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/lit/ - Literature

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2719338 No.2719338 [Reply] [Original]

>Mother is reading on her Kindle
>Ask her what the book is
>"Oh, I'm just finishing up Fifty Shades of Gray"
>My sister's read it too
>She's actually partway through the second book
>I didn't even know there was a second book
>mfw

Do you guys have relatives with horrific tastes in books?

>> No.2719345

My mum reads Reader's Digest condensed novels all the time. I'm indifferent to this.

She read 1984 a while ago and thought it was hilarious.

>> No.2719349

>>2719338
Sniff her kindle

>> No.2719352

Why is it okay to talk about this stuff? Your mom is reading porn!

Which is cool, man. But like that should be private.

>> No.2719354
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2719354

>>2719349

>> No.2719364

>>2719338

So ... what you're saying is ... your mother and your sister share the same taste in porn?

it's bdsm

>> No.2719366

Do you have an excess amount of rope in your garage?

>> No.2719368

Is your sister hot?

>> No.2719378

>>2719352

Yeah, that's my deal. My mother's reading porn. Cool. Cool. Unimaginably horrifying. Cool. I don't expect her to have no sex drive. Then she brings up my goddamn sister is reading it too, and she's the sort of person you'd think would be allergic to penis. And she's the one reading it more than my mother.

I'm almost more horrified that they're reading ex-Twilight porn written by Snowqueens Icedragon rather than the fact that they're reading literal BDSM porn. I mean, they sell shit like that in grocery store.

>> No.2719381

>>2719378
Ages?

>> No.2719384

I don't get people who read fifty shades of grey, hunger games, twilight, etc, and then stop reading completely until another fad surfaces.

I mean, i'm not even attacking their tastes but...if a book brought them so much joy, shouldn't they take that as a sign that they should read more often?

>> No.2719386
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2719386

>>2719378

>mfw I just found out that Snowqueens Icedragon was her fanfiction.net name

>> No.2719391

>>2719386

Its original title was a fucking He-Man joke too. Master of the Universe.

Like, I'm totally cool with female sexual liberation and kink and shit like that. Hell, the porn I've read/watched too would probably be ripped apart if published. My point of contention here is that I really, really didn't want to know that my relatives were reading this.

Especially after that video of Gilbert Gottfried reading parts of it.

>> No.2719397

>>2719391
>implying you're not the one who's reading these books and trying to get some idea whether that's acceptable by /lit/ standards

Either that or you're researching these books because of Freudian impulses

>> No.2719823

My immediate family is full of intelligent people, but I can't help thinking that they have shit taste in almost everything.

My mum is a very successful doctor (now head administrator of the biggest hospital within 500km), but for as long as I can remember she's only read pulp crime novels. She has a bookshelf full of great non-fiction, classics, etc., but they just sit there. For music she basically just listens to a few albums by AC/DC, Greenday, Eurythmics and Supertramp on repeat in the car. She loves the Transformers movies and Big Bang Theory. I just don't get it, because in terms of real intelligence I know she's smarter than me.

My sister & brother are worse. She only reads paranormal teen fiction, and he refuses to even read comic books that I buy for him. She has pretty good music taste, but he only likes dubstep and shitty dance music (and he calls me a wigger because I like classic hip hop). Neither of them like any movies that aren't Hollywood blockbusters.

I'm starting to wonder if I'm just an elitist dick.

>> No.2719844

>>2719352
I had the same problem. On May Thirtieth I flew from Atlanta to St. Louis. Not one, not two, but three people on my flight alone were reading it. I'm indifferent about it, but it is the same as looking at porn in public. If people were seeing a man reading a male-equivalent of that, they would think of him as a freak and avoid him like the fucking plague. Although it's just a book, I don't think that's the kind of shit people should read or discuss in public. Hell, I don't even discuss fantasy in public so I look smarter.
Also, tell start filtering her thoughts. She shouldn't talk about that shit to her son.

>> No.2719880

>>2719823
...are you me?

My mother is also a doctor with 200+ other degrees.

She hates movies that "make her think." And her favorite hobbies are now shooting guns, watching football, drinking wine, and gardening.

>> No.2719882

>>2719880
>her favorite hobbies are now shooting guns, watching football, drinking wine, and gardening.

your mom is fucking awesome, dogg

>> No.2719888

If this proves anything, it's that /lit/ will hate anything as long as it is Popular With Girls

>> No.2719915

>>2719882
I know she is awesome, but she does not appear or act like a particularly smart person, even though she clearly is.

