/lit/ - Literature

>>1662384
Yeah. And OP, I'm taking a go at it. I failed terribly last year.

Oh sure, Wicked can be considered Wizard of Oz fanfic.

Just like the Aneid is a fanfic of the Odyssey.

PKD - SF = Pynchon.

/thread.

Hard to say, without seeing a sample of your writing. Try reading a book on writing, like the Weekend Novelist. That's a good one for beginners.

Another thing. I don't know if this is your problem or not, but a lot of people are much two straight forward in their writing. They just describe a series of events and feelings that shoot arrow straight from start to finish. You need to hold some stuff back. Don't over explain your story. Don't say what your characters are feeling. Show, don't tell. That will make your stories more interesting.

>>1650149
Just a word of advice, OP. Going to /lit/ to help yourself get smarter is like eating plastic fruit to get stronger.

Anyway, I'm going to recommend that you read A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It's very accessible, which trust me, you're going to need. The last thing you want to do is start with the wrong book and think that you hate reading.

Also try a Brief History of Time by Steven Hawking and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat by Oliver Sacks. Theses are all good, informative, approachable science books that are well respected in their field. It should be a good launching off point to see what you do and don't like.

>>1590356
Saying that something could be much worse isn't an argument, it's a dodge. I am aware that it could have been worse. Hell, they could have bent all the students over the desks, given them AIDS and called it performance art. Whether or not the reading list in question is at the absolute extreme end of the quality spectrum is not the issue here.

The issue is also not the quality of any of those books. That complaint appears exactly nowhere in this post. The point is that for a world literature course, this reading list is very poorly representative of different traditions and cultures outside of Europe/the anglosphere.

>>1590348
European theatre does not a world literature course make.

I recently learned that my sister took a world literature course in high school in which only they following books were taught-

>Life of Pi
>Siddhartha
>Julius Caesar
>A Dolls House
>Into the Wild

Obviously this is a horrible list for a world lit. course. Every single author is a white male, and the only culture outside the Europe/North America that's explored is Indian culture. So /lit/, my question to you is what authors or specific works would you want to see taught in a world literature course?

>>1584907
Yeah, I actually do like that line, but I don't think it's original to this edition of the book.

...nothing?

The fuck are you driving at, OP? What books would we give to people we hate? Or what books would we want to read in prison?

>This thread has been here over 24 hours
>Nobody has posted this abortion of creativity yet.
>wtfamireading.jpg

>>1577328
Amen. Modern hipsters are devoid of any real attachment to anything. They have only cold irony, and when you peel that away, you realize it's just a bunch of crassly commercial fads.

/lit/ likes A Brief History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. At least they did in the last thread like this.

Technically it's an audio book (I don't think a print version exists) but I got started with "Mindfulness for Beginners" by Jon Kabat-Zinn. It is absolutely wonderful, and I recommend it very highly.

I would also recommend Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh. He's a Vietnamese Buddhist who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize a number of times. The book is all about cultivating mindfulness as you do everyday things, and it is a different approach from the stereotypical "sitting crosslegged with eyes half closed."

Other than that, just read up on the web. It depends on what kind of meditation you're looking for. For example, just using a simple Google search, I have found some really great guides to Metta Bhavana.

I'm a substitute teacher right now. You don't need any special certification, at least not in my state. I justed needed to go through a background check and a half day of training with a temp agency. You could try that out.

Of course, the job sucks, and it doesn't pay to hot, and the work is inconsistent. But at least it's something until you get a full time job.

>>1554223
There you go. Sorry it took so long.

>3700 words
>Arcade Fire
>would you like to read it?

Absolutely fucking not.

If I were you, OP, I would just read The Dark Tower, and then at the end read through a wikipedia article about the references to other works.

Forgot image. Stupid me.

>>1554190

Sorry that took so long. I was watching House.

Any other suggestions?

I want some really trashy books.

Berryman was the best.

>>1554044
Hah, I actually thought about that one, but I decided I liked Battlefield Earth better. But hey, the template is up now. Why don't you take a crack at it.

>>1553980