/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.5197506]

Over the past year I've been becoming increasingly more selective about product quality and image, /lit/.

Some examples of things which I researched extensively before buying because for unknown reasons I felt it was imperative that nothing be second-rate: fountain pens, leatherbound journals/ledgers, leather hardcover books, cigars, translations of foreign books (I went for what was academically esteemed rather than most popular), coffee, headphones, I've even stopped eating at "cheap" restaurants.

How do I disillusion myself from this overly-selective, "cultivated" consumer mindset? Is it a bad thing or am I just transcending plebeianism? Suggest any related literature, for or against.

[Anonymous No.5197518]

>>5197506
Cheap fountain pens are better generally. Otherwise, I find it disturbing one would not be told those standards earlier than eighteen.

[Anonymous No.5197526]

Get gud. The mindset is great but actually needing to do extensive research is pleb tier behavior. A seasoned consumer can judge a book by its cover.

[Anonymous No.5197538]

>>5197526
That is the opposite of quality assurance.

Contradiction:
>the mindset is great
>judge a book by its cover

Outward appearances are not reliable, and you're going to end up with a lot of trash judging everything by how it looks, especially if it's something you don't have experience with.

[Anonymous No.5197561]

next start looking into where shit comes from as well

its not mindless consumerism
its conscious consumerism

you have to consume if you dont produce yourself so you might as well be clear and direct, get your money and times worth.

quality over quantity every time, cheap throw away shit made in third world shit holes is half the problem with the world

packaging too, refills of high quality eco friendly locally made laundry liquids is some god tier buying

i like stuff made from wood, i have come to loathe most plastic

[Anonymous No.5197562]

>using fountain pens, expensive leather bound journals, and smoking cigars

Pic related, it's probably you. All of this is nothing more than fetishism you've picked up from people/places/times you admire and the pretension you associate with such things. You are now aware that $1 composition books and ballpoint pens exist and actually perform more efficiently than the fountain pen and expensive as fuck pretentious leather journal (as if your writing "deserves" to be in something "better" than a cheap notebook) you got suckered into paying through the nose for.

But that's just, like, my opinion man. Just b urself.

[Anonymous No.5197571]

>>5197538
>Outward appearances are not reliable
That is objectively wrong. If you know what to look for, outward experiences can be quite reliable,

[Anonymous No.5197584]

>>5197562
>assuming I buy them for their reputation of being classy and sophisticated rather than longevity and production quality

Pack of midrange rollerballs: $10. Will last you like 2-3 months depending on how often you lose them.
Decent fountain pen & ink: $40. Will last you a few years while buying ink occasionally.

Pack of shitty ringed notebooks: $10. Fall apart after 5 months of carrying around and writing.
400 page leather notebook: $15. Falls apart in maybe 3 years of use.

I can't justify cigars and coffee obviously because it's a matter of having your taste adjusted and able to notice the higher quality, but there's still a quality difference and it's not just wholly image-based.

>>5197571
I've read a few lengthy books on typography, design and advertising and even with that skillset you can't judge a book very well by cover alone, to take your example literally. You need to be very well acquainted with an area of production in order to judge by minute details, company, country of origin, etc.

[Anonymous No.5197594]

>>5197584
>author
>genre
>blurb on the god damn back

[Anonymous No.5197595]

>>5197571
>objectively wrong
kek

pleb

[Anonymous No.5197604]

>>5197584
>fountain pens
>not including the fact that they are inconvenient as fuck to use, while ball points are easy

>shitty ringed notebooks
>falling apart
>lol what, not unless you carry them through a warzone

nah, i'll be over here with my well-adjusted wardrobe and lack of fedora

[Anonymous No.5197627]

>>5197594
>very well acquainted with an area of production

Already addressed. You need prior knowledge of the author, and genre is rarely listed on the cover. Anything with a shit-eating blurb is probably bad but that's still not reliable.

>>5197604
Slower drying than rollerballs, require more force, are all cheap and liable to stop writing for random periods of time, etc. If you're going for convenience, go for rollerball like anyone who actually did some research would. I prefer writing with a fountain pen over both, though.

General use accumulates with notebooks, as anyone who's actually gone to school would know. They also tend to have thinner and more pulpy pages which will transfer imprints to the next page, cause ink to run more easily if it gets wet, etc.

>well adjusted wardrobe

[Anonymous No.5197638]

>>5197627
>and genre is rarely listed on the cover
If you can't figure out the genre between the blurb, the cover art, the author, and the fucking title, you need to be shopping for school supplies right now because you're fucking 10.

[Anonymous No.5197639]

>>5197627
this screams "i'm so aristocratic and elegant luk at me guiz ;))))))" but is actually a neckbeard buying shit with mother's money

>>5197604
this screams "fuck all them schoolmarmy goddamn educator guys and their books" but is actually another neckbeard who tries to be down-to-earth and totally chilled, bro

[Anonymous No.5197643]

>>5197584
Jesus fuck you are paying way too much for fountain pens. I'm saying this as someone who has a range of nibs and uses pen and ink for more than just writing notes. Stop it.

