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/lit/ - Literature

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2755158 No.2755158 [Reply] [Original]

So /lit/, what are you reading?

>> No.2755161

a book

>> No.2755164

Civilization and Its Discontents
Running on Emptiness: The Pathology of Civilization

>> No.2755167

Catcher in the Rye. Given that it's a modern classic and that I'm 22 and haven't gotten around to reading it yet.

Also, after sorting out my bookshelf I realised that my pile books of 'To read' adorning my bedside table has evolved into a half a bookshelf or 90 so books.

I have a problem.

>> No.2755168

Cees Nooteboom - Rituals

Finished the first part yesterday, I had to go out and buy a push-pencil (recently my stationary is in storage) before I continued, just so I could underline awesome sentences and write notes. Good stuff.

>> No.2755170

>>2755167
>I realised that my pile books of 'To read' adorning my bedside table has evolved into a half a bookshelf or 90 so books.

I know that feel all to well bro.

>> No.2755174

Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr.

He really has an aversion of apostrophes. Even when you think he might be caught out by 'I'll' he goes and writes 'I/ll' instead.

>>2755167
>>2755170
I've given up counting the numbers in Mt. TBR.

>> No.2755175

I'll hopefully finish Inherent Vice tonight/this morning, I'm starting The Trial tomorrow, and then it's on to finishing the rest of Mason & Dixon

>> No.2755180

Revenge of the Lawn by Richard Brautigan and Insects are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wings by Kuzhali Manickavel.

>> No.2755181

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Just finished the chapter with the infamous sermon, which was pretty neat but probably would've been more powerful if I had any inclination toward believing in the Christian god.

>> No.2755184

Just finished The Great Gatsby, it was alright. Fairly well written but it failed to really engross me in whatever plot there actually was.
Now reading Andy Warhol's autiobiog type book, 2 chapters in and I'm engrossed.. I'm a sucker for the 60s.

>> No.2755187

Oblomov by Goncharov and The White House Years by Kissinger and Cosomopolis by John Delillo.

Also just started The Man Who Never Died by William M. Adler (about Joe Hill) and just borrowed Ten Days that Shook the World by John Reed

>> No.2755189

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

The Samurai Swordsman:Master of War by Stephen Turnbull

Anarchism by Daniel Guerin (read it once already)

>> No.2755191

Mason & Dixon, The Sailor who fell form grace with the sea, Collected stories (Marquez) and The Complete poems of Whitman

I need to stop starting stuff and just work on finishing this lot

>> No.2755194

Speed of Dark.

It's okay. Over 1/3 of the way through and I don't know what the point is yet. It feels like the kind of story that Ted Chiang would write a lot better and in half the number of pages.

>> No.2755196

Current long-term project is the Bible, just finished Isiah, having a little break before Jeremiah. I've also just finished Olaf Stapledon's Star Maker, which was very good.

>> No.2755202

Just finished Fifty Shades Of Grey (I gave into temptation and it was awful) Now curing my soul and reading The Hobbit instead!

>> No.2755203

Politics of Women's Liberation by Jo Freeman

>> No.2755204

Christopher Hitches - Hitch 22
Nikolai Gogol - Dead Souls
Edward Gibbon - The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Tom Wolfe - Bonfire of the Vanities

I recently got a tablet, so I've been kind of polygamous with books.

Nearly done with Hitch, Gibbon is more of a long term project (shit is like 4000 pages long).

>> No.2755209

hey, OP, where'd you got that picture?

>> No.2755359

2666 by Bolano
Beyond Good and Evil by Nietzsche
A Game of Thrones by Martin

>> No.2755369

I've been struggling to get through The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins but I'm about to start The Crucible for AP Humanities summer work.

>> No.2755374

The Scarlet Letter

>> No.2755380

>>2755158

Mikhail Bulgakov - The Master and Margarita
Thomas Pynchon - Inherent Vice

>> No.2755408

Death in Venice - Thomas Mann

>> No.2755415

>>2755170
>>2755167
>that feel when your 'to read' list grew from 4 or 5 books to 50 or 60
>that feel when you browse /mu/ and those 2 albums you needed to listen to is now 30gb worth of .rar's
>that feel when you have three full t.v series to watch
>that feel when those one or two films you needed to watch has grown to the entire French surrealist movement
>that feel when downloading eBooks with no concern whatsoever

The digital age is fantastic, but it's so hard to keep up. There's just no time.

