Thread 24824312

>age
>current book
>your thoughts on it

30
Crying of lot 49
Slop and waste of time desu. Might be the first and last Pynchon for me; are any of the others worth it?
> you are not smart enough
Wrong. Apart from the "difficult" writing, I feel like I'm reading teen fiction

42
Once and Future King
I liked it a lot when I was younger and wanted to read it again. Still enjoy it.

24

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: Alphabetical Collection
God have mercy

The Great Gatsby (finished yesterday)
Nice dreamy love triangle novel

12 Steps to Holiness and Salvation
(Chapter 7: Obedience)
Yeah, I'm just not gonna give a fuck about votign anymore. Didn't matter anyway and might as well take the will of god.

>>24824312 (OP)
19
Darconville's Cat
Thought it was just gonna be over hyped owing to its reputation but man this book is good. Beyond its humor and the beauty of the language, the way it examines darconville's interior life is so thorough yet it never seems to take up too many pages. Something about how Theroux describes his impulses of love and intellectual searching, this book does so many different things at once and it never manages to lose the throughline or the attention of the reader.

>>24824312 (OP)
32
The Cyborg Tinkerer
My girlfriend got it as a joke, and while it's shit, I can see the appeal in that. I'd sooner read it again or the other books in the series than I would touch The Crying of Lot 49 like that poor guy. >>24824370

33
currently reading Plato's Dialogues, American Indian Stories, Sufi Path to Love/Rumi, and Marx's early writings in response to Feurbach and Hegel.
I think Socrates was an amazing person in some ways, Zitkala-Sa is a wonderful author, Islam gets a bad rap, and Marx misses the mark on Idealism but has some great criticisms of capitalism. I enjoy Marx's grounded/man-for-himself parallel of necessary revolution as a response to irreconcilable socioeconomic conditions in relation to Hegel's dialectical pathway for consciousness/self-consciousness's self-education and absolute transcendence through sublation

>>24824312 (OP)
20
Roots
It's written so fucking poorly.

35
my book
decent first effort. probably needed professional editing. author likely has no future as a professional writer.

>>24824312 (OP)
20
No real book right now. I have no idea what to read. Nothing seems appealing. I start falling asleep when trying to start most books. I wish there was something as addicting as manhwa/webtoons I could read.

>>24824312 (OP)
37

Mistborn
Its great. I like the magic system. I like the setting. I have on complaints, and I don't get the hate. Maybe I'll see it once I get deeper in. I read The Emperor's Soul at the beach over the summer. That was the most mediocre book I've ever read, but Mistborn blows it out of the water. Hopefully Sanderson can keep his shit together in the next books.

31
Metamorphoses, Garth translation
Wonderful. The Bacchus stories are peak. Ovid is a bit weird, though, in what he spends time detailing. I'm on Book 7 and Jason just slayed a dragon, the whole thing being covered in 20 lines. Then he asks Medea to make a potion of youth for his dad, and it's like 300 lines.

23
>The Sound and The Fury
This is the first Faulkner novel i’ve ever read, and at first I found his style to be quite disorienting, especially the Benjy section. But it has been quite an interesting experience, piecing the story together from little snippets of memory feels as if I am wiping away the dust from a mirror to reveal the surface beneath, Benjy and Quentin’s sections especially, being able to contextualise old information when new information feels like a fun reward

30
Chekhov’s selected stories
He is a wonderful writer. I’ve enjoyed every story so far save one. Looking forward to reading more by him.

>>24824550
nice, anon. Quentin's section is peak writing for internal turmoil

>>24824312 (OP)
43
The Crossing
Sobbed at the end of the first section. Been slow burning for a while but can see it building and expecting to sob again

>>24824527
>Hopefully Sanderson can keep his shit together in the next books.

28
Wuthering Heights
It's quite good, devoured volume 1 in about two days. Going through 2. A rather violent and dismal novel, though, and so far I don't think it'll exceed Jane Eyre for me.

