>>23807189
a true scholar

>33
>The Tunnel - William Gass
>Only ~50 pages in, so I'm still waiting for the schizo formatting nonsense to ebb away or coalesce into something more meaningful

>>23807162
21
How to rip OP's bussy
Unnecessary, bussy this tight won't survive anyway

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>>23807162
>19
>Crime and punishment
>What the fuck is the old man in the tavern rambling about?

Captcha: 4DHA4D

>>23807162
>>age
why the data collection BS?

29
2666 bolano
Nice. I was too young when this came out but I remember it. It's the right age to read it I think

>>23807260
Ghastly rigamarole

>>23807261
It's interesting no one wants to collect a dozen books. But still op could have posted his to help his case

>>23807162
>31
>Germinal by Zola
>This is a candidate for the greatest novel of all time, why have I never heard anyone mention it before?

41
ulysses
i read it previously when i was 20 and loved it. it's interesting returning to it. things i remembering not being hard are seeming hard and things i remember being hard are feeling easy. in general i obviously love it. it's so warm and alive and fun. the whole thing is thrumming with language and the sheet joy of words and making sounds and i love the different themes and styles of different chapters. i'm currently on scylla and charabdis and it's great stuff.

i'm excited to get to the bronze and gold chapter, the main thing i remember from 20 years ago. last time i read it i was studying to be a professional cellist and the idea of putting a fugue into words slayed me

39
Slow Burn series by Bobby Adair
That's some grade A slop fr, love it.

>>23807162
Who is she?

>>23807287
who are you?

>>23807162
>22 but before checking the date I thought I was 23
>The Republic
>Just started so I can't say much. The first book is supposedly an early book in Plato's dialogues, or so I heard. I have read all of the early and middle dialogues up to now, so I only have to read The Republic and his late works to be done with him

27
>catch 22
>ESL and not much of a reader. it's been more challenging that I expected but I've enjoyed it so far

30
The Waves
Absolutely beautiful

31
Herbert von Karajan by Richard Vaughan
It‘s good

19
100 Years of Solitude
Well, it's fun to read about this town and its citizens changing over time. I've never read a book like this before. I feel like there is some cleverness just bellow the surface, that is escaping me, maybe I should read up on some historical context. Also, I keep getting confused by multiple characters having the same names.

24
Steppenwolf
almost finished, started out very promising but yeah idk.. it's kinda meh desu, sadly failing at making me excited to check out more of Hermann Hesse

i got recommended Siddhartha, but i'm hesitant after slogging through Steppenwolf, is it any better?

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>>23807162
23
Tales of Soldiers and Civilians
Just finished reading The Affair at Coulter's Notch. Incredible use of alliteration throughout, and in a couple spots it even goes into rhyme, reminiscent of what Hawthorne did in Little Annie's Ramble. There was a part in it that really surprised me, since it felt like it started to fall into being plain alliterative verse as I was reading it aloud, and had an unbelievably strong cadence that reminded me of Flaubert's in Salammbô or The Temptation of Saint Anthony.
>The débris lay on both sides of the road; the men had managed to keep an open way between, through which the fifth piece was now firing. The men? — they looked like demons of the pit! All were hatless, all stripped to the waist, their reeking skins black with blotches of powder and spattered with gouts of blood. They worked like madmen, with rammer and cartridge, lever and lanyard. They set their swollen shoulders and bleeding hands against the wheels at each recoil and heaved the heavy gun back to its place. There were no commands; in that awful environment of whooping shot, exploding shells, shrieking fragments of iron, and flying splinters of wood, none could have been heard. Officers, if officers there were, were indistinguishable; all worked together — each while he lasted — governed by the eye. When the gun was sponged, it was loaded; when loaded, aimed and fired. The colonel observed something new to his military experience — something horrible and unnatural: the gun was bleeding at the mouth! In temporary default of water, the man sponging had dipped his sponge into a pool of comrade’s blood. In all this work there was no clashing; the duty of the instant was obvious. When one fell, another, looking a trifle cleaner, seemed to rise from the earth in the dead man’s tracks, to fall in his turn.
>>23807278
I've had a copy of it sitting on my shelf for probably two years now. I might just force myself to give it a shot next because of your post.

>>23807505
Every Herman Hesse book imo is about the main Character getting some sort of enlightenment. Steppenwolf is about some stuck up old boomer accepting fun.

I can recommend the Glass Bead Game, because that is the one where he parodies himself.

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26.
Anna Karenina
My first Tolstoy. Levin is my favorite character so far and Kitty is my waifu.

>>23807505
Siddartha goes from being literally me to literally the opposite of me

22
Suttree

I’ve read most of Cormac McCarthy’s other works. I’m loving this one so far. The lyrical quality of McCarthy’s early prose is truly something to behold and admire. The first 100 pages or so were oddly slow, except for the prison section which I enjoyed. But it seemingly picked up around when Suttree finds out about his son. Harrogate is a hilarious figure. I just got done reading about his scheme with the boat made out of car hoods and his plan to kill bats. McCarthy’s vocabulary is also truly incredible and I love getting to dive into the words he chooses that I find myself unfamiliar with.