Same story with my dad, he is also a doctor (a neurologist for crying out loud). His hobbies seem much more becoming of a smart guy though. He adores old movies, that's all he watches. Not necessarily good old movies, just old in general. When I got my letters of rec and path to med school guaranteed he was like "meh" but as soon as I expressed an interest in older movies he had the whole "Son, I am proud" moments. Besides that, he collects and reads old comic books, is one of those old pretentious sci-fi nerds (ie. he thinks the Star Trek kids were casuals and ruined the genre etc), and has like 60gb worth of every version of every recording of the Beatles. He also shoots guns now. But at least he hates sports and expresses an interest in things like philosophy. The mom zones out immediately with any discussion of things of that nature.

Then there is me, where I literally eat all things considered intellectual right up. At first it was very much an ego thing, but when I first entered college I became legitimately interested and thoroughly enjoyed it all (literature, philosophy, and so on)

>> No.2719919

>>2719880
>shooting guns, watching football, drinking wine, and gardening

OK, this is fucking creepy, those are my mum's exact hobbies. She's a competitive shooter, recently got into rugby, likes wine (but who doesn't), and when she has a free weekend at home she spends >70% of the time working on our vegetable garden.

>> No.2719925

>>2719915
And now you say you're going to medical school soon? SO AM I. WHAT THE FUCK.

>> No.2719933

>>2719823
It's strange how that works. My dad has worked in a shitty floor job for 25 years, yet he got me into reading literature instead of kids books at 13, introduced me to 20th century avant-garde music and art and other shit like that.

>> No.2719937

>>2719933
I guess it's true, there's no accounting for taste.

>> No.2719966

>>2719933
Pretty much this, my dad is bohemian as fuck (although he is pretty wealthy), and he has an amazing taste in books.

>>2719384
I'm pretty sure they only read it to fit in.

Anyways, you get your sister/mom a copy of Venus in Chains, maybe you can ease the pleb out of her

>> No.2719992

>>2719925
greetings other me, I always thought it would be cool to have a clone/bro. It would have been nice to have you here a couple years ago when I needed decent teammates for Halo and COunter Strike

>> No.2719998

>>2719992
And the first crack appears. I've always been a Halo fan, but couldn't get into CS.

>> No.2720000

>Read Lolita
>Read It
>Read Dune
>Read The Stranger
>Read Starship Troopers
>Read Moby Dick
>Read House of Leaves

It sure is fun reading for fun and not to be a reader with a lemon tart stuck up his taint.

>> No.2720004

>>2719966
>Venus in Chains
>in Chains
>Chains

>> No.2720013

>>2719998
not quite yet. I never really played CS either, but I tacked that on there figuring if you didn't play Halo, you probably played CS. I played Halo 2 on live religiously when it first came out.

>> No.2720025

>>2719823
>>My mum is a very successful doctor (now head administrator of the biggest hospital within 500km),
How did you manage that, having (at least) three kids?

I want to know more about your mom. She sounds impressive.

>> No.2720029

>>2719937
That's why Kubrick included so much classical music in Clockwork Orange. He figured is SS officers could have such refined taste and be interested in the arts an philosophy, yet still succumb to being dogs for the Nazi party, then refined taste really had no bearing on the quality of life or the people who enjoy that particular quality. Hence the Beethoven and other classical music playing while Alex went about doing adolescent things very unbecoming of the masterful music playing in the background.

>> No.2720032
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2720032

>check out these plebs who think halo 2 and cs make them hardcore gamers

>> No.2720035

ITT affirmative action.

>> No.2720039

>>2720013
I'm not really into multiplayer in general, to be honest. I find it a bit frustrating, because as much as I like video games, I'm pretty bad at them. I put so many hours into Halo 2 in high school, but only the campaign. It was a bit sad, now that I think about it.

Nowadays I mostly play stealth games and platformers.

Still, this is cool. Are you doing medicine now, or starting next year? Which uni?

Also sorry, everyone, for non-lit discussion.

>> No.2720055

So much apathy. Neither of my parents read. Nor does my little brother. Or any of my cousins. Or any of the immediate family anymore. I'm literally the black sheep for being halfway literate.

The only human being who ever encouraged my reading habit was my old-country Portuguese great-grandmother. She was from a good family, essentially married a deadbeat, came to America, learned English from reading the classics, and then passed it on to me prior to her death.

And this whole "mom being hospital admin" shit is weird at fuck. My mother runs the pregnancy center of one of the largest hospital units in New England.