>>24824573
IU detected

32
The Two Towers
I'm enjoying it. The Frodo and Sam chapters are boring, but everything else is engaging.

>>24824370
Funny because I'm
33
Crying of lot 49

I read inherent vice and now I'm reading this. His writing does pull me in but I feel like I'm maybe missing things. Idk inherent vice (the movie) I love and have watched many times but I still feel like I'm missing things from that, same with that book. It seems like that's sort of the point but also not. I really like his writing style and I think some of the bits that PTA emphasized from IV by making them Joanna Newsom voiceovers that I basically have memorised, crying of lot 49 is making me realise how much I enjoy his style.

>>24824312 (OP)
43
Three actually: Varieties Of Religious Experience by William James
The Kings Two Bodies by Ernst Kantorowicz
Books Of Blood volume 1 by Clive Barker
So far so good on all three, but I have to read more so I'll say later

>>24824312 (OP)
>lust provoking image

>>24824312 (OP)
29
Norwegian Wood
I like it, very comfy read.

>>24824312 (OP)
22
Struggle for Empire
Learning about the Carolingian Empire in the 9th century is a lot of fun. I've read about Charlemagne but never his son or grandsons. I thought the civil wars would be worse but it's only really (so far) the wars under their father Louis the Pious and right after he died. Then so far 15 years of an uneasy peace.

44
The Mirror and the Light
Loving it, thought the pacing is much more glacial than Bring up the Bodies

38
Soldiers Live (Black Company #9)
I really enjoyed this series more than I initially expected. Not far into the currently last one, seems a bit tame so far but not dull.

What book is she reading? It looks interesting.

>>24824312 (OP)
28
Swallows by Natsuo Kirino
very different than the other three things I've read from her. Grotesque is still a cut above the rest. Enjoying it for what it is, and it's funny in some sections.

25
Bel-Ami by Guy De Maupassaunt
Very fun read

28
Dracula
Kinda fun read. A tad slow at the start. I wasn't expecting it to be in a 'journal' format.

>>24824370
Huh
>28,
>Also lot 49
It's fun but also feels like very much a product of its time. Pynchon being aware of mk ultra as it was happening is interesting but the story and characters are just shallow enough that they feel like a college freshmans gateway to postmodernism.
It's also really hard to not read Metzger as Lionel hutz
7/10. Don't regret it at all but it's less than I expected.

>>24824312 (OP)
>33
> Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O'Connor
>I'm Catholic and I think this woman was incredible. She deeply understood the faith. She talks about grace in a way I haven't seen before. You can ignore all the bad reviews on goodreads saying she's depressing. They don't get it.

>24
>God Emperor of Dune

I’m enjoying it with the awareness that it’s not actually a great novel like the first book in the series. It’s a little masturbatory at points but the concept is awesome and some of the dialogues between Leto and Duncan/Moneo are cool

>>24824527
you're a 37 year old guy reading a book for teenage girls kek

>15
>Sefer Yetzirah
Born siberian, interested in reading religious texts in the case I go to america, chose this book via zupancic's recommendation. Overwhelmed by how easy to read Deleuze has become (especially his essay on foucault; things liek this should NOT be happening, it is not a good sign for the health of society).

>>24824312 (OP)
this image is sus

>>24825125
He needs to be more popular. I have a big volume of all his short stories and they’re great.

>31
>picrel
>it's good lol. Love the kitties and the dreamlike quality

19
The Red and the Black, Stendhal
I'm only 60 pages in because uni is busy, but it seems right up my alley.

23
Nothing currently, just finished Wuthering Heights and I'm not sure what to read next.
I really enjoyed Wuthering Heights and it became one of my favorite classic books, the writing, the atmosphere and the characters were all very good. The relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff was well written, and I really, really liked how unhinged Heathcliff became. The ending and the parallels between their relationship and Cathy/Hareton was also very sweet, and I enjoyed the romance plot a whole lot more than I expected to.
I got interested in more Gothic stuff after reading WH, so maybe I should read Dracula or another gothic novel next?

32
A Feast For Crows

GRRM is underrated as a technical writer. Also the prologue is multiple puzzles wrapped in each other and I bet almost nobody noticed it beyond the obvious.

