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/lit/ - Literature

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6916364 No.6916364 [Reply] [Original]

>age
>book you're currently reading
>how do you like it

>> No.6916373

23
karamazovs
great. i just finished the life of the staretz.

>> No.6916378

>21
>memoirs from the house of the dead
>just starting but excited nonetheless

>> No.6916504

69
Lolita
Good so far

>> No.6916507

>Age
20

>Don Quixote pt II / Cervantes
Only about ten chapters in, but I'm really enjoying it. The fact that Cervantes found a way to address complaints about the first part had me laughing out loud. I've got a really good feeling about my relationship with this book. Tentatively calling it my 3rd favorite read this year.
> The Rings of Saturn / Sebald
I have no idea what's going on, but it's actually kind of nice. First chapters were hellish, because I was trying to find some sort of underlying "plot", but now that I'm just enjoying the passages as the passages that they are... I guess I like it.
>Portnoy's Complaint / Roth
Only a wee bit of the way in, at the moment. I picked it up because I'd seen a fair amount of praise for it on here. It's been pleasant enough, but it's a bit much at times. Definitely not something I plan on speed-reading.

>> No.6916516

>>6916364
19

Brave new world

It's ok so far, 1984 is exceedingly better

>> No.6916519

28
Aurorarama/ Valtat
Like it very much. The sheer literary prowess and poetic caliber is off the charts. So far from pleb that no wonder Americans hate it. I had to go to a French language bookstore to find it.

>> No.6916532

>18
>McGee's Story of Philosophy
Comfy as fuck. The way the publisher has designed the book makes it look like a kiddy book, but the actual contents are solid for giving summarys of each of the philosophers and who they influenced. Nice glossary and further reading list at the back. Perfect for a layman who wants to 'get into' philosophy.

>> No.6916538 [DELETED] 

16

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Only on the third chapter but I'm loving it so far. Especially the dialogue, it's absolutely wonderful.

>> No.6916557

>>6916538
>having had an ex who loved the dialogues so much

sigh.mp3

>> No.6916558

>>6916538
You meant 18 right?

>> No.6916560

>>6916364
20
Just started reading The Snow Leopard.
I'm only a chapter in, but so far I like it. Even the prologue was very good, and I usually don't like prologues.

>>6916516
1984's last third is better than all of BNW. BNW is still good, it's just very mellow all throughout. 1984, I felt, started slow and was slow to get through up until Winston is caught. I'd generally read 1-3 chapters for the first two thirds and then take a break, but I didn't put the book down until it was finished once I got to the last third.
How far into BNW are you? I wanted to mention my favorite part of BNW but it's quite late in the book.

>> No.6916562

>>6916364
>18

>Vertigo by Sebald
Yeah. It's comfy. I love the pictures.

>> No.6916576

20
The Rainbow
It's fuckin' wack yo

>> No.6916592

18

>The Count of Monte Cristo
Fun read. Nearly 2/3rds of the way in and a lot of the plotlines were feeling messy but I finally get the sense that things are converging. I hope it resolves in an interesting way but from what I hear I don't need to worry about that.

>The Last Days of Socrates
Finished Euthyphro and am currently reading Apology. I enjoyed Euthyphro but it just seemed like an exercise in circular logic. It took a lot of stuff as fact when there were many underlying questions I had about the gods. Also, Plato doesn't even bother fully answering the question regarding piety and impiety, which really pissed me off. Hopefully the greeks improve as I progress

>> No.6916595

>>6916364
>22
>Spring Snow
>Really liking it so far

>> No.6916600

>>6916560
Kind of feel like the slow start to 1984 sets a theme off boringness and monotony to winstons life

I'm up to the part when Bernard brings back John to meet the director

Sorry if I'm not being very articulate, don't want to drop any spoilers, how do I do them anyway? I usually only post on /pol/

>> No.6916605

>18
>Stoner
>tbh a little underwhelmed, although I'm only a few pages in

>> No.6916613

>>6916600
I totally get what you mean about the pacing as a symbol. Not all books are meant to be page turners, the way a book reads temporally speaking is as much a tool of the author as the words and letters. Also, you can do spoilers by using [spoi...ler] to begin a spoilered post and [/spoi...ler] to end a spoilered post, without the ellipsis in the middle of the word of course.

>> No.6916616

>>6916600
-what you want to be spoilered [/sopoiler] but obviously spelled right.
Alright then you're not at the part I wanted to mention yet, not important anyway.

>>6916605
Did you marathon 2 pages before coming to post on /lit/?

>> No.6916618

>>6916616
that's an upgrade compared to the people who click purchase and run on /lit/ to get approval

>> No.6916622

>>6916616
Wow, strange, how the hell did everything get spoilered. Never mind, >>6916613 got it.

>> No.6916631

>>6916616
21 pages to be completely honest. I need to give it better circumstances before I judge it though; I began reading it at 9pm in an airport terminal after a day and a half of constant travel and was very near to falling asleep.

On a separate point, is the fact that I bought the book in London Heathrow Airport a fact that it's finally somewhat mainstream? (Bottom shelf, but it was there). I had been looking for it for a while since everyone here talks about how great it is, and I was pretty surprised when I found it there. Bought it along with "The Martian" by Andy Weir. Read that one during the flight from Heathrow to LAX, then began Stoner afterwards.

