/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.6061620]

ITT: THAT book.

The most important book you ever read. The one that made you who you are today.

[Anonymous No.6061625]

>>6061620
Are you serious OP?

1984?

The most important book you ever read?

Fucking hell.

[Anonymous No.6061629]

>>6061625
so I see your book is 'nothing'. sounds about right, from your comment.

[Anonymous No.6061631]

>>6061620
Pic related, the version of your book that is actually good.

[Anonymous No.6061655]

>1984

Aren't you supposed to be at least 18 to be on this website?

[Anonymous No.6061658]

>>6061620

[Anonymous No.6061661]

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut.

Before reading that I thought that writing and art should be purely representational (I was 16, of course). It made me realize the power of allegory and concept. A few years later and now I'm a pretentious avant-garde.

[Anonymous No.6061666]

Atlas Shrugged

[Anonymous No.6061674]

>>6061620
On the Genealogy of Morals. Shattered the mould of myself so that I could make something new. It's hard to imagine where I would be if I had not read this. At the time, I thought I had reached the end of my moral and intellectual development and this started a whole new beginning.

[Anonymous No.6061675]

The Bible

[Anonymous No.6061678]

I'm trying to think of any, but I can't come up with anything that truly moved me.

I guess I'm not well read enough.

[Anonymous No.6061687]

>>6061666
fitting book, Satan

[Anonymous No.6061710]

>>6061629
#REKT

[Anonymous No.6061981]

>>6061620
I would agree with that book but only because it was the book that got me reading, not for any life lesson it may have taught me.

[Anonymous No.6062028]

>>6061620
I have three
Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson
Flower for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

[Anonymous No.6062236]

Polstjärnan Tur och Retur (Some Swedish childrens book).
First "proper" book I read and it got me into fantasy/Sci-fi. It also tied together books and a sensation of wonder for me.

Second would be the final book in Stephen Kings Dark Tower Series. Made me realise I want to do the same thing he does.

[Anonymous No.6062381]

>>6061620
How did 1984 shape you as a person? I read it and I just thought it was interesting science-fiction.

I don't think any one book made me who I am but my favourite book is Starship Troopers for whatever that's worth. I suppose that that book might have taught me to take a bit more responsibility for myself.

[Anonymous No.6062891]

Kafka short stories (Metamorphosis, penal colony, a country doctor)
I was around 14 and I didn't really get all of it, but I stopped wanting to read YA trash and my art started getting weird.

[Anonymous No.6062896]

>>6061620

[Anonymous No.6062899]

>>6061631
reading this soon for a lit class. How excited should I be?

[Anonymous No.6062907]

>>6061620
The Principia Discordia

[Anonymous No.6062909]

the plague

[Anonymous No.6062911]

>>6061620
A Dali exposition catalog/book.

[Anonymous No.6062914]

>>6061658
>>6061655
At least it isn't a post about religion or a troll post

[Anonymous No.6062930]

>>6061631
c'mon, its nowhere near the best book over, nor should it be a life changer, but to imply that 1984 isn't "actually good" is fucking stupid

[Anonymous No.6062939]

>>6061674
hahaha, idiot

enjoy your shitty scholarship and genetic fallacy

[Anonymous No.6062975]

Infinite Jest, to be honest.

I've never read anything that moved me like the microwave scene. Haven't felt so fulfilled by books before or since.

[Anonymous No.6063013]

>>6061631
1984 was better

[Anonymous No.6063020]

>>6062891
This. Kafka doesn't interest me that much anymore, but he urged me out of my mediocre genre hole, and I stopped playing video games constantly.

[Anonymous No.6063055]

>>6062891
Camus and Kafka during teenage years, helped with the massive existential crisis. Now I'm an alcoholic.

[Anonymous No.6063181]

>>6062899
>>6062930
>>6063013
Unlike 1984, We has 1. an interesting protagonist who 2. goes through an actual character arc, all described in 3. a prose that is pretty damn beautiful. 1984 is alright, but compared with We, it's basically YA stuff, its only saving grace being that it slapped some british stalinists in the face, who really had it coming.

[Anonymous No.6063243]

The Little Prince

[Anonymous No.6063260]

>>6062975
Marathe and Gompert in the bar hits home for me.

[Anonymous No.6063287]

>tfw remembering the moment I was little when I realized I knew how to read

Was that moment as joyful for you guys as it was for me?

[Anonymous No.6063466]

[Anonymous No.6063474]

First novel I ever read. Did a class project on it in the third grade, which inspired my teacher to give me the whole set at the end of the year. Got into reading and writing from there.

[Anonymous No.6063480]

>>6061620

[Anonymous No.6063485]

Crime and Punishment

[Anonymous No.6063502]

>no das kapital
>no communist manifesto
plebs

[Meow No.6063506]

Gulliver's Travels (and Swift in general) made me realize I can care for humanity while mocking and appearing to despise them, without feeling badly

[Anonymous No.6063508]

The 48 Laws of Power

Not that I'm trying to gain power, but the insights into how people manipulate each other is astounding.

[Anonymous No.6063509]

>>6063506

[Anonymous No.6063511]

[Anonymous No.6063528]

>>6063502
Noone's ever actually read Kapital, and the communist manifesto is pedestrian

[Anonymous No.6063537]

Notes from Underground. Was emotionally touched. Cried a bit

[Anonymous No.6063554]

The Conspiracy Against the Human Race

[Anonymous No.6063571]

The second sex.

I'm not even a grill

[Anonymous No.6063587]

Makes me feel like a pleb but the Great Gatsby got me interested in literature and writing and really made me hate living on the East Coast

[Anonymous No.6063589]

I have a hard time stomaching most fiction. I actually haven't read anything else by McCarthy though. I thought about picking up Blood Meridian, but Western settings don't normally appeal to me.

[Anonymous No.6063637]

The Brothers Karamazov brought me joy
The Dead broke my heart
and The Library of Babel blew my mind

[Anonymous No.6063639]

>>6063571
Are you implying there's only 2, Hitler? Huh huh huh?

[Anonymous No.6063640]

>>6063571
You're problematic

[Anonymous No.6063642]

Plato. The way I interpret classics and art is shaped mostly by platonic thought. I think if I had read for example Ovid before Plato I would have though it was absolute nonsense. But I think if I had read Erasmus it would have been just as much.