24
Odessey
Man, those suitor's death was so important, even the foreword author mentions how much the poem goes into detail about them, even opening TO them. I wish more modern media had some good suitor killing, that would be fun.

>>23807162
45, haven't read a book in at least two years,

>30
>100 Years of Solitude
So far it's witty, clever, unpredictable und very entertaining in its absurdity

34
The Recognitions
Fantastic read so far. But I lack knowledge of the paintings that are referenced. So I think I’m getting filtered a bit. I’ll probably forget 90% of it in a month from finishing it, as I do with all books kek

>17
>The Upanishads, With the Commentary of Shankaracharya
fascinating stuff, very eye-opening; very glad also to have been somewhat well-acquainted with neoplatonism, undoubtedly has enriched my understanding of the text

>>23807162
41
Lectitio Divinitatus
It nourishes my soul and gives me hope

>>23807514
>I've had a copy of it sitting on my shelf for probably two years now. I might just force myself to give it a shot next because of your post.
It pulls no punches, is brutally honest and unapologetically real, human, and gut wrenching. It was written 140 years ago but where as Dickens and his ilk basically romanticized the poor, Zola portrays them as they really are, flaws and virtues completely unmuted. He balances different political views, personal temperaments and egos, and laces it all with masterful literary devices which add flavor and interest to the inquisitive reader. I consider myself fairly well read, but this book blew me away and everything else seems dull and hackneyed when I compare it with Germinal. If you do read it, throw up a thread some day with your thoughts, I'd love to hear what you think and just to see more discussion of the novel. I'm definitely going to explore more Zola, but the impact of Germinal has floored me and I think I may need time to let it settle in my mind before diving in again with that author. It really is that good.

needlessly old
something needlessly verbose
nothing worth commenting on

>>23807260
>>What the fuck is the old man in the
It's very easy to understand and it's in line with the themes of the book. Stick to animes and vidya

>>23807792
Based life liver
>>23807162
3x
Greenfeld - Speed Tribes (1994)
Its awesome.

>>23807162
26
Something happened
Fantastic. Bob Slocum is hilarious and I don't know how he isn't popular with the "literally me" crowd. He's obsessed with appearing successful rather than being successful, his work is meaningless, he doesn't have a stable identity, and is engaging in psychological warfare with everyone he knows. It does everything American psycho does but better.
>Nobody is sure anymore who really runs the company (not even the people who are credited with running it), but the company does run.

>29
>Mosquito Coast
>I prefer his travel writing

26
J R
Some of the satire has aged to the point of triteness, but when the jokes hit, they're great. ~40% through, I fear that, like The Recognitions, the farcical characters will continue being one-note, but feeling hopeful that those who are multidimensional won't just be punished for Gaddis' hatred of the world.

>>23807270
KEK

23
Pigs have wings
Pretty fun having a good time

>>23807162
27
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (English translation)
De Senectute (Latin)
Liking Temple so far. I'm on a Mishima kick and it's more interesting than S&S and Confessions of a Mask. De Senectute is comforting.

>>23807162
19
The Gods of Pegana
Hardly a story, really. But I do like the atmosphere

>>23807162
>27
>Mrs. Dalloway
>Seems good so far, but not nearly as good as The Waves

>27
>Byzantium: the Early Centuries
Very interesting and detailed look as the history of the Eastern Roman Empire. It started shortly before the rise of Constantine and ends at the crowning of Charlemagne. Looking forward to reading the next two volumes.
>>23808123
Something happened was amazing, everything else from Heller I read was a disappointment compared to it.

>>23807162
>24
>Always with Honour
Wrangel was a great man of history

>>23807162
28
Rabbit, Run
50 pages in, started earlier today, I love it. There's not been a single dull moment so far, it goes down so smoothly, the prose is phenomenal, and I already strongly relate with Rabbit's refusal to grow up and let go of the past

>23
>Diary of a Rapist
>It's okay I guess. I don't know if the copy I got came with printing errors or if the omission of pronouns like I is intentional to signify something like loss of humanity or some shit.
>100 or so pages in and so far it was just the babbling of a bootlicking ass-kissing hypocritical mysogynistic incel, who is basically Patrick Bateman and Travis Bickle but without any of the charm or so.

>>23808048
Okay, then, would you mind explaining it in a way that even a pleb like me can understand?

>>23807162
>19
>The epic of Gilgamesh but I just started it today after I finished the Odyssey

I much preferred the Odyssey to the Iliad and i think the main reasons were that Odysseus is a lot more likeable and I think a better man than Achilles or Hector. But he's not some moral arbiter; i think it's interesting how even though he's a hero with good intentions he's also a conniving liar. Like he seems to enjoy not just outsmarting but deceiving people. I was often reminded of myself because on occasion I have also made up complete bullshit nonsense about myself when talking to strangers.

I think I also preferred it to the Iliad because just the flow of the story; I prefer the intriguing adventure setting to the repetitive unending slaughter.

>>23807162
>30
>Perelandra
This is an odd one coming straight off of Out of the Silent Planet. Where as the last book was very much an adventure romp, this one feels like a narrativized theology text. I have to admit, I'm finding it to be a bit of a slog, but I never got around to That Hideous Strength and I want to complete the trilogy.

