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/lit/ - Literature

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5202955 No.5202955 [Reply] [Original]

I'm reaching a pretty low point in my depression. I feel like i'm on the ''heigh of despair''. Books have been my medicine for many years but rereading just doesn't work.

What are books that give you hope or work as medicine for the soul?

>> No.5202963

I would highly recommend reading Song of Myself by Walt Whitman. Give it a shot, feel free to ask me any follow up questions too.

>> No.5202982

>>5202955
>I'm reaching a pretty low point in my depression.

YOU ARE MOST PROBABLY NOT DEPRESSED.

>Books have been my medicine for many years but rereading just doesn't work.

HOW DO YOU EXPECT TO CURE YOUR ALLEGED DEPRESSION BY READING?

YOU DO NOT SEEM TO KNOW WHAT DEPRESSION IS; DEPRESSION IS NOT AN EMOTIONAL STATE, NOR A MENTAL STATE; IT IS A NEUROCHEMICAL IMBALANCE.

>> No.5202993

man when you're down you need to avoid pseudo mystic books like Steppenwolf and hesse altogether. I like him but he has a time and place. Read Shadow of the Wind, Kafka on the Shore, or some other book that's just light and fun to read. You don't need some existential "fix" to make you feel better because it won't. some might say the exact opposite and I can appreciate that but from my experience this opinion is all me, baby. all me.

>> No.5203002

>>5202993
>>5202963
>>5202955

O How I Wish For Summer To End!

>> No.5203005

>>5202993

I would avoid shadow of the wind personally. I hated that book so much it makes me mad to this day. But that's more of my personal opinion, I agree with this sentiment. Light and enjoyable, without stretching too far in escapism.

>> No.5203010

>>5202982
You don't seem to know anything about depression. Depression can be caused or influenced by neurochemical imbalance. Depression is basically just a term for people who suffer from an extended period of extreme unhappyness. I have been officially diagnosed with chronic double depression, i guess that's important for an autist like you.

Books can give positive impulses, can open up new perspectives for me or teach me something valuable about myself or the world.

>>5202963
Ok, i'll read it.

>>5202993
Disagree on your statement on Steppenwolf. The book has changed my life and brought me to a point where i was able to change my life. Other Hesse books like Demian and Siddhartha as well.

>light and fun to read
Not for me. I can read stuff like that when i'm in a better mood but when i'm down i feel like i'm wasting my time by reading light stuff.

Thanks anyway.

>> No.5203012

>>5203002

Why, is it hot where you are? It's rainy here...

>> No.5203040 [DELETED] 

>>5203010
well i guess it depends on how old you are. i've read everything by hesse translated into english. if you insist on books like that try thomas mann. very similar in the mash up of east/west philosophical fiction. maybe consider tao te ching or something. for thomas mann try death in venice and other stories. also the magic mountain was decent. nietzsche and the i-ching was a big influence on both hesse and mann. my beef with these guys is how caught up they're with personality archtypes. i think it's really dense but that's just me.

>>5203002
you can always leave 4chan, fuck off, or at least avoid the thread. i'm sure it'll all carry on as usual without your snide 12 year old bullshit.

>> No.5203044

just do shrooms instead, mother is calling you back

>> No.5203046

>>5203010
well i guess it depends on how old you are. i've read everything by hesse translated into english. if you insist on books like that try thomas mann. very similar in the mash up of east/west philosophical fiction. maybe consider tao te ching or something. for thomas mann try death in venice and other stories. also the magic mountain was decent. nietzsche and the i-ching were a big influence on both hesse and mann. my beef with these guys is how caught up they were with personality archtypes. i think it's really dense but that's just me.

>>5203002
you can always leave 4chan, fuck off, or at least avoid the thread. i'm sure it'll all carry on as usual without your snide 12 year old bullshit.

>> No.5203065

>>5203005
what didn't you like about shadow the wind? i don't think it did much for my worldview but it was a fun ride. well paced and had that chandler'esque detective/suspense vibe to it that made it hard to put it down.

>> No.5203072

>>5203044
Shrooms don't work on me. Took a heavy dosis of SSRis for a year and they seem to have fucked my brain chemistry. Even with 8g of dried shrooms i get trips that are less intense than weed ''trips''.

>>5203046
Have read those except for Tao te ching. But neither Hesse or Nietzsche are what i mean.
>caupt up they were with personality archetypes
But the point of Steppenwolf is exactly that you have to free yourself from thinking of yourself as any form of archetype and break through the barriers that you have set in your own life. While there are similiarities between Mann and Hesse, Hesse was writing books to cure his own depression, especially Steppenwolf.

Maybe my question is too vague, or maybe it's just way too dependent on personal taste. Can't even think clearly right now.

>> No.5203081

>>5203072
*neither Mann or Nietzsche