>>24824312 (OP)
47
Thomas Legotti - Grimscribe
kino weird horror lit.
i like legotti's writing style as he is a master of description and he makes it easy to grasp what he is trying to convey in the writing without explicitly spoon feeding you dense narrative.

>>24824312 (OP)
30
Bakemonogatari
Love the name, first time reading the novel. The dialogues are funny.

>>24824312 (OP)
Those feet

28
Wuthering Heights
Having a good time with it, pacing is a bit slow at times but it’s the nature of the book so I’m vibing with it.

>>24826134
Damn didn’t see you posted this before I posted mine but yeah any other gothic literature recommendations would be great.

>>24824312 (OP)
25
Letters of William S. Burroughs
The man was based.

>Age
30
>Current Book
Shadow Ticket!
>Thoughts?
It’s fast and fun. Very music-centric. Idk I can’t help but shake the feeling that it’s a clever R*ddit person’s impression of Pynchon. All the elements are there- shitty songs, conspiracies, nods at the supernatural and all that- but the level of writing is considerably lower than the others I’ve read (which is only CoL and GR, and a bit of Against the Day). The bit in the beginning of GR where he traces Slothrops’ lineage and discusses Fate- the pointlessness of the war, comparing the arc of a rocket falling to the hand of God, the hand of Providence- it literally moved me to tears the first time I read it. There’s nothing like that in Shadow Ticket.
>Everyone sleeps with everyone and the good guys are just mirrors of the bad guys!
>It’s all very complicated and there’s converging and diverging interests and spies and crime!
Again, it’s fun. But he doesn’t give you a whole lot to chew on- and the fact it’s so devoid of substance made me skeptical that he actually wrote it. The critics of “there’s not much there” are actually right, but not for the reason they believe.

>>24824312 (OP)
>42
>The Blood of The Fold
It's OK, I guess. Third book in the Sword of Truth series, so things are getting a bit repetitive and it's also really easy to guess what's going to happen forget on in the book. I think street this in hoping to go back to the Expanse series. I'm currently on book 3 of that one as well.

37
shadow of the torturer
there's probably a lot going over my head but it's not as daunting as i was led to believe. maybe it helps that i read the latro series and wizard knight before.

>age
none of your business
>current book
none of your business
>your thoughts on it
none. of. your. fucking. business.

>>24824312 (OP)
45
Mirror's Truth (Manifest Delusion #2)
Fucking loving it, I can't have enough of it

>>24824312 (OP)
>33
>Joseph and His Brothers, by Thomas Mann
>Just over 100 pages in and I highly regret starting this even though it is objectively good.

I had a lot of issues with The Magic Mountain as well, but found myself being overall very impressed after I was done with it, despite all of the unbearably slow passages spread throughout.

>>24826286
I haven't read a lot of them, but I made a list of books I do want to check out.
https://youtu.be/z4c8I0S9kho
This video is very good, and it basically tracks the evolution of the genre from Ann Radcliffe until more subtle gothic influences in works like And Then There Were None and 1984. I want to check out works like The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. Also I've heard good things about Michael McDowell's Blackwater series.

>>24824390
>might as well take the will of god
dangersouly close to fatalism there

>>24825569
kek

>>24824312 (OP)

40
Paradise Lost

I'm enjoying it, but I'm having trouble parsing through it. I've read classics like "Frankenstein" and others in less than a week, but I'm only halfway through this, and it's already been two weeks. Not sure why I'm struggling.

>>24825233
>> Everything that Rises Must Converge
cocks rising... oh no they are converging

>>24826586
bro really waited 120 seconds and solved a captcha to post nothing

>>24824312 (OP)
32
Schopenhauer in general
The Will moved me to to hate women professionally.

>>24824312 (OP)
>age
22 ans
>current book
"De Profundis" ~ Wilde
>your thoughts on it
Fundamentally arresting; a sort of rapturous pause.

>>24827217
Based

>>24824312 (OP)
>32
>long drawn non-fiction articles on city states, a burgeoning technocracy, global governance etc.
>

>age
31
>current book
"The Girl Who Played With Fire"
>your thoughts on it
Overall I like the series, the second one started off strong considering it's crimi-slop but I'm struggling to keep reading it regularly. Overall my weakest reading year in the last decade so far.