>>23807278
>>23807514
Germinal part 3 - political talk is a snoozefest, but hopefully you chuds wont get filtered in there because the rest of the book is a fucking masterpiece.

>>23807278
>>23807514
>>23808042
>>23808934

Because communists *HATE* germinal. Germinal is a book about how communists fails the revolutionary working class. It was meant to be the culmination of The Beast in Man, but the trajectory of the characters changed.

Germinal is the story of a party manipulator who refuses to fuck a girl, and betrays the entire village mine for "the party." Germinal is a story of the kind of party elite we will have to start liquidating on Day 2.

Germinal is a horror story of how we sell our own children into hell, and how the nomenklatura abuse us and martyr us. But underneath the ice, we rise, germinal…only to die again.

The reason why you don't read much about Germinal is because it is a communist attack on communism.

>>23807162
>30
>Outer Dark
>I cannot tell if these 3 dudes killing people are undead or mystical beings or not

>>23807162
>69
>Spirit of Trust
>Hegel fan fiction
>Oh, his mentor was an alcoholic Red

Grist for the Sokal Hoax mill and the amount he gets away with without bullshit being called is unforgivable. Editor having decades to treat the material & Brandom to write it is simply embarrassing.

>I spent aeons transposing Hegel terminology into my pragmatic/deflationary blah blah
>doesn't do the reader the courtesy of providing it for reference

The monumental audacity of this act of intellectual stolen valor is unlikely to be surpassed. Read Harris' "Hegels Ladder" if you absolutely require a commentary tome instead.

>>23807278
Germinal’s always had a pretty good reputation on /lit/. It just not mentioned often because what novel is? Blood Meridian, IJ, GR, Dostoyevsky? When Germinal is brought up you don’t hear many say a bad thing about it. I found it oddly comfy in a way despite the poverty, hardship, and squalor.

>25
>Fringe Knowledge for Beginners

The first few chapters about infinite universes and reincarnation reminds me of the shit I was thinking about during when I had my mental breakdown. Then I got to the aliens and I lol’d

>>23807162
30
Drawn and Quartered
Nothing. Just another broken branch.

>>23807505
Steppenwolf is like a 2.5/5, Goldmund and Narcissus is like a 4.5/5. I've heard good things about Siddhartha from someone whose opinion I take seriously.

>>23809028
Its hard to talk about thing that isn't about pynchon, infinite jest or christcuck in this board. We can even make a thread about the entire rougon macquart cycle and making some read along thread with that and retarded 'zens will choose to discuss /lit/ core instead

>>23809164
>We can even make a thread about the entire rougon macquart cycle
Fuck that, L'Halles, Drop shop, Nana, Beast in Man, Germinal, L'Terre, The Catastrope, and that one about the Astronomer.

The proletarian Rougon-Macquart. If you really feel the need: Ladies Paradise.

>>23807505
>is it any better?
If you mean better as in more of a joy to read, then no. If you mean better as in transforming your way of thinking, then yes.
Although there are some very beautiful parts and the end made me feel all the feels.

>>23809164
The masses of litizens will always be plebeians. They will swarm to the same Dostoevsky, McCarthy, Wallace, and Nietzsche threads that will be little more than slap fights over if they’re good or not or maybe they become a stand-in for ideological reasons. It can’t be helped. The best to hope for is an anon or two posting about a book that isn’t one of the beaten dead horse /lit/core. In the past there were some pretty good threads on Zola and Germinal. Zola puts you right there in the coal mines and mining towns. That book is one of the great triumphs of realism/naturalism with a dramatic and political storyline running through it for extra oomph

>>23809193
Zola is a worse novelist than Cormac. It is just the case that Zola is "out" thus idiots do not pressure him. Whereas Cormac is "in" thus readers misread the homosexuality and continuous hostile narrators in Cormac. Zolas has "neutral" and realist narrators. Every Cormac narrator is fundamentally hostile.

So Cormac actually requires "better" reading than Zola, but because Zola is currently underread, the quality of Zola reading on /lit/ is higher than that of Cormac reading. Not because Zola demands better reading, but because he is understaffed.

>>23809193
Also "The Earth" is a better novel, as the protagonist is less evil than in Germinal.

27
the house of mirth
i probably won't finish. i can't get invested in any of these boring rich people. i'm only reading it because a friend recommeneded it.

>>23809204
Narrow minded, like women

>>23809429
No, exactly wrong. Zola's problem is that he is broad spread, like women, with his ankles above his ears.

>>23809321
>dissatisfied with boring rich people, yet...
>gives up before main character becomes a new orleans streetwalker
you seem to prefer "worst of both worlds" lol

>>23807162
29
Brothers Karamazov (P.V. translation)
~half way through the book now. It's easier to read than I thought; the philosophical questions and discussions are interesting, too. The prose isn't as bad as people said. Also, the gold mines part is the funniest shit I have read this year.

>>23807162
29
Journey to the end of the night
It's nice to read, excellent prose, and put into words a specific kind of suffering that I imagine most of us live through thinking that we are the only one affected. Once I'm done I plan on reading Ulysse in english (I'm ESL) and that excites me.

