/lit/ - Literature

tolstoy short stories. so far, two in (family happiness and the cossacks) and they're pretty good. not war and peace/anna k. tier yet, but still full of great stuff and i'm excited for what's to come

I’m on crime and punishment the part where his brother and sister visit.. anything to keep in mind no spoiler pls

>>18517503
>where his brother and sister visit
you mean his best friend and his sister

>>18517432
Old Tom Bombadil wants to find a nigger,
Take off his pantaloons, see if his dick is bigger.

>>18517432
Musset's Lorenzaccio, romantic historical drama set in Florence. It's fascinating.

I'm reading OP's post and these replies. And to answer your question, yes, how special they are that they came from you!

>>18517432
I'm reading the the idiot by Erik Brahman after mistaking it for the classic by the same name and committing out of denial for my own stupidity. It's kinda shit desu, but I'm only 90 pages in out of ~400 so I'm not too far, but people say it picks up around the page 100 mark so here's hoping the ridiculously tedious writing gets less tedious.

>>18517624
forcing yourself to read a shit book out of a kind of stubborn self-spite is kind of appropriate for dostoyevsky

Just finished up the Iliad, Lattimore's translation, and it was amazing. I think some point in the future I will also read the Pope translation to get a different experience. I have previously been through the Fagles translation but that was an audiobook so I don't know if that counts.

>>18517432
>what are you reading right now?
this post
>is it good?
I've read better

>>18517432
Chernow’s “Grant”. If you liked Washington and Hamilton then it should be an alright read

Titus Andronicus. I'm loving it.

>>18517432
The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea. It's ok.

>>18517432
The bible.
But English isn't my first language, so it's sometimes hard to understand certain sentences in old English.

Wind in the Willows for Midsummer
It is comfy

>>18517768
Is there no Bible in your language?

>>18517775
There is, but I want to read the KJV.

Finishing Utopia by Tomas Moore today, I like it a lot

>>18517805
Fair enough.

>>18517809
Love you :)

>>18517824
Love you too x

>>18517432
>About to read the last three chapters of Catch-22.
Boy, did it get oddly dark near the end. Ive had a good time throughout the read though.

Jacques the fatalist by Diderot

feels like a bad comedy at times with constant narrator interruptions made worse by the clunky English translation i am sure, but it also has some really funny situations and witty lines

Pretty good so far.

This is my third Naipaul after
A Bend in the River and
A House for Mr. Biswas

>>18517768
>old English.
KJV is Early Modern English. Pic related is Old English.

>>18517432
Iliad and yes, battles are cool and the speeches and shit talking are tier 1

>>18517824
>>18517827
Y’all cute

I'm reading Huckleberry Finn for the first time. It's better than anticipated; very cozy.

The Samurai by Shusaku Endo. Too early to make a full assessment but it's promising so far. Silence is probably in my top 20 favorite novels so I'm trying to keep my expectations reasonable.

>>18517432
Posted pic related in the other thread, which is dead, so I will shill it here as well. Canti del Caos (Songs of Chaos) is going to be your next meme book as soon as someone crazy enough to translate it in English makes it available outside of Italy. Dubs will confirm. To know more:

>>https://theuntranslated.wordpress.com/2018/07/31/games-of-eternity-giochi-delleternita-by-antonio-moresco/

The wisdom of birds. It's a very comfy book, covers the history of ornithology in great detail. The only odd part was some of the phrasing in the chapter on bird reproduction (eg: the specification that chicken sperm is hot, it seems a given), but otherwise I recommend it if you like birds. Lots of nice old bird drawings

>>18519560
I've seen that blog guy praise a bunch of books, sometimes even going so far as to saying that they'll become part of the canon, but whenever they get translated into my native language or are originally written in it, then there's only some initial interest followed by dead silence.
What I'm saying is I remain skeptical of any books praised on that blog.

Failed States - Noam Chomsky, pretty interesting, i know a lot of the stuff he's talking about already but it goes into a lot more detail which is pretty cool.