>> No.2720057

My Mom has good taste in books, she just never reads the ones that she knows are "good". She's a busy person so I know it would be hard for to actually sit down and think about a book like The Brothers Karamozav or The Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. So instead she just kind of reads junk with a somewhat interesting but formulaic plot line.

Deep down she has good taste though. Maybe you should think about that OP.

>> No.2720061

I don't really mind it. A girl at my work was reading it today, and she admits that she NEVER reads . . sure, I'd like her to read something a bit more substantive, but I'm just glad that she finds pleasure in the written word. It might lead her to reading other, better stuff . . or, alternately, she could keep reading shit. Either way - it maintains reading as a vital and 'fun' hobby, which is always good.

>> No.2720063

>>2720039
I still have to finish my senior year, but MCAT and so on are all squared away. I am debating between Northwestern, Loma Linda as my top two choices. I am already accepted to KU med school, But I would prefer not to go there so it is my fall back school.. The only classes I have left in my undergrad are for my degree in philosophy, which I only decided to go for a year ago. All my hard sciences and BA in biology is finished save for my capstone which I am sort of doing this summer. (In reality I am just doing an internship for some biology research at Stowers and calling it my capstone)

Would like to go to one in San Francisco, but those are all rather hard to get into, especially for an out-of-stater, but I applied nonetheless. It will still be a while before I hear back from all of the schools I applied to. What about you, which med school are you planing on or currently attending? ANd what did you major in for your undergrad?

I haven't had much time for video games at all once I entered college, But back in the day I was quite good at Halo 2, good enough to at least win a few tournaments, now I suck at all multiplayer games as well.


>>2720032
We weren't all around to play the original Unreal Tournament or Quake, sorry. Sometimes you just plays whatever is popular at the time, return to /v/ if this offends you.

>> No.2720066

>>2720055
TIL everyone on /lit/ has successful doctor mothers, seriously there are like 4 just in this thread

>> No.2720072

>>2720025
She is impressive. We moved away from my dad when I was 8, and for about 10 years she worked herself halfway to death. Just amazing commitment and diligence and disregard for her own happiness, for the sake of her kids. It really makes me ashamed at how easy life has been for me.

>> No.2720105

Why bother buying a kindle if all you're going to read is shitty best sellers?

>> No.2720104

>>2720072

Better get busy finding a deadbeat husband and spawning three useless mouths to feed then.

>> No.2720107

>>2720063
I'm at ANU in Australia right now, finishing a bachelor of science & economics, majoring in physics (econ doesn't have any majors here, it's weird). It's also my first preference for med, because it's well-reputed and the other top medical schools in the country are at inner-city campuses in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, and the big cities stress me out.

>> No.2720113

My mother reads Janet Evanovich. I'm sure she reads other things, too, I just have no idea what they might be.

>> No.2720136

>>2720107
excellent, econ is definitely a more useful thing to learn compared to philosophy. They never teach you the practical business aspect of being a doctor here in America.

How is practicing as a doctor over there (I understand you guys have universal healthcare). Pros and Cons, from what you have seen?

Here in America, small private healthcare clinics are more efficient and better at treating patients etc. But there are less and less doctors wanting to work for private clinics instead of big hospitals because the big hospitals allow for for flexibility in terms of not having to work quite as hard, whereas private clinics are essentially working as a doctor and the owner of a business simultaneously. I imagine in a the next 20 or so years, small private clinics will become virtually extinct in America.

If we ever do get around to universalizing healthcare it will be shit here. We are kind of screwed no matter what healthcare is too unreasonably expensive as it is now, but government healthcare in America is only marginally better than the quality healthcare given in third world countries.

Also old school hip hop is tight as hell, That and the newer "underground" hip hop (MF Doom, CYNE, Aesop Rock etc.) is all I have been listening to lately.

Sorry for typing so much crap, it is just nice to meet another denizen on /lit/ with so many similar circumstances

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiOcVWQY2bc

>> No.2720139

>>2720136
not to butt into the conversation you guys seem to be having, but, damn that song is god-tier. Seriously, that song makes me mourn the state of popular hip hop nowadays. Truly a classic, CL Smooth and Pete Rock turned me onto jazz in general

>> No.2720142
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2720142

>>2720136
>CYNE
>MF DOOM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpaonSDPw7Y

I think this thread is quickly becoming derailed, polite sage.

>> No.2720145

It's almost the social equivalent of reading Lolita or anything written by de Sade in public.
You don't tell people you read these particular works.