[Anonymous No.6063647]

The Divine Comedy got me interested in literature in general. Everything about who I am flows from that one source.

[Anonymous No.6063653]

>>6063243
yup same

[Anonymous No.6063660]

Al Qur'an

[Anonymous No.6064354]

>>6061620

[Anonymous No.6064362]

>>6063639
"The Second Sex". There could be a third, Stalin.

[Anonymous No.6064389]

I used to be an edgy atheist like you but then I took a bible to the brain.

[Anonymous No.6064400]

[Anonymous No.6064426]

>>6061666
Rand Paul pls

[Anonymous No.6064428]

godel escher bach
culture man and nature
or
twilight of the idols

hard to say

[Anonymous No.6064430]

>>6064389
and now you've become autistic.

Was it a good change?

[Anonymous No.6064434]

>>6063506
s'agood one

[Anonymous No.6064439]

>>6061620
The principia discordia, then moving onto Camus.

That yes, life is absurd, but don't get suicidal over it, and don't ignore it. Just roll with it.

[Anonymous No.6064441]

The Great Gatsby.

>tfw my Daisy is with an imbecile and I'm only halfway through creating my final form.

[Anonymous No.6064469]

Am I the only one?

[Anonymous No.6064484]

>>6062939
>genetic fallacy
u wot

[Anonymous No.6064531]

>>6061620

[Anonymous No.6064533]

A River Runs Through It.

Not many books get you to look at the world in a completely different way. That one singlehandedly transformed me from edgelord to pseudo-Christian and convinced me of the goodness of people and nature. Not to mention that it was beautifully written and was made into a pretty fucking good movie.

Also, Suttree, for similar reasons but in very different ways.

[Anonymous No.6064615]

>>6061620

[Anonymous No.6064635]

>>6064469
That was obvious: the book

[Anonymous No.6064647]

Siddhartha. I was born in a Hindu family in SA and I've never read western literature before. Siddhartha blew my mind.

[Anonymous No.6064656]

Bernhard4prez

[Anonymous No.6064657]

read it in highschool and it changed everything

[Anonymous No.6064661]

>>6061620
infinite jest.

[Anonymous No.6064675]

The Dead - Joyce
Whatever - Houellebecq
Capital - Marx
Good Old Neon - Wallace

and everything Carver wrote.

[Anonymous No.6064692]

>>6064675 again
>The Dead - Joyce
>Whatever - Houellebecq

These two in combination with some relationship problems I was going through at the time of reading them helped to disillusion me about love.

>Capital - Marx

Made me view society and history in an entirely new way. I think it's impossible to read Marx and not be a little changed afterwards.

>Good Old Neon - Wallace

In general I take great solace from reading Wallace battle with his demons and try to remain positive in the face of his depression and the overwhelmingly alienating forces of contemporary society. It's comforting to know that I'm not alone. His ultimate failure is tragic but I deeply admire how stubbornly he struggled and hope that I can replicate his efforts.

>and everything Carver wrote.

Again, his portrayals of alcoholism, depression and dysfunctional love are very cathartic to me, and coming into contact with his brand of minimalism was a sort of literary epiphany for me.

[Anonymous No.6064704]

>Walter Rudin - Principles of Analysis
Was the first mathematics I did that wasn't plug and chug crap and it was the coolest shit.
>Arthur Koestler - Darkness At Noon
Brought me out of my edgy stoic phase in freshman year of high school, and still resonates with me to this day. Also Orwell ripped Koestler the fuck off.

[Anonymous No.6064712]

>>6062028
Mine is Prometheus Rising too. Hold me brah

[Anonymous No.6064720]

Don't really have THAT book, but Don Quixote and Mario And The Magician are up there.

[Anonymous No.6064722]

[Anonymous No.6064726]

>>6064439
Urapope

[Anonymous No.6064727]

[Anonymous No.6064737]

>>6064400

>Elie Wiesel
>Not a talentless, money grabbing hack

This one did it for me

[Anonymous No.6064771]

[Anonymous No.6064867]

>>6064712
i'm here for you. Did you ever find a quarter?

[Anonymous No.6064884]

>>6064771
Definitely shit.

[Anonymous No.6064910]

>>6061631
>We is good
end this meme

I made it exactly halfway in before ending it

[Anonymous No.6064997]

>>6061666
The Fountainhead taught me it's okay to be autistic

[Anonymous No.6065002]

>>6063055
kek

[Anonymous No.6065006]

The brothers Karamasov

[Anonymous No.6065022]

>>6063287
Hell yeah, could read before any of my friends too. I was very proud.

[Anonymous No.6065032]

>>6061620
>TFW I have yet to experience this
I closest I have ever gotten to that experience was when I read DFW's "Little Expressionless Animals".

[Anonymous No.6065042]

>>6061661
and your 15 year old self was more intelligent than you are now
aesthetics in art > all

[Anonymous No.6065049]

>>6061661
Are you me?

[Anonymous No.6065077]

>>6064389
>>6061675

An eumenical study bible is a pretty solid choice for most important book ever read. One of my goals this year is to read pic related in full.

[Anonymous No.6065082]

>>6061631
Reading it now, actually better than expected.
Can recommend.

[Anonymous No.6065090]

>>6065006
>>6063637
How come everyone felt joy from "The Brothers Karamazov"?

I know I am not the only one that didn't feel that way, but it sure as hell feels like it.

[Anonymous No.6065109]

The Stranger by Albert Camus, which I read when I was 12. Before that I had only read YA, non-fiction, and authors in the league of Roald Dahl. I still 'got it' without any help and went from radical Christian to wandering agnostic-atheist within a week. The part that hit me hard and had me staring at the wall for a while was when he gave zero fucks that he was about to be executed. Death was such a terrifying concept to me then. I'm afraid to return to the book however, I don't want my ideal image of it ruined.

[Anonymous No.6065126]

Fear and Trembling from Kierkegaard

made me read again, thanks /lit/

[Anonymous No.6065131]

[Anonymous No.6065480]

>>6063589
It's worth it

[Anonymous No.6065494]

>>6065131

[Anonymous No.6065515]

>>6062930
no, its not a good book, the prose is clunky, the characters 2 dimensional, the plot predictable, the only thing it has going for it is the concept, i mean its a great concept but it still doesnt redeem it as a decent work of literature

[Anonymous No.6065532]

>>6065131

man, i just ordered "Essays and Aphorisms" by this dude

is it any good?

