/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.7249829]

It's that time again. Find your favorite book of ALL TIME on goodreads and read/post a 1 star review.

Let's stir the pot, man/lit/s.

[Anonymous No.7249838]

I'll start:


I read a few years ago that if you've not found Dune of your own accord by the time you've got to marriageable age, you're probably not a Dune sort of person. I'm sorry, you guys, I've let the side down. 320 pages, and I'm forced to conclude that Paul Atreides and I were never meant to be.

[Anonymous No.7249848]

>>7249829
Prepare to kek

[Anonymous No.7249858]

>>7249829
Sandalwood Death

Ginny rated it 1 of 5 stars

This was a selection for our book club. I made it through 100 pages and stopped reading the book. It is a difficult read for me personally because of the very graphic descriptions of the cruelty and torture of people since executioners are characters in the story. I realize it was difficult to translate this book from Chinese but it was very difficult to follow.

The Feast of the Goat

Bill rated it 1 of 5 stars

a slog through the Dominican Republic at the end of Trujillo's madness. Although I imagine "The Feast of the Goat" is interesting to Dominicans and Caribbean political junkies, I'm neither and gave up slogging about half-way through.

Blood Meridian
Fernando rated it 1 of 5 stars

A pointless, self-indulgent Cormack McCarthy fart-sniffing session behind a veil of critic-baiting poignant prose. It very nearly put me off reading anything ever again.

[Anonymous No.7249863]

>>7249858
>A pointless, self-indulgent Cormack McCarthy fart-sniffing session behind a veil of critic-baiting poignant prose. It very nearly put me off reading anything ever again.


Holy shit. What a pleb...and his name is "Fernando."

[Anonymous No.7249899]

>Borges Labyrinths

>I can't read this. I physically can't it's too much for my brain. It took me half an hour to read four pages. FOUR FREAKING PAGES. Sorry uni class, but there's no way I'm reading this mind-fuck torture instrument. I always read the books I'm studying, but this is one step too far. I JUST CAN'T.
>uni student
>can't read Borges

[Anonymous No.7249911]

>>7249899
I got my degree in spanish and wrote a thesis on labiríntos....this drives me nuts

[Anonymous No.7249913]

>>7249899
Sounds bout right. Have you not been to uni?

[Anonymous No.7249916]

When a woman reads philosophy

[Anonymous No.7249917]

>>7249911
Do Collected Fictions include Aleph and Labyrinths?

[Anonymous No.7249918]

>>7249858
>A pointless, self-indulgent Cormack McCarthy fart-sniffing session behind a veil of critic-baiting poignant prose. It very nearly put me off reading anything ever again.

[Anonymous No.7249921]

There wouldn't happen to be a Proust-Hater's Club around here, would there?

"Swann's Way" is awful. I kept hearing people fawn over it, so I read it all the way through, just to make sure. I am in the process of reading the entire set. There are so many books, each with so many ideas chained together, connected but disconnected, different, but headed in vaguely the same direction. It's like watching a freight train. No. It's like watching a freight train wreck.

Every time I hear another nitwit gush about little French cookies and the association of thoughts, a little Doomsday Clock of anger in my brain ticks forward. If you claim your favorite part of a massive multiple-novel story is a tiny shred of half-insight that appears at about page fifty of the first volume, you are probably a poser. You have read just enough to find the catch-phrase, just enough to fit yourself into the cheering crowd. You are cheering for the Emperor, and the Emperor has no clothes.

[Anonymous No.7249920]

>>7249917
Collected fictions?

Aleph is basically entry level borges; Labiríntos often is part of it

[Anonymous No.7249930]

>>7249916
HO-LEE SHEEEEEEEEIT

I cannot believe that I read that whole thing.

[Anonymous No.7249931]

>>7249920
http://www.amazon.com/Collected-Fictions-Jorge-Luis-Borges/dp/0140286802

NM its everything.

[Anonymous No.7249939]

>>7249931
>>7249920
borges is trash when translated.

Much of it relies on the Spanish language.

[Anonymous No.7249940]

>>7249930
I cannot believe that she wrote it.

[Anonymous No.7249943]

>>7249939
Not worth reading in translation? Unfortunately I dont see myself learning spanish anytime soon.

[Anonymous No.7249944]

>>7249899
>>7249911
Honestly, anyone that says they [understand] Borges most likely doesn't

[Anonymous No.7249953]

[Anonymous No.7249965]

>>7249921
As a fan of Proust that second statement is real tbh.

Though the first is kind of why you read it in the first place.

[Anonymous No.7249972]

>>7249939

But didn't he oversee the translation himself?

[Anonymous No.7249974]

>>7249972
doesn't matter, he was a capitalist and wanted awards

[Anonymous No.7249982]

>>7249953
is this executioner? or book of the new sun?

[Anonymous No.7249983]

>>7249829
My absolute favourite
"Gene Wolfe is not a misgynist??!!
Before all the sensitive types start in on Gene Wolfe's treatment of women in Shadow and Claw, I thought I would head off such criticisms by exploring women's freedom in Wolfe's Urth.
On Urth, women are:
1. Permitted to learn to read. There are actually a number of women in the narrative that not only can read but also can read and understand something akin to Latin. But, don't you dare call it Latin, because it's not. Gene Wolfe said so.
2. Free to wear clothes or not as they see fit. Much care is taken that women should be offered to wear clothes and even clean clothes when their pathetic nature raises our empathy and pity. Yet, a woman is also apparently free to disrobe and thrown herself naked and pleading to exchange sex for the life of a loved one.
3. Free to sell her body for money legally. Money? Good. Sex? Very good. Sex for money? Men have money; a woman, her sex. How can that be wrong?
4. Free to be beaten. That a woman should be suffered to live for giving offense to a man is a blessing onto her. She may be beaten and pushed down and she is not hurt much.
5. Free to be imprisoned unjustly. In this enlightened age of the far future Urth, women are suffered to live despite they give offense to men and the law of Men. The expense and time to imprison and persecute...err...prosecute a woman in light of her actual value to society is a charity granted to her and her sex.
6. Free to be tortured. That the Order of the Seekers for Truth and Penitence should seek to imprison and torture women clearly indicates that women are thought to be capable of speaking truth or even knowing truth. Similarly, this would also suppose that a woman has a soul capable of penitence or that a woman possesses a soul at all.
7. Free to be publicly maimed and executed. The branding and public execution of a woman suggests the physical vessel of the woman's body contains a space for moral instruction through ritualized excruciation and killing. A woman is no mere animal that can be killed or beaten without conscience. Her body and her life are valued enough to bring forth a physical and moral revulsion to a public branding and execution that is not only a moment of moral teaching but also Thanatonic catharsis.