>> No.2720150

>>2720145
Lolita was well written, and it didn't contain graphic depictions of sex.

The shades of gray is literally pornography.

>> No.2720152

>>2720145
Fuck that, I'll talk about Lolita anywhere and with anywhom I want. If any erotically charged work has literary merit, it is that.

>> No.2720154

>>2719992
>>2719880
>>2719919
>>2719925
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CJ_HsX7PkQ

>> No.2720171

Both dad and mom read a lot. Mom´s a history teacher and very smart, and dad didn´t finish college, but worked on IT all his life and he´s retiring this year, but he loves humanities and reads a lot as well. The last years, he became a self taught specialist in spanish language. Not as smart as mom, but very well read and has a wider range of interests.

Younger sister is a doctor, and she doesn't read anything. Just works and when she doesn't, bitches about work. Younger brother studies law, but other than that, doesn't read. As a typical young adult he does a lot of things except reading. Don't blame him though. He was born after 1990, so you could expect that.

>> No.2720178

>>2720171
Such is the nature of things. My greatest fear is never having time nor motivation to read once my career is in full swing.

Actually that fear isn't limited to reading but things I plan on doing in general.

There is a nice quote that goes along the lines "In their youth men gather great logs and from brilliant trees to build a castle, yet in their old age, they are content to build a cottage with the materials they have gathered"

>> No.2720179

>>2720136
Man, this just gets more and more eerie. That video is on my YouTube favourites, I just bought Mecca and the Soul Brother and PeteStrumentals last week. Great choice there, man. There's a Wu-Tang/Beatles mashup I discovered about a year ago (can't remember how), it's freaking good, uploading to Mediafire now.

To be honest, I don't think I've learned much practical stuff from my econ degree. It's changed the way I think about society, and I'm very happy about that, but there's not much that I can apply directly.

Honestly, I don't know much about the doctor life. I know how it is for my mum, but I don't think she represents the norm. It doesn't seem like there's much of a divide between public & private, it's just that people who can afford private care will take it, because waiting lists are WAY shorter for anything that's not life-threatening. Lately my mum has been having big problems at the hospital because their surgeons keep booking rosters at the private clinic down the road without giving much notice. But things don't seem to be changing much, you just see articles in the newspaper every few weeks about how long the waiting lists are for surgeries. (This is making me realise how little I know about our health system, I should fix this.)

Funny that you should say private clinics are disappearing, I figured it was going the other way, and that was the reason why medical expenses are so high over there. Do you have any plans for your career, do you want to go public or private, specialist or no? My mum seems keen for me to do pathology, hell if I know why.

I feel like we should try to talk about lit a bit, huh. So, what have you been reading lately?

>> No.2720185

>>2720178
I think you quoted the wrong post

>> No.2720196

My sister reads whatever fad book series is popular at the time (Harry Potter, Twilight, ASOIAF). She's probably read Fifty Shades of Grey but I'm not going to ask her. She also sometimes reads classic sci-fi stuff, so I guess her taste isn't complete shit.

Neither of my parents read. They're educated but apathetically middle class.

>> No.2720208

>>2720179
Are you familiar with the Danger Mouse Album where he mixes Beatles album White with Jay-Z's album black to make album Gray? It's pretty neat to listen to.

Anywho, healthcare is so expensive here because (as cliche as it sounds) The drug and insurance companies are making absurd profits. (for example on average a single vial of Botox costs roughly 24 cents to make including labors costs and the R&D that went into developing the drug; that same 24 cent vial sells from 600 to 700 dollars; that's 2,600 times as much as it cost to make) The profiteering is relatively unregulated because the drug and insurance companies have the most money to keep lobbyists in Washington in order to keep Washington off their backs. IT's cliche and nothing new, but it's the reason healthcare costs so much here.

I would like to do private, but it seems like it is too much work to be worth it in the end. Right now I am leaning towards neurology, opthamology, or some sort of surgeon (thoracic or neuro) I am sure it will all change once I do more rounds with specialists in med school though.

I just finished reading all of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker books, the first three were hilarious, but the last one was rather dismal. The last actual literature I read was earlier this year, I finished Moby Dick for the first time, probably one of my favorite book of all time now.
Right now I am debating between starting The Old Man and the Sea, or How Should We Then Live (an account of the rise and decline of Western thought and culture, seems sort of preachy but interesting nonetheless)

And yourself? books? Does pathology interest you etc.

>> No.2720212

>>2720185
No, I was just commenting on how his sister and brother don't seem terribly interested in literature, nor have time for it.

sorry for not being more precise in my response before droning on.