[Anonymous No.6065539]

>>6065515
I agree with this, the English translation of We may suck but it's a really clunky book

[Anonymous No.6065541]

It's time to wake up

[Anonymous No.6065547]

>>6065532

I haven't read the whole thing, but I enjoyed reading the essays I have. I took it all with a pinch of salt, though.

[Anonymous No.6065553]

>>6065126
Holy shit, I remember the first time reading that I was struck dumb with terror. I'm not even a Christian, but Kierkegaard is phenomenal at getting you to really think honestly about how you're living your life. Love that book.

[Anonymous No.6065556]

[Anonymous No.6065560]

Naked Lunch made me want to start writing

Infinite Jest made me feel like I should stop

[Anonymous No.6065564]

the person i am today is constantly evolving, the book that made me the person i am today is probably tai pei, as that books the most recent work to have had an effect on my state of mind

[Anonymous No.6065566]

>>6061620
I spent a couple years really looking for a way to get back to religion and spirituality, but my upbringing regarding those things was kinda shit, so I was pretty cynical about it. Campbell changed my perspective on religion, since his main drive is that it isn't about whether or not this or that religion is the right one, but instead that all of them are right on some level metaphorically, helping you find your way back to God, the divine, the Absolute, your self, or whatever you wanna call it. Also he got me interested in literature in general, so that's cool too.

I'd recommend reading (or watching) this, but just know that it's not super deep. It serves as an excellent introduction to his thought, but if it seems to shallow, I'd recommend some of his other stuff, like Thou Art That or The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

[Anonymous No.6065573]

>>6063571
This one changed me too, and I'm not a grill either. Really thought-provoking.

[Anonymous No.6065579]

>>6064997
On the one hand, I can appreciate Rand's message of pursuing yourself artistically and not being afraid to do your own thing. On the other hand, Ayn Rand seems to take it to a rather paranoid level.

[Anonymous No.6065581]

>>6065556
My childhood. Those are the books that got me into reading.

[Anonymous No.6065586]

Slaughterhouse-Five a few years before this one, but both in high school and both just completely opened my eyes to what fiction could do.

[Anonymous No.6065588]

>>6065560
Seriously? I can only see how the opposite could be true.

[Anonymous No.6065592]

Fight Club

[Anonymous No.6065593]

>>6065131

I remember reading this when i was 15, misunderstanding it, and becoming hipster because of it

good times

[Anonymous No.6065595]

>>6065592
>inb4 the film

[Anonymous No.6065609]

tfw i got into a decent university only because I talked about how much I loved this book

[Anonymous No.6065614]

i've since moved away from christianity, but reading this when i was ten was probably what really changed the way i looked at the world and at morality

[Anonymous No.6065616]

>>6061629

#SHOTSFIRED

[Anonymous No.6065647]

Because it was the first book I read for fun

[Anonymous No.6065670]

The Ego and Its Own
Not even meme-ing.

[Anonymous No.6065681]

The bible is the only book I've read that has significantly influenced my life
All the others (Heart of Darkness, Moby Dick, Crime and Punishment etc) haven't changed me as a person

[Anonymous No.6065983]

>>6065541
Has anyone read this? I'm guessing it's just inane xenophobic rambling, but maybe I'm wrong.

[Anonymous No.6065991]

>>6061625
Op is only 17. Give him time

[Anonymous No.6065998]

>>6061620
Ender's Game. Fuck the movie, though. It completely failed to capture his interiority, which was what made me find the book compelling in the first place.

[Anonymous No.6066015]

>>6064884
it's actually pretty enjoyable

it's similar to midnight's children in that it is intellectual yet entertaining for the pleb

[Anonymous No.6066020]

>>6063637
I agree that The Library of Babel is a great story, and mind-blowing, but I never see anyone mention Tlön, Uqbar, Toribs Tertius. I think it deserves more praise.

[Anonymous No.6066047]

>>6061620
Maybe not "made me who I am today", but Notes From Underground really blew me away and introduced me to more unconventional lit, and it's still one of my favorite novels

>tfw the literary character you relate to the most is a bitter, sarcastic recluse

[Anonymous No.6066058]

>>6065579
That's putting it mildly, rand's characters are so autistic and ideological that they don't even really act in their own self-interest ("no, I won't build your building because it doesn't reflect MY VALUES!!!!!!!!1111")

[Anonymous No.6066066]

>>6063466
you sound like fun

[Anonymous No.6066067]

>>6065983
He suggests training using Call of Duty at one point.

[Anonymous No.6066075]

>>6061620
I actually have no clue
Harry Potter got me reading in elementary school, but the content of the book was never influential.
Realistically, it's probably a conglomeration of most of the books I have read growing up.

[Anonymous No.6066080]

>>6062939
You do realize that you don't have to one hundred percent agree with something for it to profoundly affect you right? At the time, I was at a logical end to a kind of moralism not unlike pessimism/nihilism. This shook me out of it and let me keep moving and learning more than I ever thought was possible. The 100% absolute factual historicity is not what is really interesting about On the Genealogy of Morals anyways.

[Anonymous No.6066081]

>>6066015
Any other books you'd put in that category? I love Midnight's Children, one of my favorite books, kind of surprised it isn't more popular here. Basically literary superhero fiction.

[Anonymous No.6066084]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

[Anonymous No.6066087]

>>6065541
>>>/pol/

[Anonymous No.6066089]

>>6066067
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2117532/The-real-Call-Duty-Terror-gangs-using-games-plot-atrocities-securely-online.html

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/03/20/terrorists-use-online-games-like-call-duty-to-plot-attacks/

Its the future of warfare

[Anonymous No.6066110]

>>6063642
I will never understand how people can read The Republic in this day and age and think it is insightful. Some of the concepts are somewhat interesting, but the approach to thought has aged very badly. It's just shitty analytic thought and while it may excusable as a product of its time, but it is inexcusable that people can still actually think it is good. Is there anything else by Plato that is actually worth reading, because The Republic feels like a waste of time other than it's historical impact which I could get better from the wikipedia page.

