/lit/ - Literature

BOOBA

>>/a/
>>/c/
>>/e/

>>18071814
anime posters = pedophiles

i reported you to the fbi

>>18071814
anime... sex with anime...

>>18071892
I don't know what you mean, the thread clearly states the purpose that it is to ask questions unworthy of their own thread. It's not a thread about anime or ecchi. The picture is just a plus and not related to the theme

>>18071913
yes of course

How do you guys feel about a lit combo thread. Like reading 1984 with some cheap gin, or The Road on a bleak winter night. It's a little bit faggy I know.
Book + music etc.

>>18071814
TOOBA

Okay, fellas how do I force myself to read. I haven't been able to read for almost 2 months. I just feel so nihilistic and apathetic. I'm in such a slump. How do I get out of it I want to start reading again. Last year I read 20 books and this year I've only read 2 its fucked. Give me your reading hacks, please.

>>18072000
reading is pointless, go smoke some meth

>>18072000
Same

>>18071976
gay

>>18071814
At least you posted a sexy grill this time, Mr. /sci/n*gger.
This pleases me greatly.
Fufufu...

What do you guys do about folds that happened during manufacturing?
Occasionally when I buy a brand new book, some pages will have corners and sometimes even the center of a side folded inwards. I usually unfold them but they've been so pressed into that position that it ends up looking like shit most times

>>18072004
>>18072025
No but seriously how do I start reading again?

>>18071932
>The picture is just a plus

Hahaha faggot

>>18072000
Put an alarm for the specific hour you want to read and force yourself to read only one (1) page. You will end up reading more because you already started. There is no way to fail this, just make sure you do it everyday

>>18071976
It would be a nice one if people took it seriously with the drink pairnings. Like, beurre noisette infused bourbon + The Magic Mountain or something like that, even better if the recipe is included

>>18072084
Watch Waldun

is it possible to write anything interesting when you're not interesting?

Whats some shota literature? (specifically /ss/)
Asking for a friend.

>>18072832
Eww, pedo

Do I need to read picrel to get into the Greeks? I was thinking of watching a video instead so I can get the basics faster and hit the ground running with the Iliad and the Odyssey

>>18072867
If I said loli you'd have no problem fag. Plus I asked for straight.
It doesn't need to be 100% shota or beyond romance, just that desc vaguely.

>>18072722
It's possible to write interesting things, because you're not interesting.

>>18072919
Or maybe a lecture would be great

>>18072722
Where did my answer go?
Anyways gonna write it again.
"Interesting question. Is it the writers imagination that makes him interesting despite leading a boring life? or is he interesting for leading an interesting life?"

>>18072722
>>18072990
It depends by what he means by interesting, as in your imaginative capacity or literally yourself. Writing imo is always about imagination and methods of expression, rather than any reality. Related quote-
>I can imagine that I’m everything, because I’m nothing. If I were something, I wouldn’t be able to imagine. An assistant bookkeeper can dream he is the Roman emperor, but the King of England cannot, for in his dreams the King of England is precluded from being any king other than the one he is. His reality won’t let him feel.

>>18073054
Nice quote. Though I think that you have imagination or you dont. Its a gift that you have from birth. So responding to the quote, people who had imagination before making it will also have it after making it. Imagination is not circumstantial

>>18073072
I think you misunderstand why that quote is interesting. I agree imagination is tied to a certain type of soul and determined (although I don't know if it's expressly the intelligent one). But when you make it, your real life gets in the way of your dream life. In the process of making it, you must no longer dream but act. That need for action necessitates an entire personality, dictates even your imagination. Your banal successful reality becomes the only thing you can imagine. Yes they are intelligent and can describe, but they can't seriously become something else in their own heads. There is something particularly interesting about this concept to me.

>>18071814
Is writing just an ego trip?