These are only some of the many freedoms that women enjoy in the world of Urth so lovingly and intellectually crafted by Gene Wolfe. I for one salute his feminist spirit and his magnanimity to grant women a dignified and full existence in the world of his own creation.

And in case my sarcasm isn't clear, F*** you, Gene Wolfe!"

[Anonymous No.7249989]

>>7249974

...I feel I'm getting mixed messages here. So you like Borges, but he's also a dirty capitalist pig, and therefore he cannot be translated? I admit I am not following the logic very well here.

[Anonymous No.7249995]

>>7249989
I'm a communist. Why else would I get a Spanish degree.

Christ. Read up on Che sometime

[Anonymous No.7249998]

>>7249995
pendeja.

[Anonymous No.7249999]

Can we post 5 star reviews of books we hate?

I can't tell how much this one make me cringe.

[Anonymous No.7250000]

>>7249998
;^)

[Anonymous No.7250004]

The only thing anyone complains about is the vulgar language.

[Anonymous No.7250009]

>>7249999
Nice quads, but for the love of god he can't be serious. The Martian is shit.

[Anonymous No.7250013]

>>7249921
>the Emperor has no clothes

FUCK ME man, if this guy had stuck that line earlier on I would not've felt obligated to read it. I have come to the conclusion that discussions surrounding "the Emperor"'s wardrobe is the surest criterion to determine that someone is a middle-brow nitwit who cannot create an original thought to save their life.

>>7249995

Well OK, you're a Communist and Borges was a Capitalist, and therefore you think people should not read Borges. But then why were you praising him earlier?

[Anonymous No.7250020]

>>7250013
People SHOULD read Borges, but only in Spanish. Just as Tolstoy should only be read in Russian

[Anonymous No.7250026]

>>7250004
>City of Thieves by David Benioff, by the way.

>People suffering through a foodless Stalingrad winter while undersiege from nazis need to watch their language.

[Anonymous No.7250028]

>>7249982
new sun

[Anonymous No.7250031]

>>7250020

But what does his being a Capitalist have anything to do with that? What I'm trying to say is that "he was a capitalist pig" seems to me to have absolutely no connection to "he should only be read in Spanish."

[Anonymous No.7250036]

>>7250031
troll'd u


read cien años and report back

[Anonymous No.7250042]

>I read this as the frustration of a family dealing with a dementia patient who thinks he's a king. The three sisters are one dimensional ciphers for evil, seduction and virtue. The most blithely misogynist piece I've read for a while.

Harold Bloom would weep if he saw this post.

[Anonymous No.7250046]

>>7250036

No thank you, I think I'll read Borges first. I am, by the way, learning Spanish: my ultimate goal is to read Don Quixote in the original.

[Anonymous No.7250051]

i don't mean to make fun, because i think this is a nice attitude compared to the other giant pompous rants you get from people deciding that it's not them that's too stupid, it's the book

[Anonymous No.7250052]

>>7250046
que rico el quixote

el libro verdadero meme

[Anonymous No.7250060]

>>7250051
I get that feeling when I read philosophy some times too, that I'm just not on the same level as the person who wrote it.

[Anonymous No.7250078]

>>7250052

Bien, planifico juzgar eso. ¿Por qué es "el libro verdadero meme"?

[Anonymous No.7250082]

>>7250078
this is an english imageboard

[Anonymous No.7250095]

>>7250051

It's nice to see a woman admitting they're retard with books for once

[Anonymous No.7250099]

>>7250082

Todavía se nos permite hablar Español.

Anyway, he started it.

[Anonymous No.7250103]

>>7250099
buen dubs

[Anonymous No.7250110]

>>7250095

/pol/cuck, please leave. Isn't there a thread up for you people already?

[Anonymous No.7250117]

>>7249911
>labiríntos
laberintos?

[Anonymous No.7250120]

>>7250117
disculpa borges-sama

[Anonymous No.7250172]

Istvan Déak's book on the Habsburg officer corp:

"He stubbornly refuses to credit women, minorities and queers for the siezeable contributions they made to Habsburg culture. A hidden agenda? One must wonder."

[Anonymous No.7250181]

>PopSugar 2015 Reading Challenge
>too much 'deep thought'
>What the HELL does all that MEAN?

somehow it still applied for her PopSugar Challenge though

[Anonymous No.7250193]

lol, the butter on this post was

[Anonymous No.7250222]

>>7250052
habla bien imbecil

[Anonymous No.7250325]

top fucking kek

[Anonymous No.7250330]

>>7250051
>>7250095
I'm sure if you asked her why she rated it 1 star despite not understanding it, she would argue that it's the book's fault

[Anonymous No.7250360]

>>7249999
>Mark Wagner

[Anonymous No.7250364]

>>7249848
I love Dune but holy shit I love that summary.

>killing their grandpas
>weird names for knives
>everyone addicted to cinnamon

#omgsotrue

[Anonymous No.7250371]

>>7249899
at least Justin admits it's good but hes not interested. the others must be mentally retarded. bunch of pelotudos.

[Anonymous No.7250386]

Holy fucking shit fam

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/389841483?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

[Anonymous No.7250400]

>>7250325
what book?

[Anonymous No.7250406]

>>7250386
The amount of braindead bookshelves are enough of a reason to make me want to punch that person.