>> No.6916639 [DELETED] 

>17
>the curious incident of the dog in the night-time
>only doing it bc im too tired to read anything else, meh

>> No.6916652

>>6916631
Stoner is highly regarded, and so are Williams' other books, but it's really only Stoner which has garnered some sort of reputation, and even that little reputation isn't all that much.
This reminds me of something I recently looked into: finding a good edition of The Sun Also Rises was more difficult than I thought it would be. You'd think that it would be easy but there's tons of shoddy paperbacks out there. I found a hardback from Scribner which looks to be fantastic, so that's the one I'm going with.

>> No.6916657

>>6916364
>19
>dune
>meh, enjoyable but overrated

>> No.6916658

>21
>The Grapes of Wrath
>great

>> No.6916659

>>6916631
Did you like The Martian?

>> No.6916660
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6916660

>>6916364
21
The Adolescent

Oh god it's a reflection of my soul please make it stop, sweet Jesus it's like Dostoevsky is piercing my being outside of space and time

>> No.6916683

19
The Name of the Rose
It's taking me a long time (20 pages to go now, been reading it, alongside other books, for 2 weeks now), but it never really feels dragged out or longwinded to me. I'm enjoying it.

>> No.6916689
File: 18 KB, 220x323, 220px-TrialKafka.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6916689

27
The Trial by Kakfa
I've just started it, I don't have an opinion yet. But looks promising.

>> No.6916691

25
>Justine
It's surprisingly funny
>The god delusion
It's surprisingly boring

>> No.6916700

>>6916652
I'll definitely continue reading it, and hopefully I'll find out why /lit/ likes it so much.

>>6916659
Spoilers below:
It never got dire enough for me. Every problem had a solution within the next few pages handy. Watney never comes close to starving, his oxygen and water supplies remain rather comfortable, and even after flipping his rover remains fine throughout. He never had any injuries major enough to disable him, even the original one that he had to stitch up; we simply never hear of it again after he begins his life on Mars. The conflict of letting the crew know of his survival is pretty flat too, I never felt the emotion about it, and I feel like it should've been played up more. I read the book as if I was watching a particularly long movie rather than reading a book, and in that way it was nice. There were never any uncomfortable parts, and the main character wins in the end. So, I thought it was good, in that I found it entertaining and a compelling read, but nothing that gave me a deeper understanding of the human condition, or really made me feel any substantial emotions towards the characters. A solid B.

The previous book that I read made it seem like solid fucking gold though: One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. I ran out of books while on vacation, and it was my girlfriend's book, so I read it too. It passed the time well enough, but it really wasn't great.

>> No.6916718

23, Sons and Lovers

Near the end, am crying

>> No.6916720

>>6916364
20 in a day
Ulysses
Pretty fine, some references are clumsy but Joyce is good at his thing.

>> No.6916722

>>6916364
26
Insulted and Humiliated
Great. But I'm more interested in reading Gambler now, especially after losing 1k that I really needed.

>> No.6916795

what if i read 5-10 books at a time?

>> No.6916807

21
Ulysses

I feel like I'm too stupid for this book. That stream of consciousness isn't very difficult to follow, but all those references to literature and to pretty much everything you can think about are confusing as hell. I can figure out that this is related to that and it's probably important in some way, but I can't understand much more. I must say this book is fun, Joyce's humour is good, his experiments with prose and style are interesting. My favorite part was Sirens, probably because I have some musical education and I was able to squeeze quite a lot of references and puns from it. Currently I'm reading Circe. I don't regret picking this up after all and I'm going to read it someday once more with a book which will help me understand what was this all about.

>> No.6916813

>>6916795
Is it that hard writing all of them out?
Other people are doing it.
Or were you just trying to brag?

>> No.6916818

>>6916795
the most i see anyone has written out is 3, and obviously im not going to describe all of them. go wank to some mlp porn you fucking salty cunt

>> No.6916844

>>6916795
Then you're a pleb that can't finish a book and has to procrastinate by switching to a different one.

Just drop the books you don't like m8. One, two, even three books at the same time is okay, 5 books is excessive.

>> No.6916860
File: 39 KB, 324x368, peter singer 2.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6916860

>>6916844
'you're a pleb that cant finish a book'
>actually read 86 this year so far, at least according to goodreads
>have dropped plenty of books that i didnt like after 2-3 chapters
>mfw you're probably a dolt that cant handle more than a few things at once

>> No.6916869

>>6916795
>>6916813
>>6916818
>>6916844
Do you retards really not know how to reply to each other, also 5-10 books guy, stop trying to seem "smart" buy reading multiple books at once.

>> No.6916873

>>6916844
that's a simple way of reading more. when you get tired of one book, switch to another. I read >100 books a year and always have multiple books I'm reading at the same time.

>> No.6916874

>23
>Starship Troopers
>bretty good. Only one chapter in and blown away. I can see many people ripping this novel off for their movies.

>> No.6916880

>>6916860
>this is what /lit/ is in a nutshell, people who pretend to be superior to others based on what they read and how much they do

>> No.6916887

>>6916880
>someone reads lots of books on a literature board. they must be faking it to look smart!

>> No.6916891 [DELETED] 

>>6916844
>>6916860
>>6916873
>>6916880
>>6916887

Holy fucking shit, get the fuck out of my thread, you enormous faggots

>> No.6916904

26

Legionary: Scourge of Thracia

It's basically about manly ancient Romans killing bad guys. Simple, but I like it. Great fight scenes.