>>18073151
Oh ok I got you. It actually makes sense. A lot of writers of the past have said that they needed to be poor so they can write better. On the other hand you have a lot of aristocratic people that wrote masterpieces (maybe their idea of making it was to write a masterpiece).
>imagination is tied to a certain type of soul and determined (although I don't know if it's expressly the intelligent one)
I ve had this discussion countless times with my friends but we never came to a conclusion. On the one hand you could argue that in order to express your imagination correctly you need the high IQ. That way you can master your medium (especially true for writing) and convey your ideas properly and the way you want. On the other hand you have musicians that are legally retarder so I dont know really

>>18072000
Daily exercise and at least an hour of sunlight. No you cannot get that sunlight through a window.
Turn off your phone.
Remove excess sugar or caffeine from your diet.
Read what you actually like and not what /lit/ tells you to read.

>>18073203
Intelligence can both assist and get in the way of imagination, just due to the certain correlated traits (like autism). I can imagine for some, the autistic need to systematize and lack of empathy could get in the way of being imaginative. But on the other hand, autistic traits can enable you to distance yourself from reality. I doubt you'd need an iq higher than 115 to be a decent enough at writing to express yourself, as well. It's a hard discussion, but perhaps a psychologist could actually answer this w/ statistics. Nice chat.

>>18073297
Yeah nice chat desu

>>18072041
Thanks bro

>>18072919
Read Bulfinch's Mythology. It's better written, plus has Arthur and Charlemagne

>>18072832
One Hundred Years of Solitude has some

>>18071976
super gay

>>18071814
Muh dick

>>18071976
Alcohol is cool with books. I don't have a specific pair since wine goes with every genre

Do I buy the murderbot diaries 1-4 or dune 2-6?

With bibles published in English, is there a difference between it being called "the Holy Bible" and simply "the Bible"? Is one the full version and one protestant?

>>18072919
>>18072942
>>18073626
Why not just read the Metamorphoses.

Do I need to read anything before reading the Bhagavad Gita?

>>18074407
Not really in case your edition has a good foreword. There is plenty that may be known about the background, but even with no knowledge of that, you are good to go.

.. I mean, it's part of a much larger literary piece, the Mahabharata. And even that obviously formed from an already existing culture

Just finished Cien años de soledad, absolutely loved it. What should I read next by Gabriel Garcia Marquez?

>>18074353
Hamilton goes into that: Ovid didn't believe in the Greek mythology any more than we do, and made shit up simply because he found it entertaining.

It's a fine read, but it won't tell you much about the actual beliefs of the Greeks.

>>18074436
Love in the Time of Cholera, naturally.

>>18071814
why is my pp hard?

Books I could practice my beginner German skills with? I mean a little bit challenging so I can start stomaching the language better.

>>18073218
>>18072236
Thanks for the advice.

>>18073174
it's art and a whore who embraces hedonism fakely turned into personal quest, ie navel gazing, because art is always hedonism turned into a a fake introspection, whose goal is just justifying orgasms.

>>18072000
Find a book worth reading, that is interesting.
or just listen to audio books.

What is the deal with dark academia threads?
I know autists like to post the same threads over and over but what is the end game here?

>>18076007
It’s funny. I wish they were spammed more if anything. Sick of Nietzsche and Moldbug threads.

>>18076017
This, "Dark Academia" discussion which is interesting but goes nowhere is better than philshit discussion which is boring and goes nowhere. Jannies are very heavy handed and they delete threads all the time if they're even slightly off-topic. I was in a thread where we were weighing the merits of the print medium vs. movies and vidya, and the janny piece of shit deleted it because it had a funny wojak op

>>18072722
Write about interesting things that exist or happen.

Does reading CoPR make anyone else wanna blow their head open?

Read the Iliad and the Odyssey, where do I get started with Plato? Should I read about the presocratics like it says in the chart, or should I just jump into one of his earlier dialogues? Also, could somebody post a progression chart for Plato? Thanks.