[Anonymous No.6066136]

>>6066110

I can understand how you might assert that The Republic hasn't aged particularly well and all, but can you please expand on what you mean but the rest of your statement? (not trying to argue, just legitimately curious)

[Anonymous No.6066143]

>>6066081
Vonnegut is enjoyed by plebs but I would consider intellectual on the whole.
I was going to say McCarthy but his proe tends to put the plebs off pretty quick
Hermann Hesse, Ken Kesey, Kerouac etc. are all read by hipster poser plebs quite regularly but I would say Kesey's writing is pretty profound as well as entertaining.

HERMANN HESSE though... jesus chriiiiist. I have no idea how this guy is not /lit/'s king of feels. I honestly believe him to be one of the most empathetic, human and romantic writers of all time. His feels reduced me to blubbering several times. Narcissus and Goldmund could easily be enjoyed by the pleb but it remains one of the most beautiful fictional expositions on faith, love and youth ever written.
I would most recommend the translation in pic related.

[Anonymous No.6066159]

>>6066143
Vonnegut was my favorite author as a teenager and I still love him.

Of Hesse, I've only read Siddhartha (which I found underwhelming) but this is such a good recommendation that I'll find a copy of N&G. Thanks friend!

[Anonymous No.6066162]

>>6066067
Well, it worked for him

[Anonymous No.6066180]

>>6066110
It has a lot of insight that your average Joe never gonna get from normal media. It is well written. It is interesting and has some deep (althoug not complex) concepts.

Plato is very relevant. From what you are saying is like what he said in the book is equivalent to say today that Earth is flat. There nothing like that on the book.

I have my own particular opinion that Plato is more relevant today than it was to the 18th or 19th centuries. Today society opinions are closer to 4th century athens than they are to 18th century european society.

[Anonymous No.6066184]

>>6066159
any time friend. It makes me happy to know that this experience awaits you, and I have been some kind of instrument in helping you towards it.

I understand the "underwhelming" reaction to Siddhartha ass mine was the same at 15.
I hadn't really appreciated my position in the world and had not really had my "existential crisis", or whatever it's called these days, yet.
Siddhartha is very simple and dry, but it is worth coming back to to try it again.
stick at narcissus and goldmund though. put some work in and keep reading to the end and you won't regret having done so.

[Anonymous No.6066189]

First read it when I was 14. It was at that point when I realized that I didn't understand jack shit about the world, and plunged me into the world of scifi liturature.

>>6063589
>>6064354
Excellent.

>>6064727
>>6065541
/pol/ reads books?

[Anonymous No.6066205]

>>6066189
I was also 14 when I read that book. Didn't understand anything until I re-read it.

[Anonymous No.6066206]

>>6066180
>Today society opinions are closer to 4th century athens than they are to 18th century european society.

Such as?

[Anonymous No.6066211]

>>6066206

Spengler Oswald - Decline of the west

[Anonymous No.6066219]

>>6066211
So,
>muh degeneracy ?

[Anonymous No.6066224]

What's sad is that since its an obscure novel by an obscure genre fiction writer, it will probably never be widely read.

[Anonymous No.6066228]

>>6066219

not even close, the interesting part is the one related to how thought changes through the culture of ancient greek compared with the modern thought. Read the first 80 pags and then see for yourself

[Anonymous No.6066233]

>>6066206
Justice as "Might is right" is stronger than ever. Same with atheism (that is discussed on Laws, not on the Republic). Also, moral relativism. Art relativism as well. Focus on method, not on ends/final objectives. Even communism is discussed. (Ecclesiazusae from Aristophanes).

[Anonymous No.6066245]

>>6066233

not samefag, but the name of the spengler's book is misleading, it doesn't speak just about the west, it's a personal study about the changes of every culture in philosophy, art, politics.

[Anonymous No.6066306]

>>6066233
>Justice as "Might is right" is stronger than ever.

Are you serious? In 18th century europe people were hung for stealing bread. Branding, the guillotine, cutting off ears, shit that the taliban might hesitate to do was "justice"

[Anonymous No.6066316]

>>6066306
And...? The world today is not any better in many areas. Moreover, cruel punishments have nothing to do with might is right.

[Anonymous No.6066322]

>>6066316
OK, so give a concrete example of "might is right" being a popular belief today and not in the 18th century

[Anonymous No.6066330]

>>6066322
Russia

[Anonymous No.6066338]

>>6066322
not that guy but do you even watch the news?
Annexation of Ukraine.
US foreign policy.
wake up

[Anonymous No.6066345]

>>6066322

Maybe 18th century is too close, but compare it with the ideas of the 13th century and 9th century and you can see a change in the might is right sense.

Anyway you can't say that might is right isn't stronger than ever, social darwinism is already a belief at an uncounscious level and it's totally related to it.

[Anonymous No.6066349]

[Anonymous No.6066351]

>>6066330
>predatory imperialism is a new idea

[Anonymous No.6066357]

>>6066322

See how art, literature and philosophy is totally meaningless today.

See how everything is becoming more and more pragmatic

See how deprecated is the academia in these days.

[Anonymous No.6066358]

>>6065614
This

[Anonymous No.6066359]

>>6062381
>>6062236

ugh...

[Anonymous No.6066363]

>>6066338
Aren't violent border expansions less common now? Also, while the US have exerted their influence forcefully abroad, I don't think the majority of its citizens believe their might is always right. For instance, the US populations vocal discomfort at what happened in Vietnam.

[Anonymous No.6066366]

This

[Anonymous No.6066373]

>>6066359
They may not be intelligent readers, but they seem like passionate readers and I'm disappointed that you would scoff at them the way you did.

[Anonymous No.6066376]

>>6066306

There were more violent and tyrannical times than both ours and ancient athens, but this is not i'm referring to. Even if they did a ton of shit, their ideal of justice was somewhat objective, they had other reasons outside self-interest and justification by strength. But the idea that justice is defined purely by strength and control is openly defended is particular to few ocasions in history (like ours and 4th century athens).

The beginning of Book II of The Republic with Glaucon and Adeimantus shows this well exposing the commom opinion about Justice, because is a lot like what today's people think. That kind of think is very unique to non-religious secular societies. Some people always thought like that, but rarely that is what the majority believes.