>>24824312 (OP)
21
Anna Karenina
A little too good. I think I peaked in my literature experience too early

20

V - Thomas Pynchon
phantasmagorical and epic. I love the globetrotting tintin feel it gives, plus the tenderer moments.

Philosophy as a Rite of Rebirth - Algis Uzdavinys
have only started this, so cannot make any judgements, but it's interesting so far. I am very glad I know a lot of what he is talking about, or at least the greek part of things.

Collected Writings of Plotinus - Thomas Taylor
very difficult because of how old it is, but its the best translation. you need to read it very closely to understand what he is saying, though.

Greek: An Intensive Course - H&Q
dropped this and will be replacing it with Mastronarde when it comes in the mail. Mastronarde is apparently more rigourous in his grammatical explanations, yet crams less information in each of his chapters.

C Programming: A Modern Approach - K.N. King
I need to make a living some how. this textbook definitely deserves the reputation it has.

>>24824312 (OP)
25
Eyeless in gaza
I really like Huxley's prose but I'm reading a pretty bad translation, which makes me want to quit >inb4 read in the original language
I borrowed it from a friend, only if I switched to digital

When did /lit/ users become so old? God damn

25
Raven Rock by Garrett M. Graff

Pretty good. Not nearly as dry as it could be and very informative.

>34
>Gravity's Rainbow
>pic related

23
Nothing
I am depressed

22
How to win friends and influence people

25
the brothers karamazov
I'm up to the last part, so far I see why the book was hyped, but I didn't feel like it for the first part, I liked crime and punishment more through like a movie.
definitely TBK is a different sort of book I hadn't really tackled, since you get the perspective of many different characters

>>24824553
I want to read it as russian slop when there's no other "masterpiece" I am interested in, just for the vibe of Russia and whichever gem might be in it. P&V translators have it so I'll definitely will read it.

>>24827112
just your average /g/ privatard at work

>>24824312 (OP)
20
Old science fiction magazines
Very interesting to skim through. People at the time were very obsessed with Orientalism, Egypt, etc. Many of the writers in the magazines had eventful lives that met an end in WW1 or WW2. Outer space exploration was a major fixation too despite nowadays no one really caring. Overall it's just sad to see how much more forward-thinking and vibrant people were in their art back then.

38
Crime and Punishment
I do read some classics, but I've neglected Dostoyevsky up until this point. I also went in entirely blind, and still don't know what to expect; I'm only ~6 chapters in, but I'm able to enjoy it from the onset thanks to the setting, and the pacing is better than I thought it'd be.

Before this I read Celine's Journey to the End of the Night, which may be my favorite of the year.

>>24824312 (OP)
>34
>The Citadel of the Autarch
Well, I literally just finished the 3rd book so I haven’t started this one yet. I imagine it’s more of the same, but with proper resolution that explains the story properly.

I really love the characters and I am perplexed by many aspects of Severian’s thoughts and actions, especially with regard to his obsession with height and his promiscuity. It amazes me that the story always manages to throw these wild gut punches that catch me off guard even though I feel like I tend to predict the events before they happen. Keeps the story oddly fresh. Not to mention the prose being so refined.

Anyway, kinda makes me feel like I should make more effort to get laid these days. Been neglecting that aspect of my life for a few years now.

>>24826437
Oh sheit yeah me too >>24830523. Or at least I did the other day. Story’s pretty somethin innit.

29
Ulysses
its pretty good

>>24824457
You aren’t reading any of these books. Anyone who has ever posted in a stack thread bought the book a year ago, spent five minutes browsing it, got bored and left the book on their nightstand.

>>24829756
this clinical shit with using people's names and asking them favours is formulaic and unnatural. watching popular TV shows like Gilmore Girls and copying their most charming and human attributes is, apart from actually being social, unironically the best thing I've done for my social skills.