[Anonymous No.7250409]

>>7250400
Paradise Lost

[Anonymous No.7250428]

>>7249913
I am in uni, a guy in my Arabic class overheard someone asking me what I was reading, and came up to me after class to talk about Borges. He studies chemistry, and has read Borges in Spanish. Other people in my uni classes are well read as well, and are generally broadly interested in any sort of education. So this truly baffles me. But out uni system is different than the US one, I suppose.
>>7249944
This is such a widespread ''comment'', and it's just ridiculous. It says more about the person who says it than anything else.

[Anonymous No.7250432]

>>7249829
>Let's stir the pot, man/lit/s.
How about no

[Anonymous No.7250434]

>>7250428
not at all.

[Anonymous No.7250454]

>>7250386
Holy shit that is a meme post

[Anonymous No.7250471]

>>7250409

Seems like the kind of person who'd denunciate Huck Finn for the use of the word nigger.

[Anonymous No.7250480]

>>7250386

How long until we're exclusively communicating in memes?

[Anonymous No.7250484]

>>7250480
idk tbqh

[Anonymous No.7250494]

>>7250484
>>7250480

[Anonymous No.7250504]

>>7249911
what's yer fetish called?

[Anonymous No.7250512]

>>7250484
"idk" smh fam tbh if you don't realize memes are already our form of communication you're a cuck

[Anonymous No.7250532]

>>7250512
Language is categorically a meme anyway, if we adhere to Dicky Dawkins original definition. So too is religion, incidentally.

In fact, most things are memes.

[Anonymous No.7250582]

>>7250532

>In fact, most things are memes.

But are they dank?

[Anonymous No.7250639]

>I love the movie Troy
>I wanted to like the book
Troy butchered the Iliad, lads.

[Anonymous No.7250655]

>>7250639
If this is Pope's Iliad, I'm sorry to say that I agree. It's the dullest work I've ever picked up. Two attempts and I still can't finish it.

[Anonymous No.7250666]

>>7250655
F A G L E S B A G E L S
A
G
L
E
S
B A G E L S

[Anonymous No.7250667]

[Anonymous No.7250683]

>>7250504
gay

[Anonymous No.7250863]

[Anonymous No.7250891]

This is my favorite goodreads review

[Anonymous No.7250903]

"Socrates is a dick. He likes to hear himself talk even more than I do. That's probably why they killed him. It was the only way to get him to shut the fuck up."

[Anonymous No.7250904]

>>7250386
So, I read that. She says many true things and yet many false things.

[Anonymous No.7250905]

>>7250903
This is true tbh.

Socrates is the king of smug.

[Anonymous No.7250944]

My favorite book doesn't have any bad ratings

[Anonymous No.7250967]

>>7249838
>>7249848
But dune is genuinely shit
Generic ER Burroughs with muslims

[Anonymous No.7250976]

>>7250967
How is Dune pulp fiction? Because that's what you're saying, essentially.

[Anonymous No.7251008]

>>7250976
Because the action is emphasized over the ideas, the ideas are thin and scattershot, and again it's nothing more than an innovation on the john carter formula. It's not shit, it's just a fun space adventure that wastes all its pulpy strengths on shallow pontification.

[Anonymous No.7251020]

>>7250863
This woman is right though, Walden is trash

[Anonymous No.7251034]

>>7251008
It is the first time I see anyone complain that Dune had way too much action, honestly. I most often hear the exact opposite. Going by your terms you may as well call it Lawrence of Arabia in space, since that's actually a lot closer than John Carter, but it's actually based on the myth of the prophet Muhammed. Nothing new under the sun and all.

There's actually a book made out of Herbert's early drafts for Dune - what would have happened if he had actually written it as honest to god pulp fiction, and it has only the vaguest resemblance to Dune.

[Anonymous No.7251062]

>>7249999
>>7250000
even these quads can't distract me from that awful review. fine if you like the book, but to claim that it's PERFECTLY told, BRILLIANTLY written, BEAUTIFULLY crafted... Jesus.

>Andy Weir does this incredible thing where he makes the reader feel the isolation that Mark Wagner feels
>this incredible thing

[Anonymous No.7251076]

>>7251008
Also, have you read any of the rest of the series? If so, what did you think of Dune Messiah and God-Emperor of Dune? If not I guess I could describe Messiah as a political drama/deconstruction of the first book. It takes much of the subtext on Dune to the spotlight. God-Emperor shares basically nothing in common with Dune except the setting, a few characters and some of the themes.

[Anonymous No.7251080]

[Anonymous No.7251171]

>>7251034
The core of the novel, the thing that drives it is its action. The characters are deposed, regroup, and finish entirely in action. It's not that there's too much action, it's that action is the core of the novel and it's a shame it didn't play to the strengths of being an action centric novel. The ideas of "religion is just like a tool to exploit the masses, man" "the easily exploited bloodthirsty savages are one with the environment and nature" "corporations are like evil rulers" are so fucking hammy. And the gray morality is amateur storytelling posing as depth.

[Anonymous No.7251230]

>>7251171
I don't think you fully understood the themes of the book. It was somewhat weak in that regard, agreed, but not that much.
>religion is just like a tool to exploit the masses, man
It's a bit subtler than you make it out it to be. It's easy to get it during the Bene Gesserit walls of text, but beyond that Paul and Jessica are literally brainwashing Sietch Tabr into servitude with the Voice during the whole book. In Messiah he laments that even Stilgar devolved into his dutiful servant and that he no longer has friends.
>the easily exploited bloodthirsty savages are one with the environment and nature
Fremen aren't easily exploited nor are they savages, that's actually a plot point. That's just the image they put up to fool the Harkonnens, while they're a) Far more numerous and technologically sophisticated than city men or Harkonnen forces, and a ferocious warrior culture b) Carrying out a centuries-long scheme to turn Arrakis into a verdant paradise (which Paul trivially completes in a handful of years once he's the emperor in Messiah, leading to a quick decay of their culture) and c) The actual masters of the planet in general, secretly dealing with the Spacing Guild to prevent the Harkonnens from putting satellites to find their huge stockpiles of water for the aforementioned centuries-long scheme. The whole ecological vibe was kinda hamfisted but personally I enjoyed it.
>corporations are like evil rulers
Eh yeah pretty much. Spice = oil.

