Can developing the habit of reading heal my brain from years of doomscrolling, porn addiction and isolation that deleted my attention span, memory and gave me a costant brainfog?
>>24947189Dude literally 40% of americans have active home gardens
>>24947194Yeah, I do, too. I grow tomatoes. You know how much time, effort, money and SPACE, it would take to grow even HALF of your fruit and vegetable intake? Get real.
>>24938406beer
>>24947194Ignore that idiot. Typical dilettante.Growing your own food, homesteading, that's the way to go.
>>24947307isn't that stretching the definition of invention or a technology? I mean, is pasta an invention?
2025 is almost over. What's the best book you read this year?
the alexandria quartet by laurence durrell
>>24947281You've all read the best book to be released in 2025 haven't you?
Read through Animal Farm. Short and sweet, but I really enjoyed it. Beats you over the head with its moral, but, through a purely technical lens, I really enjoyed seeing Orwell epitomize what a novel should be. Also read Dune and I felt similarly about it. It was the first book I read after getting through nearly all of Moorcock's Elric, though, so maybe I was just relieved to break the monotony.
wiseguy wuthering heightssolaris faust (part one)come as you are: the story of nirvana no country for old men crime and punishment
SuttreeCien años de soledad (re-read)El Jinete Polaco
>>24947485I have an old tablet that I use for reading, and the majority of what I read this year was actually e-books. If the book is formatted correctly, being able to look at an endnote without actually flipping to the end is nice. And being able to instantly read whatever piques my interest is obviously nice.Still though, I buy whatever books I have real interest in or I just simply want a physical copy of.
>>24947506>This>people who enjoy reading use ereaders.>people with low self worth and the need for society's approval buy books.
>>24947520>Still though, I buy whatever books I have real interest in or I just simply want a physical copy of.same. desu I just like the object. It's funny cuz my biggest hobby is music and I have almost no physical music media and argue for files all day. Books are pretty much the only media where I prefer a physical object
>>24947524cope or seethe. do it in silence, please.
>>24947539>cope or seethe. do it in silence, please.
Why yes, half page descriptions of lamps and countertops with the occasional interjection of brain dead criminals speaking futuristic ebonics. It certainly deserves all the praise. Were people really that bored in the 80s to enjoy this?I'm not finishing it. I feel my neurons dying in real time. I was right for putting it off for so many years.
he simply perfectly described the world we're living in, 60 years ago.
>>24947046lol no he didn't
>>24946610you sound filtered
>>24947487By taste, which is perfectly reasonable. You really should have a filter against poor taste.
>>24946610gibson's autism is cool but his writing can get pretty bad. he's an ideas guy.
What did I think?
>>24945310Wow you better take it easy the rest of the day buddy!
>>24946211It's still winter by the end of the book
>>24946431Not in his heart.
>>24946201Can you name any examples of these supposed "nonsense" words? (You can't.)
>>24945812ts would make me so gassy! would be shooting out green grinch wet farts like a mfer
starfall knights editionASOIAF wiki: https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Main_PageBlog: https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/Old blog: https://grrm.livejournal.com/So Spake Martin (interviews): https://westeros.org/citadel/ssm/Book search: https://asearchoficeandfire.com/SSM search: https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=006888510641072775866:vm4n1jrzsdyGeneral search: http://searcherr.work/TWOW samples: https://archive.org/details/411440566-the-winds-of-winter-released-chaptersold: >>24898855
I can tell these books are bad simply by looking at the author. The books are bad and you are bad people for reading them. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
>>24947108Didn't Dickon already marry some Fossoway girl or whatever?
>>24946956>Greyjoys are overshadowed by Harlaws, Goodbrothers and Drumms (by prestige)But if this is true, why do irontards follow the Greyjoys into another war when they already led them into an embarrassing defeat well within memory?
>>24947379Emphasis on the "tard", because Nagga chose a Grayjoy 300 years ago, and because most Ironborn lords are retards who want to rape and raid, and no Harlaw would take that initiative because they know better apparently.
>>24947108>ESLSpeak in high valyrian.