>> No.6916913

>>6916592
>The Count of Monte Cristo
>a lot of the plotlines were feeling messy
Did you get the original, or the abridged version? Because the abridged version is a lot harder to follow.

>> No.6916946

>18
>Atopia Chronicles
>I feel like a scrub because Zarathustra lays right beside me and I read some badly written scifi.

>> No.6916954

>>6916860
Why should I be reading 5 books at the same time when I can just finish one and start another, and then another, etc? Takes literally the same time. Sorry about your short attention span m8.

>> No.6916955

>>6916946
badly written scifi is better than badly written philosophy, hoho

>> No.6916960

22
Berlin Alexanderplatz
pretty good

>> No.6916997

>>6916955
Ohhhh, touche

>> No.6917006

>>6916891
sucks being a slowreading retard m8

>> No.6917012 [DELETED] 

>>6917006
>here's your reply

Now fuck off

>> No.6917016

23
Blood Meridian

It's pretty good and I'll finish it but I can't understand where the hype comes from. Not McCarthy's best work in my opinion. It's basically just a starkly written story about constant but isolated instances of random violence. None of the events of the novel seem related to one another. You just follow the nameless protagonist around as he watches people of various backgrounds butcher each other. The lack of real plot and constant violence is a nice (if heavy handed) metaphor for life in the American west at the time, I guess. The prose can get really masturbatory at times too.

>> No.6917019

>>6917012
where to m8? the library so I can get some more books to read while you shitpost on 4chan?

>> No.6917020 [DELETED] 

>>6917019
>this damage control
>trying this hard

3/10

>> No.6917077

30
Anna Karenina

My first foray into Russian literature, and I enjoy it so far.

>> No.6917095

19, The Cyberiad, Pretty good

>> No.6917115

23
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum
It's making me wonder if I'm ever going to find a contemporary female author worth reading.
Also, I'm starting to realize that I'm actually pretty old for 4chan. Not sure how this happened.

>> No.6917121

>>6916364
25
Camera Lucida by Roland Barthes
It's very good.

>> No.6917125

21
V
V-licious

>> No.6917136

21
>Journey to the End of the Night - Céline
Surprisingly good; even though it's sometimes needlessly vulgar, the style of Céline is very very interesting.

>The Thebaid - Racine
Not much to say, an obvious masterpiece

>> No.6917149

>>6916364
>>6916364
19
Less Than Zero
Loving it

>> No.6917175

>>6916364

27
my struggle book 2
p good. i dont know why i feel compelled to keep reading it. it's just some guys life. but i romanticize sweden and norway so its nice to transport myself there every time i pick the book up.

>also picked up brothers karamazov again to try and read at the same time but i forgot how dense that shit is.

>> No.6917184

>>6917115
>Also, I'm starting to realize that I'm actually pretty old for 4chan
Depends on what is pretty old. I am nearly twice your age mate. Also female writers tend towards appealing to female readers, it's writing simply not intended for you as an audience in general. "Worth reading" is entirely in the world of the speaker, what you consider worth reading may be throwaway to me and vice versa.

As to OP, I bought 3 books today for the train to work next week (about 2 hours of reading time each way). Just finished a re-read of The Handmaids Tale, i read it when it came out but not since. Good book, barely remembered a word of it from the first read though. The 3 new books are:

Twelve Voices from Greece and Rome: Ancient Ideas for Modern Times
Rapture of the Nerds (I like Stross but may be crap who knows yet)
A Beautiful Question: Finding Nature's Deep Design

>> No.6917219
File: 28 KB, 300x445, 1c391733cf.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6917219

>>6917175

based
literally the greatest philosophy book ever written
thought volume was the better half though tbh

>> No.6917222

>>6916874
is there a shared shower scene in the book too?!

>> No.6917233

>>6916954
This. If you really feel the need to come onto this thread and brag by saying, "What if I read 8 books at a time m8!?! Huehuehue..." then you should really just exercise your discipline for half a second and read them one after the other.

>> No.6917238

23
The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years
Too early to tell

>> No.6917240

26
Hunger - Knut Hamsun
Funny

>> No.6917244
File: 117 KB, 500x649, tiziano-martini-03.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6917244

20

Gravity's Rainbow

Slacked off and took too long to finish it, so I'm feeling ready to be done so I can start something else. Aside from my own missteps, it's probably the best book I've read thus far. It's like a Pollack painting, but planned, splatter for splatter.

>> No.6917252

23
Elbow Room - Daniel Denett
It's pretty insightful, I'm almost suprised there are New Atheists out there who aren't entirely bellicose Fedora-tippers.

>> No.6917306

>20
>Count of Monte Christo
I've only about 200 pages left and I really like the book, great to see everything come together. Some of the exact descriptions of characters' feelings can be a bit much. I would've liked some more subtelty there. But otherwise it's great. I also like seeing Dumas make really old literary references.

>> No.6917318

>>6917252
How is Denett? In the things I've seen him in, he seems like he's a little slow to the draw.

>> No.6917430

>26
> Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh

Funnier than Wodehouse. Love it.

>> No.6917454

19 year old here. I just finished Stoner and I felt that it was definitely deserved of its praise.

