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/lit/ - Literature

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3271935 No.3271935 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: books that have seen you through some of the darker/lower periods of your life.

>> No.3271960

Well at a time when I was extremely depressed and drinking whole shit ton at an age much too young (description of 40% of 4chan users) I read Catcher In The Rye about 3 times... not sure if that counts for anything at all...

>> No.3271964

I actually stopped reading when I fell into depression.

>> No.3271974

Society of the Spectacle sort of got me really depressed for a while...

Does that count?

>> No.3271973

>>3271964
this is what happened to me. I'm glad it's behind me. hope you're doing well also

>> No.3271987

>>3271964
yeah i feel you... It's hard to read unless youre mind is clear, If Im feeling upset I just break out an oil lamp and sit outside, the cold air and the warm flames remind me that maybe the world can be fixed

>> No.3272174

>Tibetan Book of the Dead
>The Hobbit

"Alas! Fortunate child of buddha nature!
Do not be oppressed by the forces of ignorance and dilusion
You have had more than enough time to sleep
So do not sleep any longer, but strive for virtue with body, speech, and mind!

>> No.3272192

>>3271964
hmm, I can also testify to such an experience
>>3271935
that being said, I always write/draw more when I'm down or dealing with stress. books to help someone through dark times? Strathmore sketchbooks.

>> No.3272220

>>3271935
The Plague, the Heart is a Lonely hunter, Master and Margarita.

>> No.3273533

>>3271960
Catcher in the Rye has also been my companion about three times when I really needed it. I've also found lots of my favorite poetry this way... first it was Whitman, then Bukowski, etc.

>> No.3273572

The Myth of Sisyphus

>> No.3273577

All of them.

>> No.3273585

thus spake zarathustra
catcher in the rye
pedro paramo
book of disquiet
women
lanark
the metamorphosis
the spire
count of monte cristo

>> No.3273591

My Little Dashie, I kid you not. I have read great works from all around, Dostoevsky, Melville, Flannery O'Connor, Twain, among others, but only this short story, a fanfic of a cartoon show, gave me the will and hope to go on.
ffing captcha: loveless darsnes

>> No.3273589

Steppenwolf got me through my teen angst.

Russian literature has always been of some comfort to me as well. I should also mention Schopenhauer's philosophy and Cioran's aphorisms.

>> No.3273606

>>3272174

that stanza activated my psychosis

>> No.3273629

>>3273591

>PONIES SAVED MY LIFE

fuck your shit.

On topic: various books like The Catcher in the Rye, The Trial and The Brothers Karamazov made me feel big and clever for being the whiny oversensitive twazzock that I was inclined to be at the time anyway. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

Other books, like The Tropic of Cancer, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the poetry of Rimbaud, fired me up for a different kind of life and enabled me to relish it vicariously without ever changing my own manner of life at all. I'm not sure that's a good thing either.

Still other books, like all the various trashy fantasy I have eaten up at one time or another, just acted as escapism which helped me to endure day-to-day existence when it might otherwise have been hard. Also probably not a good thing, since it meant I had less motivation to correct the things that made me miserable.

In conclusion: I don't think books have really helped me with any difficult times in any meaningful way.

>> No.3273693

>>3273629
>BOOKS NEVER HELPED ME THROUGH REALLY TOUGH TIMES AT ALL, BUT POSSIBLY MADE ME WORSE

fuck your shit

>> No.3273734

>>3273693

Pony fanfiction fits pretty neatly into the 3rd category I mentioned, by the way. And you're kidding yourself, in my opinion, if you really believe that any meaningful change in your life has come from anywhere but yourself.

That's not to say that books/low-tier pony fanfics can't be fun, though. And fun is fine. It's just not the same thing as 'help'.

>> No.3273745

>>3273734
>thinks all dark/oppressive times are caused by alterable external stimuli

get out of here, man. go home.

>> No.3273755

>>3273745

But... that's not what I said at all. Dark oppressive times are caused by internal stimuli (always alterable), or external stimuli (sometimes alterable, sometimes not; in the cases where they are not alterable, your only option is to adjust the manner in which you relate to them).

In any of those eventualities, reading a book is pretty far down the list of things that you can do to help yourself.

>> No.3273767

>>3273734
And pony fanfiction fits into a category of mine you happen not to have: books /stories that DID have a great positive affect of my life. Maybe "ponies" don't have any of the meaning in your life that they have in mine, that's fine, but you have to respect and accept they can be very meaningful to other people. And yes, true inner change can only come, of course, from within, and I don't see how that invalidates any of what I said. I read the, imho, genius story, felt deeply inspired to be a better person, and went out and did real things to accomplish that. Maybe I should've been clearer.

>> No.3273774

Watership down. I regard its story high on my list. It made me feel what I was able to call "happy". Am I stupid?

>> No.3273781

>>3273774

Look at the guy above you who is describing a cheaply sentimental My Little Pony fanfiction as 'genius' and I think you'll be able to answer your own question, at least comparatively.

>> No.3273790

>>3273781
I tried reading the MLP fanfic mentioned, and I couldn't even get through two pages before scrolling to the bottom and reading the ending.