It is NOT a literary masterpiece. It is, in basically just an overdressed YA novel. Let me, someone who has actually understood the text, break this down for you:>The core plotA brooding, special teenager, Hal Incandenza, with parent issues lives in a rigid, hierarchical system, namely the Enfield Tennis Academy. A mysterious, charismatic rebel figure, be it His ghost or the Entertainment itself, threatens the order. A ragtag group of teens, Hal, Orin, Pemulis, must navigate a corrupt adult world to uncover a dark secret that could destroy society. This is essentially Divergent, no?>Ham fisted Allegory"O.N.A.N.," "The Concavity/Convexity," "Subsidized Time." These are not subtle political commentaries. They are the same heavy handed, brand name dystopian devices as "Panem" or "The Capitol." It is a cartoony, exaggerated backdrop for teen angst, not a serious philosophical inquiry. DFW merely replaced the Hunger Games with a tennis tournament and a lethal film cartridge.>The teen protaganistHal is the archetypal YA hero. He is unnaturally gifted, emotionally stunted, misunderstood by every adult, and on a quest for identity in a world he did not make. His internal torment is just advanced teen angst. His inability to communicate is peak adolescent alienation dressed up in pseudo intellectual jargon. He is a Holden Caulfield who can quote Wittgenstein.>The threatThe samizdat is a MacGuffin of pure destruction. "It is so pleasurable it kills you." This is a YA villain: a single, addictive, monolithic Evil that the adults cannot handle, so the youth must. It is the same as a magic system or a corrupt government, a simple problem with a fantastical, technological cause.Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
I've read the first two chapters and it does have a certain charm to it though seems to suffer from a lack of focus and inconsistent tone. I resent when authors go for certain broad effects rather than specific, earned moments of inspiration
It's just a book. Maybe you people should read more books instead of talking about the same books over and over, it's so fucking boring.
>>24946920Thanks for the Walter Abish rec anon, I'll check it out.
>>24945045bait/10. I will respond in good faith anyways. >Hal, Orin, Pemulis, must navigate a corrupt adult world to uncover a dark secret that could destroy society.What dark secret are they trying to uncover?>Ham fisted AllegoryI don't think you know what allegory is. Your examples are simple hyperbole, extending the real world to an absurd extreme. You completely missed the political content which is about people who build their identity around a political party. >He is unnaturally giftedHe isn't, he myopically fixated on two things, the OED and tennis. We find out he is terrible at the sciences and if the examples we get of his work in the humanities are any evidence, he is not very good there either, he just plays word games to hide the fact he says nothing. The implication here being that like Gately, Hal is being carried through school by others.>MacGuffinlol. Explain the entertainment. >"Entertainment as dystopia?"If you wanted to take that sort of view it is that entertainment for the sake of entertainment is a result of dystopia; which is closer to the point but still reductive. Dystopia does not play into it, this is likely a result of your conflating allegory and hyperbole. >"Addiction?"To stick with the above bit of reductionism, addiction is entertainment for the sake of entertainment. Once we go beyond literal entertainment and addiction you start seeing why this phrasing is reductive, the book is filled with examples of things which are just as destructive but are not addiction or entertainment and obviously need to be reconciled. Comment too long. Click here to view the full text.
>>24947519gonna just number my retorts to this idiocy to save time1. The nature and location of the Master Copy of the Entertainment. That is the literal plot engine. No tirades about pubescent cock or film theory can change that.2.They are not "hyperbole of the real world"; they are literalized metaphors for American exceptionalism, waste, and corporate hegemony and you bringing up partisanship out out of nowhere is very telling.3.You’ve accidentally stumbled onto my exact point. Hal performs as the unnaturally gifted YA protagonist (the tennis prodigy, the lexical savant) but he is hollow. That’s the teen angst... His "gifts" are a cage.4.It’s a film so perfectly entertaining it catalyzes complete catatonic bliss, rendering the viewer a useless, addicted husky. This is not a complex philosophical object.5. You’re trying to say "it’s more nuanced than that" while agreeing with the basic premise. Entertainment as a symptom of dystopia versus entertainment as the dystopia is a distinction without a difference for the novel’s mechanics. Calling me reductive here amounts to saying "saying "I prefer my simple themes delivered with maximal obscurantism."6.A breathtakingly reductive statement, and you accuse me of that same folly? The book meticulously details addiction as a response to pain, loneliness, and the unbearable nature of consciousness. To collapse it into "entertainment" is to miss everything. But thank you for proving my point bc the YA framework does what you've done and takes a complex theme like addiction and and funnels it into a singular, digestible antagonist (The Entertainment/pleasure principle).7. No, I suffered through all of them, which is how I know the emotional core never evolves beyond that adolescent cry. Hal’s end-state is a mute, institutionalized figure. Gately’s arc is about stasis and choosing to endure pain. The world isn’t saved; it’s abandoned. This is the final, pretentious flourish of the YA dystopia: the "bittersweet" or ambiguous ending that suggests the problem is too big for the heroes to solve. They just have to grow up a little in its shadow.... less maturity and more moping.