While the characters of Lomax and Edith required some more focus (some of their grudges and behaviour came off as too cartoonish) the realistic portrayal of everything else was amazing. The ending, despite being obvious, was probably one of the saddest endings to a book I've ever read. Those last few pages were hard to read.

>> No.6917478

21
The Idiot
I only finished the P&V introduction. I just finished The Brothers Karamazov, but feel like I need to read a good analysis of it to understand the many aspects that probably went over my head.

>> No.6917496
File: 875 KB, 1206x1260, kid with orange van gogh.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6917496

>>6916576
Just bought this and was excited, now not so, what complaints do you have of The Rainbow?

>> No.6917533

>22
>just finished Slaughterhouse 5
>One of the greatest piece I've read and i haven't read much. So it goes.

>> No.6917547

>>6916605
Of course you're gonna feel underwhelmed, you're a fucking 18 year old without the appropriate amount of experience in life to appreciate such a work

>> No.6917549
File: 100 KB, 313x500, the open window.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6917549

25

The Open Window by Rachel Olan

It's the greatest literary masterpeice I have ever read.

>> No.6917555

>>6917547
I'm >>6917454 and I wouldn't generalize so much. I've experienced a bunch of crap in my life, many of which are in the book, to give me a full understanding of the events that go in in it.

However, that doesn't mean that you need those experiences to appreciate the book.

>> No.6917605

>>6917547

No, it's drab shit.

>> No.6917628

>18
>The Ants by Boris Vian
>Loving it, the soldiers descrpiction of war is just amazing, and was a great start to an almost certainly great book.

>> No.6917632

23
Petersburg
I can't get off Mr. Bely's wild ride

>> No.6917639

>>6916364
>22
>1Q84
>It's fine, nothing spectacular, but I wanted a break from harder stuff, so it's been good for that.

>> No.6917656

21

Quixote

Around 300 pages in. Having a hard time with Quixote's stupidity. Yes, it's a fun book, but it can be exasperating at times how stupid the characters are, I think the problem is that it's a very long comedy. I suppose back in the day it was ok because it was released gradually.

>> No.6917686

>>6916689
damn I wish I could read it for the first time again. enjoy anon, I hope it becomes a favorite of yours.

>> No.6917697

>18
>la mort dans l'âme, II
>Just started, but loved part 1

>> No.6917713

>>6916807
I once saw an anon say that she/he was waiting til they turned 25 to read Ulysses so that they had a more complete familiarity w literature in order to feel more prepared for the book. I was turning 23 at the time, had just finished Portrait of the Artist, and was really excited to read Ulysses, but I read that post and was fascinated by that idea (wasn't sure if they were trolling or not but it doesn't matter) so I decided to do the same. I turn 25 in a couple months and I feel like I'm still too dumb for Ulysses lol but at least I'm fulfilling a 2+ year intention.

>> No.6917737

25
The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Flanagan, not Basho)
It's excellent. The characters have depth, the settings are vivid, and the story feels new.

>> No.6917768

25
All The Light We Cannot See
Liking it so far.

>> No.6917826

>Age
18
>Currently reading
Rubbayats of Omar Khayyam
>how do I like it
It's great if you read it in it's original language.

>> No.6917839
File: 222 KB, 583x949, liber primus.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6917839

23.

Theologia Platonica de immortalitate animorum.

Stumbling through it because my Latin is still very weak. Partly I'm doing this to remind myself of how far I have to go before I can read Latin properly. But the endgame of learning Latin was, for me, to be able to read medieval stuff, so it's exciting that I can sort of read a tiny bit of it.

Took me a bit to come to understand that he uses marks over a vowel to indicate nasalization, but I still don't understand some of the noun declensions, or why some clauses are infinitive as though in indirect discourse.

>> No.6917851

>>6916364
21
Dead Souls
half way through and not really feeling it

>> No.6917970

>>6917826
Do you not like Edward Fitzgerald's version?

>> No.6918004

>>6917970
Isn't it considered a sort of masterful butchering of the original Persian?

>> No.6918033

>>6917851
Which translation are you reading? Don't expect anything to really happen other than more of the same. But what I enjoyed about it was how circular the plot was. Everything keeps going round with no real development. I found it funny and enjoyed the characters, but for plot I was hoping to see more development.

>> No.6918036

>24
>mason and dixon
>bout halfway through. it's been a joy reading it. i'm laughing out loud every dozen pages or so.

>> No.6918045

>>6918033
I'm from Croatia so I'm reading it in Croatian because it's one of the few books I have lying around here at home. It's funny here and there but I can't read it for long because I get somewhat bored and lose concentration.

>> No.6918567

>>6916364
>18
>An Abundance of Katherines
>It's okay

>> No.6918586

19

Game of Thrones

It's p good, how does the second compare to the first?

>> No.6918627

22
Darkness at Noon
Eggcellent

>> No.6919719

>25
>A Schoolboy's Diary - Robert Walser
>Didn't like it at first, but now that I have a better understanding of his voice and style he's really starting to grow on me. Probably in my Top 5 for the year so far.

>> No.6919917

>18
>The Crying of Lot 49
>cool, but I haven't read fiction or anything really long in ages, so I'm stumbling a bit

>> No.6919929

24
1Q84

I dunno. I picked it up because I never read murakami and it looked large, and I felt like reading something with a long story.