The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood, a lot of it has boring but i'm about midway now and the pace of the story is starting to pick up. I've already quit this book a few chapters in other times over the years - I just really need to prove to myself that I can read it all kek

gravity's rainbow. I've never really read anything like it. trying my best not to get filtered and to enjoy it. Some pretty funny parts. The style is refreshing too, keeps me paying attention.

>>18517432
blood meridian again because i'm a fag and i love it. Meditations because I'll sperg out and commit murder suicide without it. And gravity's rainbow so i can follow along with the thread in here lol.

Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling
Yes

>>18517739
I really enjoyed it and have been reading Mishima non stop since. Read it Monday, read the sound of waves Tuesday and now I’m finishing up Confession of a mask

Finishing Murakami's after dark.
I also ordered 2 more books one about Celtic mythology, the other about South Slav mythology. Should arrive tomorrow.

The Green Pearl by Jack Vance (vol 2 of Lyonesse trilogy)
La gloire de mon père by Marcel Pagnol

>>18517432
The Ramayana. It's kino.
Orient et Occident par Rene Guenon aussi.

>>18517432
i havent read a single book in over 2 years, bros.

I took a break halfway through Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times to finish How To Read a Book. Both are pretty good, and the latter made me realize how bad I was at reading.
Needless to say, RQ and the SOT is a difficult book, since I don't have a foundation on platonism nor cartesianism. If anyone could help me understand better, I would be really thankful.

>>18517432
Swann's Way.
Yes

>>18520479
I conciously chose not to read any books for 3.5 years. I wanted to de-ideologize myself. After the break I read Naked Lunch, Gravity's Rainbow, The Sellout and now am devouring Infinite Jest. Reading after a break is like doing drugs after getting your tolerance down, it hits very hard in a good way.

The Casual Vacancy by Rowling. Rowling is a great author. Future generations will look back at her in admiration.

>>18520631
The obsession with "detoxification" on this board is really retarded. Grow up.

>>18520676
t. toxified ideologue

>>18517432
mate I haven’t read a book in 10 months

>>18517432
your post

>>18520700
Is it good?

persuasion, king lear, gravitys rainbow
gr best so far

The Great Gatsby
Yes

>>18519377
Nice, I finally read it like 2 years ago (I’m in my 40s) and also liked it.
I’m reading On the Acquisition of the Holy Spirit by St. Seraphim of Sarov now and I like it.

>>18517432
simultaneously reading lolita, klara and the son, and godel-escher-bach. hot schizo summer

>>18520815
But the real question for you is... is it great?

Halfway through Plato's Laws. Much more enjoyable than I'd thought it would be—shame no one reads it. I'm just glad that I'm nearly done with his corpus, I started in like late february.

>>18517432
a manuscript
>is it good?
I'm making it so

>>18517432
The Horse, the Wheel amd Language. The idea is great, but it's just a terrible presentation. It usually reads like this:
>here at place A we found the remains of individuals from culture B who eated C and had D-like pottery, buried their dead in E way; we dated the settlement to around F-G BCE
And repeat that description for over 50 archaeological sites, holy shit this is boring as hell

>>18517432
I'm reading some Cortázar short stories, but although his prose is good, the stories lack any semblance of substance, so it's all pretty but empty. I plan on dropping it after I finish the one I'm about to finish.

>>18517432
Confederacy of Dunces, as memed by /lit/

It's fun, not as funny as the reviews on the back of the book claim but maybe that's just because I'm sad. Happy to read it tho

>>18520665
is this on par with the first few harry potters?

>>18521083
it's pretty good, but I agree that it's not as funny as its hyped to be. I wonder how the appreciation would be if it had a more normal creation backstory

The Brothers Karamazov. I'm only a few chapters in, but I like the characters presented thus far.