>> No.2720225

>>2720178
Well, she spends a couple of hours a day watching TV, so no, career has nothing to do.

And don't be afraid. Of course you won't be able to read as much as you do in your freshman years, but you can always spend 20 mins before sleeping, or when commuting if you use public transport, or get up early on weekends and spending a good chunk of the morning. It's like exercising. There's no excuse for not doing it.

I don't exercise, but that's because I don't like it and I'm fucking lazy to do it, not because I have a lot of things to do, which is true, btw.

>> No.2720243

>>2720208
Yeah, The Grey Album, it's a good concept but I didn't like a lot of the songs, personally. A few were good, but the restriction he put on himself was just too much, I thought. Not enough source material. Here's the link to Wu/Beatles one, hope you like it: http://www.mediafire.com/?1aj48fmm0suwnwg

Hmm, that's interesting that the drugs are so expensive in the US but not here, since most of them are probably made by the same companies. I don't know if there are price ceilings imposed by our govt., or if they're just massively subsidised (I know they are to some extent, but not by how much), or some other reason.

I read the first two Hitchhiker's books when I was about 14, but I didn't like them much. I've never been able to laugh at books, the humour it just doesn't affect me for some reason. I think that The Old Man and the Sea is hard to pin down, because it's an incredibly simple story that has some very deep undertones about human struggle, but it just either hits you or it doesn't, depending on who you are. I don't know, really, that's just my opinion. Worth the read, though.

As a reader I'm a dilettante, so it's hard to say what I actually like. And during the semester I don't have much time, so the last thing I read was Midnight's Children, which took me about 2 months, and I didn't like it much. Next in the pile is Cryptonomicon, I've been looking forward to it for a while.

And as for a medical specialty, I really don't know. Pathology would be alright, because I'm a bit of an introvert, but I think I'll have to see the alternatives first-hand, like you. I've read a few of Oliver Sacks' books and he makes neurology look fascinating, so that's my current leaning, but who knows, really.

>> No.2720252

>>2720243
downloading it now, thanks. And yeah, Danger Mouse's concept was a lot cooler than the actual music.

I've never actually read anything by Hemingway, I've heard it is a better idea to start off with his short stories, but I don't own any and can't be bothered to read them on a computer. I read Farewell to Arms in high school on Spark Notes so that doesn't really count... I suppose it's rather inexcusable to have not actually read Hemingway thus far

I've heard good things about Cryptonomicon in passing. I had a friend reading it 2 or so years ago, and he wasn't very technically literate, and he still enjoyed it so the story must be at least that good.

>> No.2720286

My sister used to read good books. She's let her intellect go, however. Now she's into Twilight, and Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Stephen King ... Crap.

My grandmother, MSRIP, loved romance novels. (Ew ...) But she also peppered her reading habits with ethnic poetry, and historical dramas, and non-fiction, and lots of other good stuff.

My parents don't read anything beside medical journals. They don't have the time.

My brother-in-law reads Stephen King exclusively. He's an intellectual milquetoast.

>> No.2720293

My mom reads Christian self-help books.

My dad doesn't read anything aside from schematics.

My brother reads engineering and physics textbooks.

My sisters don't read.

I enjoy literary fiction, on my own.

>> No.2720297

>>2720252
I know what you mean when you say you should have read Hemingway already, I feel the same about loads of writers. I read a column by Nick Hornby where he was talking about reading David Copperfield for the first time (in his early 50s), and how he'd always sort-of assumed everyone had already read by their 20th birthday. And then Hitchens said how he used Sparknotes and other summaries to make it seem like he'd read way more than he really had. I don't know where I'm going with this, but I guess it's just that old platitude, that there's a first time for everything, eh.

>> No.2720303

>>2720286
>My parents don't read anything beside medical journals
Why is this thread full of doctors and their children?

>> No.2720320

>>2720145

I actually read Lolita while I was at work.

I was teaching 9th grade English

Yes I did it just to say I did it.

>> No.2720333

>>2720320
Did anyone notice or say anything, or were you bitterly disappointed that they didn't?

>> No.2720334

My dad never reads. My brother never reads. My little sister reads shit like Twilight and Hunger Games. My mother reads those shits, plus romantic and vampire shits, and I recently got her to read some Vonnegut (but that's the highest tier she'll manage). My step-father always tries to get me to talk about old sci-fi like Asimov (which I'll never get to).

Woe is the life of a reader from a poor family.