So far I'm interested in seeing what is going on. I just got to the meeting with the professor and the discussion of how Fuka-Eri is, and that was a decent setup for some mystery/suspense. Aomame is also trying to get fucked at a bar or something.

>> No.6919935

>>6918045
I hate how people say, so passively,

>I get bored

Like you just can't help it. Boredom is a state of low mental engagement which you let yourself slip into by putting in too little effort. You don't magically "get bored". It would be truer to say,

>Then I sat stupidly for a bit and gave up

because that's what you fucking did

>> No.6919939

>age
23
>book you're currently reading
One flew over the Cuckoo's nest.
>how do you like it
I am quite enjoying the plot and the characters. I plan to follow it with a lighter book once I'm done.

>> No.6919943

>23
>Picture of Dorian Gray
>It's fucking beautiful

>> No.6919945

>>6916639
I'm practically doing your job for you, mods.

>> No.6919957

I listened to Siddhartha on audiobook today. I am 23. At first, I thought it was just going to retell the story of Buddhism but it ended up having a pretty unique plot. Lots of things to think about.

>> No.6920073

>21
>The Confusions of Young Törless
>It's fucking ace. I'm not even 5 pages in and it's reminding me of the loneliness from my 1 semester of uni. I think it's going to prepare me for uni next spring. In any case, I'm 21 and need to grow the fuck up.

>> No.6920095

>>6916364
>24
>The Tunnel by William H. Gass
>It's pretty good, not too far in. It bears resemblance to House of Leaves with less adolescence and deeper thoughts on what it is to be a person. It's introspective and light with some critical thoughts in between the emotional stint of having a tiny penis and contemplating vaginas.

>> No.6920101
File: 896 KB, 2268x1509, 1422395004554.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6920101

>20
>simultaneously reading Miserable Miracle, History of the World, V. and the complete works of Shakespeare
>MM is excellent, History of the World is informative and interesting, V. is a bit underwhelming but still enjoyable and Shakespeare is tedious but rewarding

>> No.6920219

21

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

It could use an editor.

>> No.6920268

>>6917839
keep fighting the good fight

>> No.6920269

>25
>right now im reading World war Z(i know hate me all you want, i just cant leave something i start reading unfinished i'm autistic)
>it's pretty entertaining i wish the movie were more like the book not that brad pitt shit

>> No.6920636

>19

>Hyperion
>Enjoying it quite a bit

>The God Delusion
>Dawkins is Dawkins

>> No.6920651

21
Through the Looking Glass
pretty good tbph

>> No.6920670

24

Thus Spoke Zarathustra

I definitely don't fully understand Nietzsche's ideology, but I'm trying.

>> No.6920717

>>6916364
>20
>Monday or Tuesday by Virginia Woolfe
>Ulysses, for the third time
>the Tao Te Ching
All are amazing. Monday or Tuesday shows off Woolfe as a less complete, but much funnier and more experimental writer than in her later works. It's a little tough sometimes, but mostly very enjoyable.
The joy of ulysses varies with the amount of pathos I'm willing to endure from it, but most of it is really quite golden.
The Tao Te Ching gives me a lot of peace. I'm honestly considering making a point of reading a few verses from it every day for as long as I can keep it up. I feel like it will do a lot for my writing and my peace of mind.

>> No.6920748

>>6917252
>>6917318

daniel dennett is a horrible scientist who revels in pretending he has answers when really he just formulates the problem in a way where it temporarily disappears between words

>> No.6920754

>>6918586
>>6918567

sigh... obligatory gtfonoobs

>> No.6920757

>>6916364
19

H.P. Lovecraft's The Scratching in the Walls.

I want to name my next cat nigger man.

>> No.6920762

>21
>Catch-22
>Hilarious. Can't wait to finish it though. Novels are a bitch. More of a short story type.

>> No.6920771

Good god this board filled with children...

>> No.6920844 [DELETED] 

>>6920771
>implying this isn't the literature section of an Indonesian cartoon image board

>> No.6922229

>>6916364
>20
>Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said
Just finished Man in the High Castle, breezing through PKD's notable stuff. The chapter with the rabbit story was heavy. Really comfortable read, I'll probably finish it today

>> No.6922234

>>6916657
>>meh, enjoyable but overrated
I kinda feel the same, little disappointed. I'm about halfway through and took a break to finish 2 other books, honestly don't feel bad letting it sit for a little while

>> No.6922237

>27

>Under the Volcano
Just started. I like it although it's a bit difficult to follow, the language is very fluent and all over the place and at the same time accessible which I like, but english is not my first language so like I said it's a bit difficult to follow.

>> No.6922277
File: 10 KB, 200x200, 1364237983807.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6922277

>20
>Lolita
>Pretty comfy

Could somebody suggest a book with that american atmosphere, pls? I mean the road trips, lakes, nature and so on I really enjoy it.

>> No.6922304

>>6916364

22

The Vorrh and Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass

Sanatorium is fucking weird, but beautiful at times, and I don't know how I feel yet. Vorrh is slow going so far, but the writing is kind of nice.

>> No.6922313 [DELETED] 
File: 581 KB, 1000x669, tumblr_nh11r6Yi6Z1u3wek7o1_1280.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6922313

>Age
17
>Book you're currently reading
"The Dharma Bums" - Jack Kerouac
>How do you like it?
It's good, I'm enjoying it a lot. I think without a good deal of prior knowledge of Buddhism it wouldn't be as enjoyable, but personally I'm finding it to be a lot of fun.