- Heart of Darkness
Pretty great. Love Conrads prose and atmosphere. So far, Pulls off its central concept more effectively than the Vietnam film.
- a portrait of the artist as a young man
I certainly relate a-lot to Dedalus's struggles, and the prose is pretty good, although I feel a bit of the enjoyment of the book is superficial. Not enjoying as much as Dubliners.

Confessions by St. Augustine. Sheed's translation is pretty poetic, so it's been good reading

>>18517432
Inherent Vice, and yes. i really like it

>>18517432
2666 by Bolano
The part with the dead women reports is very tiresome.

>>18521388
Suicide and the Soul (about 60% complete)
Understanding Medias by Mcluhan (its really a slog to read through)
The History of Sexuality by foucault (read about 40 pages but no interest in continue reading)

Suicide and the Soul (about 60% complete)
Understanding Medias by Mcluhan (its really a slog to read through)
The History of Sexuality by foucault (read about 40 pages but no interest in continue reading)

>>18517432
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. It is really great.

Catch--22.
Yes, I regret not having read it when I was supposed to years ago in high school. The first few chapters were a slog and I ended up taking a break to read other things, and after having read more, I can better stomach how it's written.

>>18517432
La verdadera historia de la conquista de nueva españa
i like it overall, it's kinda fascinating because of the story it tells and how he tells it, and some parts are unintentionally hilarious but others kinda repetitive and boring towards the end

>>18517432
Phillip I. Good, James W. Hardin - Common errors in statistics (2012)

bound for glory
i like it alot

Finishing
>How the West Won, Rodney Stark
some 80% is a rehash of his The Victory of Reason, but there is a vast overlap between all his book, as I'll likely find out going back even further. Too soon did I start this, I'm noticing that he's using not only the same arguments and sources, but even wording and words..
It's good, if you don't know it or where to find the information.

>>18517432
Found this in a used library. The pages are still uncut. It is really good, Berger has an insane grasp on Husserl.

dfw brief interviews with hideous men,

this is my first 'postmodern' book and sometimes i just dont get when he meant

i really like the long story about a therapist and a depressed person at the beginning it was extremely well written

i still have to read about a hundred pages

question to dfw scholars,
did you enjoy it? what next should I read from him? any dfw chart?

>>18517432
this thread

>>18521703
Is it realistic or cucked?

Eumeswil, it's fantastic.

>>18517432
started anna karenina for the first time. it's good and very well paced, but I know how it ends and I don't know if I'm up for a long, depressing book. I can handle a sad song for a few minutes but hundreds of pages of misery is too much of a bummer for me right now. I'll keep reading for the time being since I am enjoying it.

>>18521900
Can you reword your question using grown-up language?

>>18521836
That is not really post modern, has some elements but that is about it, only Broom of the System and Girl With the Curious Hair fit well into post modernism. If you want more short stories after this, read Oblivion, otherwise Infinite Jest is probably the logical next step. His essays are not bad, I somewhat hate the whole light essay form, information wrapped up in humor and entertainment, but many like them. Broom of the System and Girl with the Curious Hair are best left for the DFW fan, his youth and ego really come through, he over reaches his ability and tries to say too much.

If you want post modern, look elseware.

>>18521918
>GODCOCK
>durrrr can u no talk to me liek grown up plz?

>>18521920
thanks sir

>>18521966
Badfaith actor. And, if same person, incapable of asking a simple question and quick to attack and presume rather than admitting fault.
Yikes. Grow up, it's never too late.

>>18521991
Pretty sure the bad faith actor is the one who ignores common chan slang and culture.

>>18519217
God, it was better back then...

>>18519183
I think I've read that, but I don't remember a single thing
The "bad comedy" feeling is somewhat intentional, I think

>>18519560
Non conosco, di che parla?

