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/lit/ - Literature

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7400540 No.7400540 [Reply] [Original]

Post mandatory books.

>> No.7400549
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>> No.7400563
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>> No.7400575
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>> No.7400669

I'm reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep right now. Read 100 pages before bed. The story is cool, but a lot of the prose is lacking.

>> No.7400674

>>7400540
>tfw this is the best piece of literature I had to read in high school

It's honestly kind of pathetic. American schools are the worst.

>> No.7400677

>>7400669

A common issue in sci-fi unfortunately, especially if you go back further. Fantastic ideas, well-explored, by men who can't write :(

>> No.7400679

>>7400669

It's one of his worst books in what I've read.

>Ubik
>The Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Any of these is better. Dick's prose isn't that bad; I appreciate that he isn't writing to show off his abilities (and he does have excellent ones, just more concerned about serving the story than serving his ego, which is cool by me).

I have a bad memory of Androids, though.

>>7400674

Don't be retarded you piece of shit. I'm Swiss, I never had to read any science fiction while in school, although I have taught Brave New World.

You are an absolute moron. Go hide yourself.

>> No.7400689

>>7400679
I actually wanted to read Ubik, but the bookstore I was at only had Androids. It isn't awful, by any means. other than the lackluster prose I think it's great.

I found Roadside Picnic by the, ahh, Sturgatsky brothers, I believe, to have had the same issue. A very fun book though, especially as I played the STALKER games when I was younger.

>> No.7400692

>>7400679
What was the best or most memorable thing you had to read for an assignment then senpai?

>> No.7400698
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>>7400540

>> No.7400701

>>7400677

That's if you go back to the 30's and into the 50's. But from Heinlein onwards, with Clarke and others, SF ceases to be poorly written.

>> No.7400711

>>7400692
>What was the best or most memorable thing you had to read for an assignment then senpai?

I need to think... First book we ever did in English in school was "Boy" by Roald Dahl, but we were only 15 and had done English for less than 3 years, so it was difficult. It was pretty good.

Other than that, Baudelaire's poetry in high school, and Rabelais, and Nicolas Bouvier, and Dostoyevsky, and Blaise Cendrar. Those are what I remember best.

>> No.7400735

>>7400674
to be fair, Childhood's End is the best sci-fi book there is

>> No.7400757

>>7400735

I doubt he even knows what's he talking about it.

>it's got SF, it can't possibly be good

>> No.7400831
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>>7400540

>> No.7400838

>>7400563
I couldn't get into this book. I read the whole book but I didn't enjoy it.

>> No.7400849

I was gonna start a separate thread but ill ask here

I'm reading Prey by Michael Crichton right now (the first hundred pages were pretty bad but it got good when he went into the desert and keeps improving although the prose still isn't great BTW) and I was wondering of anyone knows of more books with the same use of current real world science and tech for a fictional story but with slightly better prose

>> No.7400858

>>7400831
Heinlen deserves credit for singlehandedly defining fedora culture. This book is like the neckbeard bible.

>> No.7400869
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7400869

>>7400540
>Science fiction books
>mandatory

>> No.7400872

>>7400858
Y-you too

>> No.7400932

>>7400858
>heinlein
>not pratchett and adams

are you making those retarded statements up on the run?

>> No.7400941

>>7400932
Heinlenen wrote the old testament.
Pratchett, Adams, just took off where he finished.

>> No.7400950

>>7400932
>tfw really liked Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but every time I tried to make a thread about it it just turned into ten posts of gb2 reddit then died

I mean i get it most Adams fans are terrible its just too bad

>> No.7401008

>>7400711
>Other than that, Baudelaire's poetry in high school, and Rabelais, and Nicolas Bouvier, and Dostoyevsky, and Blaise Cendrar.

This is what we should have been learning.

>>7400735
>>7400757
You both completely misunderstand. It's a fantastic book, but its entertainment value outweighs any sort of artistic integrity. Which is pathetic from a high school that is supposed to teach literature well.