>> No.6922343

>>6922313

MOOOODS

>> No.6922359

>>6922277
Steinbeck nigga, he even went on a roadtrip and wrote about it

>> No.6922367

>>6916364

25,

Puzzling people: The labyrinth of a psychopath.

So far so good, I have only really started it but his description of their traits appears to be spot on!

>> No.6922370

>>6919935
in some cases this is true, if an adult reads a book that is meant for children, or an equivalent, one would reasonably become classically bored by it.

>> No.6922376

29

The Mound by Lovecraft

Eh. Not his best.

>tfw oldest

>> No.6922422

>>6917244

>It's like a Pollack painting, but planned, splatter for splatter.

>Pollack painting

>> No.6922432
File: 46 KB, 500x500, freg.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6922432

>18
>Conversations of Socrates - Xenophon (compilation of defence, memoirs, estate manager, etc..)
>should have gotten plato, Xenophon is pretty boring

>> No.6922445

>18
>Just finished the Stranger by Camus and started "All quiet on the western front"
>Both of them are good

The first one especially is helping me to deal with my depression, somehow, so yeah.

>> No.6922467

20
>The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
>Glover's Humanity
(fic and nonfic)

Wind up is pretty good, about 150 pages left. Very slow, very Japanese bland, overall enjoyable. Enjoying Humanity a bit more because of it's life applications surrounding the moral code of the past 100 years regarding war. Both are good but I'm looking forward to picking up the pace with my next two.

>> No.6922470

>>6917244
>>6922422
It's spelled: Polhack

>> No.6922472

>age
23
>book you're currently reading
civilizations by elizabeth arnold
>how do you like it
it's tense poetry so far, but it's a nice change of pace from the really discursive guys i've been reading mostly lately

>> No.6922474

18

Immortality

Seems like a fanfiction of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. It has its moments, tho.

>> No.6922491

21
Narration & Knowledge - Arthur Danto

it's hard.

>> No.6922494
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6922494

>tfw everyone here is under 25

>> No.6922505
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6922505

>>6922494
welcome to the new age

>> No.6922510

> 24
> The Rest Is Noise - Alex Ross
> I'm loving it; do you guys know a similar book covering an earlier period?

>> No.6922512

>>6922494
although that's not really true, why would you hang out here if you were older than 25? don't you have a career and relationships to focus on?

>> No.6922519

>>6922512
No

>> No.6922522

>>6922494
>>6922519
How old are you, gramps?

>> No.6922591

>>6916364
20
The Wretched of the Earth
It's interesting but feels long-winded.

>> No.6922610 [DELETED] 

>20
>Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me
>I'm loving it. Very goofy. Though I hate to have to invoke the name, best ay I can describe it is Animal House as written by Pynchon. Very different on a prose level though, of course. Closer to the beats.

>> No.6922650

>21
>Letters to a young contrarian
>It's alright

It's broken up nicely and easy to digest.

>>6916516
Read 1984 for the first time last week and highly enjoyed it. On the subject of BNW, I need to get my hands on a copy soon.

>> No.6922674
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6922674

>23
>East of Eden, ~quarter way through
>crapping out on it
>really enjoyed Of Mice and Men
>thought I'd enjoy this
>bulky symbolism
>language misses the mark
>bleh

Next:
>Infinite Jest
Finally going to get off my ass and take a shot at it. I'm not sure if I should start with it or read some of his other stuff.

>> No.6922696
File: 3 KB, 200x252, (JPEG Image, 200 × 252 pixels).jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6922696

>>6917016
I've heard that you have to look at the nature of Holden and his violence, it's something about violence for the sake of violence, in and of itself. But I can't remember exactly what the point was.

>> No.6922732

>18
>Frankenstein
This maybe because I'm a scrub but I honestly think it's just boring. It's just hurr durr I regret making a butt ass ugly guy.
Someone please tell me if it gets better.

>> No.6922767

>>6916364
>19
>Either/Or
>Wish I had actually listened to/watched Don Giovanni

>> No.6922798

>>6916364
23
Anna karenina
It's ok

>> No.6922944

>>6922732
It explores a lot of very great themes as it goes on, but the plot it fucking awful and Mary Shelley as a whole is a crap writer

>> No.6923296

30
Stranger in a strange land
interesting

>> No.6923322

>19
>age of reason by sartre
>everyone hates everything

>> No.6923389

>>6916364
>22
>China: A History: From the Great Qing Empire through The People's Republic of China, (1644 - 2009)
>Pretty good so far, as a history. Author's prose is okay, clear but not particularly beautiful or anything. There's not really any thesis, it's kind of like reading an enormous wikipedia article, but it gets the job done and it's preparing me for any future Chinese histories I might read, so overall I give it 3/5 so far.

>> No.6923393 [DELETED] 

>17
>almost done with Cat's Cradle, going to start V. after that.

>> No.6923427

>>6923393
Get B& tbh

>> No.6923578

>>6916504
Ha humbert humber you old dog

>> No.6923607

>18
>just finished Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
>I liked its realism but it had no actual plot line which I think the movie did better to some extent. Still enjoyed it though. 8/10

>> No.6923617

>>6923607
Movie had nothing to do with book. It was also really weird. Weird in a way that it seemed like a dark episode of Beverly Hills 90210

>> No.6923753

>Age
19

>Lolita
Pretty good
>Cosmicomics
Some are good, other pretty boring or repetitive
>I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream
I really liked The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World, hopefully this will be just as good
>Complete Works of Oscar Wilde
Fuck, I started it a year ago but I'll never finish it, I'm reading Wilde's plays, but they I don't particularly like them

>> No.6923758

>>6923617
...they made a movie about us...