[Anonymous No.6066384]

>>6066345
>>6066338
>>6066330

That shit is as old as governments, and you're ignorant of history if you think it's new.

>Cruelty as entertainment, human sacrifice to indulge superstition, slavery as a labor-saving device, conquest as the mission statement of government, genocide as a means of acquiring real estate, torture and mutilation as routine punishment, the death penalty for misdemeanors and differences of opinion, assassination as the mechanism of political succession, rape as the spoils of war, pogroms as outlets for frustration, homicide as the major form of conflict resolution--all were unexceptionable features of life for most of human history.

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/77728/history-violence

inb4 oh you just think everything's great now, what about [wartorn country/instance of injustice]

[Anonymous No.6066386]

>>6066366
>Easton Press Neuromancer
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck

[Anonymous No.6066387]

>>6066363
that's true. I guess the cynicism with which the US gvt intervenes is really what is so athenian.

>>6066357
this post sums up some more social aspects of societal decadence.
art is meaningless (unmade bed) and totally penetrable by the uneducated masses, who all feel as though they must share their shitty opinions on everything. Except in today's world the lower classes' opinions gain traction, and only serve to undermine and topple classicism and high art's historical significance.
point 2 needs no explanation
point 3 relates directly to point one

[Anonymous No.6066398]

>>6066384
>
no I totally agree, but what I am arguing is the cynicism with which control is now exercised is similar to that of athens
see
>>6066387

[Anonymous No.6066400]

>>6066387
>this post sums up some more social aspects of societal decadence. art is meaningless (unmade bed) and totally penetrable by the uneducated masses, who all feel as though they must share their shitty opinions on everything. Except in today's world the lower classes' opinions gain traction, and only serve to undermine and topple classicism and high art's historical significance.

bourgeois/10

[Anonymous No.6066409]

>>6066338
british empire
spanish empire
french, portugese, dutch colonialism

[Anonymous No.6066429]

>>6066409
>hurr durr those were different for... for some reason, muh greeks
>born in le wrong millennium

[Anonymous No.6066431]

>>6066409
I know but you're totally missing the point if you think that post-hiroshima world politics is in any way comparable to the 18th/19th centuries.

see >>6066387

>>6066400
is that supposed to be an insult? because I am far from bourgeois. my parents are teacher and engineer

[Anonymous No.6066436]

>>6066431
>i am far from bourgeois
>the working class are so stupid, old sport! Not like them at all

Are you one of these "spiritual aristocrat" types?

[Anonymous No.6066454]

>>6066436

>thinks that the lower classes are ideal men

oh boy, pure ideology

[Anonymous No.6066458]

>>6066429
dude wtf are you on about

>>6066436
no I just have very little faith in the majority of the working class (working class hero)
I don't believe that leftism provides a good alternative mechanism for upholding the societal value of art to elitist institutions (that the left systematically destroys)

[Anonymous No.6066475]

>>6064910
You is an idiot who can't conjugate "to be".

[Anonymous No.6066485]

>>6066429
>born in le wrong millenium
IKTF.
>tfw you will never live in ancient Athens

[Anonymous No.6066489]

>>6066458
there probably should have been a parenthesis in that sentence somewhere.

[Anonymous No.6066494]

>>6064726
no and yes.

[Anonymous No.6066503]

>>6064910
>We is good
>We is
Is English not your first language?

[Anonymous No.6066515]

>>6062899
Not very

Expect everyone to go for the low-hanging fruit, start making comparisons to Stalinism, pretend to know mathematics, and completely ignore how dismissing the book as a mere fictional dystopia is completely missing the point of the book

[Anonymous No.6066524]

>>6064469
I find it problematic when the author's name is in bigger font than the title of the book

[Anonymous No.6066557]

>>6066475
>>6066503
He's referring to the book, isn't he?

[Anonymous No.6066566]

>>6066110
The more particular examples of justice sure aren't applicable today, but the principles are. Plato even obtusely admits (I think) that absolutes aren't possible in the world of the senses when he answers that an approximation of justice would suffice. It's not particularly confusing, but it is profound enough to have you thinking. Quite the opposite of a lot of confusing philosophy which yield only meaninglessness.

Not only that, but it's pretty much required to know the concepts to understand a lot of literature and art upwards to early/mid 18th century and probably some even later on. This is especially true for understanding the intellectual culture and art of the Renaissance.

[Anonymous No.6066619]

>>6066075
Only sensible answer

Seriously, I really think most of you are either exaggerating or just don't read much

[Anonymous No.6066636]

>>6066619

>i forget everything i read

kek

[Anonymous No.6066646]

>>6065616
Gb2reddit

[Anonymous No.6066660]

>>6061625
This. Good concept, horrible execution. the sentence "Totalitarianism is bad" sums up the entire book without need for further explication.

[Anonymous No.6066696]

I do like 1984 - I feel it gets a bad rap for being "pleb" or whatever cause it's so institutionalised within the educational system. Ignoring all that, even though it was one of the first books I read, it was nevertheless the first to give me that feeling of awe. I suppose it was more horror, in a sense, because the conclusion is so heartbreaking - but that doesn't quite accurately describe it. I'm not entirely sure how to do so, but I know at the book's close it had me in a state of wonder - for lack of a better word.

>Under the spreading chestnut tree
>I sold you and you sold me
>There lie they and here lie we
>Under the spreading chestnut tree

>The tears welled up in Winston's eyes.

Call it babby's first book, but those lines will resonate with me forever, it was such a powerful moment. I didn't find it particularly sad, but it seemed like something very cold, sobering, yet inspiring and thrilling, in that moment when I finally recognised the significance of that four-liner. I kinda had to take a moment to just think about it.

[Anonymous No.6066707]

[Anonymous No.6066722]

>>6066636
Unless you're a genius, or some type of autistic tard, or you read as slow as a 1st grader/pleb and only manage to finish 1-2 books a year, it's unrealistic to say that you remember every single book that you have read.

[Anonymous No.6066741]

I' m probably going to seem like a pleb for answering with a comic, but Go-go Monster by Taiyo Matsumoto is probably THE book most important to my growth from teenager to adult.
It's a coming-of-age story that I read at just the right moment of my life for what it was expressing to mean something for me deeply. The religious themes worked really well for me, as I had had some conflicting feelings about religion after having gone to Christian School for a good few years but was always skeptical. It's also the only book I've read that made me legitimately afraid, as in having a real physical jolt back.

