislikable character (yes, I understand that's the point)
>Current book you're reading
Thomas Pynchon - The Crying of Lot 49
>Thoughts
Very good. Love his writing style, very funny at parts, very interesting at others. Fantastic.
>(Optional) Next book you're reading
Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five
>(Optional) Predictions
I should like it. Haven't read any Vonnegut, but it seems like I should have read this by now.

>> No.2585993

>>2585748
Do yourself a favor and read Cat's Cradle instead - Slaughterhouse 5 is good and all, but Cat's Cradle is better.
Or just read both, they're pretty short.

>> No.2586021

>Last book you read
Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami.
>Thoughts
It's basically Murakami, but with no story. So pure Murakami. Suffice it to say, I loved it. Murakami/10.
>Current book you're reading
The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht.
>Thoughts
Near the end. The descriptions are sometimes a bit full of themselves, and Obreht obviously owns a thesaurus, but it's kind of charming, and is a nice contrast to the magical realistic parts anyway. I like it. Very different.
>Next book you're reading
Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen.
>Predictions
I've only read Enemy of the People from before. So I don't know. Hopefully'll be cool.

>> No.2586085

>>2586021
>Hear the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami.
Is that one of his really old ones? Like Pinball Wizard 19whatever? I haven't read it yet.

I also love your description of it.

>> No.2586107

>>2586085
Queer.

>> No.2586122

>Last book
The Mezzanine
>Thoughts
Brilliant work of fiction that delves very deep into trivial everyday thinking.
>Current book
Notes from Underground
>Thoughts
Kind of Bullshit at this point, but I'm 30 pages in. Does it get better?

>> No.2586139

>>2586085

Haha, thank you! But yes it is. Hear the Wind Sing and Pinball, 1973 are the two first books in the Rat trilogy of which A Wild Sheep Chase is the third, and Dance, Dance, Dance its sequel; the two latter being easily available in English. If you're as crazy about Murakami as me, you can get them at Amazon.com. I got mine from the seller called "kawaiikarenco". Be aware though that, depending on where you are in the world, you're paying upwards 100 dollars with the shipping added for two leaflets that together take about a day to read.

>> No.2586148

>Last book you read
Against the Day - Pynchon
>Thoughts
At times awesome and hilarious, at other times, dreadfully boring
>Current book you're reading
Richard Yate - Tao Lin
>Thoughts
Interesting minimalism, getting sick of everyone wanting to kill themselves and the robotic dialogue
>(Optional) Next book you're reading
Underworld - DeLillo
>(Optional) Predictions
I think that I'm going to like it a lot

>> No.2586159

>>2585634
Franny and Zooey is Salinger's masterpiece IMO. It's my favorite book and I'm jealous that you get to read it for the first time.

I read it every year at least once, and usually in one sitting.

>> No.2586160

>Last book you've read
Confessions of an Advertising Man
>Thoughts
A relic, harkens back to a long-gone time, some of the business advice Ogilvy tries to casually pass through the relatively lapidary narrative would put you in the poorhouse quick. But not all of it.
>Current book you're reading
Excerpts from The Best American Magazine Writing 2008.
>Thoughts
Not much, there are some interesting pieces and some shit ones.
>Next book
Hard to say, either Irvine Welsh's "Ecstasy" or one of those H.L. Mencken chrestomathies.

>> No.2586164

>>2586139
Pal, you can find pdfs of Pinball, 1973 online; it was used as a sort of English primer and text for ESL at one point.

>> No.2586165

>Last book you read
Goblin Market - Christina Rossetti
>Thoughts
Too lewd. Shit was hot.
>Current book you're reading
Candide - Voltaire
>Thoughts
Leibniz must have fucked Voltaire's bitch. Or Leibniz was 2deep4 Voltaire.
>(Optional) Next book you're reading
The Park - Sollers
>(Optional) Predictions
Barthes liked him but then again they were buddies.

>> No.2586190

>>2586164

Though Hear the Wind Sing is worse ... For example, the version widely available on torrent sites is very incomplete. Actually it's like ... one chapter. Whatever the case though, it's nice to have something to hold.

>> No.2586204

>>2586139
Thanks for the info! I'll probably just try to pirate them first, thought.

>> No.2586423

>Last book you read
The Dunwich horror- H.P lovecraft
>Thoughts
Pretty interesting, has a nice style
>Current book you're reading
Anthem-Ayn Rand
>Thoughts
Oh Rand... You so crazy

>> No.2587361

>>2586159
Franny and Zooey is good? I was kinda thinking about reading it.

>> No.2588281

bump

>> No.2588298

>Last book
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
>Thoughts
I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was a very enjoyable read.
>Current book
War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
>Thoughts
I've only just started, but it's already pretty good. I just hope my expectations aren't too high for it.
>Next book
Ulysses - James Joyce
>Predictions
If it's anything like Portrait or Dubliners, I'll enjoy it. I like his writing style, regardless, so I'll most likely enjoy it. I also really like the whole Irish setting of his books.

>> No.2588369

>Last book
One Hundred Years of Solitude
>Thoughts
Did not disappoint. Pretty wild.
>Current book
The Sun Also Rises
>Thoughts
First Hemingway book. The economical style is pretty neat but I don't like the way the protagonist judges people, it doesn't feel very open-minded or that it's intended to leave room for interpretation. Basically I can't feel his pain.
>(Optional) Next book
The Savage Detectives