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/lit/ - Literature

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4761675 No.4761675 [Reply] [Original]

Which books did you read more than 2 times and why?

I read Siddhartha for the 4th time now. Amazing book. I am not even sure what it is that appeals to me so much. It's just a beautifully written short story. It's interesting to see how you find something different/new to appeal to you when you read through a book at different stages of your life.

>> No.4761726

surely short stories don't count

>> No.4761742

>>4761726
technically it's not a short story. the book has 120 pages.

but if it makes you happy i also read Hesse's Steppenwolf at least 2 times, maybe three, not sure.

>> No.4761745
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4761745

>>4761675
The whole part after Siddhartha achieves enlightenment and goes to live in splendour in the small town is amazing

I felt horrid when Kamala died, especially when his son left too

>> No.4761764

>>4761742
Steppenwolf was droll, directionless droning about the most banal of neuroses. Unless you suffer from the same mental problems as Hesse did, I don't see any reason to re-read that book.

>> No.4761781

>>4761745
>The whole part after Siddhartha achieves enlightenment and goes to live in splendour in the small town is amazing

He never lives in a small town. The town where he meets Kamala is described as a bigger city amd he only achieves enlightment by the end of the book and doesn't go anywhere at that point because he is really old. I am not exactly sure what you are referring to,

>>4761764
I could relate back then(like 7 years ago, when i was 14 years old) and i still can relate these days. However, I think the first half of the book is a bit boring and longer than it needs to be. When Harry Haller meets the chick in the bar, that's when things get really interesting and i just fucking love the ending. First time i read the book the ending took me really by surprise. I didn't expect all the stuff to happen and it was a really nice change of pace.

>> No.4761806

>>4761781
I always imagine it as a town, despite his descriptions

> he only achieves enlightment by the end of the book
I meant the chapter when he realizes that is he isn't going to become enlightened by following Gatama or any teachers and goes to find enlightenment on his ownf

>> No.4761852

>>4761806
ah ok.

Yeah, i like that he actually meets the real buddha and realizes that there is nothing buddha can do for him to find atman. He has to find his own way and the interesting thing about this is if you look at romanticism (e.g. novalis) then you will find this as a reoccuring theme. in "die lehrlinge zu sais"(by novalis) there is a teacher and helps every student find their own individual way to get to the one (unspoken) truth. And this truth is also similar to the way hesse describes "om". it's like the question from the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy. it combines the whole universe and everything into one experience and it's often implied that everything belongs together and that everything is everything at the same time.

>> No.4761859

La Casa Verde.

First time for first impressions.
Second time for understanding the individual plots.
Third time for understanding all the stylistics features.
Fourth time because it was one of the few good books I had on my summer cottage.

>> No.4761877

will be listening to Richard Poe narrate the best book ever for the 4th time this month.

>blood meridian

>> No.4761887

>>4761852
Yeah, the ending was better than I expected

I also noticed that Gatama's name is based from 'Gautama Buddha'

>> No.4761899

>>4761764
I'm not sure you know what 'droll' means.

>> No.4761902

>>4761887
i think you mean "gotama" which is one way to write buddha's name. buddha has a bunch of names. you are aware that siddhartha is also the name of the real buddha?


>>4761899
http://www.dict.cc/?s=droll

>> No.4761903

>>4761902
>you are aware that siddhartha is also the name of the real buddha?

Yeah, that's the point

>> No.4761912

>>4761903
while we are on the point of names: in the german wikipedia they actually tell you where the protganist's names are from.

kamala for example comes from kama, the god of love(also they refer to the kamasutra), govinda is one of the names of krishna, vaseduva is the name of krishna's father, gotama is the name of buddha "in pali", the language of the oldest texts that mention buddha

>> No.4761945

>>4761912
You mean the Pali cannon

And oh, righty I didn't know you could find their name meanings

>Kama Sutra
Lol'd

>> No.4761954

>>4761675
I remember reading Siddhartha.

It really is a great book.

I don't often re-read books except for some really weird reason books I've read as a child or teenager. So that would probably be five read throughs of my two favourite books The Hobbit and Captain Bluebear.

I know I'm a pleb

>> No.4761961

>>4761954
>Captain Bluebear.

Great book. Walter Moers is a pretty good author, considering that he is mostly famous for "Das kleine Arschloch". His other books are great too. I read them all in german. My favourite of his would probably be "Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher"(the labyrinth of dreaming books is what it's called in english, though if you were to translate it correctly it would have to be "the city of dreaming books")

>> No.4761967

>>4761961
i am a fucking idiot.
that's the name of the sequel. i didn't know it exists. now i feel like i missed out on part of my youth. the city of dreaming books was one of my all time favourite books. i am probably too old for that stuff now though

>> No.4761981

I have read The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham 6 times.
The story is similar to siddhartha.
But it deals with americans.
Each time I read it; it brings a wave of comfort over me.
It makes me feel alright in the world.
Siddhartha is a book I have been meaning to read again. It's so beautifully written and it is also comforting.

>> No.4761982

I've read 1984 twice. The first time I think that I read it more as a horror story. The second time I read it more as social commentary, ie Orwell's warning to the public about the nature of totalitarian government power. It's definitely a masterpiece imo.

>> No.4761987

>>4761961
I love City of Dreaming Books as well. Captain Bluebear was my first read of his so it's always sort of special, I was a really bad dyslexic and it helped me really discover literature properly.

I just love that man's imagination, I wish I could go back as a younger kid and read it all again with that kind of awe.

>> No.4761998
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4761998

>>4761987
yeah, i remember captain bluebear having like 500 pages but it's kinda worth it because there are so many different things happening in that book. also the drawings are really nice. i'd consider this book essential for anyone around the age of 14

>> No.4762012

>>4761998
>goblins who live off tears
>minipirates
>living in the brain of a giant and becoming a dream composer
>suicide prevention pterodactyls
>sentient minerals

This book had so much wacky stuff it was incredible. I loved the art as well.

>> No.4762112

Venus in Furs.
The translation I read seemed so beautifully written.

>> No.4762259

I would argue that you cannot really know a book well unless you have read it more than once.

I have done this with certain authors i like.

>> No.4763456

>>4762259
I agree. There are a lot of things you can miss th first time.

>> No.4763611

I've read all but one of Raymond Chandler's novels multiple times. Why? Because of the writing style. Many other writers have tried to imitate him, but none of his imitators capture the atmospheric magic the way he did. His only novel that I haven't read multiple times is Playback, and that's because its style is comparatively flat and ordinary; there's nothing in it to reward a re-read.

>> No.4763620

>>4761987
read Rumo
I hate myself. The feels I felt during Rumo were far stronger than any I ever felt reading real literature. I am a fucking child.