>>23808938
1984 is literally a socialist attack on socialism and yet it's one of the most popular books of all time. I think your analysis is unfortunately extremely shallow.

>>23809193
Good points anon, and like clockwork, a plebeian popped up to quibble with you over what he considers to be "in" or "out". Man, /lit/ could have really been a special board. Could have.

>>23807162
28
Thomas Mann - Buddenbrooks
It's easy enough to read, but it's without any substance. How was this worthy of the Nobel prize in literature?
It's impressive that he managed to write this at 26 years of age, that much I have to say.

>>23809588
How far along are you? The most memorable part to me was near the end.

>>23809589
I'm about 1/2 through the second book. The Christmas party just finished and old lady Buddenbrook (Thomas' mother) had fallen ill

>23
>In A Free State
>Pretty good so far, I’m on the titular story. Naipaul isn’t really mentioned here but he’s a very insightful author, unafraid to speak his mind. Although he has a reputation for being crass and unfeeling he draws his characters with great sympathy.

>>23809607
I thought it was a cozy story, yeah maybe not the best of all time, but still a fun read. The effects of the older generations on the younger ones was interesting and well handled.

>>23809621
Well as I said it's easy to read, so I don't find it boring, but I guess I just expected more out of it. The subtitle of the book is "The downfall of a family" so I thought there would be more drama, more misery, family in-fighting, but there's little to none of that even between Thomas and Christian who would be prime candidates for that. Mann also presents interesting plot threads that then go nowhere. This was actually quite annoying.

Few examples:
The book begins with the family relaxing in their newly bought home. They are expecting guests for dinner to celebrate, but consul Buddenbrook is also worried because he has received a letter from his half brother where he demands money from their father. Alright great setup! Then there's a time skip and this is completely resolved, the guy gave up on the money and they are now friends actually.

Thomas and Gerda are struggling to conceive a child and family is little worried, but no one really overtly talks about it. Will Thomas and Gerda share a sincere private moment where they open up to each other about it? Maybe they will get into a fight? Maybe they will become more religious and enter into a fervent prayer period? No, nothing. Time skip and look a child has been born and it's a boy!

And so on...

24
Decline of the west
It's interesting, but to spiritual for it to be taken seriously.
His analysis is wrong, but he gets the feeling right, and that's what important.

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Brothers Karamazov
I feel like I’m being cheated, I expected a novel à la Tolstoy and all I get are niggas exposing their views about God and religion for ten pages straight.
It’s propably just me being filtered but it feels a little weird and unnatural having two brothers meeting in a restaurant to talk about a certain subject, and instead of that, one of them rambles about God coming back to earth and being tortured by a cardinal for 15 pages with no interruption.

>>23809588
>How was this worthy of the Nobel prize in literature?
Then Nobel prize is given to the author, not the book.

>17
>pleroma - werner hamacher
> fascinating unorthodox gnostic commentary on Hegel

add me on goodreads: noeviator

>>23809819
If you are alluding to Dostoevsky’s worst novels, then, indeed, I dislike intensely The Brothers Karamazov and the ghastly Crime and Punishment rigamarole. No, I do not object to soul-searching and self-revelation, but in those books the soul, and the sins, and the sentimentality, and the journalese, hardly warrant the tedious and muddled search. Dostoyevsky’s lack of taste, his monotonous dealings with persons suffering with pre-Freudian complexes, the way he has of wallowing in the tragic misadventures of human dignity – all this is difficult to admire. I do not like this trick his characters have of ”sinning their way to Jesus” or, as a Russian author, Ivan Bunin, put it more bluntly, ”spilling Jesus all over the place." Crime and Punishment’s plot did not seem as incredibly banal in 1866 when the book was written as it does now when noble prostitutes are apt to be received a little cynically by experienced readers. Dostoyevsky never really got over the influence which the European mystery novel and the sentimental novel made upon him. The sentimental influence implied that kind of conflict he liked—placing virtuous people in pathetic situations and then extracting from these situations the last ounce of pathos. Non-Russian readers do not realize two things: that not all Russians love Dostoevsky as much as Americans do, and that most of those Russians who do, venerate him as a mystic and not as an artist. He was a prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian. I admit that some of his scenes, some of his tremendous farcical rows are extraordinarily amusing. But his sensitive murderers and soulful prostitutes are not to be endured for one moment—by this reader anyway. Dostoyevsky seems to have been chosen by the destiny of Russian letters to become Russia’s greatest playwright, but he took the wrong turning and wrote novels.

>>23807162
>28
>A Tale of Two Cities
I'm kinda torn on it. On the one hand, Dickens makes the day to day conversations and low stakes situations pretty interesting. I'm also enjoying the dynamics between the wealthy and the poor, and how the latter is utterly demoralized. Pretty compelling. But I'm just not feeling any spark.

I’m reading three books:

>Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism
Very eye-opening. I’ve not read any philosophy on postmodernism and this is a pretty good starting point to getting some grasp on that. I’m considering delving into Deleuze/Guattari after this.

>Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson
It reads very pseudoscientifically, but the author’s made it clear in the past that she didn’t set out to please anyone. The text on Venus of Willendorf contrasted with the bust of Nefertiti was particularly very interesting. She’s also quite repetitive about explicitly stating the mother/sun dynamic and the word “chthonian” every single time she brings up an example of sexual contrast. Overall I feel that even if the basic principles of the work aren’t very solid and that it does have a rant-like quality about it, it is at the very least quite historically informative.

>Lady Chatterley’s Lover
This one’s taken a bit of a backseat, but I love Lawrence’s writing and want to continue it after I’ve finished the other two.

>>23810764
Oops, my age is 26.

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25
Anna Karenina
Its pretty good. Feels a little overrated but I am only 250 pages in.
Anna seems like a cunt and if her life collapses completely I will be happy.

I just finished The Iron King.
It's decent and I can see where GMMR got his inspiration from.
However it is not as good as ASOIAF.
What's nice is that you can go on Wikipedia and read about all the historical events is references.
But in terms of intrigue, thrill and character descriptions and world building I don't think it can hold a candle to ASOIAF.

>>23807162
>30
>What Is to Be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement
I am very much enjoying his self-critique and childish tone with which he ridiculises economism.

>>23808442
The Odyssey is the self realizing itself where it belongs and accepting its own importance, hindered by no shame (“modesty is not good for the needy man”- Homer) whereas the Iliad is the Self coming to set aside its godlike wrath and vanity and accepting itself as no better than enemy men like Priam. The Odyssey is a good read if you want suitors being massacred in justice and the Iliad is to read if you want proto-Christcuck moral bullshit (“I did what no man had done. I kissed the hand of the man who murdered my son.” - pure slave morals bullcrud)

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>27
>Capitalist Realism

I made a thread yesterday about this thing. Decided to just give it a go. Honestly the whole thing just seemed to quantify and to show what I have already gathered over the years, especially if you've been using 4chan and various boards for quite a while since the ideas presented are more or less made into memes. He just seemed to put terms to names I didn't know such as "depressive hedonism". The insight into cultural signifiers is kind of interesting but nothing I haven't already noticed. I suppose it gave me more material to look into in the near future.

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>>23807162
21
Un Amore - Buzzati
I vibe with the fact that the protagonist is a 40 or 50 something incel who only fucks hookers and finds himself ugly. Where I'm lost is when he falls in love with a prostitute half his age. And furthermore, I think the novel has less to do with love and is more a commentary on attraction of the bourgeoisie to lower-class culture.

>23
>Dante Inferno
Yes its good. I stopped being a hipster, moved to another city, huge motivation to gym and playing music. Stopped hanging out with fiendis friends

>30
> Petersburg by Bely

It's pretty good and funny. Finally found a translation I like. You can definitely see it's the link between Gogol and Bulgakov.

22
Sound of Waves
Lovely story. If I didn't have a gf it probably would've depressed me

>>23807162
>40
>Rasselas - Samuel Johnson
>The chapters on marriage are tedious.

>>23807162
>30
>Lord of the Rings
>Amazing book, sadly it has made me somewhat dislike the movies which had been among my favorites for a long time

Good to see so many oldheads, I guess many of us have been here for while, I’ve been browsing since I was 19.

>>23807162
>30
>my 95 pound dog got out because the HVAC guys left the gate cracked
>upset

>>23808442
From my experience younger guys like you tend to prefer the Odyssey then as they get older (late 20s/30s) they come to appreciate the Illiad more.

>>23807162
42
Dynamics Of World History - Christopher Dawson
Not bad, want to see what his ultimate thesis is

>30
>part 4 of Rebecca Gablés Waringham saga
Its slop but holy fuck its so comfy. Fucking love it. All waringham books make me go "oh a 5 minute walk to the supermarket? Ill take my book"

>37 or 38, I can't remember
>Knowing Scripture by R.C. Sproul
>I am totally reliant on Christ if I want to understand anything

>>23812943
>37 or 38, I can't remember
drink a glass of water before you pour another scotch

>>23812945
I'm mentally unwell not a drunkard

>>23812955
what ails you chang?

>>23812960
Some dude on the internet called me Chang

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>>23812964
what's your real name? Li? Xiao? Ping Pong?

>>23812967
Dustin

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>>23812973
and what town in minnesota do you live in, "Dustin"

>>23812974
Wrong side of the Mason-Dixon

>>23812976
minnesota is nowhere near the maryland border anon, what the hell are you talking about?

>>23812981
I implied I'm from the south. Would you like my social security number now?

>>23812990
>Would you like my social security number now?
Go ahead and post it, as is the standard american custom.

>>23812993
Romans ch. 12 instructs to not "be conformed of the world", and so I must decline.

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>>23813007
>misunderstanding a boilerplate bible passage
LOL hi chang

>>23813014
You're rucky my heart has been changed and I have new affections.

>>23813017
have you given up your chinese ways, disavowed the CCP?

>>23813019
>have you given up your chinese ways
All save for my sideways quim

>>23813056
The CCP is an immoral, Godless, tyrannical nightmare state which commits unspeakable atrocities against humanity and creation on a daily basis.

>>23813068
ok and you're willing to disavow your personal involvement in their subversive internet activities and apply for asylum to your nearest US embassy?