>> No.6923760

>>6923753
*but I don't

>> No.6923766
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6923766

>4!&1
>V.
>Amaze

>> No.6923771

>>6923753
I Have No Mouth is rad, you won't be disappointed

>> No.6923778

24
Alternating between Life, A User's Manual and Cosmos
Both are dank as fuck, strong contenders for best book read this year

>> No.6923787

>>6923771
Nice

>> No.6923817

24
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY
like it so far. definitely easier to read than the ambassadors, which i gave up on. maybe i'll give it another go after this

>> No.6923826

>22
>As I Lay Dying
>It's lovely

>> No.6923849

>>6923817

What was wrong with The Ambassadors? Or at least how come you dropped it

>> No.6923861

>>6922732
It's overrated as lit but remains a part of pop culture because of its historical significance with modernity and romanticism. I have to say though, it's rather impressive if you consider that she wrote it in ... one week? Or some other ridiculously short time period.

>> No.6923877

>>6923826

>Did you kill her Darl? Did you?

>> No.6923888

>>6923877
:(

>> No.6923908

>>6923849
I didn't understand this at the time since I just picked it up on a whim with no prior knowledge or preconceptions, but it's exemplary of James's late style and I guess it just didn't agree with me.
From Wikipedia:
> In its intense focus on the consciousness of his major characters, James's later work foreshadows extensive developments in 20th century fiction.[39][nb 3] Indeed, he might have influenced stream-of-consciousness writers such as Virginia Woolf, who not only read some of his novels but also wrote essays about them.[40] Both contemporary and modern readers have found the late style difficult and unnecessary; his friend Edith Wharton, who admired him greatly, said that there were passages in his work that were all but incomprehensible.[41] H.G. Wells harshly portrayed James as a hippopotamus laboriously attempting to pick up a pea that has got into a corner of its cage.[42] The "late James" style was ably parodied by Max Beerbohm in "The Mote in the Middle Distance".[43] He was afflicted with a stutter and compensated by speaking slowly and deliberately.[44]

>> No.6923909

>>6923578
>yfw Delores would be old as shit/dead right now

>19
>Stoner
>It's good. Not as boring as some make it out to be, it's just a simple story. Honestly, I'm really enjoying it because it's the first book I've read in a while that I would describe as easy(for me, at least). Feels nice to be able to blow through 100 pgs like nothing.

>> No.6923959

>>6923908
Hehe, Wells' analogy cracked me up. Thanks for the info internet correspondent Sanjay Guptanon

>> No.6923972 [DELETED] 

>>6923753

If his plays are anything like Oscar Wilde, then theyre probably unbearably drenched in pathetically grandiose platitudes drenched in superficiality and pseudo-depth. I'm pretty sure the man was a charismatic aesthete and little else.

>> No.6924008

>>6916364

>29
>The Historian
>If the author didn't deluge the book with pointless minutia it would be a solid vampire novel.

>> No.6924028

>>6924008
minutia is singular

>> No.6924043 [DELETED] 

>16
(Yes, I know)
>Nausea - Sartre
I've almost completed the book and thus far it has been worth the read. Sometimes I feel the novel dwells on the mundane too long, but I'm fairly sure that the artistic intent further the idea that existence is monotonous and superfluous.

>> No.6924056

>>6916364
27
Ulysses
Incredibly sensual. Sometimes too hard for me

>> No.6924061

39, The Darkness that comes before by R. Scott Bakker, really cozy book. Magic, religion and politics and shit.

>> No.6924110

19

Orson Scott Card - the Mithermages series. It's entertaining. I'm mostly just having GOT withdrawals and I'm looking for a good fantasy series.

>> No.6924120

>18
>Catch-22
>Some parts I like, I'm 200 pages in, and it's starting to pick up. I didn't like the beginning because the narrative was too broken up. It gets better though.

>> No.6924131

>>6916616
>>6916622
just highlight what you want to spoiler and press ctrl+S you dog

>> No.6924185

20
Into the Wild
It's a bit shit tbh

>> No.6924203

22
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

I'm liking it so far, and I most certainly like the main character's lack of personality and will to do anything. I'm only 100 pages in, but the quirkiness of the Kano sisters and the 16yo make me want to keep on reading. With that being said, Norwegian Wood had me hooked in the first pages and I read it in a couple of days.

>> No.6924205

22
Capital
Much, much more interesting and engaging than I thought it would be. Makes me embarrassed to look back on my uninformed anarcho and situationist posturing. Marx is also a great writer and a real cheeky m8.

>> No.6924207 [DELETED] 

16
Currently reading the art of war by Sun Tzu
Its the perfect book for me I crave for information that I dont already know and this book speaks my language...love it....

>> No.6924209

>>6924185

Probably one of the worst books I've read.

>>6924043

Fuck off underage.

>> No.6924212

20
Blood Meridian
bretty good, it's taking me forever though because i obsessively write notes

>> No.6924219

>>6924209
I don't even know why I'm reading it.