>> No.2720338

>>2720297
It's true, to my shame, I have done the same thing with wikipedia and such on various authors and what not. I try to get some background info so I can hold a conversation about them despite not having read any of their work (ie. Virgian Woolf)

Well I guess with that, I will get started on Hemingway. It was a pleasure talking with you anon, I'll keep an eye out for a doc in Australia who likes old school hip hop. Thanks for the album, so far it is quite good, already through it on my ipod. Best of luck in the medical profession, and I quite enjoyed making your anonymous acquaintance. Conversations such as these are why I frequent this board. I am sure we will talk again without being aware we are talking to one another again, but that's the magic of 4chan. But I best be off to bed now.

>> No.2720343

I was hanging out with some old friends from high school the other day since we're all back from school for the summer, and all four of their moms are reading that book in a book circle; two of their twelve year-old sisters are reading it too.

>> No.2720344

>>2720333

Eh, I was reading it on my iPhone, I didn't actually want to get fired.

>> No.2720349

>>2720303
Being a doctor isn't exactly pushing paper or cleaning garbage, usually it is the cream of the crop in society in the medical profession, so naturally the environment around them is going to be more conducive to aspiring to read and experience things of a "higher" nature. A bias to be sure, but it is one I have yet to really see an exception to; it is a subtle thing.

>> No.2720352

>>2720338
Yeah, it was great talking to you and derailing this thread. Best of luck!

>> No.2720354

>>2720344
Ah, very disappointing.

>> No.2720356

So...I'm a dominant, I've been doing it for a long time, apparently the main character of those books is actually pretty tame compared to me.

Should I expect to be drowning in pussy when all these women decide they want to try out a little of what they read? Or is it just going to remain an idle fantasy for them?

This is kind of like watching Harry Potter get really popular and being a real live wizard.

>> No.2720359

>>2720303

I've noticed this board in general has a few doctor's children. Also one or two doctors. Perhaps there's something about doctors and their children that nurtures a love for literature?

>> No.2720368

>>2720354

I never was able to understand pedophiles...spend any length of time being responsible for 14-year-old girls and having sex with them quickly becomes the very last thing on your mind.

They're just so vapid and their taste is horrifying, it's almost difficult to believe they eventually grow into real women.

My main reaction to Lolita was, wait, so why wasn't he just happy marrying her mother? She seemed nice enough, actually.

>> No.2720375

>>2720303
>>2720359
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physician_writer

>> No.2720400

>>2720286

Oh god, tell me he doesn't exclusively read new King works. If so, do you mind if I kick him in the dick?

King is a meh tier author, but there are a couple of his old short stories that I thought were decent. Man can't write a novel to save his life. Always turn out too long winded or just plain bad.

Between Cell and Dreamcatcher, I've pretty much lost 98% of the iota of respect for him I had. Especially fucking Dreamcatcher. That was literally the worst book I've ever read and I suffered the first two of those godforsaken Twilight books. Even he admitted it was a piece of shit he didn't want to publish.

I vaguely recall hearing his son's debut novel was decent, though.

>> No.2720414

>>2720356

Probably not.

On one hand, this Fifty Shades whatever could open people up to the idea as something that's not just for freaks and sadistic fuckholes. On the other hand, it's probably just shallowly written trite and will linger in the imaginations of the public until the next literary phenomenon.

Pisses me off that a quality series I enjoy, Nana to Kaoru (a manga), which addresses BDSM with an understanding of the relationship between a pair and a genuine passion about the subject matter, will almost certainly never get a proper English publishing.

>> No.2720426
File: 18 KB, 244x320, 1282084096199.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2720426

>>2720375

>"There are men and classes of men that stand above the common herd: the soldier, the sailor, and the shepherd not infrequently; the artist rarely; rarelier still, the clergyman; the physician almost as a rule. He is the flower (such as it is) of our civilization; and when that stage of man is done with, and only to be marvelled at in history, he will be thought to have shared as little, as any in the defects of the period, and most notably exhibited the virtues of the race. Generosity he has, such as is possible to those who practise an art, never to those who drive a trade; discretion, tested by a hundred secrets; tact, tried in a thousand embarrassments; and what are more important, Heraclean cheerfulness and courage. So that he brings air and cheer into the sick room, and often enough, though not so often as he wishes, brings healing."

That's fucking awesome, I am going to show this to my dad, he'll eat this this right up. He is always going on about how being a doctor is such a privilege and despite all the politics and minor corruption, it is still a beacon from the corruption that plagues every other field etc.