>> No.2755417

Erich Fromm - The Art of Being
Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now
Kenzaburo Oe - Teach Us To Outgrow Our Madness

>> No.2755423

"Tender is the Night" by F Scott Fitzgerald

>> No.2755431

A couple of Tolstoy's short works and The Trial.

>> No.2755438

>>2755415
Me three.

Moby-Dick
Swann's Way

>> No.2755440

>>2755415
My sentiments exactly.

I think I just like creating lists. I have lists for so many things.

>> No.2755447

I just finished ''John Dies at the End'' and I'm about to start ''Brave New World''

>> No.2755477

Woman in OP's pic:

"I love you too, book, but you don't want to hug me right now. I'm ab... I'm a-a-aaaachoo!"

>> No.2755569

The Histories by Herodotus

Also, I know that feel about the to-read list getting ever longer. Mine is about 25 books at the moment, and only getting longer. Plus, my free time in which to read them is about to be drastically reduced.

>> No.2755597

I'm about to finish Pale Fire, then I'm probably moving on to Selections from The Spectator and The Tattler by Addison and Steele.

My books-on-the-backburner list is getting longer and longer.

>> No.2755631

Baal by Bertold Brecht

>> No.2755655

>>2755380
Loved the master and marguerita, is it a known book where you live? In france not so much...
I just finished the gambler by dostoyevsky.
Trying to read sophie's world for the very interesting infos about philosophy, but the charaters are just a pain... I can't stand sophie.

>> No.2755670
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2755670

>>>/x/phile here

Just finished "The Ganymede Takeover" by P K Dick.

Currently reading "Creative Visualisations" which is
>pic related

>> No.2755673

>>2755670
Nice to see other /x/philes here!

>> No.2755685

>>2755431

In 2009 I read the Trial. It was a real slog. It's not a long book either. It was just such a bastard to get through. Every page felt like an uphill battle against the wind and other laboured metaphors.

>> No.2755686

Nietzsche: Philosopher, Psychologist, Antichrist by Walter Kaufmann

>> No.2755693

>>2755202

I am curious to know what kind of awful.

Having read Twilight, I admit Meyer is talented at keeping the reader turning the pages. The pace of her writing actually disguises the dubious quality of the content by keeping the reader moving.

>> No.2755717

>>2755693
Not that guy but here's an early highlight:

>His breathing is ragged, matching mine.

>“When did you start your period, Anastasia?” he asks out of the blue, gazing down at me.

>“Err… yesterday,” I mumble in my highly aroused state.

>“Good.” He releases me and turns me around.

>“Hold on to the sink,” he orders and pulls my hips back again, like he did in the playroom, so I’m bending down.

>He reaches between my legs and pulls on the blue string… what! And… a gently pulls my tampon out and tosses it into the nearby toilet. Holy fuck. Sweet mother of all… Jeez. And then he’s inside me… ah! Skin against skin… moving slowly at first… easily, testing me, pushing me… oh my. I grip on to the sink, panting, forcing myself back on him, feeling him inside me. Oh the sweet agony… his hands clasp my hips. He sets a punishing rhythm – in, out, and he reaches around and finds my clitoris, massaging me… oh jeez. I can feel myself quicken.

If I had a vagina it would be dripping

>> No.2755823

>>2755693
The characters were one-dimensional awful and both protagonists seemed immature and they argued a ridiculous amount. But the sex scenes were pretty interesting. A bit too vanilla for me, but when he cracks out the whips, things get really hot. It's a shame the writing was too repetitive, it had some real potential, shame the it just wasn't up to scratch.

>> No.2755920
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2755920

>>2755823
I dove into this book without knowing anything but the buzz, not even that it was damned twilight fanfiction with the names changed!

It really did have some potential.

>> No.2756023

>>2755920
I didn't know it was fanfic either, but now it makes sense, the characters are so disgustingly similar to twilight that it kills the vibe of the book. I'm just glad it didn't actually have vampires in it.