>> No.6924228

>>6924207
reported

>> No.6924235

>>6924207
MOOOOOODSSSSSSSSSS

>> No.6924244

>19
>The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
>Really enjoying it, Tom Sawyer was my previous book so only fitting really.

>> No.6924250

>>6916364

> age
19
>Book
Stoner, by Williams.
>How do i like it?
I like it alot. I find the characters and overall feeling very settling.

>> No.6924254

>>6916364
21
herzog
very good but also typically masculine

>> No.6924913

26
Marxism and Existentialism
a good case study of someone (Sarte in this situation) trying to reconcile two philosophies that have important similarities (atheist materialist conception of the universe) and ultimately failing due to their fundamental differences (determinism vs total freedom, assigning greater importance to society vs individual)

>> No.6925000


>>6917240
They eat a large meal

>>6917549
They shut the window

>>6918567
It turns out there are fewer Katherines than they thought

>> No.6925012

>>6925000

Shit son what are you doing

>> No.6925036

>>6916887
>enters a thread specifically for talking about the books you're reading
>doesn't discuss books but takes the opportunity to point out how many books they read
>is surprised when people think he's a shithead

Ishygddt

>> No.6925038

>>6916364
18
Steppenwolf
It's pretty good. Bums me out a little, what with how appealing suicide is made to seem. The description of Harry's first night with Maria was really beautiful to read.

>> No.6925040

>>6916364
30
Camus, The Rebel (L'homme revolte)
an interesting literary essay about Stirner, Sade, Rimbaud, Lautreamont etc.

his point is that all rebels eventually become worse than normies (very straight, or mass killers). Interesting thesis, which I don't share. Camus, in 1953, projects his hate for fascism and communism on all these great writers.

>> No.6925064

you guys seem to love everything you read.

except >>6924185

Brothers Karamazov, Kapital, 1984, Brave New World...
into the trash it goes!

>> No.6925065

>24
>Flow My Tears the Policeman Said by Philip K Dick
>pretty standard Dick novel in terms of themes and character types, not that that's a particularly bad thing. Enjoying it quite a bit though, as I do with pretty much everything the guy wrote

>> No.6925074

>age
23

>book you're currently reading
the Elephants of Style

>how do you like it?
It's a pretty fun and cool style manual for some more contentious and obscure points in the English language. "Reading" style books is always sort-of weird, though; they're a lot more useful as references when you feel stumped, rather than something to actually sit down and read. But the writing in it is entertaining, and it's good to have a general idea of what's in there incase I ever need to use it.

>> No.6925095

>>6916364
17
Fear and Trembling by Kierkegaard
Very hard to grasp at times, but otherwise excellent

>> No.6925113

26
Steelheart by Sanderson
Not as good as other Cosmere books, but average. Like others by him, the final climax is very good but the first 9/10 of the book could be improved.

>> No.6925133
File: 24 KB, 271x400, 44559.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
6925133

>>6916364
>22
>Life is Elsewhere

It's pretty good, but I don't like the way Kundera writes women.

>> No.6925482

>>6925064
why would you read something you don't enjoy reading?

>> No.6925584

18
House of Leaves
Pretty good so far. Truant's story is a bit cringey at some points though with some pretty desperately contrived attempts at humor sometimes. But the whole shitting on critics thing is pretty good that was probably done better in Pale FIre anyway

>> No.6925598

>>6916364
>19, turn 20 in twenty-two hours
>Dubliners
It's really neat. I'm starting to get the hype surrounding joyce. Should my next book from him be Portrait of an Artist or will I be able to fully appreciate Ulysses after reading just this?

>> No.6925640

>>6925598
Have a happy birthday.

>> No.6925681

>>6925640
Thank you

>> No.6926048

>18
>The Iliad
>I wish I had started with the Greeks earlier. Homer's imagery is a lot of fun and the plot is intriguing.
My only complaint so far is that one chapter where Homer lists of every person who is part of the Greek host. That was worse than the genealogies in the Bible.

>> No.6926636

>>6916364
>19
>Soumission by Houellebecq
My first Houellebecq, I like it.
>How to have friends and win influence
There's some good tips.
>Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself
Listening to the audiobook, at one moment DFW talks about how good the first book of Donna Tartt is, I should read it.
>The book of disquiet
It makes me depress.
>The Catcher in the Rye
I thought it was shit when Iread the first chapter but I'm digging it.
>Middlesex
I smell incest.
>Never Let Me Go
Didn't expect the sci-fi.
>The Corrections
Just started it yesterday.

>> No.6926689

>>6917737
I didn't like how he'll write something elegantly, then make the exact same point in a more accessible way. Overall a decent book, almost made me cry.

>> No.6926765

27
v. 400 pages in, took this long for me to start to "get it." Now that I understand Paola's story I like it better.

Ice by Anna kavan 30% done on kindle, I like it a lot

>> No.6926796

25
The Stand
I've never read genre fiction since the Da Vinci Code when I was 15. I was lent this on two separate occasions by different people and could not get into it at all, the writing is riddled with clichés and it absolutely lacks personality. It isn't terrible, though, I'm just completely out of things to read (that I own) without moving into something like Gaddis: massive, chapterless, experimental tomes. I'm also moving to Budapest very soon so I don't want to commit to an extremely long, complicated book that I'll have to put away for the weeks I'm spending getting my life together again.