>> No.2720452

>>2720414

Hey, I really like Nana to Kaoru, too. You'd think that with the success of 50 Shades the publishers might change their mind about putting it out in the US. Obviously there is a market for BDSM stories for teenagers here.

>> No.2720479

>>2719915
>implying guns and football are bad things

Condemning your parents intelligence because they take advantage of one of the most intelligent and well-thought amendments to our constitution is just asinine; I guess I can understand your dislike of football, though a love of sports is not "anti-intellectual" in the slightest.

>> No.2720484

>>2720479
parents'

>> No.2720516

>>2720400
>Oh god, tell me he doesn't exclusively read new King works.

I noticed he'd acquired three of the older novels a few days ago, though, so at least there's a slight incline in his reading habits. Rose Madder was one of them, which I thought was an okay read despite the pedestrian topic.

But all he reads is Stephen King. It feel pity and a vague disgust for his mind.

>If so, do you mind if I kick him in the dick?

Please. He's a paragon of pleb.

>King is a meh tier author, but there are a couple of his old short stories that I thought were decent. Man can't write a novel to save his life.

His writing becomes successively worse with each book. Carrie is all right, if you take it for what it is. It (the book named "It") was actually sort of good, if too long-winded -- again, if you take it for what it is. Most everything else is just blahhhh.

I agree his short stories are his best works.

>I vaguely recall hearing his son's debut novel was decent, though.

I doubt I'll get around to it.

>> No.2720517

>>2720516
>It feel pity

It = I*

>> No.2720525

>>2720516
Stephen King is a lot better than you give him credit for.

Salem's Lot
Pet Sematary
Shining
It
Long Walk
11/22/63
Running Man
The Stand

Learn to open up your mind to pleb tastes

>> No.2720533
File: 29 KB, 643x557, 1279052383758.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2720533

>>2719338

I was on the train a couple of weeks ago. This woman is seating next to me reading fifty shades of gray. I glance at the page and this is what I read:

"Does this mean that you are going to make love to me tonight?"

<--- My face

>> No.2720534

>>2719384

non-dumbass books are boring.

It's like those nerds that read only Martin's stuff.

>> No.2720542

>>2720525
>Salem's Lot
Ack. Please.

>Pet Sematary
No. No. No. This was ridiculous. The most egregious stupidity was the character of the wife. She believes death is evil. No one has ever believed death is evil. No one has ever been that retarded.

>Shining
I can agree on this one. It's good-ish. Not as good as It or Carrie, however.

>It
Yes, I already said it was all right.

>Long Walk
>11/22/63
>Running Man
Have not read any of these.

>The Stand
Ugh. The first half was good. The second half was terrible.

I really liked his book about a high school murder spree. I forget the name. That is perhaps his best novel.

>> No.2720556

mechanic father reads shitty existentialism, historic fiction and romantic poetry
mother reads nothing but shitty fantasy and goldenage sci fi

>> No.2720558

>>2720542
>no one has ever believed death is evil

what the fuck are you a hippie or something

>> No.2720565

Parent 1 only reads books on history and/or motorcycles
Parent 2 only reads modern fiction like the time travellers wife, The Tiger's Wife - paperbacks that've won awards and almost ubiquitously have handwriting printed on the covers.
I don't think my sibling reads at all. There are lots of plays and books of poems around the house, but someone like Thoreau or Thompson there'll only be one book of theirs.

>> No.2720568

My mom reads Christian romances. She did get me into Dickens though, and now he's my favorite author. All because I agreed to read it if she bought me a copy of
A Tale of Two Cities, one of her favorite books.

>> No.2720571

I agree that Fifty Shades of Grey is basically erotic literature, but my girlfriend and I have been reading it together and sometimes it gets hard to pay full attention to the book. That's all I'm going to say.

>> No.2720575

>>2720571

>not reading De Sade with your gf

do you even read?
you're doing it wrong
get on my level

etc.

>> No.2720580

>>2720571

>implying you have sex
>implying your girlfriend isn't cheating on you with a black person

>> No.2720589

>>2720575
>>2720580

Christ, /lit/ is more hostile than /mu/

>> No.2720593
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2720593

>>2720580
>tfw Sunhawk shitposts intentionally for once

>> No.2720594

My father reads Biggles and old war books. He has a collection of Biggles books that were banned in Australia and still are because no one bothered to change the law in 70 years or something. Catch-22 is his favourite novel. He drinks port wine and listens to Pink Floyd. Classy motherfucker, and introduced me to literature at age eight via Hitchhiker's Guide.