>>18076094
That might be my fault, honestly. I've been reporting a fuckton of Card/Gardner shilling and /his/ posts lately, and it's probably attracted the attention of mods to our board. I have noticed a lot fewer posts that are just a random pic of Nietzsche and some bitching about how none of the other teens understand them, though, so maybe it's not all bad.

I bought a Kindle Paperwhite recently to try it out as they were on sale and had three free months of kindle unlimited or whatever. Returned it a few days later after reading it a few hours a day. Man, what a let down. I really thought it would be nice to have a small, lightweight thing full of books to toss in my bag and forget about it, and have it with me when work is slow or I travel. I read a lot, and I hate having to try and bring1-3 books with me whenever I leave town for a bit. Lot o space and just a hassle, but at the house they are fine.
This thing was crazy slow and janky to do anything, and everything is fucking expensive-I can go to Goodwill and used book stores for $1-$3, why the fuck would I spend $9 on an e version? I don't know what I was expecting/maybe I am retarded, but it was just frustrating that it was so lackluster. Just wanted to complain to someone. Guess I will just lug books with me.

I have a free trial of scribd this month. What are some good audiobooks on there?

>>18076402
I like to use my kindle to read books that are on the public domain for free. Also piracy of course.

any literature that argues in favour of men keeping long hair

>>18072000
>>18072084
It's very easy Anon! If you truly want to start reading again, then just do it.
Stop being a little bitch, and start moving your lazy ass towards the book/e-book you wanna read.
Don't waste your time, if you are capable of reading Anon posts on the Chan, then you definitely have the brains to read a fucking book.

>>18077154
Yeah the Old Testament.

>>18077297
i'll probably not read that but where does it specifically advocate long hair

>>18077304
Just read it you philistine.

I remember an old children's picture encyclopedia from my childhood I saw in 2004 that featured/ propagandized the UK as having the best navy, America as having the best army and Australia having the best Air Force (bullshit). Would anyone know what it might be?

Asking again with more details.

If you have hands that get sweaty easily, how should you hold a paperback in order to avoid warping the pages? Will they flatten naturally over time on the shelf when you finish reading them?

>>18077340
just tell me

Are there any self-help books that are NOT cash grab rubbish?

Actually amde a thread but guess I will put this here.
>>18078214

Please can someone explain what precisely the filioque is about?
What does it mean to "proceed"?
Surely it is not "creating" the holy spirit?
Why is it so important that it comes only from the father and not both father and son?

t. theology-let

>>18078364
Marcus Aurelius
Maybe How To Make Friends And Influence People, I hear good things, not read it.

>>18076402
... you buy your e-books?

I am an ESL trying to get a better grip on grammar. Help me understand this sentence. To me, the "which" should be "that". If it's which, then I feel there are two commas missing. The tense is also confusing. I have reworked it in this manner, tell me what's wrong

“I calculated once that the acknowledged best in the way of Russian fiction and poetry that have been produced since the beginning of the last century run to about 23,000 pages of ordinary print.”

is the truth behind "Snape kills Dumbledore in Harry Potter" the same truth found in the statement "2+2=4"?

>>18076243
Really? Fuck you, you have killed this board

>>18078479
Which or that are pretty much interchangeable in these cases, sometimes one sounds better. There are no commas missing. The tense is in agreement with his having calculated "once" and also suggests to me some cut off point for acknowledged classics. In any case "best" is singular so requires "had" or "has".

>>18071976
I literally remember nothing if I drink more than 1 beer

best translation of Nietzsche and the Upanishads?

>>18078588
I thought the "had been produced" was applied to "Russian fiction and poetry", not the "acknowledged best". Can you explain why which and that are interchangeable in this case?

>>18071976
I read At The Mountains Of Madness this Christmas from my parents farmhouse and their land was covered in snow up to your knees at some points. Wish I has made it Rats in the Walls or something.