32
Picrel
Bought it a couple years ago when visiting Matewan then meant to read up on the matter more for a long time. Boy am I disappointed. The hype around the event has always suggested to me the real implications of the air force getting called on civilians for the only time in US history but this account relates that the miners basically gave up once they were expected to shoot at army men instead of local private detectives because gawrd blessh uhmerica. Then they got railroaded in the courts and none of their labor demands because of course they did.
The author (with a seemingly jewish name) also goes to insane lengths in pointing out every possible time a black person was involved so as to paint some kind of multiracial workers‘ coalition which is pretty funny. There are stretches where every other page will have a sentence to the effect of: "Stretchers carried away an injured miner, who was black."

Damn this board is dead as shit lately.

22
Caesar and Christ by Will Durant.
I’m enjoying it so far. Though I already know of a lot of bits and pieces of information I have read so far from just watching YouTube videos.

31
Dune
Way too long, way too much yapping. I liked the tone of the Denis films and wanted to start the books. Also I dont like that Alia killed the Baron.

>>24824312 (OP)
42. Picrel. Savagely mogs his contemporary Dickens. I've read Bleak House. It's like that but wittier. Great characters. Hilarious digressions to the reader like "and this is what that previous chapter would be like if a masked highwayman broke in."

>>24824312 (OP)
31
Moby Dick
I think it's pretty funny so far. I just got to the first time Ishamael does a whaling excursion, and it goes tits up. He's just going around to everyone complaining and asking about it.
"It's normal for the boat to get flipped and for us all to almost drown and actually Starbuck is exceptionally careful when it comes to harpoon captains and I'm probably going to actually die from this?"
"This is true"
"Oh. Come Queequeg, we will be rewriting my will."

The first like 40 chapters have been so light and comedic with a simmering Ahab hiding in the shadows watching, waiting, refusing to pass butter to poor butterless Flask, and suddenly he bursts out on the deck, hammering his gold doubloon into the mast. He shouts to the crew that their true objective is to hunt that loathsome alabaster whale. To the ends of the Earth and through all four seas, he'll chase that Moby Dick until he has made true the prophecy he writes today. He'd strike the sun if it insulted him, and that corkscrew blow-hole, deformed jaw-having, wrinkly foreheaded whale FUCK will rue the day it stole his leg from him. And then lil Pip did a jig with his tamberine.
This book is really fun, and every line is written so dramatically. I recommend it.

>38
>The Theater of the Absurd
It was a good overview of absurdist plays, also learned some things about the various playwrights. The book kind of meanders a bit too much. Got some good suggestions for other writers though the book.

>>24826437
>>24830538
>>24830523
BOTNS is a really fun story to chew on. There are so many understated details that elevate already exciting moments/locations into things that can really only exist in your imagination. Wolf does so much for his story by withholding details and obscuring events, and I just absolutely love rereading his books. I hope you guys like the rest of the story, and if you do please consider reading Book of the Long Sun and Book of the Short Sun afterwards. Long Sun is great, but might be a little too long, but it's required for Short Sun which is probably my favorite part of the story. On Green's Jungles is such a great book.

32

Les Enfants Terribles
Delicious prose, if a bit on the flowery side. Cocteau describes child behavioural psychology in terms of primitive myth, ritual, the group a kind of insular mystery cult whose inner workings are imperceptible to the adult world. It's an interesting way of portraying childhood as a nascent form of humanity as yet unmediated by the trappings of social conditioning.

19.

>Foucault's Madness and Civilization
>Lacan's The Ego in Freud's Theory and in the Technique of Psychoanalysis
>Brecht's Collected Plays, Vol 3
>Dummit and Foote's Abstract Algebra

D&F is breaking me. Foucault's style (in translation at least) is splendid, as always. Madness and Civilization isn't as immediately striking as Discipline and Punishment, yet. I need a secondary source for Lacan. Brecht is loads of fun, and Ralph Manheim is always a great translator.
Dropped Alfred Jarry. Don't get the hype with him.

>>24825556
Without knowing the book I call this based

26
The Exorcist
It feels like I'm reading detective pulp fiction, but the killer is a demon. Needless to say, it's very fun.

28
Technofeudalism: what killed capitalism by Yanis
Just about halfway, he makes some good points, some of them very hamfisted to align with feudalism.