[Anonymous No.6066742]

>>6066619
Some books present thoughts that pave the way into other literature. Some are mere entertainment.

[Anonymous No.6066795]

>>6066742
I doubt all of you have only read ONE book that has presented thoughts that pave the way into other literature.
Besides, books that have lead you to other types of literature don't necessarily apply to this thread. They do, but I don't think that's what OP meant.

[Anonymous No.6066796]

[Anonymous No.6066824]

>>6064910
learn to speak English

[Anonymous No.6066856]

>>6063537
I couldn't finish it. It made me too uncomfortable. I suspect this says some very, very bad things about me.

[Anonymous No.6066864]

>>6066485
>tfw you will never be anally raped by athenian soldiers pillaging your land to enrich a tiny elite of pederast slave-owners

[Anonymous No.6066876]

Not my favorite from Bukowski, but it got my interested in stuff from Kerouac, Ginsgberg, Ferlinghetti and such

[Anonymous No.6066877]

>>6061620
probably ham on rye. i honestly had some respect for english classics. but then i read this american novel, and now i hate everything "classy". fuck everything.

[Anonymous No.6066895]

I read this when I was twelve years old. For the following seven years to today I read this book every year to remind me of my passion.

[Anonymous No.6066902]

The Brothers Karamazov
Ulysses
Cantos
The Genealogy of Morals
Phenomenology of Spirit

[Anonymous No.6066911]

>>6066485
>implying Athens at any point is near as good as Antonine Rome.

[Anonymous No.6066914]

>>6061620
Wow, embarrassing.

[Anonymous No.6066917]

>>6066524
Why is this response so common? Some innate disgust with the implied hubris of the act?

[Anonymous No.6066951]

>>6061620
Steppenwolf and One Hundred Years of Solitude are definitely the two for me I think. I read Steppenwolf when I was 15, and it triggered my first "existential crisis", I suppose. I was also having some family troubles at the time, and had a terrible relationship with my mother. Coupled with being ridiculed for being overweight, I was pretty down. Basically, it was the perfect book for me to read at the time. I've only read it once, but I remember it made me sob and shook me with feels. It definitely changed me. After reading it I felt like I had really gone through a catharsis of self, and it inspired me to start writing seriously. It might not hold up to that standard if I read it again today, but it had a huge impact on me back then, especially after I wrote two research papers on it.

OHYoS I also read when I was 15 and the prose and thematic devices and storyline hit me like a brick. It's had the most impact on me in terms of writing, I think. After reading it, I wrote 70 pages of a novel which, looking back, is basically Garcia-Marquez lite set in Florida. Gabo is still one of my favorite authors and I've since read all of his oeuvre and OHYoS three more times. The way his prose is so overabundant and lush, but also pithy, with powerful one-liners....unf.

[Anonymous No.6066957]

>>6061620
Tangerine by Edward Bloor

It was required reading for me in my 8th grade English class.

Typical coming of age story.

Kid realizing he's his own person and doesn't have to limit himself to what people and his parents tell him he can and can't do.

The plot also interweaves all the other shit young teenagers go through.

Living in a sibling's shadow.

Being let down by role models.

Losing and growing apart from friends.

Grew up in an incredibly strict religious household so this kind of sowed the first seeds of me thinking outside the bible and what I had been told was right and wrong.

Read it again a few years ago for shits and giggles.

Doesn't strike the same chord it did when I was a kid but still enjoyable.

[Anonymous No.6066969]

One of the first books I ever read to have a profound effect on me.

Also, House of Leaves fucked with my head and changed my whole perception on storytelling.

[Anonymous No.6067017]

It's hard to explain why.

[Anonymous No.6067122]

>>6066917
It's marketing itself based on the cult celebrity.

[Anonymous No.6067129]

>>6067122
Please explain further.

[Anonymous No.6067140]

The Art of the Novel, Milan Kundera
Honorable Mentions:
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Steppenwolfe
Sons and Lovers
All the Names

There's really a lot more...How could I pick just one?! Oh, right, I already had, lol.

[Anonymous No.6067142]

>>6067129
not him but when people see bertrand russel they might think about the author long before they read the title of the book. They're buying it for the author exclusively. Asimov is known for telling publishers to not write his name larger than the title, he doesn't want to ride his own popularity.

[Anonymous No.6067150]

>>6066951
These are two of mine also. Have you heard of Too Loud a Solitude? It's short but you might enjoy as much as I did.

[Anonymous No.6067154]

Required reading in my high school. It's basically existentialism 101 and it sparked my interest in philosophy.

[Anonymous No.6067174]

>>6067142
I see what you mean, and I agree with you generally. However, if we assume that this habit some authors and publishers have of writing their names largely is marketing- as it is- then I will ask this question: what if the reader does not recognize it as such, and does not know of the author? This attempt at persuasiveness is an appeal to celebrity, and as such assumes that the beholder knows what or who it alludes to. If they do not, such as was my case, then it is wholly ineffective, and the book can be judged on its own merits. To this day, I know almost nothing about the author, and have not read any of his other books.

[Anonymous No.6067182]

>>6066143
HERMAN HESSE....But his prose is so mundane....snooze fest, and the constant homoerotic teacher/student thing? We get it Herman, you were in love with a boy once? He's almost as bad as John Irving constantly lusting over his poor mother. Garcia Marquez has feels, Thomas Hardy has feels, Jane Austen has feels. Herman Hesse is for snivelling little boys who just got beat up and need a little comforting. No hate, Steppenwolfe was great, but seriously? Herman Hesse?

[Anonymous No.6067207]

>>6065090
>Literally everything goes wrong but I can continue to praise God and bring others happiness
It's a positive book despite very un-positive content.

[Anonymous No.6067228]

>>6067140
Wait, and also The Trial. All my life I've been chased by men in masks. In one way or another I am always pleading why and bearing the judgement if others. If I can get a little respite here and there then that's good but to actually trust someone (completely) that really hasn't happened yet. I might be in some type of Infinite Jest so I wonder if that book is any good. I guess I should read it as it pops up in my consciousness unillicited. Who would I be if I didn't listen to my own mind?