[Anonymous No.7251273]

>>7250222
I think you meant to write: "Habla bien, imbécil."

[Anonymous No.7251282]

>>7251080
>ridiculous banter

[Anonymous No.7251324]

>>7250325
>LMFAO at this dizzy broad thinking the serpent was "possessed by Satan."

[Anonymous No.7251334]

>ends with the Trojan Horse
Did I miss something?

[Anonymous No.7251351]

>>7251334
I'll bet he got a few books in, quit, and then assumed the Iliad ended with the Trojan Horse instead of Hector's funeral.

[Anonymous No.7251353]

>>7251020
whats it like being so

w r o n g

[Anonymous No.7251395]

I find it funny that all of these shitty reviews are from women.

[Anonymous No.7251401]

>>7249829
She's a writer. Google her. Post her in every thread.

[Anonymous No.7251404]

>>7251080

I feel like someone assuming they would like Alice in wonderland and getting rustled at the actual thing is a quite adequate "in a nutshell" of goodreads in general.

[Anonymous No.7251495]

BLONDE
L
O
N
D
EDGY
D
G
Y

[Anonymous No.7251502]

>>7250480
ask my future diary, tbh

[Anonymous No.7251507]

>>7251334
Everyone say hi to the guy who did not finish The Iliad. That Dunstin guy!

[Anonymous No.7251512]

>>7251334
How can you hate The Iliad but like The Odyssey?

[Anonymous No.7251514]

>>7249838
It's really poor writing. Had a lot of difficult reading it because of it

[Anonymous No.7251541]

>>7251401
"I didn't actually read Heart of Darkness, I'm just going to repeat a half-remembered summary of what China Applebees said about it."

[Anonymous No.7251547]

>>7249863
Fernando is a very common name in both Portuguese and Spanish

[Anonymous No.7251567]

>>7251334
I'm really tempted to post in reply 'You didn't finish the book'.

[Anonymous No.7251630]

On Tropic of Cancer:

'The only reason this book is a classic is because men were editors and this book gave them boners. And then male readers had boners and women were shocked with Miller's vocabulary. So, it wasn’t that difficult to become a classic. Especially in those days, when a word cunt was such a taboo. But, again who am I joking, I have a few Irish/English male friends who blush when somebody says cunt around them. And they love Miller, so I think that's the individual matter of upbringing and bon ton, because in my mother language we don’t have ''that'' much offensive word. Or we do, but we curse a lot so we don’t hear it anymore.'

W O M E M E
O
M
E
M
E

[Anonymous No.7252162]

W O W
O
W

[Anonymous No.7252183]

>>7251401

The world is full of writers like this. Writing purely from a place of ego, with zero understanding of other people. The MFA should have tipped you off.

[Anonymous No.7252190]

>le contemporary feminism face

[Anonymous No.7253788]

Not my favourite book, but one I enjoyed plenty, extra: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/258969369

[Anonymous No.7253804]

[Anonymous No.7253942]

>>7251567
I was tempted for a bit, but I didn't really see the point. Everyone who has read it knows he's full of shit. It just baffles me that he didn't even look at the last pages before posting it. He's so blatantly lying, that I can't understand why he would lie like that, even though he's already admitted that he dislikes the book.

[Anonymous No.7253970]

>>7249899
holy shit

[Anonymous No.7254024]

>>7253804
>a normal, well adjusted woman appears

[Anonymous No.7254143]

>>7250020

why bother? unless we're talking about his poetry i think there is no lyrical value lost in translation

[Anonymous No.7254147]

>>7250082

frenchies have their thread and we used to have one

[Anonymous No.7254599]

>>7253804
wife material

[Anonymous No.7254615]

>>7251353
What's it like having awful taste and no sense of authenticity or quality

[Anonymous No.7254640]

>>7250386
>/lit/ shitting on a review becaus its full of memes

you cant be serious.

[Anonymous No.7254684]

>>7252190
It's really retarded, especially since if I'm not mistaken Le Guin is quite liberal.
Brainless ideology does this to people.

[Anonymous No.7255146]

B I T T E R
I
T
T
E
R

[Anonymous No.7255150]

>>7255146
based Emma telling us how it is

>This was worse than a textbook. This was a textbook that came with the annoying, opinionated professor built in!
>This book is so bad it has two epilogues.

lel

[Anonymous No.7255169]

>>7255146
>wishing death upon someone for not liking 85% of a book they've written
Holy shit, what the fuck is wrong with this woman?

[Anonymous No.7255254]

>>7251630
"Irish/English male friends who blush when somebody says cunt around them." I think their friends are lying about where they're from

[Anonymous No.7255300]

>>7250020
>reading spics
>reading slavs


No thank you leftist scum

[Anonymous No.7255401]

>>7253804
I don't understand. What did she expect? Why did she read something she's clearly never going to enjoy?

I mean, I think these questions go for a lot of goodreads reviews, but this one has particularly struck me.

[Anonymous No.7255466]

>>7255169
yeah seriously how childish

[Anonymous No.7255616]

>>7249829
Pic related is always hilarious.
>>7249848
That one seems pretty spot on for some reason.

>>7249916
This was pretty interesting, because at least she cared to post quotes.

>>7250020
>People SHOULD read Borges, but only in Spanish.

I wonder how someone can have read Borges and still spout that kind of bullshit.


>>7249999
>I want to meet the characters in this book like I want to meet the President and Taylor Swift

Every time.

>>7250944
Is it your diary tbh ?

>>7251080
Solid rustle/10

>>7253804
>attempting to imply /lit doesn't agree

>>7255169
>can't appreciate literature
>is mean for petty reasons
>blame others for her stupidity

she would fit well in here.

[Anonymous No.7255939]

>>7249999
>Wil Wheaton

[Anonymous No.7255953]

>>7255401
She bravely traveled a path so others would not have to, ie a matyr.