>>24824312 (OP)
27
A Series of Unfortunate Events 8
So far the series has been pretty good. Started reading it because I was looking for books I could give to my little niece to read but I actually find the story pretty engaging.

24
Ender's Game
Boring

>>24833110
I just read the first one, and was entertained. Would you say they get better, or worse?

>>24832451
I still need to read M&C and I'm already 43 but I'm sure I could grasp the concepts. only thing I've read about Foucault was an intellectual biography of his.

>>24827423
>pic
those who knows

>>24833237
I think that so far (book 8) the series has remained consistently good, if anything the biggest criticism I have is that the books in the first half of the series are mostly self-contained and it isn't till the end of book 6 that the overall plot starts developing and the mysteries start showing up

38
the road
I wish every book was this easy to read as I'm a retard, really enjoying it

22
Buddha's Little Finger
Fantastic. The confluence of late 19th/early 20th century Russian literature/culture meeting the early Russia Federation with the mixture of schizophrenia, philosophy and humour feels like it was tailor made for me. Also, the fact that one sentence can have someone saying one of the most profound things you've heard in a long time followed by a person being called a shithead is the exact kind of literature I love. That's why 2666 is one of my favourite books and this one will probably worm it's way up to a high ranking in my taste if it keeps up the quality (or gets even better)

27
Emma
Absolutely dogshit, boring, what’s the point of this book?

>>24824312 (OP)
21
Goethe's Italian Journey
Best shit ive ever read. Slightly better than Faust because i don't feel like im missing out by not reading in German. Goethes little adventures and boundless knowledge on all things beautiful is a very interesting read

>>24833110
>>24833294
HAH yeah I read the first handful back in elementary school but our little classroom library didn’t have all the books so I never finished them. I loved the jim carry movie at the time, and I found the books to be equally as interesting. Before/around that time I read a lot of magic tree house, hobbit, and harry potter. I believe after that and going on in to middle school I began to read the hunger games and the more boring school-appointed options like lord of the flies.
YA literature can be quite good

>>24826136
Do the books stay consistent? I read the first one 2 years ago, found it to be really good. It wasn’t as grotesque and edgy as people made it out to seem

40
Sister Carrie
Has its moments but an overall slog

>38
>Spinal Catastophism
>I wish there was more of it, theory fiction I mean. I specially like how it ties to representation and thus AI latent spaces. I'm also getting into efilism. But the anti-natalism in the book is probably not coherently argued, it's just a sentiment. Someone else will do it better

>>24828524
I dumped the plaintext of this thread (32000 character, which is a fair bit) and had it parse out the ages, which looks good. I like that it immediatenly calls it "/lit/ style thread", even though you were the only time "/lit/" was mentioned.

As for your question, I'm afraid I'm also here, on an off, since the 00's. I assume some people are here forever and it will spread out out more and more. The pic has more of an overview. I would have expected it would look more like a Gaussian but it does seem like the boards are also being feed with zoomers from the bottom.

Technically, next to spinal catastrophism I’m also reading some more elaborate textbooks on regression models. Shit's cash, as I remember people used to say at one point.

25
Emma by Jane Austen
Just started volume III and so far one of my favourite novels of all time

32
Equal Rites
I am not too far into it but it has been okay. It isn't hooking me the same way the Rincewind books did.
>>24825730
It's a shame Lovecraft didn't do much fantasy stuff. I liked this one.
>>24833110
That series was my palate cleanser after heavy reads for a year or so until I ran out of them. I loved it as a kid and they still hold up pretty well.

39
Bible
The old.testament is way crazier than I thought. I liked eclesiastes.

>>24824312 (OP)
FEETA

>>24834089
Thoughts on Granny Weatherwax? She was always my favorite of Discworld's main protagonists.

>>24824370
I haven't read Lot 49, but what I have read of Pynchon does just read spiritually surface level fiction. It's intriguing and well crafted, but it doesn't really go beyond that. I have not read Gravity's Rainbow yet though and that is his masterpiece.
>>24824312 (OP)
32
Shadow Ticket
Fun read, but nothing special.

