/lit/ - Literature

Junky- William S Burroughs
Naked Lunch- William S Burroughs
Women- Charles Bukowski
Post Office- Charles Bukowski

As for Trainspotting, have you read the book it was based on? It's pretty fucking good--some people struggle a bit with Rents' narration though, fair warning. It's written with a phonetic imitation of a Scottish accent, makes for slow reading until you get into it but it's definitely worth it.

>>2843903
indeed

let's play e c g progressions until the cows come home

Never got all the way through it; I think I made it around halfway and got bored. Just started re-reading Wizard and Glass which has kinda renewed my interest, so I may end up finally finishing the Stand.

I really like a few of his books, haven't read too much of his poetry but it seemed decent. Women is definitely one of my favorite books-- it came across as honest, had its own style without seeming forced, and I enjoyed his reflections on life and society. As others have said, I can understand why people wouldn't enjoy him, though.

>I'm pretty good a writer

ah

>>2799494
>The books are fascinating and interesting--if you accept them as fiction.

Just so.

As an occasional hallucinogen user I found the teachings (the first book) pretty interesting, the story was told well and Juan really took on the sagelike aura that Castaneda attempted to portray. I'd never known that datura usage was ritualized before then, it was pretty interesting to read about how it affected Carlos.

>>2733503
Honestly the text in OP looked ok to me. If it was an interesting story I wouldn't mind reading it.

Just be consistent in your slang, it's already hard enough to learn it well enough that you re-obtain decent reading speed.

MF DOOM
Cage
Aesop Rock
KRS One
Del the funky homosapien
Deltron 3030

It's great if it is done well. Usually it's not. If you haven't read Trainspotting I highly recommend you check that book out. When I first started on it, it felt fucking draining but you get used to it surprisingly fast. Going from Finnegans Wake to Trainspotting feels like going from a marathon to a 1600.

It's really easy to fuck it up or sound like you're trying too hard, not to mention people might just lose interest and drop the book instead of learning the dialect. One example of a common fuckup might be if you're trying to emulate a southern accent... it comes across as condescending a lot of the time.

>>2717451
Piltdown.

Eeeee eee eeee.

6/10. He tries too hard in some places but it still makes me laugh and I think he does a decent idea of mixing the nonsense with actual ideas and a little bit of social commentary. If you expect too much out of it or try to take it seriously you probably won't enjoy.

Yossarian.

Boring as shit from what I read. I really don't care for his pacing much.

;_;

If you're getting into him for the Cthulhu mythos you might as well start with the call of Cthulhu, otherwise I don't think it matters an awful lot. My personal favorite is the rats in the walls.

>>2686834
There's probably going to be some unavoidable overlap if you're buying hard copies.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-H-Lovecraft-Bloodcurdling/dp/1453875107/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=13
38630200&sr=8-1

I have this collection and pretty much every story is great.

Lovecraft, Poe, Kafka. Some of King's better books too. Those are all I can really think of. Always been interested in psychological/ subtle horror but in a sense I think movies are more successful at hitting the mood perfectly.

Bukowski said one of the worst things you can do to a writer is lie about their talent because it encourages them to waste their life on bad writing instead of moving on or getting better.

A friend of mine has shared a lot of work with me, I've always tried to be as honest as possible but still encouraging because I know he enjoys writing. It definitely depends upon whether the person sent it in hopes of ego stroking or if they're actually looking for constructive criticism.

What parts didn't you understand?

I think it's easier to maintain interest in books like these if you identify with the narrator and care about the message the writer's trying to convey. I was really interested in depersonalization and learning more about existentialist concepts so that was more motivation to read it. I could see why people picking it up based off of a recommendation or some shit might be disappointed.

Kafka depressed the shit out of me. Go ask Alice was pretty depressing. Dystopian fiction is usually going to be pretty heavy shit. I remember being down for a while after reading 1984 for the first time. You could also check out Poe.

>>2508889
I agree that the family should be given the choice to pull the plug if they think it's what the patient would want. A grown person usually interacts with family enough that they can get a pretty good idea of how they might have wanted it handled.

>All they do is suck up resources and space.
I think your argument runs a little astray here. Is autonomy all that would stop you from marching around executing people once they become too old to work/ reproduce?

>Newborns have brain functions.
So do cows and dogs, yet we don't award them rights equivalent to an adult human, do we? The problem with this angle of argument is you have to do the exact same thing a pro-lifer might do: put value on the ~potential~ for autonomy.

>>2508969
Not going to bother responding if you're going to resort to ad hominem.

>>2508875
>It works as long as she doesn't have an explicit contract with the counter-party.
Society is formed around implicit contracts, the technology to safely perform ultrasounds, abort fetuses, run MRIs etc would not exist without these contracts. For example, we implicitly agree to obey laws and pay taxes by utilizing the benefits provided to us by the community. Things like hospitals, firefighting teams, police, paved roads and highway systems, public schooling. The fact that pregnancy isn't desired is irrelevant if you agree with the idea of implicit contracts and ethical responsibility.

To the second part of your argument, again advanced societies have to cope with people both young and old that can't take care of themselves. You provided no alternative plan to deal with the mental ward patients or the comatose? If their wishes aren't known, you might be able to allow the family to act on their behalf and terminate life support, or leave it running. What do you plan on doing with adults that have serious mental problems that might endanger themselves or others? Lock them up in taxpayer-funded asylums or wait until they hurt someone so we're morally in the clear to kill them and be done with it?