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/lit/ - Literature

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5611380 No.5611380 [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/ I'm looking for something pretty specific and I trust you lovable, pretentious cunts more than any source for recommendations I can find.

I wish I could get into reading, but I pick up a book and if I'm not hooked instantly I put it back down. I just can't find myself dragged into a story because it's either too stupidly simple or it goes over my head like I have ADHD or some shit.

I need something simple to read, but with just the right amount of poetic flair to pull me in. I'm looking for something direct but not aimed for autism+ readers. It may be lowbrow, but I'd love something hardcore. Not interested in emotional drama but something that's more like a action film than a book.

While I wouldn't instantly dismiss any other genres, I'm mainly looking for pre-space exploration Sci-Fi, that setting is interesting to me. Fantasy and medieval settings just feel cookie-cutter and I don't like the concept of magic. Modern and pre/post-modern settings also look boring to me. If anyone knows any high-quality examples, I'll take your word for it and check 'em out.

By the way, I'm a whore for little details. I want to read a scene and be a part of it.

>> No.5611493

>I think I have ADHD

How about this:
You don't.

Stop using self diagnosed disorders of the mind to justify your own shortcomings. You can't pick up and read a book because you're a dumb shit. You don't have the audacity to sit down and concentrate for more than two minutes because you're a fucking gnat.

It's a shame you can't find dumb-arsery in the DSM.

Read books, just fucking do it. Or don't. Just don't sit around blaming some amorphous mental disorder on your own lack of drive.

>> No.5611557

>>5611493

>Like I have ADHD or some shit

I never said I had it, I just said that things go over my head, I was admitting my short comings.

Before you call someone a dumb-shit, learn not to be a dumb-shit yourself.

>> No.5611569

crime and punishment

>> No.5611571

I had the same problem.
I would recommend Catch 22 its an engaging book imo

>> No.5611636

>>5611557
Alright, dipshit whatever you say. It was probably just my OCD making me neurotic over how many times people casually drop ADHD into their descriptions of self-imposed ailments.

Just remember, 4chan won't be able to help you. Only you can help you.

>> No.5611666

>>5611569
Read a quick description, seems like an interesting concept. I'll check it out, maybe I'll get into the psychological aspect of it.

>>5611571
How does it compare to films and shows with the same basic story? I'll see if I can find a copy regardless but just a little curious if it stands out.

>> No.5611681

>>5611636

Which is why I'm asking for book recrommendations to help me get into reading,

Again, I never said I had ADHD, I used the word "ADHD" as a comparison in a sarcastic way. The medium doesn't interest me, though I wish it did.

I never knew someone could take a lighthearted sentence seriously enough to judge an entire persons character upon as you did.

>> No.5611688

The Tunnel by Gass
The Recognitions by Gaddis

>> No.5611738
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5611738

Most of the stuff in the "starter kit" image would be good for you. I would recommend in particular:

1984
Lord of the Flies
Huck Finn
Catch-22
Lolita

Pick whichever of those sounds most interesting to you, they're all great and very readable and active.

>> No.5611745

>>5611738
bnw is really better than 1984
I'd also recomend Catcher in The Rye and Voneggut's book

>> No.5611764

You want Count of Monte Cristo.

>> No.5611784

>>5611681
>as a comparison in a sarcastic way.
That's not related to sarcasm in any way.

>> No.5611788

>>5611738

Catch-22 is my favorite book of all time. Recommend it to anyone.

>> No.5611792
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5611792

>>5611681
Okay. I was having a laugh, for the most part. Just being a shit stain. You seem like a reasonable person, and wanting to do something is usually the first step to actually doing it so I'll recommend some short books that made me realise how great reading is:

-Siddartha by Herman Hesse
-The Stranger by Albert Camus
-Metamorphosis (short story) by Kafka
-Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky

Also, you can try short story collections. Try to smash out a story each reading session. I would recommend:
-Checkov
-Raymond Carver
-Alice Munro

Siddartha is wonderfully lyrical and really lovely in a spiritual sort of way. I'd start with that, it's probably the most accessible.

