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/lit/ - Literature

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2709133 No.2709133 [Reply] [Original]

I see that the other thread has been derailed into a snark-fest... maybe we could start a new one?

Left: To be read
Middle: Currently reading (albeit, all three of them slowly)
Right: Recently finished (House of Leaves as of half an hour ago)

>> No.2709137

Where's the pre-1950 stuff, OP?

>> No.2709135

>>2709133

Most of the books on the left I got for a dollar at a thrift store recently. I'm expecting A Thousand Splendid Suns to be good, but not sure what to expect on the others. Should I avoid any of them?

>> No.2709138

gtfo prole. It's people like you who drive this board down.

>> No.2709141

>>2709137

They come in waves. I'm not in that sort of mood right now.

Would you recommend any in particular, or just all books before then?

>> No.2709142

This thread reminds me of how many books I've purchased and haven't even read. And also of how I continue to go to bookstores and purchase more books. They just keep accumulating.

I buy books and only read like 1 or 2 books a month, anyway. BUT I BUY LIKE 20

>> No.2709143

>>2709133
Weird question, but what brand of glasses are those? They look extremely similar to mine...

>> No.2709144

give them all a good soak in lighter fluid

what you do next is entire up to you

>> No.2709149

>>2709142

I know, it's terrible. I have some other books in my shelves that I need to read in addition to these, I just keep my "to read" pile small-ish so I don't freak myself out. Kinda dumb.

>>2709143

They're Ray Bans, but I could care less what brand they were... they just looked the most similar to the ones I lost recently. ;-; And were somehow covered by my insurance.

>why am I defending my fashion choices to /lit/

>>2709144
>>2709138

Thanks! Will do.

>> No.2709158

Currently reading:
Karen Traviss - Republic Commando 2: Triple Zero
Next up:
I haven't decided. Either Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men, or Brandon Sanderson's the Way of Kings.

>> No.2709159

Currently reading: one of my many copies of arabian nights, moby dick, and my book of punjabi proverbs

>> No.2709165

>>2709159

>arabian nights

I've always wanted to read those stories, and I saw the recent leather-bound version B&N put out... It's gorgeous. So tempting...

My series of Chronicles of Narnia was falling apart, so I got that. Can I justify getting Arabian Nights, too? I know it's a classic, but is it a book I'll want to read again and again?

>> No.2709169

>>2709149
Glasses guy here.
Ahhh mine are Carrera. They still look extremely similar. Would that happen to be the brand of the ones you lost? Hahaha

>> No.2709172

>>2709165
Arabian Nights is like....A bunch of old oral folk tales from the orient. They were translated and compiled in french then in english by Richard Burton. There are of course loads of other versions. Some contain different stories than others, some contain only the erotic stories, some contain only the most popular ones, etc.

I personally love the hell out of Arabian Nights. Have close to twenty different versions, still collecting more. I'll post some that you can look into getting

>> No.2709176

>>2709169

Lacoste. And before that, Cosmopolitan.
I lose glasses a lot. And apparently there's no such thing as off-brand frames at my eye doctor.

>>2709172

I knew it was a series of stories, but I didn't know all the compilations could be different!
Thanks for the intel, I appreciate it.

>> No.2709179
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2709179

I respect OP for not giving a fuck.

>> No.2709185

>>2709172
The B&N one (leatherbound) in my opinion is an ok starting point. Having read so many different versions of Arabian Nights and that too in a few different languages, the choice of stories included and the illustrations make it a pretty good copy. Plus the damn thing is beautiful lol. The language used in it is that old timey victorian english so if that turns you off, a different version may be better for you.

There's one that comes highly recommend by others on this board, that'd be the Penguin Classics 3 Volume Box Set. I don't have that one, so I can't say how it is.

Another version you can check out is by Andrew Lang. His is in a much simpler english and contains only a few stories. One of the Lang copies was my first exposure to Arabian Nights and that's what got me interested in collecting others.

>> No.2709190

>>2709176
Wise decisions for a man who loses glasses frequently. Although I do the same.