Terribly presented by the author, very wordy, the "editor" was utterly unversed in grammar, and the premise itself... well...

Come on, guys. I get that it's cute, but why can't we like things that are both cute and good?

>> No.3273802

>>3273774
No.
>>3273790
It's a decent cartoon with high production value, designed to be tolerable to the parents of whatever kids are watching it. Turns out, it's actually got a bit of appeal to some adults.

Too bad 99% of the adults who discuss it online are antisocial assholes, and I like to enjoy things socially, so I can't get into it because I have no decent human beings with which to discuss it.

>> No.3273838

The Ego and Its Own

>> No.3273842

>>3273790
>>3273802


Exactly. I'm not even hating on MLP, it's a fun show with cute character design and (mostly) decent writing. That notwithstanding, if it's the best thing in your life, you probably need to examine the rest of your life carefully and try to correct some of its deficiencies.

Likewise if shitty, schmaltzy fanfiction based upon it has deeply moved you, consider the possibility that you've just read it uncritically and surrendered to brainless sentimentalism (in other words, >feels). Do that for fun if you want, but don't then think that it makes the work of fiction in question actually meritorious in itself in any way. You can work yourself up into an over-emotional puddle over nearly anything if you put your mind to it.

>> No.3273846

>>3273802
Not bashing the cartoon, I'm bashing the terrible fanfiction based on the cartoon.

>> No.3275318

Have a Nice Day.

Seriously, that book carried me through some real bullshit.

>> No.3275375

catcher in the rye?

Too mainstream

Read: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Longer_Human

>> No.3275379

>>3273606
i lol'd, but u mite b srs...

>> No.3275386

I listened to a TTC lecture course by the late robert solomon on existentialism, that helped

Also Buddhism, I read a book on it and began meditating

>> No.3275404

I also found the poetry of D.H Lawrence, W.H Auden and Irving Layton to be consoling pieces for when I was going through some rough shit.
As for novels, the one that struck me most profoundly was Crime and Punishment, I have recently just read Dostoevsky's The Idiot and The Karamazov Brothers, which were great pieces, but I wasn't really struggling with any self-loathing and being constantly unmotivated..

>> No.3275787

>>3273781
>Cheaply sentimental

Well, we now all know the one unemotional, cold-blooded killer in our ranks. There always is at least one any time on 4chan.
>>3273790
Yeah, many people can't get into it, and I admit there were some grammatical errors, but the appeal of the story is totally determined by how much you can get into it/how empathetic you are. Your statement is like saying a romance novel is horrible when 1) You don't care about love/don't believe in it, and 2) You don't care about the actual characters in the story. Enough people have liked it so that there must be some higher quality to the fic. I've read many "officially" recognized great works, yet somehow this little story touched me the most. And since we're on the topic, can you link me an equally "cute" short fic that's also good? I doubt you can, but am open to being proven wrong.
>>3273802
I have to at least agree most open bronies seem like the world's most horrible faggots. But that's exactly why I don't associate with them, and know how to enjoy mlp merely from behind my computer screen. Do you ever watch movies alone, or does there always have to be a big cuddle group?
>>3273842
Except, if something reduces many people to emotional puddles quite well and often, the only common denominator is the work itself, so there has to be some higher quality to it, don't you think? Somehow we praise movies that make us cry every time, but not fanfics. Hmmmm.

>> No.3275802

The Fountainhead
The Plague
Phil Elverum's Norway Journal

>> No.3275824

Nausea -Sartre

>> No.3275838
File: 3 KB, 125x124, The purpose of art is emotion.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3275838

>>3275787
>Your statement is like saying a romance novel is horrible when 1) You don't care about love/don't believe in it, and 2) You don't care about the actual characters in the story.

The story was poorly written and I tired of it. For example, everyone knew what was in the cardboard box but the author for some reason spent a whole page on it.

Even if we accept your "analysis" of the post, your entire rationale for why the story is good is that it appeals to your emotions, and then you criticise him for saying the work is bad for not appealing to his emotions! How absurd!

>Enough people have liked it so that there must be some higher quality to the fic.

Oh god leave 4chan immediately.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_populum

>Can you link me an equally "cute" short fic that's also good? I doubt you can, but am open to being proven wrong.

I hate to break it to you man but there's more to literature than fanfiction. Further I can name a number of meritorious authors that actually find this kind blatant appeal to sentimentality a hallmark of poor storytelling.

>Except, if something reduces many people to emotional puddles quite well and often, the only common denominator is the work itself, so there has to be some higher quality to it, don't you think?

No. Feelings do not demonstrate quality.

>Somehow we praise movies that make us cry every time, but not fanfics.
>we

I do not.

>> No.3275842

The Book of Disquiet
see: >>3275714

>> No.3276131
File: 69 KB, 620x400, 133117385491.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3276131

>>3275838
1st. Part. So you criticize an author spending a page unnecessarily on something obvious? Boy, you're gonna have a great time when Melville spends a few dozen pages on knot-making in Moby Dick. I believed that was an acclaimed story in these parts, was I wrong?
And second sentence on how I'm "absurd" I think you'll have to reiterate as I honestly didn't get what you said.