[Anonymous No.7255987]

>>7254599
meh

[Anonymous No.7255992]

So, are there any good reviewers on goodreads?

[Anonymous No.7255996]

[Anonymous No.7256000]

>>7254615
>no sense of authenticity
what

[Anonymous No.7256008]

>>7255146
I haven't read W&P yet and her description of it gives me the impression I'd consider it at least a 9/10

[Anonymous No.7256048]

>>7255996
>remind a modern audience of why we should kill whitey
>is white
Do people not realize? It's so strange. In what convoluted state must one be to make such a statement, where they are their own counter argument? Is there a name for this?

[Anonymous No.7256053]

>>7256048
it's not meant literally mate

[Anonymous No.7256058]

>>7255996
This one is actually surprisingly valid

[Anonymous No.7256133]

[Anonymous No.7256211]

[Anonymous No.7256252]

[Anonymous No.7256422]

>>7249944
I'll concede that much of it could be lost in translation, but in English at least Borges's ideas come across as only slightly more complex than those of your average spec-fic writer (i.e. not very). Though you might not land on a single concrete explanation for every event, that's not quite the same as being beyond understanding.

I'm admit I am biased though, as I feel the entire Borgesian-tradition of 'short-story' is straight garbage.

[Anonymous No.7256610]

>>7254615
Wat
What is authentic, to you then?
He went against the social current, not just in his writing, he physically lived apart from it. I'm not sure why you consider it inauthentic, considering that is its greatest draw.
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the ejaculate"

[Anonymous No.7256637]

>>7256252
What's the book?

[Anonymous No.7256661]

These threads often seem to boil down to people who like to complain that they can't hack something with a non-standard plot. Incidentally, a good 90% seem to be women, at least in this case.

[Anonymous No.7256667]

>>7256252
This makes it sound like a very appealing read, i must admit

[Anonymous No.7256672]

>>7256637
Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, my favorite book.

[Anonymous No.7256694]

>>7256661
Is this broad literally retarded? Her main issue with Dubliners seems to be that she couldn't comprehend the idea of a short story anthology. It's as though she thought it was a novel and was angry it wasn't.

I can't imagine how confused this bitch would be trying to read one of Joyce's actual novels.

[Anonymous No.7256725]

why are 90% of these awful reviews wrote by women? is it because they feel the need to bitch on social media more than men do, or are they just bad at understanding literature?

[Anonymous No.7256777]

>>7256725
Both.

[Anonymous No.7256826]

>>7253804
Why the hell would you read Sade and complain about the perversion? Just to have something to bitch about?

[Anonymous No.7256928]

>>7256725

Women are much more prolific and proficient users of cultural capital. If a book is just read and absorbed, it does nothing to increase their standing. They have to talk. A great way to do that and also to feel superior is to condescend to the book, to reject it. You are better than this classic, the people who like it, while you are also as cultured, and cultured generally, for having read it.

[Anonymous No.7256947]

Stoner

[Anonymous No.7256999]

holy fuck I didn't think people like this were real

[Anonymous No.7257249]

>>7256999
>implying she's not right

Catcher in the Rye is bad

[Anonymous No.7257289]

>>7256999
>>7257249
almost certain both of you misread it. Catcher is a litmus test for retards with 0 reading comprehension.

The type of retard who thinks holdens moaning about phonies is the point of the book, or that it somehow sets him apart from other characters.

Sweet fuck.

The point of the book is that Holden is a fuck up and he knows it. All he wants is to be good, but he realizes its too late for him.
He is a flake, he is a phony. There is nothing there that is redeemable. He knows it.
He has only one little dream that lets him live with himself. his only dream is that he might save the innocent.

The entire, literally, the entire point of the book, is expressed in the scene where he reveals his dream as being the catcher.

It should be impossible for anyone with a brain to realize. And yet constantly:

"holden is a whingy cunt I hate him so much"
"why is he such a fuck up omg"
"why wont shinji get in the fucking robot, holy shit no wonder his dad hates him"
"why does holden keep asking if his gay hat looks weird"

You fuckers are all the same.

[Anonymous No.7257306]

>>7251401
http://www.jennybagel.com/contact/
Knock yourselves out.

[Anonymous No.7257338]

>>7253804
Poor Kathy, however recommended her this was having a giggle. It's almost endearing because she sounds like she actually read the entire thing before judging it.

[Anonymous No.7257406]

>>7255992
yeah, this old guy named stephen durrant, he is like 80 years old and was never a big reader in his youth but now he pumps through a big book every week, short ones in 2-3 days

[Anonymous No.7257529]

>>7251495
Savage

[Anonymous No.7257533]

[Anonymous No.7257544]

[Anonymous No.7257547]

[Anonymous No.7257632]

>>7257547
lmao. Nietzsche is one off the few that actually did get Hegel tho. Only someone with an understanding of Hegel could have combined him and Schopenhauer as Nietzsche did.

[Anonymous No.7257788]

>>7257289
>"why wont shinji get in the fucking robot, holy shit no wonder his dad hates him"


This site is so niche. I constantly forget it but it always blows my mind

[Anonymous No.7257793]

this bruno and lydia bullshit cracks me up.

i can't believe people read this shit

[Anonymous No.7259335]

[Anonymous No.7259400]

>>7256211

I hate this attitude: "if something repulsive happens in the book the author and the book are terrible 1 star stopped reading."

[Anonymous No.7259409]

>>7257289
heh only robots understand

[Anonymous No.7259414]

[Anonymous No.7259480]

>>7256947
I am just too mad to function

[Anonymous No.7259573]

>>7249829
Ahmed Xahabi rated it 1 of 5 stars
The Jew and gay people are the only righteous small group in,the society of Berlin in the beginig of the 20'th century? Hahahhahahahahah..No.

[Anonymous No.7259873]

>>7250891
underrated post

[Anonymous No.7259951]

>>7259573
Good review, actually.