>>23813068
By the way this suspicion of yours doesn't even make sense because aren't all the Christian chinks like Epoch Times type dudes who hate the CCP?

>>23813072
who the hell outside of china knows what christian chinks do?

>>23807162
>tea went cold
>still on the first page or two

>>23810174
Sometimes they are given mainly for a specific work, like Growth of the Soil for Hamsun or The Old Man and the Sea for Hemingway. In the case of man it was given for Buddenbrooks.
>"principally for his great novel, Buddenbrooks, which has won steadily increased recognition as one of the classic works of contemporary literature"

>>23813089
unironically this lol

>>23807162
>27
>industrial Society and it's Future/Failure of Technology
i agree that technology distances humans further from nature and our true self, however, i don't agree to stop the machine, i want it to keep going and turn everyone and everything into a gear, cog, ressource etc. to reach technological singularity. Because i think it's funny.

>>23813630
>Because i think it's funny.
low iq

>>23813647
Let him have his fun

>>23807162
27
Perspectives of Feline written by a trusted pet psychologist
Tempting and elusive short stories may when be effective to one in a jail cell and or prison situation and environment. However remains at all incommunicable like all reading materials about psychology while in a psychology environment where your not sure if your the bitch the punk the rodent or the bully. So you bite your tongue and realize your not part of the problem just you see if your assumption that no body knows how to speak because of fear of being the mole person. Yet is wairy behavior worn on all the faces of the inmates or are they gaming their own dopamine's to protest police scare the homosexual straight while they know 1/10 wonder if anyone else is gay and down for butt fuckery they just got cursed in tongue and cheek and will never achieve true alpha male status.

>>23807162
28
Gravity's rainbow
its a fun read but some parts filter me

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>>23807162
>20
>confessions of a mask
>literally me

27
Mason & Dixon
Like 400 in, I am truly enjoying it and I fully understand why its under the "bloomer chart" it is my first Pynchon and a great bromance adventure for now. The langauge is maybe harder than most books I have read but also a lot of fun.
>>23813975
Was looking into GR aswell, can you elaborate?

>>23814012
>Was looking into GR aswell, can you elaborate?
Sometimes it's hard to follow what's happening. And there are hundreds of different characters in the book. But some parts are easier to follow

>>23807162
30, Selected works by Erasmus in translation, I feel attacked sometimes

>>23814105
Addendum: It has good lessons, but the truth kinda hurts.

>>23814107
But they hurt less when I answer the theological-rhetorical questions.

38
House of Leaves
Got meme'd into it and now half way through I have so far found it to be a tiresome, tedious slog.

>>23807162
32
How I Won The Nobel Prize

I am enjoying the book as a consumer product for sure. I like the risk a man takes when they author female protagonists. It is keen satire, but doesn't obnoxiously "confront" the status quo so much as it warps it enough so that the reader can make see it in the light he's willing to cast on it. Which is to make sense of the performative and inauthentic aspects of over policed nanny state academia.

Solid conservative writing

>21
>Infinite Jest
I’m enjoying it. Sure, it can ramble on for a while, but I like the vignettes and it genuinely is funny, so that’s what’s keeping me going. I’m around page 450 now, and I’m mostly waiting for an overarching plot to surface, since they already connected the seemingly one off characters.

>>23807162
29
Against the Day
I kinda like it so far, haven't read much of it though, only 20 pages, I like that it's currently a pastiche of boys' adventure novels from the early 20th century but with a typical Pynchon twist. Can't wait to see what the ideas will be later in the book. I read somewhere that it's Pynchon's favorite as well, so I want to see what about it he liked so much. Looking forward to the different genres he includes, as well as any nods to his other work. I'm still reeling from finishing Gravity's Rainbow, and I kinda want to just re-read that, but my curiosity got the better of it.

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>>23807162
28
No David No! David goes to School

I am about 5 pages into it and can't wait for it to start to actually develop a plot.

>>23807957
It's not that important to know the paintings. Look up the style of the painings and the context in which they were made.

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>18
>Rightous Victims by Benny Morris (history of the Zionist-Arab conflict in Palestine)
It's the first history book I've read (new reader), and I'm enjoying it. Although it was written by a kike and self-proclaimed Zionist, it seems relatively neutral, and the history proves that the Arabs were generally the victims so I'm thinking that it's not biased. And the book seems to apply to the modern day (like how the jews were being brought in by the british to replace the arabs, and how it's literally the same thing happening today in britain but with arabs instead of jews, jews instead of brits and brits instead of arabs). I first picked it up so I could feel superior to the people on pol's /chip/ and to my family members, but now I'm reading all 1000 pages for fun. Also now I can say that I favour Palestine while feeling more like picrel than a tranny. It's really long, but I like that.

>>23807162
33
The great hunt
I think Rand is a little pissbaby and I took a break to reread fate/stay night's new english translation (it's bad)

>>23807162
35
I, Claudius
So far I love it. It really captures the tone of a a weary man doing his best to honestly explain the cluster fuck that was his life in the imperial court while remaining tactful.

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>>23807162
21
The Yellow Wall-Paper
I am really enjoying it so far :3

>>23807162
>25
>Decline of the West
help

>>23809588
Camus won a nobel prize in literature. Camus. That should tell you everything there is to know about that reward.