[Anonymous No.6067320]

>>6063287
Hell yeah. I was afraid to go the first grade, because I was home schooled in kindergarten, and my mom sucks at home schooling and I didn't know how to read yet, I hadn't even really tried. I remember I showed up to my school in the first grade, and then during the break or playtime we had, I plucked a book off the shelf and was just like "fuck yeah I can read now". It was magical.

[Anonymous No.6067326]

>>6064441
Wait, so your take away from The Great Gatsby was to be Gatsby lol?

[Anonymous No.6067336]

gravity's rainbow. before reading it i wasn't really interested in literature, after reading it i started reading 6-8 hours per day

[Anonymous No.6067354]

>>6065077
I'll be right there with you bro

[Anonymous No.6068405]

>>6065998

>babbys first pleb sci-fi

[Anonymous No.6068411]

>not a single Nietzsche
>year of our corpse god 2015
>not being a pleb

Pshh. Have fun actually havin "intellectual discourse". I'm of to shitpost le spook meme

[Anonymous No.6068430]

>>6064484
Genetic fallacy is the confusing of somethings origins with its actual meaning or use in the modern day. Nietzsche writes that modern morality was the result of a "slave revolt" in morals placing their shitty "base" morals as good and evil instead of aristocratic not giving a shit. The genetic fallacy here is that he holds the origins of modern morality as "slave morality" to be an argument against it, committing the genetic fallacy.

[Anonymous No.6068451]

>>6061620
illuminatus! ofc

[Anonymous No.6068487]

>>6065109
Same here, the book changed the way I thought and make me really look at the world and all the shit I thought was important. I don't think I'll realise how much it's affected me till I reread though.

[Anonymous No.6068488]

The book that got me into reading, and led me down the path of the Iron-pilled

[Anonymous No.6068499]

>>6064400
4/10

[Anonymous No.6068508]

>>6061620
>1984
>most important book you ever read

How's it feel being a member of the plebeian class

[Anonymous No.6068515]

It's no about the book, but the time i read it. It was exactly what i needed.

[Anonymous No.6068516]

>>6062939
You're mentally retarded

>>6061674
Finally a decent post

[Anonymous No.6068527]

>>6068508
lumpenprole class

FTFU

[Anonymous No.6068560]

This has probably influenced me more than any other book, for better or for worse.

[Anonymous No.6069448]

good thread.

[Anonymous No.6069709]

>>6067017
is it any good? i've been meaning to read it fir a while now.

[Anonymous No.6069936]

>>6066080
>On the Genealogy of Morals
I'm reading this right now. What exactly IS the most interesting part? Not being sarcastic-- I just want to know what to look out for.

[Anonymous No.6070084]

>>6066189
>>6066205

Shit kind of same. A lot of stuff went over my head my first read through but I wouldn't say I didn't understand jack shit. It's definitely the first thing that made me think about things like ecology and politics.

I've read it three times now and it's my favourite book of all time.

[Anonymous No.6070153]

Adam Smith Wealth of Nations

or

Animal Farm/Series of Unfortunate Events for getting me into reading

[Anonymous No.6070177]

>>6066895
hah I forgot about that book. What a nostalgia trip you've sent me on, anon.

[Anonymous No.6070180]

Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations solved so many problems I was having in my life and gave me a framework to approach all sorts of problems. Runners up are Wallace's Infinite Jest, which got me interested in Wittgenstein in the first place, and Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov, which almost converted me (Wittgenstein and Wallace came close to converting me too).


When I was a kid, the answer would have been Harry Potter and Redwall, no doubt.

[Anonymous No.6070218]

Fahrenheit 451.

[Anonymous No.6070270]

>>6069936
Part? I mean, it's pretty short and perhaps the most focused of Nietzsche's works (that I have read at least). It's the confrontation of morality (or at least slave morality). Is this your first Nietzsche? A few bits of advice if so. He is not an antisemite. It's the easy way the way out to latch onto some things about the way he writes to dismiss him. Nietzsche is a philosopher who I have found to be above all challenging. In the sense you may find yourself agreeing with him at one point and then disagreeing with him the next and confronting yourself about whether the previous point you agreed with him on necessitates the next. I would also be sure to look up some of the terms he uses as interpreted by those who study him. For example, what he means be "English psychologists" among other things. Just above all, don't be easily dismissive and really confront what he says. Either way, agree or disagree with him, you'll find out more about yourself and it should push you to do some deep thinking.

[Anonymous No.6070283]

>>6063502

>either of those two texts
>important to anyone but smelly hippes and asians

[Anonymous No.6070304]

>>6070153
Series of unfortunate Events is great. I mean, it's for kids, yes, but in that sense it is absolutely great. Sometimes I read a thing or other and it hits me that it was referenced in these books. If you read it in the age range you're supposed to read the series, you'll have a friendly hand accompanying you through a big part of your develpment as a reader.

I still love it.

[Anonymous No.6070312]

>>6070270
I finished reading it for the first time (a quick reading) today. The third essay seems to be much friendlier to approach than the other two.
I have to admit that I find it very hard NOT to dismiss some of his ideas; he writes in the manner of a conspiracy theorist sometimes, especially when he talk about the priestly caste's "plan" to overthrow the master morality and bring slave morality into power.
I think what really throws me off here is its relation to history--Of course I understand it's supposed to be a GENEALOGY of morals, which is why I'm curious about what you said about the interesting part not being the factual historicity.

[Anonymous No.6070336]

>>6070304
I'm glad that Handler keeps the mystery alive for kids too, like he still makes books in the same world. I remember getting his unauthorized autobiography when I was just at the age range to grow out of this stuff and it was my absolute guilty pleasure.

[Anonymous No.6070338]

[Anonymous No.6070345]

>>6065556
This and Ender's Game were my first real novels. Great stuff.

[Anonymous No.6070354]

>>6065595
The film was better than the book

Rant and Haunted are Palahniuk's best.

[Anonymous No.6070380]

>>6068488
The fact that you're referring to yourself as "____-pilled" really contrasts with the ideology presented in the whole "iron-pilled" thing

I mean, you're basing your core philosophy off of some autist's MS Paint scribblings. At least divorce yourself from that shitty fucking image macro.

[Anonymous No.6070385]

>>6070218
Actually, I change my answer. This is it.