>>18078665
You could parse "which had been produced" as referring to "Russian fiction and poetry" or to "the acknowledged best". I definitely read it as referring to "the acknowledged best" first. Still, treating "Russian fiction and poetry" as a collective singular sounds better. I can't explain why which and that are interchangeable here, they are both understandable but which sounds better.

>>18074433
ok, thanks. Do you have any reccomended edition in mind?

>>18076211
bumping my question

>>18078652
Nietzsche: Kaufmann
Upanishads: idk

Is Murakami worth a read even?

Are 'Creative Writing' courses worth the money? or are they just a waste of time?

I've not got a lot on at the moment, and there are some 10 week courses advertised for only £130.

How good are these kawabata novels:
The master of go
Beauty and sadness
The old capital

Been thinking of getting 2 of em

>>18079041
find out who's teaching and read their work. if they have no work published, don't take it

I've been burnt out on anime and movies for a while now. I wanna get into reading. Recommend me some short story collections so whenever I finish a story I get that sweet dopamine.

>>18079256
Borges, short stories, easily readable, bounded scope of plot but vast in idea. Labyrithns or the Aleph is a good place to start.

>>18076243
thanks

How do I stop watching Youtube so that my only forms of consumption is literature and music. Should I listen to music and read at the same time.

>>18078838
I read it in Czech, so can't give you an English one.

>>18079256
Well read some online. I been fucking with jun'ichiro tanizaki's seven japanese tales but there are 3 novellas in there as well. Search online and try out his story the tattooer (10 pages in my edition), faulkner's centaur in brass, mishima's patriotism, jd salinger's perfect day for bananafish, and some james baldwin.

>>18072722
Yes
>>18072919
No, and there are hundreds of better options for getting the basics of mythology
>>18073174
Yes, like most art
>>18076007
Pseuds wasting time instead of writing
>>18077583
>buying paperbacks
If you care about your books you wouldn't buy paperbacks to begin with
>>18078364
Ecclesiastes
>>18078389
Learn greek unironically
>>18078985
Yes but you have to find the right book first
>>18079041
>worth the money?
No
>waste of time?
Yes
Just write you faggot
>>18079256
Sherlock Holmes short stories are great >>18079330
Get rid of your wifi router

>>18079329
Will try reading him.
>>18079358
Thanks for rec.
>>18079366
Thanks. I've read some of Sherlock Holmes. I like them so I'll try more of them.

Just realized my anxiety is primarily caused by not beelieving in myself.
Anyone have actual experience with building self-confidence? How can it be done efficiently?

>>18079505
Something that I learnt is to avoid the over complicated mainstream solutions to problems.

>>18079343
Well, I still thank for your advice

>>18079566
I'm not quite aware of any solutions, but need to do something about it urgently.

I’m looking for books about characters not being authentic, wearing a mask, struggling for authenticity, that sort of thing.

>>18079811
Confessions of a Mask - Yukio Mishima

>>18079868
I already have that one

>>18079811
The Outsider, Colin Wilson

>>18078652
For Nietzsche, the new Stanford (I think) ones are aiming to be magisterial I think.

>>18076243
>I've been reporting a fuckton of Card/Gardner shilling
Based, but I think we just have new jannies. I think he's pretty good so far. I agree with having a light touch when it comes to interesting discussion, like a /his/ thread actually about historical literature, but fuck off topic shit. We've been in hell for a long time now. I pray the jannies gas every off topic thread.

>>18078479
In practice, which/that rules are almost never obeyed. I try my best to use "that" when grammatically appropriate but even I cheat sometimes if it sounds non-idiomatic. Also comma use to separate subordinate clauses is largely up to the writer. English readers parse parentheticals ("The house which I was renting was big," which sounds weird but would still get parsed) fairly instinctively either way.

That sentence is a mess though. You are right to think it sounds/scans odd. I have a feeling that the author was (unconsciously?) trying to avoid making it "sound" like a qualifying aside, like:
>I calculated once that the best of Russian poetry -- which, I'll have you know, was produced in the last century -- runs to 23,000 pages.
Since his meaning is clearly
>I calculated once that the best in Russian-poetry-produced-this-century runs to 23,000 pages.