29
the main book by stirner (i don’t recall the title now)
it’s my second non-fiction book, i guess pretty good, sometimes overwhelming

>>24824312 (OP)
>32
>Dungeon Crawler Carl
It's slop, it's not making me a better person, and it's fun to read

29
2001: A Space Odyssey
Clarke was a prophet.

28
of mice and men, would love to fuck curlys wife
going to read devils by dostoevsky

>>24834191
Granny is fun. Most of the laughs I have gotten so far have been from her and I like her relationship with Esk.

>>24834237
Must be depressing to be a writer and have an adaptation utterly overshadow your work

26
The Mezzanine
I like it. Its sort of mesmerizing. I guess this is what being deeply autistic would be like.

>>24828524
It's widely known that zoomers don't read and the only ones who do are women

25
Pre socratics fragments
Very crazy man you wouldn't believe it but you should know for being you need thinking and vice versa

>>24832425
Nice! I'm gonna read Waiting for Godot next.

first time i made these threads and it didn't even come close to 200 replies. bad omen

>>24824312 (OP)
26
The Last Darkness
Uh... kinda liked it. short and to the point , a story that mixes unreality with the reality of a crazy woman dissatisfied with her marriage (she married her cousin, lol). Basically Madame Bovary, but if all the lovers and infidelities existed only in her imagination, because she can’t attract any man’s interest (she tries) and in the end, she resigns herself to spending the rest of her life with her husband.

>>24834492
>going to read Devils by Dostoevsky
You're probably aware of this, but you might want to read a bit on the political, spiritual climate of Russia in the mid-19th century (Orthodox Russian Christianity vs. atheism, Slavophilism vs. cosmopolitanism, nihilism, revolutionary groups etc.). It'll make that book way, way easier to understand. But this is a topic that Dostoevsky already covers in his other books although to a less literal extent.

>>24837926
I only ever posted here from time to time but I'm trying to commit as it encourages me to read and write more.

>>24824312 (OP)
19
Just finished Infinite Jest

I'm troubled because I keep seeing people try to make schizo theories about the truth, meanwhile all I did was just read the book and enjoy it. Am I a midwit for thinking everything we need to know of the story is written in the book?

>>24824312 (OP)
A different kind of animal by Robert Boyd , 28.

>>24832426
i'll check those sun books out, thanks. i'm only finally branching out to these other fantasy-laden authors, like those from the inklings or mentioned by them, such as MacDonald from Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories." I want to stay with religious authors thoughbeit.

39, War and War

Around halfway through, and have just hit the first really sustained brilliant passage. Makes sense now as a sort of bridge to Seiobo

>>24833439
Agreed. Loved that one

.>>24838200
I think you've got it.

26
Kolyma Stories

One of the best books I've read that I haven't seen discussed here. Great kaleidoscope of the human experience against the evil of systems. A poetic and at times life affirming representation of existing and life despite everything. Makes me appreciate my own life's problems and triumphs. Builds own my reading of Sasha Sokolov's School for Fools and Between Dog and Wolf (both masterpieces that tackle something similar).

>>24833445
Was gonna read this after watching the adaption with Anya Taylor-Joy and Mia Goth. I thought it was great. Is it as satirical and goofy as the movie makes it out to be?

24
Hegel's "Introductory Lectures on Aesthetics"

> Just wrapped up grad school and am unemployed, so I figured it would be as good a time as any to read Hegel
So far I'm interested in the way he's looking at art and its relation to other spiritual acts (especially considering it as a specific form/expression of consciousness), but I'm not very convinced of the linear dialectic narrative he likes to present of history. Specifically, I find it dubious that art was the first major development of consciousness, which was subsumed by religion then subsumed by philosophy.


Nishida's "An Inquiry Into The Good"

> I've been sitting in on a Zen Phenomenology class at my old university as I hunt for a job, and this has been our current book.
I'm split on this book. At times, he feels like he's onto something, especially with the chapters on Pure Experience and The Will. At others, though, he just feels like a Hegelian. I know Nishida intentionally never identified his work as Buddhist, so I think I'm just wrong for trying to view him this way. I find D.T. Suzuki more compelling, I think.

23
The question of lay analysis
It's a fair introduction to Freud

>35
>In the Miso Soup
A brisk horror novella under 150 pages. A nice casual read for spooky season.