>> No.2756026

egyptian religion, wallis budge

>> No.2756030

songs of a dead dreamer. Never been a fan of short stories but I'm enjoying it.

>> No.2756031

I finished Life of Pi about fourty seconds ago.

>> No.2756033

>>2756031
Thoughts?

>> No.2756038

>>2756031 not the same person but I raged at the ending of that, I enjoyed it though.

>> No.2756041
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2756041

>>2756031
>Life of Pi.

>> No.2756042

>>2756033
Entertaining. I'm an atheist myself but the chapters where his religion motivates him were beautiful. Not in the typical "MY FAITH WILL CARRY MEEEE" sense either. It surprised me several times and held my attention all the way through. No corners were cut on the research. Either that or Yann really knows his stuff. I learned a bit about animals, animal philosophy and sea currents. Oh, and apparently Bengal tigers can drink saline. It was a good read that was easy to follow.

>> No.2756045
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2756045

on Kindle

>> No.2756060

On page 215 of Infinite Jest because I am a pretentious fuck.

>> No.2756066

>Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
>Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
>A Lesson Before Dying by Earnest Gaines for my AP summer reading

>> No.2756072

I'm on the Lectures section of Collected Non-fiction of Borges. I have a load of religious books to move on to next, I'm not sure which to start with. Eastern Religions or the Druids? I might take both the Bhagavad gita and the Mabinogion with me.

>> No.2756074

The odyssey

I like my women like I like my literature: 3000 years old.

>> No.2756075
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2756075

Halfway through this and bored as fuck.

Going to blow through it but god damn is it underwhelming.

>> No.2756083

I'm listening to The Pickwick Papers, read by Patrick Tull.

Excellent reader.

>> No.2756084

>>2755158

Wonderland by Joyce Carol Oates

It's really good. Very powerful and difficult to read at times, though.

Also Heart of Darkness for the third time because any course even marginally related to British modernism has to assign it for reasons.

>> No.2756088
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2756088

It's going to be a long ride.

>> No.2756090

>>2756075

I always find Huxley a little tiring when he's trying to expound his own philosophy. Stay away from Island if BNW is boring you; it barely even has a plot.

>> No.2756101

Right now I am reading the biography of steve jobs lol

Don't know why, i even hate that guy

>> No.2756104

To Kill a Mockingbird.

Never read it before. I like it so far.

>> No.2756121

The Great Gatsby
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

>> No.2756130

At The Mountains of Madness, it's pretty fucking interesting so far. Seeing as I don't read often, and have read the sticky, what are some really good horror books one just has to read?

>> No.2756134
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2756134

>>2756121

>> No.2756135

>>2755167
I'm really glad my school made me read Catcher in the Rye properly when I was around 15-16. I'm not even in my twenties yet but I feel like I'm already way past relating to Holden or being able to tolerate his incessant bitching/ moaning/ whining.

At the time though, I was all too familiar with most of those feels. Mid-teens is probably a great time to read that book.

>> No.2756139

>>2756121
are you and idiot?

>> No.2756164

Sound and The Fury.

Almost done with Quenten's chapter and it's easily my favourite so far.

>> No.2756168
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2756168

>>2756134
>>2756139

Not my shizz guys

I do prefer a Bernard Cornwell novel series
inb4 hate
maybe I am to herp derp for it...

>> No.2756180

I'm around 200 pages into Infinite Jest, it has its moments of brilliance and I'm enjoying it so far.

However, it is a really taxing read. I'm thinking that since it's summer and I have a huge to-read pile and plenty of free time I might pick up something easier to read as well? Is it a good idea to try and juggle Infinite Jest with some lighter reading?
I really seem to be crawling through at a snails pace and want to use all this free-time productively.

I'm thinking of picking up either Good Omens, The bell jar, to the lighthouse or brave new world, Thoughts?
Suggestions?

>> No.2756230

>>2756180

i'm planning to tackle that next once i'm done with what i'm currently reading. i'm excited yet somewhat intimated by it.

>> No.2756235

>>2756180
>Good Omens

Read Nation instead, it's Pratchetts best non-discworld novel. Unless you're a huge Neil Gaiman, of course.