[Anonymous No.7260045]

>>7254684
She's actually pretty open about her anarchism

[Anonymous No.7262111]

Sweet Jesus
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/477480146

[Anonymous No.7262180]

>>7254684
>>7260045
I highly recommend The Dispossessed to anyone who was not aware of Le Guin's anarchism, as well as anyone generally interested in anarchism, as well as anyone.

>>7252190
I don't think this is quite the worst Goodreads review I've ever read, but it's up there

[Anonymous No.7262217]

>>7262111
I want to make a goodreads just to call him an insufferable hipster twat.

[Anonymous No.7262226]

>>7249916
>that opening paragraph
whoa wee

[Anonymous No.7262236]

>>7249829
Thanks Andrew

[Anonymous No.7262243]

>>7249916
But Sex and Character is mostly just dated misogynistic and racist ramblings.

[Anonymous No.7262307]

>>7250082
>i'm a fucking idiot.

More than 40% of the site speak english as a second language.
You don't like globalisation? Get off the internet.

[Anonymous No.7262499]

>>7249916
>that first paragraph

[Anonymous No.7262545]

>>7257289
What, no! The book is about Holden's struggle with growing up.

He sees all these adults as miserable and shitty and fake and he knows he has to grow up to become one of them. He's terrified of that, but at the same time he knows he has to.

He wants to exist in a timeless space where nothing ever changes and he has no responsibility, like a memory from his childhood. That's what the whole catcher in the rye thing is about- just him, doing something meaningless forever, but enjoying it. He doesn't want to be confronted by reality, because reality is shit.

The whole book is about the basic fear of growing up and taking on responsibility. I can't believe so many people just don't get it, since it's something fucking everybody goes through.

Not just this book, though, fucking everything. Do people just forget emotions they've felt?

[Anonymous No.7262557]

[Anonymous No.7262587]

>>7249899

>full of commas
>artsy fartsy

[Anonymous No.7262590]

>>7249829
His Master's Voice

Dense to the point of cruelty.

A wonderful premise that cannot overcome Lem's incredibly glacial choice of prose. It may be this version's translation - normally I love Lem in pretty much anything he does. This particular treatment of one of his pet themes (alien intelligence is beyond our understanding) is paced so slow it masks the plot.

For the record: His Masters Voice is about a government program to decipher a message from space. There are deep and probing questions in this book - and you will have to probe deeply in order to get to them.

It's probably unfair to compare this book with the Star Diaries, which are quick-witted, engaging and bite-sized - but you really wonder if the book was written by the same man.

Anyone looking for light fun should look elsewhere.

It has .4% 1 stars, and this was one of only three of them to be commented.

[Anonymous No.7262596]

>>7262545
>Not just this book, though, fucking everything. Do people just forget emotions they've felt?
Yes.

[Anonymous No.7262609]

>>7256008
yeah me too

[Anonymous No.7262626]

>>7262596
Why? They're such a huge part of the human condition, why would you just forget that? And how can you even work on yourself if you're not aware of what made you feel how?

[Anonymous No.7262642]

>>7256947
>>7259480

He's right, tho.

[Anonymous No.7262674]

>>7262557
true tho

[Anonymous No.7263223]

wow, holy shit is this guy a pleb

[Anonymous No.7263260]

>>7257289
>I am a special flower, the only person to truly appreciate Catcher in the Rye

Its a shitty book about teenage angst with a few curses thrown in so it seems edgy. This was a big deal when it came out, its not a big deal anymore, and the only reason its forced down so many highschool student's throats is because of the feels it gave their school's English department head.

>Catcher is a litmus test for retards with 0 reading comprehension

I rather think its a litmus test to catch people who offer undue praise to "the classics" because they can't think for themselves. Your little spiel reminds me of a kid back in hs who wrote a fucking panegyric on animal farm.

[Anonymous No.7263295]

>>7256694

>trying to read one of joyce's actual novels

tbh dubliners probably has a more coherent narrative than Ulysses smh fam

[Anonymous No.7263335]

[Anonymous No.7263355]

>>7263335

[Anonymous No.7263361]

>>7263335

[Anonymous No.7263371]

>>7263361
Jesus Christ

Are those the same people who dismiss literary interpretation as "no, the curtains were just blue, what are you talking about, details have no bearing on the wider story"?

[Anonymous No.7263389]

[Anonymous No.7263398]

This made me angry. She read a 50 page version of the Count of Monte fucking Cristo and felt it was incomplete and she didn't even rate the version she read.

[Anonymous No.7263406]

>>7263389
>tfw my ragel's untethered

[Anonymous No.7263412]

>>7250891

>The only bright spot is if you think about it metaphorically
>She thought it was about fish

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA, OH SHIT, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Anonymous No.7264126]

>>7250891
Women shouldn't be allowed to read Hemingway.

[Anonymous No.7264145]

>>7264126
Hemingway is shit anyway.

[Anonymous No.7264812]

I know this is a noob question, but how do you screenshot things? I want to post some of the reviews of Mason and Dixon.

[Anonymous No.7264820]

>>7264812
prntscrn

[Anonymous No.7264821]

>>7264812
10/10 try googling

[Anonymous No.7264841]

>>7263398
>She read a 50 page version of the Count of Monte fucking Cristo

How is that even possible?

[Anonymous No.7264925]

[Anonymous No.7264952]

>>7264841
could be learning to read. possibly in a program or something that uses different levels of books & could be using goodreads to keep up with progress, tho she probably shouldn't be reviewing anything if that's the case

[Anonymous No.7265132]

>>7264925
>Brainless ideology does this to people.
>>7254684

[Anonymous No.7265440]

>>7263223
>>7263223

>bought it because author had funny name
>expected surreal, didactic, bizarre
Why? Why did you expect this?
>only gripe is that dialect, which i don't understand
Why would you give it one star just because you didn't like the language?
>depression era America
fuckin what?

[Anonymous No.7265467]

>>7249899
Feeling this way is how you feel after reading Borges. Some people like it, some others don't.

That "this is beyond my comprehension" feeling is what i loved from those books i am unable to understand (even read) because they were no written, on El camino a Almostasim or La Biblioteca de Babel.