But yeah the disappointing answer might simply be that the rules are fuzzy and rarely obeyed anymore, and sloppy grammar is the norm. Also, even though I know grammar, and I do think in terms of antecedents and relative pronouns and proper antecedent linking and so forth, my mind doesn't do it with a sentence like this. I would never think "what is the antecedent of this 'which'?" even at a low level, I would just infer immediately "by ear" that he's most likely qualifying "Russian-fiction-and-poetry-(produced-this-century)."

>>18076211
Meno is a great starting point, being both short and extremely famous (it's the source of the famous "uneducated slave does geometry by anamnesis" thing). The most common recommendation is the "cycle" around Socrates' trial: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo.

It's a good selection: Euthyphro has the famous Euthyphro dilemma. Apology is mostly historical but fun and everyone reads it, and it has some odd and still poorly understood things (Socrates' daemon). Crito is another famous one with the "when is it just to disobey the law? when do citizens get to decide a law/ruling is unjust?" dilemma. Phaedo has various famous moments, like the lyre/harmony analogy, and the moment of Socrates' death, and it also has hints of Socrates' mystical elements.

I'd recommend the Meno, reading through the cycle just mentioned, maybe reading one other early dialogue like Charmides as a demonstration of the elenchic method for defining concepts (with the implicit message that the concepts are ideal unities underlying thought and speech), then reading the Symposium (famous and pre-trial cycle, but more risky to have someone start with right away since it's long and kinda whimsical) and Phaedrus (famous chariot analogy, even more intro to famous Plato mysticism).

Then you can choose:
- either read the Republic, the watershed dialogue dividing the middle and late Plato, after which you can begin reading his later, much more difficult and metaphysical dialogues
- or read more of the great (but longer and more challenging) middle and early-middle dialogues like Protagoras, Gorgias, Cratylus before/alongside the Republic
- or be a completionist and flesh out the "backbone" you've already read by just reading everything chronologically: finishing off the early, Charmides-like dialogues (mostly short, Ion is just weird, and some like the Hippiases are probably apocryphal but worth reading anyway), then the beefier middle dialogues just mentioned, then the Republic, then the late dialogues (concluding with Laws, which is the longest and some feel the most tedious).

But you could get away with Meno + trial cycle -> Phaedrus/Symposium -> Republic -> major important late dialogues (Theaetetus, Timaeus etc)

>>18075213
Advice I've commonly heard is to use a book you've already read so you know most of the context for vocabulary clues but I prefer to read a non-fiction book aimed at general educated readers, one I haven't read before, but on a TOPIC I am familiar with and want to learn more about. For me the sweet spot is usually history books.

A lot of European countries have excellent general reader-oriented publishers, a bit like the "Introduction to.." or "How to Read.." series we have in English but usually better and more even in quality. In German I believe one is called Kohlhammer. French has Que sais je?

Another trick I've found is to look for translations of a book you want to read (but haven't read) from English into your target language. Or from another language with simple syntax. I had great luck with books originally written in Russian but translated into German, because it forced the German translators to write in unnaturally (for a German) short sentences.

That's another trick, reading something you actually want to read. I find fiction the hardest because it's the most florid prose, but for an avid fiction reader maybe that's part of the reward, the feeling of immersion in the prose of a foreign language. I read for information, so I prefer to read something with information I'm dying to access. Then my mind de-focuses on "I'm reading German, do do do, fuck I have to look up a word," and focuses on "and? what happened next??? look up this word ASAP so I can find out!" which is less painful.

>>18079063
Plz daddies tell me if they're good

Looking for anything related to pirates, medieval wars or fantasy stuff

>>18079899
Thank you very much for the detail explanation. It's from Nabokov's "Lectures on Russian Lit". Here's the full paragraph. The "One century" sentence also tripped me up but I was able to figure it out by simplifying it.