>> No.7401023
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7401023

Easily.

>> No.7401025
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7401025

What do you guys think of pic related? Reading it right now and it's pretty fucking good. Prose is strange and a little stilted but I think it actually adds to the atmosphere after you get used to it.

>> No.7401033
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7401033

Both Jurassic Park and its sequel The Lost World by Michael Crichton are great. Very different from the movies btw. There are also insights that the author contributes to the story via Ian Malcolm that make you ponder. One of the best ones being his opinion that the internet will destroy all unique cultures as culture, like speciation, requires isolation to evolve separately from the rest.

>> No.7401051

>>7401033
That goes right in line with Crichton's xenophobia.

>> No.7401057
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>>7401051
>Crichton's xenophobia.
I've never heard of him being considered xenophobic. Could you elaborate or provide a link to information?

>> No.7401059

>>7400540
Pretty much everything by Wolfe. In particular The Fifth Head of Cerberus and Book of the New Sun.

>> No.7401064

>>7401051
It's only xenophobia if you see it as a bad thing. I don't know what Crichton thinks though

>> No.7401077

>>7401057
Rishing Shun

>> No.7401267

>>7401008
childhood's end doesn't have much entertainment value

>> No.7401337

>>7400669
>a lot of the prose is lacking.

Yeah, this applies to most of Dick's SF before the 1970s. I doubt there was much redrafting going on. It's the ideas that are the best thing about the books and make them notable. Androids has some of clunkiest prose of his 60s period, which makes it unfortunate that it's the first novel by him that many people encounter.

>> No.7401344
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7401344

Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination, The Demolished Man and The Computer Connection/Extro.

>> No.7401346
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>>7401057
>>7401077
>Rizhing Sean
That's the main one. There's an anti-foreign undercurrent though in his other work too though.

>> No.7401375
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>> No.7401381

>>7401344
Never got around reading The Demolished Man (ordered it just now though), but damn, The Stars my Destination was good.
I'm happy I'm not the only one here recommending it.

>> No.7401530
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7401530

Read it if you haven't, it's amazing.

>> No.7401545

>>7400669
>but a lot of the prose is lacking.
I get the same feeling from most sci fi novels.
I liked Snow Crash for example, but the prose was hard to get used to

>> No.7401569

>>7401267
Its entertainment value is the only thing it has going for it.

>> No.7401607
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7401607

The hell is wrong with this thread?

>> No.7401634
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>>7400540
Does this count ?

>> No.7401675

>>7401607
>Hyperion: Arab guy is the savior of humanity
>Ilium: MUSLIMS WILL DESTROY THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>> No.7402287

>>7401008
>It's a fantastic book, but its entertainment value outweighs any sort of artistic integrity.

Art is only entertainment. Suggesting anything else is what you do when you don't actually enjoy literature and try to compensate with feeling smart.

Don't read if you don't like it, nobody gives a fuck either way.

>> No.7402290

>>7401634

Yes. 5th Head of Cerberus may appeal to the snobs here more than any other SF book, recommended.

>> No.7402300

>>7402287
>but its entertainment value outweighs any sort of artistic integrity.

>implying perfect artistry doesn't result in massive entertainment

>typical reaction of fucks who read Dante and don't like it because they're plebs, so they go full "no fun allowed" mode.

If literature isn't your thing, just drop it already, you fucks.

This is why /lit/ is shit. It's for people who want to sound like they're literary, but they're just sad fucks who can read. You're plebs.

>the current year
>unable to enjoy Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, AND PKD

Fuck off, plebs.

>> No.7402663
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7402663

Iain M Banks.

>> No.7403070

>>7402287
>>7402300
School isn't for entertainment, its for knowledge. If you're being taught something you feel is too simple and doesn't further your education, you have the right to complain about it.

Are you autistic anon? You're getting very angry very quickly.

>> No.7403393

>>7400950
Anti-autism is a form of autism as well.

>> No.7405364
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