Mother: Anything with Fabio on the front. My first faps were flicking through those books and reading the sex scenes. As such I now have a keen eye and freakish knowledge of where the sex scenes are in chick lit down to a few pages' margin of error. [Fifty per cent chance of opening with a sex scene, definitely one in third chapter, exact middle of the book, a lesbian/affair/kinky sex scene a few chapters after that, and one every twenty-thirty pages until the end of the book, where it closes with a sex scene with her husband's best friend.

Brother: Nada. Zoo Magazine is as far as he goes.

Sister: Twilight, FSoG, HP, etc. Read Fight Club but doesn't like any other Chucky P. Once got her to read my stuff in our post-coital mist and she said it seemed 'deep.' I have henceforth striven to improve my writing immensely.

>> No.2720595

>>2720594 cont'd
Girlfriend: Hit-and-miss. Loves Kelley Armstrong and Harry Potter. She like Lolita's writing, but couldn't look past hating Humbert. Is full-retard with films. Ten seconds in to Herzog's Grizzly Man, she said, 'this guy is annoying, I don't like him' and that was her mind made up. Nothing in the way Herzog presented him made her look beyond his superficial flamboyancy. Fell asleep in Dead Man, a movie I only got her to watch because 'Johnny Depp is hot.' Hated Lost In Translation because of the moral implications of cheating on spouses. Le Samourai was my biggest failure. Did not like Drive, and said it ruined 'The Notebook guy.' Laughed at the fucking Coke joke in Dr Strangelove, something I cringe at.

Loves the Big Bang Theory.

The answer is, no, I don't know either.

>> No.2720607
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2720607

>>2720594
>sister
>post-coital

You have my attention.

>> No.2720614

>>2720594
>Sister
>post-coital mist
Either you made a huge typo or I'm suddenly very interested in this story.

>> No.2720618

>>2720607
>>2720614
Post-coitalmind

>> No.2720631
File: 462 KB, 350x216, skanklaff.gif [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
2720631

>>2720594
>Zoo Magazine is as far as he goes.
>Zoo Magazine
>Zoo Magazine
>Zoo Magazine

>> No.2720633

>atlas shrugged is my sisters favorite book

>> No.2720641

My parents don't read.
They used to, but they got old and tired and now they only watch tv.
My father used to read Asimov and lot's of crappy paperback science fiction.
My mother majored in english but she read over and over sommerset maugham and graham green before abbandoning books and watching tons of reality tv from morning to evening.

>> No.2720653
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2720653

My dad has box upon box of books in his attic, i looked through the ones I could reach last weekend when I stayed over and not a single fucking one of them is remotely interesting

>> No.2720656

>>2720641
>the most depressing post in this thread

It's especially a shame when old people don't read. That's one of the things that will help them to stave off senility.

>> No.2720659

>Daneil Steel

that feel when the moment you realize your relatives were plebs this whole time

>> No.2720660

>>2720641
That is a really sad story. And I'm afraid that I'll end up like that. It takes a lot of effort for me to read consistently, so I can imagine myself just getting tired of it one day, and just settling for easy, mindless crap.

>> No.2720661

>>2720653
>J.G Ballard

What's wrong with that?

>> No.2720671

ITT: privileged little shits without a shred of gamble.

>> No.2720723

>>2720671
>ITT: privileged little shits without a shred of gamble
>without a shred of gamble

What does that even mean?

>> No.2721187

>>2720055

> I'm literally the black sheep for being halfway literate.

At least you know it's only half–way…

>> No.2721192

>>2719368
this

>> No.2721196

>>2720723
sounds like a malapropism

>> No.2721219

>>2721196

Does it? What was "gamble" supposed to be?

>> No.2721221

>>2719338
My mother reads a lot. I always admired her for that until I started reading in my spare time and I realized that she reads terrible books. But I love my mom so it's whatever.

>> No.2721456

>>2720542

>"Let's get it on."

The school shooting one is called Rage. I've only read it because it was in a collection called The Bachman Books alongside Running Man, Long Walk, and Roadwork, which is probably one of the only ways you'll be able to find a copy. It was very deliberately put out of print because of rumors of it being connected to several IRL school shootings.

King says he's happy it's out of print.

And it's not like King is a terrible author, he just has lots of flaws that were never really corrected.

If you're interested about the shooting stuff, three out of the four shooters owned a copy of Rage.

>> No.2721464

>>2721456

Oh, probably should've mentioned that you'll only find it in older copies of The Bachman Books because subsequent reprintings have removed it.