>>18521482
>La verdadera historia de la conquista de nueva españa
Sounds interesting, is that a contemporary (for the time) account? I enjoyed Brevisima relacion etc

>>18522021
I get how a human can be cucked, but not a book. And how is 'realistic' the other extremum? What is a realistic (as opposed to 'cucked') non-fiction book?
Btw, regarding the name, this passage flew by 20' ago: I'd wager a 2/3 possibility of the Godcock name having existed in the past.

The brothers Karamazov. I loved it. Though I'm still not sure that
Spoiler
Smerdyakov killed Fyodor. I feel like he made it up to troll Ivan, who I got the sense he was jealous of. What proof do we have other than his admission and the 3 grand which Smerdyakov could have taken from anywhere.
Meanwhile Dimitri has no solid proof for his innocence, don't tell me you believe Dimitri's story that he saved 1.5 grand around his neck

>>18517432
Why read the classics by Italo Calvino
Pretty comfy so far

>>18522128
I missed that one
But I love the guy
Literally love him
Have you read any other of his stuff?

Vollmann's the atlas and junichiro tanizaki's naomi. The atlas is far better, but naomi is just getting good, drifting a little further into tanizaki's wheelhouse: deviant psychology. Should end pretty great.

>>18522061
He was asking if it is grounded in fact or beholden to an agenda beyond informing the reader to the best of the authors ability. A non-fiction book which is dishonest and has the primary purpose to push an ideology is cucked by that ideology, it is not realistic because it reflects the authors ideology more than the topic itself. This is not difficult and has been common usage on 4chan for years and even if you are a new fag, it should not be difficult to work it out, this is a literature board after all, wordplay should be expected.

>>18522214
I read a couple of Tanizaki. Not my favourite, not that bad. In my view, he is the Japanese Moravia, and in fact one of the Tanizaki's book I read, had a Moravia preface

>>18521900
>>18522216
If that be the cast, then I'd say it's realistic up to, say, 80--90%. I leave a gap for my lack of knowledge, and untestability of some claims. It has some of Pinker's Blank Slate, but mostly it's a coherent narrtive without much predictive power, it's no theory. Great explanations, always giving the best of both sides' arguments, references, before demolishing one with historical evidence. The other gap I'd leave is for Christian bias, which is to be expected given that's his field, the majority of his books and research orbiting the religion. I don't have anything to say against it, but I'm inclined to distrust and take opposite position when somebody shows preference, even if substantiated meticulously.

Meme words' meanings get over-dispersed, which with the chance for understanding diminishes. That, or I'm rationalizing my brain's unwillingness to jump through the extra hoops to reach what you so nicely explained..

>>18522244
I absolutely loved the stories Terror and The Tattooer, and one that has something about Aguri in it. The translator did a fantastic job.
Almost 10 chapters in, Naomi is getting good.

>>18522296
Meme words are just like any other slang, defined by context, and like slang they are quite concise as long as you understand the context.

>>18522325
I don't think I read those ones. I read the Key and Diary of a madman. I can't say much about translation, I don't speak Japanese, and we're reading in different languages anyway

>>18517432
Finally reading Decline of the West. A part of me wants to dismiss him as the systematizer he despised, but I am so alike in sensibility that I don't want to criticize. It's always gratifying to find someone who has thunk your thoughts only better. I love his opposition of civilization to culture. His anticipation of the eternal Anglo in his resentment of Darwin v. Goethe. It's hard to imagine an era where you could step outside the box just by crossing a border. Noting a form versus asserting a cause. First against the bugmen, this is a great read.

moby dick
yes, way different than what I imagined it would be

>>18517805
KJV isn’t Old English. It’s Early Modern

>>18519363
They should fuck desu

>>18521916
I was reading it like two years ago and lost the book fml

Starting MacBeth.

Divine Comedy, Ciardi translation. Told that translation is "not Dante" but don't really care

Emma
Yes

>>18517739
Oh hey I recently started that. I got the one with the updated Penguin cover.