2nd. Part. So you assume I'm taking the logic behind my statement to its extreme, and not that I'm just casually saying something? and now I may assume you believe when a lot of people "do" like something that means absolutely nothing? I'm not sure the Latin terms for the two fallacies you've committed, now but I'm sure they're out there. And son, what you said there proves you know nothing of 4chan, maybe just of /pol/, you newfag.

3rd. Part. Now you're just being a goof. So you're saying any emotionally appealing (appealing to "sentimentality") literature is bad? It can be done, it just has to be well done, and if that's what you're arguing about, I have not problem b/c then it's just a difference of opinion. I'm pretty sure your meritorious authors really meant what I just said.

4th.-5th. Parts. There you go again, with feelings being worthless in art. Instead of vaguely backing up my arguments with just a claim to "meritorious authors," I'll actually be concrete: Titanic's 11 Oscars prove you wrong, and that film was 99% just for its emotion.

>> No.3276141

>>3275842

"Sometimes I pretend my emotions mean something"

you reek of existential teenage angst

>> No.3276177

>>3271935

Hey, I used to like watching those videos when I was depressed. The later ones aren't very good but I still like him.

>> No.3276182

When I was depressed as a teen, I liked Nietzsche quite a bit. His writing style in Zarathustra is very uplifting. I also like his middle chapter in Good and Evil.

Other than that, I don't normally have enough willpower to read and enjoy most books. I tried to read Russel once when I was depressed, just can't sustain the attention.

>> No.3276203

>>3276182
That post was fuckin horrible. Just find the will to read and enjoy a book! What are you! a man, or an animal?

>> No.3276204
File: 157 KB, 1001x388, Lit Nutshell.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3276204

>>3276131
1st
>Moby Dick
So is Tolkien, but both are also regularly criticized for their "expositional" sections.
>how I'm "absurd" I think you'll have to reiterate
It seems to me that you're advocating the merit of this fan fiction based only on emotion. When I (allegedly) advocated against the piece on the basis of emotion, you criticizing me for being subjective.

2nd
>So you assume I'm taking the logic behind my statement to its extreme, and not that I'm just casually saying something?
Perhaps I wouldn't have if you didn't seem to be making your entire defense of this fan fiction "casually."
>I may assume you believe when a lot of people "do" like something that means absolutely nothing?
Correct. Lots of people like MacDonalds, but that doesn't make it fine cuisine.

3rd
> It can be done, it just has to be well done,... I'm pretty sure your meritorious authors really meant what I just said.
We hate poetry that has a palpable design upon us — and if we do not agree, seems to put its hand in its breeches pocket. Poetry should be great and unobtrusive, a thing which enters into one's soul, and does not startle or amaze with itself, but with its subject. -Keats

>Titanic
The Titanic won its awards for the following:
>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/awards
Pretty much all of these are technical innovations, and had nothing to do with the actual plot.

>Final notes:
Emotions aren't worthless in art, but they certainly aren't important enough to debunk every single other aspect possible in a work. You can't possibly say that a fan fiction short story written on a weekend can compare to a work that takes seven to ten years to compose, assemble and refine.

>> No.3276229
File: 235 KB, 641x1042, litt.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3276229

>>3276204

>> No.3276387

>>3276204
1st. Part. Yeah, maybe they're criticized, but they're still considered some of the greatest authors ever and they found a reason to do it.

Still don't completely get what you're saying, but I think you're talking about the first line in my second quote? I merely meant if people don't get into it, the story was just not meant for them. Not the story's problem.

2nd. Part. So you misinterpreted me? Oh well, that happens to everyone, no biggie.

But if many people do like something, one is compelled to look into that simply to confirm. Yes, we can confirm McDonalds lovers are wrong based on what we objectively know of McDonalds and its affects on said people. So inversely, that means you're saying you know with absolute certainty that the entire pony fandom is somehow biased or whatnot and thus assume their likes aren't really justifiable. False, you do not know enough about the fans, and if you somehow do, I'd like to hear about it.

3rd. Part. Yes, I agree with Keats, and maintain that the fanfic moves us with its subject matter. How can we simply deduce this? Merely reading a MLD four sentence synopsis with 99% of words cleared out would leave at least the slightest sympathy and emotion, and it wouldn't matter if Jonathan Swift wrote it himself in the blandest manner possible: the subject matter is the enticing thing.

4th. Part. I see "two" Oscars for its incredible, emotionally brimming song. Let me rephrase; what do most people remember the Titanic for? Oh yeah, maybe that it was an overall well made movie, as indicated by the other Oscars, but most importantly they'll remember the high feelings they've had by associating with the couple.

>> No.3276388

>>3276387
Note on final notes. Finally we're on common ground. But since the work is primarily an emotionally sappy one, the rest should be viewed a 'bit' with that in mind, right? That's how I mentally smooth out the ocassional grammatical errors. Objectively, I'll give you that MLD's worth isn't comparable overall to classic books, but maybe consider that the author was A) lucky and hit just the right chord B) was writing about material already made up and C) did so in short story format, and no short stories take over a few months to write, and are you sure he wrote this "only" over the weekend?