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/lit/ - Literature

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6437522 No.6437522 [Reply] [Original]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. But this is different.

This is YOUR most highly recommended book. What book, above all others, would you want to recommend?

Mine - White Teeth

Why? - No one wants to recognize contemporary authors. Zadie Smith's literary debut is a triumph of class.

>> No.6437549
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6437549

>>6437522
If one of my normal friends walked up to me and asked me to rec the one book, it would be this.

>> No.6437560
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6437560

>>6437522
This.
Because is some dank shit.

>> No.6437579

>>6437549
I've been planning on reading Underworld.

Because I fucking LOVE baseball.

>> No.6437692

>>6437522
I started reading it and thought it wasn't worth it at around page 100. Convince me to try it again.

>> No.6437713

>>6437522
zadie smith is for girls

>> No.6437733
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6437733

I would recommend this squat book, I mean octopus.

>> No.6437734

>>6437713
never said I wasn't one

>> No.6437740

>>6437734
LONDON
O
N
D
O
N

>> No.6437779
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6437779

>> No.6437788
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6437788

>>6437779

has been on my list for ages. might bump it up because of this post. good taste etc.

pic related would be my rec to /lit/.
anon should read it asap. it's a masterpiece.

>> No.6437913
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6437913

>> No.6437921

>>6437579

yeah I was about to post Underworld in this thread. It's my favourite book of all-time. Baseball certainly has a role in it and it functions as the foundation of the plot but most of the book is more concerned with the sweep of American history, specifically the Cold War period. It is the most beautiful, unsentimental, optimistic, moving book I have ever encountered. If you have any interest in reading it at all I urge you to pick it up as soon as you can. I can't wait to read it for the 3rd time this summer. Also, do not be intimidated by the length, it is compulsively readable and it is not a difficult book in the slightest.

>> No.6437930

>>6437913
seconded. be prepared for a freight train of feels.

>> No.6437933

>>6437921

>Optimistic
Boy did we have different readings of that one. There was a sense of hope at the end, but after so much bleakness, I had quite a bit of trouble construing it as a happy book.

>> No.6437939
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6437939

I usually recommend V. when asked for a recommendation.

It's hard (yes, for the average reader it is), but not too hard if the person is determined enough. It's a great experience.

>> No.6437942
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6437942

>>6437733

yes. I loved that book.

I have a hard time choosing just one book. One wise anon recommended "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich" by Danilo Kis to me several years ago, and that was one of the best recs I've got from /lit/ I think Europe Central is dedicated to Kis. Another good one by the same author is "The Encyclopedia of the Dead", shows clear Borges influence.

>> No.6437950

>>6437522
Mysterious Skin by Scott Heim
close second:
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys by Chris Fuhrman

>> No.6437960

>>6437788
I got to chapter three or four and just couldn't keep going. Is there a version where they tell you what the Spanish words mean?

>> No.6437980

>>6437933

I've read it a couple of times and both times I felt as though it was ultimately a hopeful, optimistic book. I think one of the main points of the entire novel is that each of us as individuals is connected to a history that is shared by all of us as a collective. There is meaning to be found in this connection that unites all of us regardless of our relationship to one another. I think that's what works so well with the tangential nature of the chapters and events. Even moments in which one main character listens to the rumble of a subway car underneath her feet that bears the artwork of another main character capture a moment of connectivity. It's interesting because the books DeLillo was writing in the 90s were all leading up to that level of optimism that comes out strong in Underworld but after Underworld that all started to fall apart and his books became much more focused on a growing sense of disconnect, misunderstanding, and isolation.

But yeah, I've been feeling low lately and I can't wait to read Underworld again because it always fills me with hope.

>> No.6437986

>>6437734
Post feet

>> No.6437995
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6437995

>> No.6438108

>>6437560
Just ordered a copy earlier today.

>> No.6438126
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6438126

Some ripping good hard sci fi.

>> No.6438179

>>6437942
>One wise anon recommended "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich" by Danilo Kis
anybody got an epub/mobi/whatever of that? Would love to read some Kis.