>>18517432
I don't really know if there is much point for me to read this since I seem to already agree with him on most points.

herzog saul bellow; the names don delillo

yes. they're such different writing styles but both genius in their own way, i just read the part in herzog which goes into detail about his childhood for the first time. it was emotional and probably some of the best stuff i've ever read by bellow.

with The Names, it's just a book with such muscular prose and a thick atmosphere of mystery. the dialogue is extremely DeLillo, mostly funny and interesting. i haven't read him in a while—i read americana recently but besides the first 100 pages it was dogshit—and it's nice to enjoy him again. enjoy him a lot (the names probs 5 stars and obvs herzog is also, so far)

Parmenides by Plato. I don't know.

>>18517432
Finished this short sermon book yesterday and I'm re-reading it again because it's very good.

Read Meister Eckhart.

Denial of Death. Fucked my shit up. I don’t know how to cope.

>>18524110
have you read Ravelstein by Bellow?
I began reading it, but it just feels so one dimensional after 50 pages. Should i continue?

does anybody have any experience with the Applewood Books American founding documents?
is the quality shit, etc?

>>18522244
>>18522214
any opinions on The Makioka Sisters?
i've been planning to get it but it's a big commitment and expensive here, and i've never read Tanizaki except one essay which was very good.

>>18517432
Tintin
>good
great

>>18524620
Why is it a big commitment? It is like 500 pages, that is not so bad, especially for someone as readable as Tanizaki. I enjoyed it but it did not really stick in my memory, remember little about it. So far I think Some Prefer Nettles and Seven Japanese Tales to be my favorites of his.

>>18521323
I wonder the same about myself ;c

>>18517432
I'm taking a break from some heavier reading to read the Crest/Banner of the Stars series (Weeb sci-fi), which is surprisingly enjoyable, though some of my enjoyment could be nostalgia driven.
Hopefully i'll have this finished up by the time my copy of The Memoirs of Baron de Marbot shows up.

>>18524647
It's just 500 pages! I was under the wrong impression it was like 1000.

Thanks for the tips, anon.

>>18517432
Bibek Mahabharata and Le Mort D'Arthur

I don't want it to end, I haven't loved a book so much in a while.

>>18517432
Seibo there below
Read a bit more than half of it, mixed feelings about it, Camohunter was great for example, as was the story about the Buddha restoration, but all the others I've read were good to mediocre

>>18524620
Go for it. I have a copy of it i gotta get to. I'm sure its great, everything i've read from tanizaki has been a great read. Even the parts of naomi i didnt care for (the beginning) were a great read, i just didnt care about what he says in thise chapters.

Just finished this about 15 minutes ago after reading for around 3 weeks. What an incredible journey, one of the best experiences I've had with a book ever, I dog-eared probably 100+ pages.

>>18521918
Based boss move

>>18522075
We literally get dmitri not killing fyodor though... are you illiterate?

>>18524604
nah. just augie march and now herzog. tbf, he was about 80 when he wrote ravelstein so it's unlikely it's for anyone except fans

>>18517432
About to start Gawain and the Green Knight. I skimmed through it and it seems pretty comfy, has some medieval smut in it too.

been reading Blood Meridian. I like the atmosphere and prose but it's probably one of the hardest books I've read, not because of the prose or anything but simply because I don't really get what McCarthy is trying to do here. in Moby Dick, for example, Melville always tells the reader what his point is at the end of each chapter, but you don't get that sort of thing at all in BM. i guess that may be the point though, for the entire book to just feel like a string of 'mindless violence'

>>18525555
enjoy the ride.

Pic related
10/10 so far
I’m on chapter 6

>>18525281
I think I got filtered hard by this. I just didn’t even enjoy it.

>>18517432
>Reading:
120 of Sodom.
>Is it any good:
I cant but shake the feeling that years of moral apathy from browsing the 'chan has prepared me for the amount of literal shit eating and degeneracy there is in the book. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. I'm really enjoying it in any event.

>>18517432
Stardust by Gaiman it's not bad!