>> No.2756240

Prospero Burns
Yeah im a warhammer 40k fan....
But fuck Leman Russ and the wolves

>> No.2756243

Lolita. Really enjoying it, the irony, the prose and wordplay gets stuck in my head and never fails to crack a smile. ("Hamburger and Humberger", "Mum and Hum", poor Humbert, Humbert wallowed..")

I love the questions you ask yourself while reading it, the subtle new world vs old humour, just really loving it.

Gonna pick up some more Nabokov after I finish "Inherent Vice" by Pynhon as well.

>> No.2756245

Just finished catch-22

Re-reading lolita now, just because i wanted to read something familier, and not too difficult for a while.

Starting on Ulysses next

After that Moby Dick

>> No.2756247

>>2756240
Horus Heresy: the single greatest pulp fantasy series.

>> No.2756249

>>2756243
i liked "Umber and black Humberland"

>> No.2756250

http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/goodheart/rep-goodheart.htm
Stumbled on this article as a result of Wikipedia.
Great read.

>> No.2756251

I was about to start Ulysses, but am now waiting for the leatherbound copy I ordered to arrive.
Instead I started Crime and Punishment, having just finished the Double, Notes From the Underground, and other stories.

>> No.2756255

Yep the Horus Heresy is so awesome because it's the bible and every other great even rolled into one awesome essence of badassery. Idgas that the plot is so similar to lucifer's fall its still epic

>> No.2756268

Catch-22

>> No.2756278

Just finished: Less than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Now starting with: The 40 Laws of Power by Robert Greene

>> No.2756288

Lolita, after that I will probably read The Great Gatsby. Then I suppose I should finish A Feast for Crows.

>> No.2756310

>Epictetus' Discourses
>Some Hjalmar Soderberg short stories
>A story about this fictional waffen-SS officer who fucks whores and kills russians

>> No.2756320

>>2756278
How did you find less than zero?
It's on my to-read pile and I'm not sure how to prioritize it.

I read and enjoyed American Psycho, but I'm still pretty entry-tier when it comes to Bret Easton Ellis.

>> No.2756329

The Myth of Sisyphus

>> No.2756331

Gotta finish A Storm of Swords, then I'll probably move on to Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which I've been meaning to read for a while. On my backlog right now is the rest of ASOIAF, Know No Fear (I like 40k, sue me), Finnegan's Wake, and In Search of Lost Time.

>> No.2756336

Just finished: Ham on Rye
Started today: Ivanhoe

>> No.2756347

Catch-22, it's really good so far. Funny and entertaining.

>> No.2756354

>>2756320

I found less than zero was a good read. In my opinion: the book shows an interesting perspective from teenagers on drugs and is very disturbing .

Some good adult fiction

>> No.2756355

I'm nearing the end of Gaddis' The Recognitions. It's excellent; Gaddis doesn't get talked about nearly as much as he should.
I also just started Language and Problems of Knowledge by Noam Chomsky. Yeah yeah, babby's first linguistics; it's pretty interesting.

>> No.2756359

I've been reading The Years of Rice and Salt since somoene posted a thread about it on /lit/, oh, a few weeks ago now. It has a lot of flaws, but it is definitely engaging for a number of reasons. I'd have a lot to say about it when I'm done, but I'm not sure I'll be able to remember everything I thought of by the time I'm finished.

In any case, I'm looking forward to Hyperion when I finally finish this one.

>> No.2756375

Third book in ASOIAF series: Storm of Swords.

I've really liked the books so far. Martin's prose isn't anything amazing, but I think he excels at dialogue and creating a grand, overarching plot.

>> No.2756381

>>2756354
>the book shows an interesting perspective from teenagers on drugs and is very disturbing

Well then you'll fucking love The Rules of Attraction, which is quite possibly his best in my opinion.

>> No.2756467

>>2756381

Is it the book to the movie 'the rules of attraction' ? where that famous rape scene comes from.

>> No.2756476

The Crying of Lot 49, it's nicely accessible, especially for Pynchon

>> No.2756484

Just started Ulysses last night

>> No.2756494

>>2756484

good luck. I tried with the audio version... well i stoped after 10 min to much for my brain

>> No.2756495

The Rainbow Stories, by William T. Vollman.