>> No.2709194

>>2709185
If you're looking for the most complete version, want access to most of the stories, then you want to go with a complete unabridged version with notes by Richard Burton. Those get pricey however, starting from like 50 bucks-5000 bucks, depending on the quality and such of course.

Then you have spinoffs and OTHER often controversial tales from Nights, like one by Mahfouz called Arabian Nights and Days, or Gay Tales of the Arabian Nights (Has only tales containing gay erotica, these were banned and swept under the rug, victorian life style, etc.) Robert Louis Stevenson, the guy who wrote Treasure Island, made his own (then modern) take on Nights, that's a pretty cool one.

>> No.2709196

>>2709179
I don't understand why people need to act so superior and haughty about books.

No wait, I do. But I just ignore it. I'll read what I want, damn it, and so should other people. But they should probably be expected to be made fun of for some of it.

>>2709185
I don't mind Victorian English, but thanks for the head's up.
I'll check all of those out.

>> No.2709200
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2709200

>>2709185
Here's the Lang version I was talking about. I have this exact same copy, picked it up at a flea market some time back.
ASIN: B0026R1NI8
Google that and it should come up on Amazon.

>> No.2709201

>>2709194

Oh man, too many choices. At least I can make an educated one now.

>> No.2709210

>>2709200

See, that's pretty too. There's something to be said for book cloth and screen printed covers, and how they look on your bookshelf.

I'll bookmark it on Amazon now. Thanks!

>> No.2709211

>>2709210
No problem man. I just went bananas on amazon buying up used library copies of Arabian Nights, while I was searching for that link for you lol. I just picked up 8 different versions!

>> No.2709221

>>2709135

A Thousand Splendid Suns is the most ridiculously depressing thing. Melodramatically so.

>> No.2709226

>>2709221

I read The Kite Runner (same author), and while it was very depressing, it was a very good book.

>> No.2709242

I'm reading too many books at once.

Conrad, The Arrow of Gold
Kawabata, Snow Country
Foucault's Pendulum
Middlemarch

>> No.2709261

>>2709133
I'm about to start House of Leaves. How was it?

>> No.2709263

>>2709226
>rape
>rape everywhere!

>> No.2709271

>>2709261

I got through it... I really /wanted/ to enjoy it! But as a whole, I honestly did not.

Don't go into it thinking it's horror. It's a romance couched in a... insane man's narration about a surreal house.

Whenever they were talking about the family or the house (when "Zampano" is writing). But for most of the rest of the book, I just felt like I was slogging through to the next "good part." And I hate it when I treat a book that way, but that's what ended up happening.

It's quite likely that the book is too high-brow for me. Or it's quite likely that it's just not my cuppa. But I wish you luck. It's 700 pages of crazy.

>> No.2709275

>>2709271

>Whenever they were talking about the family or the house (when "Zampano" is writing)...
*I enjoyed it.

Is what I meant to say.

>> No.2709285

To be read soon:
>The Pale King
>Absalom, Absalom!
>Winesburg, Ohio
>One Day in the Life of Ivan Desinovitch
>Master and Margarita
>Borges' Collected Fictions
>Vineland, Against the Day, Inherent Vice, GR

Currently Reading:
>Mason & Dixon
>Anna Karenina

Recently Finished:
>Catch 22
>The Crying of Lot 49

>> No.2709287

>>2709275
Really? I'm surprised to hear that! Most people have told me that it was a horror, but couldn't figure out why it was considered a love story as well. Guess I'll find out soon enough. Thanks OP

>> No.2709288

>>2709287

It'll fuck with your mind a bit, certainly. But I went into it expecting goosebumps and reading-under-the-covers-with-a-flashlight mentality, and it's really just.... eerie.

>> No.2709290

Reading-Heart of Darkness

To read- East of Eden, Independent People, Motorcycle Diaries.

>> No.2709513

Just read:

To kill a mockingbird
Cannery Row
Of mice and men
Crime and Punishment
To whom the bell tolls
The three musketeers

To be read:

The old man and the sea
The adventures of Tom Sawyer
The idiot
The Brothers Karamazov
The grapes of wrath
East of Eden
Sweet tuesday
Breakfast of champions