[Anonymous No.6070407]

>>6070312
Whether this is what Nietzsche literally meant I don't know, but I find it to be the most useful way to interpret it. And in context with Nietzsche's other writing I think there are pretty good grounds to think this way.

With regards to the "noble man" and the man of "ressentiment", it's best to think of them as psychological desire and wills within men. Various mental states and positions one can hold that are rooted in the mind as opposed to literal status. He does use literal status to argue and provide evidence for his point, but I don't think that is what he is actually getting at. So it is only a conspiracy in the sense of unified desires and wills, perhaps even subconsciously. This is part of why Nietzsche is sometimes credited with coming up the subconscious before Freud did.

But while can go back in the history books and dispute the literal facticity of what Nietzsche is saying one has to think about the essence of what he is saying and whether that is true. What exactly is the end goal of morality and should we actually want that or are their higher values we can aspire to? What should that higher thing look like?

In modern society, the question of morality just unasked with a given answer. Nietzsche forces you to really confront it and reassess your values. I don't think reading it as a literal history book is a very useful way of reading it or how it is meant to be read.

[Anonymous No.6070495]

>>6063589
The Road is easily one of the most boring books I've ever read. It was 200 pages of walking around a wasteland

[Anonymous No.6070515]

The world according to Jeremy Clarkson volume 4.

[Anonymous No.6070522]

>>6070495
>not enjoying the journey above the destination
>not understanding the necessity of repetition to emphasize what was really lost
>not enjoying the sullen grimness of the prose.
Really though, for people who complain about nothing happening in a novel, I wonder if they look at a sunset or an abstract painting and then proceed to complain how nothing is happening and that there should be more explosions.

[Anonymous No.6070535]

>>6070407
G of M is a fucking fantastic book.

The second and third essays are among the best things I've ever read.

The first essay, I hate to say it, is getting a little bit close to what that other anon said--conspiracy theorist thinking.

But the second and third are amazing.

And yes--Nietzsche is a beautifully challenging thinker. I love how much he pisses me off sometimes. That's the exact value, that I can't agree with him fully is exactly what makes him so great. He never gives you what you want to hear, just what he sees as true--and that's so rare from an intellectual.

[Anonymous No.6070586]

>>6066485
i'm a Sparta man, myself

[Anonymous No.6070611]

>>6061674
>command+f this
mah beyond man

[Anonymous No.6072125]

>>6068515
Regardless, this book really is among the greatest. The writing style isnt particularly great or anything, good, but not great, but the ideas, the consolations, the stories, they really matter and can really impact you.

[Anonymous No.6072127]

>>6066660
>there are actually people who read this book and get only this out of it
It really is no wonder 1984 has such a bad reputation. It's read by every pleb under the sun.

[Anonymous No.6072409]

Lovecraft got me back into reading.
Also, I had never heard of him before I started frequenting this board.
So I guess 4chan is the THAT book for me.
Woo life, winning.

[Anonymous No.6072541]

>>6063287
I was annoyed as fuck that i suddenly automatically could not unsee words on billboards etc

[Anonymous No.6072589]

>>6063287
I cant remember that long ago

[Anonymous No.6073552]

>>6072541
whoa i had that experience, too. trying to 'turn off' reading.

[Anonymous No.6073559]

>>6072125
>>6068515
my grampa's favorite book.
he is who i strive to be like

[Anonymous No.6073668]

>>6061675
>believing in fairy tales

[Anonymous No.6073688]

>>6073559
An idiot manchild?

[Satan No.6073797]

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

[Anonymous No.6073900]

>>6061620
Saramago is the shit

[Anonymous No.6073944]

>>6065609
lel, heart of darkness is such a mediocre book

>muh evil capitalism

[Anonymous No.6073950]

wished I read it when I was like 12

[Anonymous No.6074008]

>>6068508
If there is hope for revolution, it lies with the plebs!

[Anonymous No.6074051]

>>6069709
not him. i could only get through like half of it because it just became so dull and boring to read.

[Anonymous No.6074128]

probably the Stranger. I read it as a teen when I was just gettin into that existentialism.

[Anonymous No.6074611]

>>6064867
No. And I spent a lot of fucking time thinking about it lol.

[Tallis !!y+12CeFwYOo No.6074620]

>>6068430
Lol nope. Have you even read Nietzsche? He destroys the concept of metaphysical morals (ie, morals not having a cause, thus divine) by showing their genealogy. Bitch ass niqqa.

[Anonymous No.6075181]

Flowers for Algernon. I read the short story in junior high. It made me cry in school and introduced me to the allegory of the cave.

[Anonymous No.6075254]

If you haven't read it, read it. Oh and by the way it has nothing to do with weed.

[Anonymous No.6075260]

>>6075254
seconding this. Just finished it yesterday.

[Anonymous No.6075306]

>>6066911
>Thinking the Romans ever rivalled the Greeks culturally, philosophically or scientifically.

[Anonymous No.6075330]

[Anonymous No.6075337]

[Anonymous No.6075339]

>>6075254
Actually finished this today, pretty great, loved the ending.

[Anonymous No.6075370]

Kings dark tower series. I know its kinda pleb, but I still really didn't want it to end.
And when I read the ending I found out I was right about it being probably better never ending.

pic topical but unrelated to post

[Anonymous No.6075417]

Probably Fountainhead, because I thought it was horseshit.

Then maybe The Elementary Particles, because I identified with porn-addicted loser.

[Anonymous No.6075426]

>>6066707
This.
>tfw you will never be more alive than Michael Furey.

[Anonymous No.6075444]

>>606162
this one changed me a lot

[Anonymous No.6075450]

>>6063537
Same. First book I found truly difficult to read because of how brutally honest the author was. I've only found a few books with a similar level of poignancy since.

[H.Q.S.S.G No.6075452]

>>6075430
posted in the wrong thread because I'm retarded

[Anonymous No.6075460]

>>6065556
/thread

[Anonymous No.6075483]

>>6061620

[Anonymous No.6075546]

>>6068451
Good choice. I loved that book so much I didn't want to finish it. So I didn't. The adventure lives on forever!

[Anonymous No.6075813]

>>6073688
gr8 b8

[Anonymous No.6075892]

I've yet to find anyone who has read this. Anyone here know if it?