What are some good books on Satan? Particularly Medieval Latin and Orthodox conceptions, but others welcome.
Do Tolkiendrones realize that fantasy existed before Lord of the Rings and that it suffered greatly from Big Fat Fantasy and other sloppy derivatives that grew like viruses from Tolkien's wen? https://voca.ro/1Rwc7lMX0hfT
>>24947004>At this point one side is pro-tolkein because the otherside is anti-tolkeinThis half of your equation is actually false. Obviously.
>>24946883No bashed, just didn't rely on elves and Wagnerian or other standard mythic tropes that inspired Tolkien. Nobody there is bashing anyone, they're being competent original writers.>>24946942>Thread has already straightened it out>Anon is only here to re-misunderstandYou will never be a writer.
>>24946980>I think he misunderstood Peake's criticism and took it out of context to fit his own politics.He literally didn't get further than >muh prole destroys >muh castle hierarchy, LE GOOD!!!!, I guarantee it.
Autists want their safe wish fulfillment fairy tales, not anything meaningful. That’s why isekai slop is so popular these days.
>>24947228Because you two misunderstand (or simply haven't read) the OP quote, I can guarantee you are wrong.
I just finished reading Journey to the West for a book report. holy shit Chinese books are awesome. Does anyone have the china /lit/ recommendations?
>>24947530This is a really good chart. Whoever made it knew their shit. But a very, very glaring omission is that it doesn't have poetry when classical Chinese poetry is like the greatest literary achievement they ever produced. Very weird.
Is it a meme?
>>24947383It's a literary translation
>>24947047I prefer A.D. Melville's, but both are good. Her word choices are a bit pedestrian and the lack of indication of the original lines is annoying for cross-referencing.
>>24947036Freud would have a field day with the complexes on this anon
>>24947236I read Fear and Trembling first and then moved onto the Sickness Unto Death. FaT was good but TSUD blew my mind open. I have a copy of either/or and want to read it one day but am intimidated by its size. Also i feel like i have the attention span of a goldfish and it takes me a while to finish a philosophy book
>>24947422Those four years of penal servitude Dostoyevsky spent in Siberia he spent in the company of murderers and thieves, no segregation having been yet introduced between ordinary and political criminals. He described them in his ''Memoirs from the House of Death'' (1862). They do not make a pleasant reading. All the humiliations and hardships he endured are described in detail, as also the criminals among whom he lived. Not to go completely mad in those surroundings, Dostoyevsky had to find some sort of escape. This he found in a neurotic Christianism which he developed during these years. His emotional life up to that time had been unhappy. In Siberia he had married, but this first marriage proved unsatisfactory. In 1862-63 he had an affair with a woman writer and in her company visited England, France and Germany. This woman, whom he later characterized as ''infernal,'' seems to have been an evil character. Later she married Rozanov, an extraordinary writer combining moments of exceptional genius with manifestations of astounding naivete. (I knew Rozanov, but he had married another woman by that time.) This woman seems to have had a rather unfortunate influence on Dostoyevsky, further upsetting his unstable spirit. It was during this first trip abroad to Germany that the first manifestation of his passion for gambling appeared which during the rest of his life was the plague of his family and an insurmountable obstacle to any kind of material ease or peace to himself. Just as I have no ear for music, I have to my regret no ear for Dostoyevsky the Prophet. The very best thing he ever wrote seems to me to be ''The Double.'' It is the story - told very elaborately, in great, almost Joycean detail (as the critic Mirsky notes), and in a style intensely saturated with phonetic and rhythmical expressiveness - of a government clerk who goes mad, obsessed by the idea that a fellow clerk has usurped his identity. It is a perfect work of art, that story, but it hardly exists for the followers of Dostoyevsky the Prophet, because it was written in the 1840's, long before his so-called great novels; and moreover its imitation of Gogol is so striking as to seem at times almost a parody. Dostoyevsky characterizes his people through situation, through ethical matters, their psychological reactions, their inside ripples. After describing the looks of a character, he uses the old-fashioned device of not referring to his specific physical appearance anymore in the scenes with him. This is not the way of an artist - say Tolstoy - who sees his character in his mind all the time and knows exactly the specific gesture he will employ at this or that moment.