>>23807162
24
>Ubik
The prose is shit but functional, the content is very neat though. Having fun with it

>>23807957
>I’ll probably forget 90% of it in a month from finishing it, as I do with all books kek
Idk anon, I find that people tend to subconsciously remember whatever's worth remembering. Plot is oddly enough the least important part of books, at least for the truly great books.

>>23812943
>37 or 38, I can't remember
Aujourd'hui, maman est morte...

>>23813188
True but that is kinda rare these days, it is mostly given for the author and their "contribution" or writing style"

>>23809819
Brothers Karamazov is one of my favorite books. The parts where they're discussing God are some of my favorites and the mystery that happens in the latter half is especially great, imo. Dunno what your preferences are but if stick around, the plot at least gets much, much better for what it's worth.

>>23812847
God... I've been browsing since I was 19 or 20, as well. Life flies by, man

>>23807162
24
Infinite Jest second shot, 10th year anniversary since my first and only prior til now read.

It's probably the best novel of the last 50 years bar none. Peerless. Prescient and extremely poignant and sensitive pretty much everywhere. Completely ignoring any and all online discourse has made the read more than pleasurable. DFW is like the perfect example of the anti-nihilist. Does get a little too philosophy 101-y which of I remember was a common criticism of the Broom novel but its at least defensibly ironic where applied. Mario is probably the best "infirm" character written since Myshkin. I will always love this book.

>>23807162
>19
>men are from mars women are from venus
>love from kazakhstan

>22
Currently reading two books
>The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson
Re-read of Malazan as it is very comfy to me, this book is greatly elevated by having already read it.
>Nine Stories by Salinger
Just finished For Esme, beautiful and haunting sort of story, though Bananafish is probably my favorite so far. Reading this you can see the influence of Salinger all over DFW’s works, blatantly so.

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>>23807162
>25
>Blood Meridian
>Love the grime, can't get enough of the endless grime and misery

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> 30
> Growth of the soil
> It's ok. A bit simple, and deceptively romantic. Definitely comfy. Primitivist vitalism is appealing, but in the end a sham. Nothing wrong in wanting a simpler life though

>20
>Quand on s'embrasse sur la lune
>Just started. Finished Flan last Friday, and wanted to check out Tunney's other novel

>>23807260
He's in a hole in his life and has basically given up trying to fix himself. He just sees himself as worthless scum and so just gives into it like it's his identity. He says that even when Jesus comes back, he won't be judged on how terrible he is, because he never thought highly of himself. Because of this, and the way he has basically accepted this as his identity he basically sees no possibility or reason to change.

>>23807162

>>23808425
>Okay, then, would you mind explaining it in a way that even a pleb like me can understand?
Marmeladov represents what the contemporary scholars would call "circular guilt-driven self-destructive behavior". Dostoyevsky takes up the common issue of the time: the real character of destitution. Who are these ruined people, where do they come from, what makes them do what they do. Dostoyevsky rejects many contemporary concepts such as identifying certain people as having inherently lower or higher quality be it through their breeding, education or otherwise (Marmeladov is well-learned and comes from noble blood), or one's lot in life being determined by the divine grace (with Marmeladov's story alluding to the biblical Job, and narration making a point of how no loving God would create such type of character as Marmeladov). Instead, through Marmeladov's ramblings Dostoyevsky presents his idea of people harming and ruining themselves not due to any inherent inferiority on their part, but specifically from their love for beauty, harmony, honesty and compassion - by the way of their devotion to such ideals colliding with their own self-percieved shortcomings in relation to those ideals. Marmeladov is not a degenerate subhuman, or deprived of grace, or rejected by society - he is ruined because he does not believe himself to be deserving of anything but ruin. He partakes in self-destructive behavior to punish himself for being a base and sinful man, which makes him into a baser and more sinful man, for which he punishes himself with more self-destructive behavior. He craves misfortune and humiliation as the only things that such a misfortunate and humiliated person as him deserves. Dosto makes a conscious effort to point out the similarity between an impoverished and ruined man's desire for more ruin and a religious martyr's desire for more purifying divine punishment for his sins.

In essence, through Marmeladov Dosto states that ruined people deliberately ruin themselves as a self-inflicted punishment driven by their guilt and self-hatered, born out of their love for things and concepts that are better than who they think they are.

Dosto intuitively anticipated the entire concept of neurotic behavior decades before Freud and Co, which is kinda based.

>>23809819
You're losing the subtext, because Ivan's retelling of the concept of The Grand Inquisitor is essentially Ivan screaming "I AM LOST NOTHING HAS ANY MEANING IT'S ALL JUST ATOMS BOUNCING AROUND ON A BALL OF DIRT NOTHING MAKES SENSE ANYMORE" at Alyosha. It's a desperate cry of help from a deeply disillusioned, depressed and proud man.

30
The Wind Up Bird Chronicle
This is my fourth time reading this novel but being the same age as Toru and being in a less than stable relationship means it feels a little different this time

>>23807162
28
Thus Spake Zarathustra
Absolutely loving it so far, About half way through and it is a great read. A weird invasive thought I keep having is that it reminds me of that videogame Bioshock in terms of vibes.
Do you guys have any books that draw comparisons with other media or subject matter that only barely overlap?

