/lit/ - Literature

Finally found a decently priced copy. No idea where people are getting the idea that it's the most terrifying thing put to paper, outside of a couple of spooky moments there just isn't that much tension to it, and whatever tension is built gets demolished by a four page footnote about a loser getting a rusty trombone in early 90s LA.
I think if I'd read it when it came out it would've been a lot better, but after being exposed to all manner of weird shit online a bunch of footnotes and unusual formatting just doesn't stand up.

>Protagonist in a fantasy/Sci-fi/horror novel is an author avatar
>Author Avatar has sex with lots of women
>Author irl doesn't describe sex scenes too well because he is probably a virgin

i never feel the need to read fiction unless it's for a book club thing. why? taste? stupidity?

pic is the last piece of fiction i read of my own will and enjoyed

Postmodernist masturbation? Or worth a second attempt?

Is it possible to read this as an ebook? I've heard the formatting makes it near impossible, but I'm also cheap and have a torrented version. Would I be missing out on much?

Started this last night. What does /lit/ think about it? I'm really enjoying it so far.

just got this book today and am really excited for it
do you have any begginer info or tips you can give me? anything you wish you knew in the beginning once you finished it?

gay furry incest
>>13219321
>>13219335
monogamy is not and never will be a fetish by definition

runners up:
Demian: The Story of Emil Sinclair's Youth
The Picture of Dorian Gray

guy's mom dies and he has a nervous breakdown, then he copes by writing about someone else having a nervous breakdown and writing about someone else having a nervous breakdown whose wife has a nervous breakdown and writes about her and her husband's nervous breakdowns

>guy's mom dies and he copes in the worst possible way
>>13000162
actually illiterate

how is this not mentioned yet? literally the main plot is just three different guys going slowly insane as they get caught up in stupid shit

if we're looking at the defining work for the field of literature as it stands in the 21st century, pic related
if we're looking at the defining work for 21st century society in general, this >>12869717 but for different reasons

prose: 10
Truant's sections can be shaky, but I hesitate to fully criticize them due to the fact that it's very likely on purpose. what's more impressive is that MZD can write in so many different styles without losing quality; his analysis as Zampanò perfectly hits that aesthetic of "I took one college class on writing and can't write a research paper to save my life," the streams of consciousness as Truant are masterful and disconcerting every time, and his letters as Pelafina would have made the book worth it if everything before it were subpar. in general, you can really tell that he's top notch poet in nearly every sentence he writes

story: 6
each individual plot is essentially "guy goes insane trying to understand what cannot ever be understood" without much complexity. it's not much, but it serves the themes, since every narrator is unreliable and better plots would thusly be rendered meaningless. it's more about the prose and the atmosphere

characters: 8-9
Zampanò is underdeveloped, and many of the side characters are just wallpaper, but the characters that do receive MZD's attention are absolutely fascinating. Truant is simply an enigma, what with much of the book being from his perspective and all of our information about him being biased; the cracks in his facade seem at times to be even more important than what he says outright. that's not even getting into the dynamics of the Navidsons and Holloway (who, sadly, is the only side character in the Record worth thinking about)

themes, morals, et cetera: 10
this is THE novel on postmodernism. no other novel really digs deep into the issues inherent to the philosophy and all of its unintended side effects like HoL does. and beyond the philosophy, the other facets of postmodernism are perfectly explored here as well. ergodicity? the only comparable novel is S, and that one has no connection between themes and physicality beyond "lol I'm holding their book! this is THEIR COPY!!". information overload and stream of consciousness? beats DFW at his own game. unreliability? people still argue about who canonically wrote the damn thing 19 years after the fact, nothing else reaches this level of complete postmodern bullshit (I mean that in the best way possible)

>>12865686
also see this

Is this any good? What is it about?

guys what are your thoughts here
man has a bigger house than he thought he did
spooky

I was thinking about picking it up after a youtuber recommended it.

Is it good?

What's the album version of this?

>>12333081
Whoops forget pic

will be posted on r/suggestmeabook everytime someone asks for a spoopy book

What does /lit/ think about House of Leaves?

Every October that comes and goes I regret the fact that I never properly got into the Halloween spirit by immersing myself in spooky literature/film.

This year I'd like to change that. Recommend me some decent horror /lit/.

Why do people find frightening about house of leaves?

>>11533907