15%-ed zeno's conscience
shit book, shit writing, author is blacklisted and I'm on the edge of blacklisting joyce too. I'll give him a chance later on in the year.
Gonna speed through The Big Fat Surprise, Nina Teichholz; most of it I know already, but some of the studies and info is new, that is, valuable.
I'll check out Voltaire's Candide afterwards, to see if it's children's trash or has anything of worth.

>>18522060
bernal wrote it from his memory and other conquistadors he knew 40 or 50 years after his first expedition i think

>>18523592
he said old English not Old English

>>18517432
Revolt Against the Modern World
I don't know. Honestly it's kind of hard to get into Evola's ideology considering none of the spiritual paths he is discussing are open to anyone anymore, especially not an American living far from any real Traditions. What exactly am I supposed to do with this information from the Traditionalist school? sit on my ass and wait to be churned out in a better Yuga where I CAN do something other than eat slop, work, and die?

I'm reading Iain M. Banks' Use of Weapons. There's a weird timeline where some chapters are slices from the life of this mercenary and the actual plot in other chapters where he eventually appears, I'm not the biggest fan, but people say that is one of the author best works and I very much liked his other books, so I must persevere and desu is not really that bad.

Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin. Just finished the first part and I'm liking it so far.

>>18526759
diy it pussy. punk evolism

>>18526926
is it about homosexuality?

>>18525876
I just heard/saw Gaiman talk on youtube. Man that dude talks so slow! Also, he has no discernible talent. But you're a midwit so it's OK

>>18526928
honestly seems like what his magick books are, gonna have to give them a shot

>>18522587
>thunk

>>18517432
I finished Pulp by Bukowski. Pretty good. Would like to have more.

I'm on Dune right now. 300 pages in and it's setting up nicely. Don't know if I'm going to read the entire cycle tough.

>>18517432
I was reading book of the new sun, but then I bought persona 4 and I haven't had the desire to read for 3 days so far. Why are persona games so good? The gameplay isn't the best and the plot is just anime tropes. Why is it so satisfying?

>>18517432
Atlas shrugged by Ayn Rand. I've just started it and it seems pretty good so far.

>>18527528
the art style, atmosphere and music are good

>>18527538
Yeah, I think that's it. It's asthetic is so cohesive and I think that's what really pulls me in and makes it engaging even if it's parts individually are disappointing, it's sum is greater than it's parts. And 4 has been pretty neat compared to 5.

Yes I am enjoying but I've heard after book 3 the series starts to go down the drain

>>18517432
the old man and the sea.
pretty comfy so far. my only complaint is that there's no chapters which im not too big a fan of.

>>18526962
Yes

>>18517432
The Picture of Dorian Gray.
On loan from a sixteen year old who works for me, needless to say I haven't told the wife that part.

>>18521335
you're in for one hell of a ride

A Fan's Notes

I've owned this book for years and have always put off reading it, not sure why. Started reading last night and half way through already, it's so well-written and is one of those books you read at a certain point in life and feel that it is perfect for your current situation.

>>18521791
Looks interesting. I like Husserl, though haven't read his Catholic novels yet.

I'm almost finished with Hamsun's Wayfarers. I like it just fine. The ups and downs of Polden are affecting, and the tragic romance of Lovis Magrete and Edevart hit a familiar nerve that made me tear up a few times. The overall feeling I get from the book parallels nicely with something a lot of people on here, including myself, seem to feel towards modernity. But that could be said of pretty much any of Hamsun's works I suppose.
It's like a comfy lite-Hamsun novel, if I had to put it through a meme-speak machine. It's decent. I don't know if I'll read August (fat chance I can even find a copy), but I do want to read The Road Leads On at some point.

Read 350 pages. Not that good.

>>18527682
thought so
has to be the most Gay sounding title ever

i am in fact scared how i was able to guess the content of the book just from its title

>>18517432

>>18517432
>what are you reading right now?
my diary desu
>is it good?
:(

This shit was seriously disappointing.