[Anonymous No.7265473]

>>7265467
*El acercamiento

[Anonymous No.7265862]

Snow Country
Yasunari Kawabata

[Anonymous No.7265890]

>>7250325
>possessed by Satan

[Anonymous No.7267118]

>>7265862
Relations between men and women, way women live, what does she mean?

[Anonymous No.7267127]

>>7249829
>Josepha rated it 1 of 5 stars
>Being a former catholic and having only read the children's version of the bible around the time I did my holy communion I felt it was only right to properly take the time to study the bible and assess its value. Aside from the fiction aspect it gave me a nice insight into the broad structure of patriarchy holding both the jewish and the christian faith together. So aside from the scientific and moral reasoning behind my atheism, my belief in equality between the sexes made me even stronger in my rejection of the abrahamic religions

>Sean rated it 1 of 5 stars
>A little too "Sci-Fi" for me. I felt like I read most of this before in Battleship Earth, maybe?

[Anonymous No.7267135]

>Cheryl rated it 1 of 5 stars
>Incomprehensible Drivel. I was really looking forward to this book...700+ pages of history that directly related to my family.
Thirty some-odd pages into it I was so frustrated that I grew angry. I had to finish it - but resorted to scanning the text for references to my 7th great grandfather. After all that - only 2 references and I had to get through more than 600 pages to get to the story of his encounter with Mason & Dixon. Geez, I have never been so relieved to have finished a book.

[Anonymous No.7267148]

fuck you Jon
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72604523

[Anonymous No.7267149]

>tfw when your favourite book has only 14 reviews and the only non-five-star review is a four star review stating that ‘[the book] is more fun than Finnegans wake, but not as fun as Ulysses’.

[Anonymous No.7267188]

>>7250903
Kek

[Anonymous No.7267348]

>>7262557
What book?

[Anonymous No.7267352]

>>7267348
dumbass

[Anonymous No.7267360]

Guess which book it is.

[Anonymous No.7267374]

>>7267360
You’re not going to tell me it’s a Tolstoy novel, are you?

[Anonymous No.7267377]

>>7267374
If that had been the case, I would have been hospitalised over a laughing fit by now.
No, it's Notes from the Underground.

[Anonymous No.7267380]

>not liking the epic of gilgamesh
>can't even into religious prostitution
Fucking plebs.

[Anonymous No.7267381]

>>7267380
It just keeps going.

[Anonymous No.7267382]

>>7267381
And going.

[Anonymous No.7267387]

>>7267382
And going.
Why can't people appreciate the Epic? It's fucking great.

[Anonymous No.7267394]

>hating on based witty

[Anonymous No.7267401]

>>7267348
Catcher in the Rye

[Anonymous No.7267406]

>>7267381
How is it even possible to be that pleb? That reviewer is a moron.

[Anonymous No.7267414]

>>7264925
damn, he's dumb af. and I don't even like the stranger

[Anonymous No.7267416]

>>7257289
That pepe meme fits awfully well.

[Anonymous No.7267439]

[Anonymous No.7267479]

[Anonymous No.7267518]

>>7267439
I bet that kid reads Harry Potter like scripture.

[Anonymous No.7267521]

[Anonymous No.7267534]

>>7267521
>white guy with a japanese username
>obligatory black and white picture
>doesnt like pynchon
>likes telephatic elves who ride wolves

triggered

[Anonymous No.7267555]

>>7255401
her husband probably recommended it as a hint

[Anonymous No.7267621]

>>7267521
So he has terrible taste, that's all he's said.

[Anonymous No.7267641]

>>7265862
That he cheats on his wife, then abandons his first geisha for a new one once she gets old, and he thinks of it as justified.
I would argue that this is something that is criticized within the text so her argument is attacking something that Kawabata is commenting on.

[Anonymous No.7267647]

>>7267641
meant for
>>7267118

[Anonymous No.7267663]

>>7267641
Thanks anon. I honestly cannot wait to read it. I have heard so much good about it.

[Anonymous No.7267672]

>>7265890
It's preordered, todd

[Anonymous No.7268925]

>>7256610
>ejaculate
unexpected kek

[Anonymous No.7269559]

bump

[Anonymous No.7270021]

>>7256048
Liberal views serve only to make the opinion-haver look as nice as possible to others, especially minorities.

[Anonymous No.7270051]

>>7250667
Is this Pynchon or Chandler?

[Anonymous No.7270062]

>>7249899
>my motto as a reader is "tell me a story"
Teaching "literacy" to people with no critical thinking was the worst move in history.

[Anonymous No.7270077]

>>7267380
Question, is it viable to read an academic novelization of the epic of Gilgamesh?

[Anonymous No.7270087]

>>7270077
I wouldn't do it, but unless you're reading it for study I don't see why you couldn't.
If you find the epic interesting, I'd primarily pick up a scholarly translation rather than a novelization, but it's either way a short read, so one does not invalidate the other.
I don't think it's in any way necessary to read it in a novelised form though. The epic is fine as it is.

[Anonymous No.7270094]

This thread is the ultimate proof that women can't read.

[Anonymous No.7270099]

>>7270087
Hmm, I guess I'll have to read both.

[Anonymous No.7270117]

>>7267479
>People were stupider in the 50s and I'm way better and more enlightened than them, I even like feminism groups on Facebook to prove it.

[Anonymous No.7270163]

>>7251334
lmao

[Anonymous No.7270199]

>>7256947

Fuck this gay earth. Just end me now

[Anonymous No.7270214]

>>7262626

You need to be 18 to post on this site. This naive idealism is embarrassing tbh

[Anonymous No.7270222]

>>7270214
I'm 25 you fuck.

[Anonymous No.7270229]

>>7270222

You normies make me sick.

[Anonymous No.7270235]

>Crypto-Marxist babble

[Anonymous No.7270246]

>>7270229
I'm glad

[Anonymous No.7270254]

>>7270222
He said you need to be 18.
Stop posting.

[Anonymous No.7270256]

>>7270246

Uprising when?