Can you guys recommend me some great books with a maritime setting that aren't by Melville or Conrad?

>>18079811
not a book, but you might wanna watch the Conformist, an Italian film

>>18071814
What's the best english translation for Kafka's work(s)?

Can i get some book reqs, my interests are lolis, fascism and schizo ramblings

>>18081483
>book reqs, my interests are lolis, fascism and schizo ramblings
Can't recommend you a physical book, but I can you Clockup's Euphoria.

>>18081563
VN are friking awesome ive read a couple them.

Is Horacio Quiroga worth reading?

Is there a good ereader for pirated epubs and pdfs where I don't have to jump through a bunch of proprietary software hoops?

>>18082341
Kindle lets you email pdfs to it without restriction.

>>18081483
Go back

>>18079366
What's the right book to start with Murakami?

>>18077059
how can you read them on kindle that are not sold on amazon?
>>18078404
i haven't ever bought one. didn't know you could load in ones through the kindle store

>>18081483
Literally me.
>Lolita
>Doctrine of Fascism + James A Gregor
>Nick Land

>>18083783
>James A Gregor
*A James Gregor

>>18072084
Find a way to rid yourself of your phone and internet.
Take a long international flight.
Go camping where there isnt cell reception.
Turn your phone off.

Should I read something/have a better background on /lit/ before reading Stoner to better appreciate it?
I would say I'm a beginner trying to go to mid /lit/ guy.

>>18071814
I hate reading books because it feels like such a waste of time. I don't mind reading in general, but anything longer than 20 pages disinterest me. Hell, I even think 8-minute videos are a waste of time. I'm also not a big movie watcher because I'm not about to sit through 3 fucking hours of something just to watch people roleplay. The fact that I feel this way, does this invalidate IQ? Do I just need to find the right things that pique my interest? Or do I just have ADHD? Then again, I don't really think I have ADHD since I'm able to focus on something for long hours. ie playing piano. How do I expand my knowledge without consuming something that feels like a waste of time. Would that just be impossible, or does it show that everything--even living--is just a waste of time and that I should just probably kill myself?

>>18076211
You forgot Hesiod, Herodotus, Thucydides and all the dramatists

What are some good short story collections by Gabriel Garcia Marquez or Roberto Bolaño?

>>18084805
The basis of your problem is that you have a missaprehension. Learning is always worthwhile.

>>18084805
have you tried reading music theory books? From what I've heard, Schönberg has some good old school theoretical shit or you could use a modern textbook for theory. Maybe even a music history book or a(n) (auto)biography of your favorite artist.

>>18084805
you probably just struggle to do things you don't enjoy, which is typical for adhd/add/assburgers/whatever they call it now

Any recommendations for fantasy "adventure" style fiction. I've been going through the recommended list and recently read Belgariad, currently reading His Dark Materials and planning to order Earthsea. I've also read and enjoyed the Harry Potter books, Hobbit/LoTR and ASoIaF. I'm less interested in the sections that focus more on large scale things such as warring factions (that section of Belgariad was by far the weakest in my opinion)

>>18071814
What's some psychoanalytical type lit that would explain a man being obsessed with breasts way beyond the norm?

>>18085849
Conan the Barbarian stories.
Also Homer's Odyssey.

Any good modern fiction with a medieval setting and story but no magic or supernatural stuff?

>>18080452
The Sea Wolf by Jack London, The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway.

>>18086502
Foucault's Pendulum.

>>18086502
>>18086576
Wait, I fucked up, meant to say The Name of the Rose.

>>18083948
No, go ahead.

>>18086502
It might be a little later but The Dwarf by Lagerkvist.

>>18080452
Storm Birds, Einar Karason

>>18086257
I would like to know as well.

>>18086257
Think about what you're doing, anon. Do you really want to know that deep down you want to fuck your mommy?