Excited to finally start some Lovecraft next.

>> No.2756497

Journey to the End of the Night. Blowing my mind.

>> No.2756507

>>2756375
>Martin's prose isn't anything amazing

It's decent and improves throughout the series. I wish people stopped bitching about his prose.

>> No.2756520

I'm a tenth of the way in on Ulysses. It started out really awkward and derpy, but I'm starting to get a hang of it.

>> No.2756542

Crime and Punishment.

Initially, it was almost certain this would not something I would finish beyond 60 pages. Now I'm about halfway though and am rather enjoying it.

>> No.2756560

Trust me, it becomes incredibly good later on. It has just the right mix of comedic and serious elements.

>> No.2756564

Douglas Niles - Circle in the Center Trilogy

Mmmm, pulpy fantasy. There's even a nice graphic human on elf rape scene in the first book. AND it mocks christianity, what a novel idea!

>> No.2756565

Currently I'm trudging through Dune and it's dry as a desert. Something is wrong when the most compelling character in the book is planet Arrakis.

I like my characters multi-dimensional and with emotions. It's like the cast of the book is just an afterthought. Essentially it's Gary Stu and his mother Mary on a holy journey to make a prophecy come true and avenge the death of holy father-king and get a horde of mindless muslim-drones to follow their every whim, to get back at the evil fat homosexual cartoon-baddies. I would drop this in an instant if it wasn't for dat planet.

I'll try to finish this. I'm past mid-point and I've seen just the tiniest glimmers of hope that there might be a trace element of substance within Paul and Jessica. And Arrakis keeps getting more interesting.

>> No.2756605

the count of monte cristo.
edmond is a baws

>> No.2756629

Palm-of-the-Hand Stories, Kawabata
Every Man Dies Alone, Fallada

>> No.2756650
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2756650

Just finished Under the Dome by Stephen King yesterday. Today I started reading short stories from "I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison. I also just finished Blockade Billy by Stephen King.

Call me a pleb, but I really enjoy Stephen King lately, even though the ending of Under the Dome disappointed me a bit.

>> No.2756655

>>2756650
No, as I get older, I more and more appreciate what King has done for American literature, for Maine, for horror, for smalltown Americana with all of its prejudices, and sweet nostalgic moments.

King is brilliant.

>> No.2756674
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2756674

>>2756655

Misery is one of the best novels of the 1980s, any genre, and is a legitimate member of any kind of post-modern "canon".

>> No.2756678

trying to finish Dostoevsky's The Idiot before the end of the month so i can move on to something... not Russian lol [it's a great book, though, I highly recommend it]
Also trudging through Capital Vol. 1 for David Harvey's free online lectures.

>> No.2756683

>>2756674
>>2756655
>>2756650

Oh wow, I thought everyone on /lit/ hates Stephen King. Has anyone already read his newest book 11/22/63? I really like time travel stories and I don't really know what to expect from King for this genre.

>> No.2756686

>>2756683
It's very fun. Just read it. Those who complain about the ending don't understand what King was trying to subvert with the time-travel genre. I'm looking forward to the adaptation.

>> No.2756707

I just finished Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer"--loved it. Not sure what I'm going to read next, maybe "Black Spring" or "Capricorn," maybe Faulkner's "Light in August."

>> No.2756749
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2756749

>Jean Genet - Our lady of the flowers

I'll quote the blurb as I agree fully and it's better praise than I can manage:

>"A matchless contemporary classic... like Ulysses in its own day, so creatively formidable that any comment on its merit becomes at once presumptuous."

It is honestly that good. Even in translation...

>Phil Baker's Austin Spare biography

Excellent read. A very nicely produced book too (it came with a colour printed bookmark *and* it has one of those bits of ribbon to mark the pagel).

Spare is a fascinating, crazy guy (pic related).

>> No.2756760

>>2756235

I haven't read Nation but I will say that I absolutely loved Good Omens and bits of it have stayed with me for years.

>> No.2756781

Just finished up Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe
Started The Diary of a Country Pries by Remy Rougeau

>> No.2756801

>>2756781
The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos, my mistake.