>>23816798
Sounds like a strange comparison to me. Can you elaborate? There's a thread up right now about writing in video games, but it's mostly filled with pseuds and weebs interested in microfiction and intertextual references

>>23816813
Definitely a strange comparison. It's the grandiose proselytising and rants about the will to power and his desire to create the Ubermensch that reminds me of one of the villains in the game and his vision of progress and freedom from any overlords. Might be a midwit take but Zarathustra's monologues put me in the same headspace that the game did and some of the descriptions of the setting do too.

>>23816829
If it's merely about tone I guess i see what you mean. The setting bit I'm not geting at all. Isn't the setting for Zarathustra merely a village in the german/swiss mountains?

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>>23807162
>25
>Hitler vol. 1: Ascent - Volker Ulrich
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqWRaAF6_WY

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>>23816848
I went and looked and this is a specific example of what I mean as a tonal example. I misspoke when I said setting because you are right it is mostly a village/ town / forest the book takes place in. I think I was referring to his metaphors but was too stupid to put that into words the first time.

>>23807162
>21
>The Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning
>The greatest thing to ever happen to literature is the birth of Browning. I've read my fair share of literature but I've never seen someone master the English language like him (aside from Shakespeare, Donne, Milton and some few others...)

>>23807162
>27
>Il Milione - Marco Polo
>"what a Chad" and "I didn't know that China was soo full of cucks"

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>>23807162
>28
>Lord of the Rings
>The shift from the Hobbit to a more serious tone is actually pretty moving. Aragorn in the book seems scarier than in the movies. The beginning gives you a slideshow of the great pleasures of life and I am now moving into the parts of the book where those things are most missed, and could both offer hope and bolstering but also despair and clinging to the past...

>>23817052
Frodo and Merry talking about what inns to stop at as they trek trough The Shire gives me such a warm and fuzzy feeling. The contrast between this and Frodo feeling like there's "no veil between [him] and the wheel of fire!" is worth the long journey to get there.

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>>23808168
I reread it again last fall and enjoyed it immensely on the second go. Gibbs gets into the most insane situations.

>>23815531
no elp

>32
>Picture of Dorian Gray
>I'm reminded of thinking what other people thought of me mattered more than what I though of myself because in those days you feel someone could see the ugliness of your soul and judge you for it, but there is only 1 judge

median age here is 21

>28
>Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung
>About 2/3 the way through Jung's opening section. His ideas about dream psychology are interesting, and he seems to be more skeptical about categorizing dream symbolism which is good to see from someone who is already putting himself out there with his ideas. What I don't understand is why he would criticize Freud's ideas somewhat based on a lie he admitted to telling him.

>>23817686
I was disappointed by this book. It has such a good rep. Most of the action occurs offscreen and the author is prone to exposition dumps. I did like how vivid the characters were, and how well the book was able to maintain my attention despite the lack of action. It was a bit gay, though, and it turns out the author was a raging homo so relating his real life to the story removed some of its shine for me. Still it's memorable. Hope you enjoy it more than I did.

>>23816723
Guess I’m retarded then, I didn’t see that at all

>>23815757
Yeah I’ll finish it

27
The Fountainhead (about 70% in)
I wish it was shorter because by this point I feel like it's dragging on, like it's repeating itself
Also it has gotten to the point where I find Dominique's constant BPD craziness insufferable.

>nice try fbi
>odysseus: a verse tragedy by nikos kazantzakis
>so far kinda amateurish, more floral than his later work and lacking nuance, reminds me a lot of serpent and lily. could partially be an issue with the translation. overall i would recommend it if you like kazantzakis's odyssey sequel or his other plays.

27
The Sound and the Fury
It is the second Faulkner novel that I have read, not including short stories. The first part is bland and written from the perspective of an actual retard, but the second part is beautifully written, which is kind of rewarding and creates a nice contrast after spending a couple hours trying to decipher the desultory ramblings of a retard.

>>23807648
23
reading this too, my mummy recommended it to me :)
I'm liking it

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ahahaha your data has been mined

>>23821323
What are you gonna do with that sick graph of yours, champ?

>>23821547
print it on high quality glossy magazine paper, roll it, and stick it up my ass

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>>23807162
28
just finished picrel
you can find my review of it on /pg/

>>23817052
I finally read LOTR completely last year after having gone through some pretty brutal moments in the hospital. The part where Pippin almost dies really moved me and felt likena very real portrayal of what goes through your mind when you feel you will go into the next life. And also the last part with Frodo and Sam

28
A Distant Mirror - Barbara W. Tuchman
Fun read. Crazy how openly pay-to-win the Catholic Church was in the 14th century. Also didn’t know the European royal families were so inbred with each other.

>>23807162
>23
>Temple of the Golden Pavilion - Yukio Mishima
>Why does every passage contain more depth than some entire novels?

>24
>Remains of the day by Ishiguro
>You can tell Kazuo loves anglo dick. Good novel anyway.
Got it recommended by chatgpt when i asked for oregairu like books lol