Good luck. I'm not sorry for being a cunt, buy I am sorry for providing such bad bait.

Seriously though, you're going to have to push through whatever self-imposition it is that is stopping you from reading. That, or you need to realise that reading isn't for you. It won't magically go away upon finding the 'right' book. It will go away only when you're ready for it to go away. There was an ounce of truth in my previous posts, despite the fact I misread your words. Don't seek to find reasons/excuses for not doing something, just do it. Not your mind, not your circumstances, nothing can stop you Anon.

>> No.5611797

>>5611380
If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino.

No book has ever hooked me in faster than that one.

>> No.5611803

>>5611745
We is better than both.

>> No.5611815

Vonnegut. Slaughterhouse Five or Cat's Cradle.

>> No.5611818

>>5611688
Are you sure about The Recognitions? I was looking at it's reception and I see quotes like "one of the most difficult books I had ever read."

>>5611738
>>5611745
I haven't read 1984, but I have BNW, mostly because I knew what the setting was about and that attracted me.

Huckleberry Finn might of been ruined for me because I already know the story, is it still a good read even if it's been spoiled?

Lolita, I looked at and I kind of wanted to check it out just to see what all the fuss over it is, but I saw a few exerts from it and it read it was very wordy and complicated. Not that that's a bad thing, just if I have to decode what I read, it's not a great experience. Was what I saw just a small portion, or is most of it like that?

I'll go through that list, thanks. There are a few that look interesting, and I hear The Catcher in the Rye a lot, so its probably about time I pick it up.

>> No.5611819

Just read Starship Troopers, its like an action movie thats better than the silly (but funny enough) movie they made.

>> No.5611827

>>5611797
This

>> No.5611831

>>5611818
He is fucking with you Gaddis and Glass are tough cookies

>> No.5611835

bukowski

>> No.5611836

Have you read Neuromancer yet? It sounds like what you want.

>> No.5611914

>>5611792
No worries, thanks for the recommendations. I'll look them up and see if I can find time for them.

I don't blame my problems with reading on anything other than me being a dumbass and I really do want to muscle through it, because the few books that I do get involved in really have an impact on me for days.

>>5611797
Looks like its somewhat of a gimmick, is it done really well?

>>5611803
We?

>>5611819
Yeah that's one I should check out.

>>5611831
Thought so.

>>5611836
I haven't, so I'll add it to the list.

>> No.5611964

>>5611914
>Looks like its somewhat of a gimmick, is it done really well?
Best I've ever seen it done. Possibly my favorite book of all time.

>> No.5611967

>>5611380
The New York Trilogy by Paul Aster
Borges' short stories

That's all I can think of right now .

>> No.5611977

>>5611914
>We?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_(novel)
Depending on who's asking, it's either a thematic precursor to BNW, or Huxley ripped BNW's plot from We.
Either way, one of the earliest and purest distillations of the concept of a dystopia.

>> No.5612538

>>5611745
I think 1984 is easier than BNW because it's less "literary," i.e. you won't feel shamed if you haven't read Shakespeare or don't understand certain philosophical ideas Huxley is playing with. But both are good. Vonnegut is also a really good rec.

>>5611818
Huck Finn is mostly episodic--it's almost like a collection of linked short stories. Knowing a plot point later on doesn't ruin it at all.

Lolita has a plot that moves along at a pretty decent clip but the narrator does get caught up in his own verbal universe at times so I might have been wrong to single that one out just because I love it, leave it for later.

>> No.5612983

War and Peace

>> No.5612988

>>5611380
Finnegans Wake

>> No.5612993

why do you want to read? it sounds though you are just interested in being seen as a reader. if you don't like reading then don't read. please don't say you like reading, because you clearly don't.

>> No.5613576

>>5611681
>I never knew someone could take a lighthearted sentence seriously enough to judge an entire persons character upon as you did.
HAHA
WELCOME TO MODERN-DAY 4CHAN FRIEND
SHITPOSTING NEWFAGS ARE EVERYWHERE