[Anonymous No.5197649]

>>5197627
>living in some alternative world where only you know about rollerballs, as if my statement wasn't just generally about cheaper pens, and where cheap notebooks have "le thin paper that leaks on my precious scribblings"

top lel, I can smell the cheetoh dust from here. and I have been to university kid, and I saw guys like you there, pic related

[Anonymous No.5197660]

>>5197639
this screams "contrarian faggot on /lit/ shitposting mindlessly"

we both know that feel, bro ;)

[Anonymous No.5197677]

>>5197643
The pen itself is only $20, I included the cost of a few converters and ink.

>>5197638
The majority of books that are actually decent won't be easy to judge by the cover. Just open it up and look at the prose, stop being autistic. Look it up, even. There are much more reliable and not necessarily harder ways to choose a book.

[Anonymous No.5197687]

>>5197677
>The majority of books that are actually decent won't be easy to judge by the cover.
If they're decent why are their covers so shit? Huh?

[Anonymous No.5197691]

Can we please stop feeding the troll?

You're just living down to the jokes the rest of 4chan make about /lit/ as being painfully insecure an pretentious kids.

[Anonymous No.5197738]

>>5197649
>ballpoints = all cheaper pens
excellent description. 10/10 prose
>uses a notebook only for notes, angsty poems, and bad drawings
>needs to justify himself by claiming he went to uni, which fucking anyone does
>thinks neckbeard/fedora is the epitome of gud slams
This insults perceived effectiveness scales with how much it pertains to yourself. This is why it's so popular on 4chan. Other people aren't as insecure about it as you are, so it doesn't work.

2/10 for being generic

>>5197687
>only likes books that have a flashy cover that catches their eye and sums up the entire generic, terrible book in one image

[Anonymous No.5197766]

>>5197691
>You're just living down to the jokes the rest of 4chan make about /lit/ as being painfully insecure an pretentious kids.
That's /mu/. Nobody gives 2 shits about /lit/.

>>5197738
>only likes books with such shit quality control that the cover is a forgettable mess and the rest of the book follows suit

The cover is the first foot forward of any book. Everything about it should scream READ ME. Writers talk about having strong opening lines but in a lot of ways the cover is MORE important than even that.

[Anonymous No.5197785]

>>5197766
have fun. any decent book can't be summed up in an image. genre fiction is the only garbage that can be properly represented by a cover

>lolita shud hav had a picture of nekkid babby girl on cover —You

[Anonymous No.5197806]

>>5197785
>genre fiction
>garbage
>discounting an entire fucking class of books, nay the vast majority of fucking books, because it has a theme, as fucking garbage
>while ignoring all "literary fiction" is just pretentious ass slice of life or drama
Also that cover is ass. Seriously, nigga can't draw faces.

And that genre fiction, ie the vast majority of books, can be easily summed up by the cover, should clue you in THAT IT ISN'T THAT GOD DAMN DIFFICULT

[Anonymous No.5197807]

>>5197506
>I went for what was academically esteemed
topkekkek

[Anonymous No.5197813]

>>5197806
YOU ARE A "FAGGOT", NAY—AN "AUTISTIC HAMBUBGER FEDORAFUCK".

[Anonymous No.5197859]

>>5197813
You seem upset.

Having your preconceived notions fed back to you rectally will do that to a person. My advice to you is to walk it off.

[Anonymous No.5197971]

>>5197506
You're just shallow.

[Anonymous No.5198159]

>>5197806
Actually I kinda like it. Tyrion is supposed to be ugly.

[Anonymous No.5198167]

>am I just transcending plebeianism?

lmfao do you think you can do that by being a consumerist whore?

don't think so, man

[Anonymous No.5198203]

>>5197506
I think you just created the thread to brag about it.

[Institute for B8 Prevention an(...) No.5198655]

>>5197562
>ballpoint pens perform more efficiently

I see you've never worked in an office.

[Anonymous No.5198663]

>Is it a bad thing or am I just transcending plebeianism?
It's the latter,

[Anonymous No.5198667]

>>5197506
It's bad if you're a beggar trying to become a chooser.
Perfectly natural otherwise. Well, better than natural; fuck nature.
The only risk is that if you want to write plots and you're a young man, you might insulate yourself from various disgusting things you could learn from.

[Anonymous No.5198671]

>>5197562
Pretentiousness is a good trait to have.

[Anonymous No.5198676]

>>5197506
you've just entered full pleb mode. enjoy, it's a big line

[Anonymous No.5198682]

Thres nothing wrong with liking nice things

[Anonymous No.5198684]

>>5197806
Genre fiction is garbage you fucking pleb.

[Anonymous No.5198692]

>>5197691
There's nothing wrong with being pretentious.
>>5197971
Nothing wrong with being superficial either.

[Anonymous No.5199768]

>>5198684
Don't be /mu/, /lit/. You're better than that.

[Reality Check !Z6/0YaJApk No.5199779]

>>5197506
Become a minimalist and boast about it in your social circles you obnoxious superficial CUNT

[Anonymous No.5199855]

>How do I disillusion myself from this overly-selective, "cultivated" consumer mindset?

be poor

[Anonymous No.5199944]

do what you want, man. no one gives a shit that you think you have discriminating taste. there's absolutely nothing wrong with using cheap materials.