[Anonymous No.7270285]

>>7250891

>this post is longer than the book she read

[Anonymous No.7270296]

>>7259335

Fuck you bitch

[Anonymous No.7270333]

>>7270256
Shhhh

[Anonymous No.7270353]

>>7250051
Does she pronounce her name as 'Claire' or 'Cla-ree' I wonder.

[Anonymous No.7270357]

[Anonymous No.7270470]

>>7250325
Take this one out back and shoot it.

>>7255146
Don't even know what to say. Can't believe someone is this fucking retarded, I really can't.

[Anonymous No.7270510]

>>7256947
The book is incredibly sympathetic to Edith though, it shows us that when society doesn't explain to women how their bodies work it makes them repressed psychos who can't be happy. She's a tragic fucking character, but I guess it'd be too hard to gather that since the book didn't come out and say it to your face. Even though it pretty much did. What a fucking idiot.

[Anonymous No.7270667]

I flew through this and thought it was very motivational.

[Anonymous No.7270684]

>>7267377
While I did like that book, I wouldn't recommend that as your first Dostoevsky.

[Anonymous No.7270787]

>>7249999
>literally a string of critical cliches

is Wil Wheaton the biggest hack on the planet

[Anonymous No.7270823]

On mobile but this is for moby dick

[Anonymous No.7270835]

>>7270823
This is actually hilarious.

[Anonymous No.7270839]

>>7270823
This is accurate tbh.
19th century authors love pointless digressions for some reason.

[Anonymous No.7270861]

[Anonymous No.7271657]

>>7270062
>Lit shouldn't be a story

The Odyssey made it to 2015 because even 4000 years ago, people wanted to be told a nice story. Save your critical thinking for someone else: There's a reason poets were scorned by the philosophers even in Grecian times.

[Anonymous No.7271667]

>>7270062
>>7271657
Borges is a story though. It's a weirder, less linear kind of story, more about exploring an idea than exploring a character's thoughts and actions, but he clearly puts a lot of thought into structure and motion and arc.

In a lot of ways I think Borges' stories are better than a lot of modern lit at getting at the wonder an ancient Greek might feel hearing the Iliad or the Odyssey for the first time

[Anonymous No.7271671]

>>7271657
so all the pre-socratics just wrote poetry ironically

[Anonymous No.7271673]

on Vasily Grossman's 'Life and Fate'

WAKE ME UP INSIDE

[Anonymous No.7271676]

>>7249916
i had sex with a man once: the book review

[Anonymous No.7271690]

I think he's being ironic, but I dunno

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/53831516

[Anonymous No.7271802]

>>7263295

This. Holy God, this. Discontinuous loose narrative set in one city, with the city itself as the main character. Each short story is really only a chapter in the greater framework of building Dublin, the city as it is, the people as they are, and all as will be.

Yeah. Way more contiguous than Ulysses.

[Anonymous No.7271928]

>>7270667
>thought it was very motivational.
chill out contrarian boi :^)
Still, Oblomov was GOAT and she obviously does not understand.

[Anonymous No.7271931]

>>7270823
Completely valid

[Anonymous No.7272768]

>>7271928
How's that contrarian. Motivated me to go out and do something rather than find out years later I've just sat on my couch forever complacently.

[Anonymous No.7274689]

bump

[Anonymous No.7275504]

bump again

[Anonymous No.7275711]

>>7256661
HOLY FUCK SHE THINKS A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES IS A NOVEL

[Anonymous No.7275728]

why are nearly all of these shit reviews women??

>rhetorical question :^)

[Anonymous No.7275777]

>>7270077
>>7270087
>>7270099
The ''original'' versions are embellished as well, unless you get the Oxford Classics version, where they left all of the missing sentences out, but it makes for a very tedious reading experience. Novelized is fine. What are you trying to get out of the original?

The Oxford World Classics ''Myths of Mesopotamia'' states that the tablets they found were most likely for easier memorization than anything else. They were a template for the storyteller, nothing more. It was meant to be embellished.

[Anonymous No.7275785]

>>7267381
>I do feel more well read after this book
You just know this faggot forces ''The Epic of Gilgamesh'' into unwanted conversations, desperately scanning everyone's face directly after he says it in hope to catch a glimmer of that sweet sweet confusion which exalts him over the common folk.

[Anonymous No.7275825]

1984.

What a wonderful review that gives a lot of insight to the reason that you gave the book such a low rating. Thank you for your contribution.

[Anonymous No.7275837]

>>7249999
Don't mind me, just the king of dumb 5 star book reviews for terrible books from infantile hacks coming through

[Anonymous No.7275849]

Amazing how so many people can be so wrong.

[Anonymous No.7275859]

The Oresteia

It's cute how one guy calls it 'stupid'. Bless him, the little idiot.

[Anonymous No.7276865]

>>7270357
Great book, I still shout "My dog never took an aspirin a damn day in it's life" whenever I vanquish an enemy.

[Anonymous No.7276878]

>>7275825
She's right, you know.

[Anonymous No.7276903]

The Rings of Saturn:

>I may quit Book Club over this one! Rambling and self indulgent. Pointless. can I give it 1/2 a star?

>i am in a book club that meets monthly and this was a ladies choice. after reading the book i think i would be happier to watch paint dry.

>I've never read such self-important words. It's for pseuds. The book is an intangible mess of nonsense. Be aware of what you are getting yourself in to, at the least, do not buy this book without reading a few paragraphs first.

Jesus Christ, it's like reading the intro to Miss Lonelyhearts.

[Anonymous No.7278302]

>>7249921
I like Proust because I get side tracked easily and can sympathize with.day dreaming due to a stupid instigation.

[Anonymous No.7278315]

>>7249999
>I want to meet them just like I want to meet Obama or Taylor Swift
And in to the trash it goes

[Anonymous No.7278337]

>>7250181
>book within a book
>Hesse
It wouldn't surprise me if she thinks Hesse is a fictional author. She says what she got from the book is that Hesse hates suicide. Why doesn't she read his works then?