>>24945039Dont beat yourself up. "Lord I believe; help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24)If you want a book that might help with these feelings, read St. Augustine's confessions, essentially his autobiography of faith. He went through the same thing you are feeling.
>>24947132Paulists "catholics" are cucks
I willingly didnt return my library books after the library near me is suddenly going through unexpected renovations and its been sitting on my shelf for close to a year since i was too lazy to drive across town to another library.I was planning on returning the books when the library opens again in a couple months but at this point i'm tempted to just keep em since I've just been buying my books instead for the first time in my life instead of using the library and i'm liking my growing collection.The library books are the illiad, the odyssey, the aeneid and mythology.I wanted to have this certain set of books anyways and at this point i dont wanna pay for it.Is this wrong of me ? Who else is gonna read these old books in my crappy bumfuck town in the middle of nowhere?they probably have multiple copies anyways.
>>24945935let's say there's a little holy-warrior in you, from W40K...then your post is justified.in other cases, the answer to OP's questionning is not that black/white.i am, myself, encline to think that he should get them back to the library.but, then, the remembrance of books i once hired from libraries, books that i couldn't hire twice because they have been trashed, is coming back to me.little libraries, in small town, trash books.they don't keep it.questionnable.OP?
>>24946483kek
>>24945852I've spent a lot of time in the Middle East, and I can assure you Arabs do not read. It's like middle school TikTok addiction, but with adults. They can't even drive cars without being on TikTok. One man was steering with his feet so he could use his phone.
>>24945997Filtered
>>24945852So what if he can't read, he plans to sell the stolen books to people that can read
>age>location>current read
>25>Canada>Far from the Madding Crowd
>>24931414>25>cold canada>2666
what's with all the seething oldies in this thread? jealous of youthful vitality?
21U.SMoby Dick
32, Brazil, the Exhalation collection by Ted Chiang
In a world where 90% of the internet traffic is online video streaming, to detriment of the environment and our minds, why aren't you rejecting modernity and going to the library? The library is literally free and fun for all ages. It is the most environmentally and civic minded thing you can do. Instead of being in a haze of pleasure, living in a digital cocoon of reels and streams, why aren't you forging the future of humanity? The weight of the world is on your shoulders and only you can make a better world.
My library is very, very bad. The downtown branch. I should start taking the bus to the branch in the nicer part of town. The main downtown location is literally full of hobos, drug addicts and literal African immigrants with schizophrenia. It's more like a social services center than a library.
>>24944042The world dragon has many worshippers of its many forms.
>>24944403This desu.
>>24945090>written by generic rich personghostwritten. rich people don't write books.
>>24943918my library system is goated. Can take out up to 50 books at time for 3 weeks each, if you go over 3 weeks they auto-renew, and you can do that up to 15 times, at which point it just stops you from taking out new books until you return them or pay for it. No late fees ever. 81 branches in the system and they'll ship your holds to your local branch which you can do online. Only ever have to interact w/ the front desk to grab your holds which takes 5 seconds, 10 minute walk from me.Only downside is they close at 5pm most days.Honestly I'm surprised the USA still has this shit, pretty much the only good deal I've ever heard of
