/lit/ - Literature

Its fun.

tell him you like to play catch up with the world's greatest minds

I don't know a whole lotta shit.

>>11807600
I spend a lot of time thinking, so I might as well throw some fuel in there to make things interesting.

>>11807600
There’s something there that I need to find, I just don’t know what

>>11807600
Nobody else seems to read so I'm banking on it being useful some day.

So I don't become a fuckin waffle waitress

>>11807600
So I can quote romantic poetry to /lit/ qt's

>>11807600
>why do you lads read?
I enjoy reading. It has advanced my spiritual and emotional development. It's a supplement to my life's experiences. A life of only reading would be drab, a life of illiteracy would also be drab.

Pass time tbqh

>>11807600
To learn how to write well
To have fun
To acquire new perspectives on life
To appreciate beauty
And other reasons

>>11807690
>C-could you read me another Keats' ode anon?

Nothing cringy about living better.

>>11807600
It's a thing people do. There's nothing inherently complex or meaningful about it, you do it because your brain craves it.

I read books to discover the stories inside. I love stories, so I seek them out. When a book is truly good a reader feels engaged. I look for the ones that engage me the most; the ones that make me visualize; and the ones that tell a story that brims with life and character. Books hold such stories so I seek.

>>11807600
I unironically believe reading is the meaning of life. It's what separates people from animals, and what enables us to transcend and escape ourselves. Reading is the closest thing I've ever felt to a religious experience, and I can't say the same for any other activity, or any other medium of art. There's just something special about books.

>>11808203
Using literature and art as a means to live better is retarded

>>11809591
You’re retarded using whatever is available to make your life better is reasonable.

I dont get it how reading increases intelligence

>>11807600
Relevant passage from "Of Human Bondage" that provides an answer I like:

'I don't see the use in reading the same thing over and over again,' said Philip. 'That's only a laborious from of idleness.'
'But are you under the impression that you have so great a mind that you can understand the most profound writer at a first reading?'
'I don't want to understand him, I'm not a critic. I'm not interested in him for his sake but for mine.'
'Why d'you read then?'
'Partly for pleasure, because it's a habit and I'm just as uncomfortable if I don't read as if I don't smoke, and partly to know myself. When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me; I've go out of the book all that's any use to me, and I can't get anything more if I read it a dozen times. You see, it seems to me, one's like a closed bud, and most of what one reads and does has no effect at all. but there are certain things that have a peculiar significance for me, and they open a petal; and the petals upon one by one; and at last the flower is there.'

>>11807600
Why does everything have to have a function or be important

why can't shit just be

>>11807600
It depends on what you read, and what the writer's motives are. If the writer is informed, really knows what he's talking about, and is basically honest in his dealings with ideas, his work will be useful to your survival, prosperity, and happiness. There is more to it than enhanced bullshit detection, since that's only half of what goes into accurate description and good recommendation. The other is the simple decency of wishing well to those you know--an impulse that extends to those you don't know but address only in writing.

>>11807600
> why do you lads read?

I like being able to control the timescale of how I'm entertained and not be subjected to 30 minutes-3hours of watching something that continues playing if you're not there watching it and gets boring because it's asking too much of your attention.

>>11807600
We read to discover we are not alone

Not my quote but I agree with. Especially with fiction I use the characters experiences, thoughts, and actions to reflect on my own life. Either I sympathize with their plight or learn from their mistakes. Often I come out with a new perspective on who I am or who I want to be.

For non-fiction its mostly just curiosity or to learn a skill that will make life easier/allow me to become closer to my ideal self.

I don't even know. Reading requires discipline on my part, I dread starting but it's easy to settle in. Makes me wonder I even read though, if it's suppose to be entertaining why do I have to force myself to do it? This line of thinking gets to me to stop reading at times but I always come back, I don't know why though. Why the fuck do I read anyway?

Life is too interesting not to spend it reading about life.

>>11807934
This.

>>11810552
It's difficult to start because pretty much every other form of entertainment doesn't actually require any effort to enjoy, you can just passively take it in. Reading is active and you have to actually think to enjoy a good book, but this is also what makes it so rewarding and why you keep coming back