>>24824312 (OP)
21

The Samurai

I haven't finished it, but my two gripes with this is that early on a character given no prior introduction is mentioned and then focused on for several pages, as if he was established since page one. The second is that because it's translated from Japanese, some parts are too vaguely described to understand without guess work. Overall it's not bad.

>>24838756
grow some eyebrows foid, goddamn

>>24839756
that's what makes her cute

>>24838756
A minor thing, I really did not like the colour palette of the set design, way too bright, giving a fake feeling.

The story I enjoyed.

>>24840097
>way too bright, giving a fake feeling.
I thought it was appropriate. It didn't take itself seriously. Light hearted and almost satirical.

24
Congo Mercenary by Mike Hoare
This is about the golden age of mercenaries in the mid to late 20th century. Mad Mike is one of the coolest men to ever exist. Policed Africa and btfo'd Che Guevara.

>>24824312 (OP)
31
Traitor General
Started getting into WH and Gaunt's Ghosts seemed like a good entry point. It's been a fun read. I'll probably delve into the heresy books after I'm done with these. Maybe do some Necrons first, since they get a lot of praise.

>Age
22
>Current book
Armadilhas da Mente by Augusto Cury
>Your thoughts on it
It's alright.

40
Augustine's Confessions
Both relatable and incredibly foreign

28
Savage Detective
Fucking great. Started today and I'm like 10% in and I'm loving it. My best friend has been talking to me about it for about 2 years and he got another one of our friend to get it about a month ago so I had to get it too. I was stuck with On The Road which was pretty dull desu. I've been interested in Bukoswki since this sociologist girl I was talking with sold it to me, but idk I still have this concept of him being all dick and balls which can be fun for a couple of chapters at most

>>24824555
Finished the Crossing and honestly, meh.

Can you imagine being this guy's kid? Fuckin hell I wouldn't wish that on anyone

30
Odyssey
Poor Telemachus...

>>24824312 (OP)
35
cold storage
seems fine... i watch the trailer for the movie and I think yeah it would probably be a good movie, but the book probably is better, and its ok 8/10

34
The Shards
I didn't like it on first reading at all, now I'm on my second reading and I enjoy it quite a bit

>>24838756
I liked that shot with Anya's big arse.

26
You must change your life
uhhhh I enjoy it but at the same time I don't think I really understand whats going on.

>>24824312 (OP)
>34
>The Remains of the Day

Only halfway through it but so far I like it since it deal with themes like missed opportunities in life. I am currently not in a good mental space so this books hits harder than it should, I guess. It is also written very well and I do love the pacing of the story. Those little present day actions that trigger the memory of an event in Stevens' life. It is a nice little book, so far.

32
Autobiography of Malcolm X
About finished, enjoyed it a lot. The first half, when he's a Harlem hustler criminal, reminded me of the early parts of Neuromancer. I had heard about the Yakub stuff, but somehow didn't realize that all came from Nation of Islam. From watching clips of X on YT I thought he seemed smart, but when I learned that X was 100% into Nation of Islam for like 12 years I'm like damn, how smart could he have really been? It's the most whacky, schizo lore ever. His mom and brother did go insane, so perhaps some insanity just ran in there family. Basically, X was a Muslim pol schizo, but with good oratory ability. I can't help but like him.

25
Confucianism: A Modern Interpretation
I'm really enjoying it, it could be a little less CCP shlongsucky (there is no need to call Taiwan "Taiwan, China") but the linguistic breakdown of Chinese characters and explanation of Confucius' students is very apt and rarely found in translation imo

>>24824370
Yep, got the same vibe from it when I read it a few years back

>>24824614
I liked Varieties of Religious Experience a lot, his quotes on alcohol and its ability to transcend the moment really spoke to me

>>24829750
Me too, I'm reading at a glacial pace these days

>>24840308
One Lent I'll read this...

21
Critique of Pure Reason
beyond the fact that my book-related educational responsibilities make me want to end it all, Im in a constant state of inquiry as to how I can successfully utilize its content to pave a way towards Marxist Materialism. Great work of an autist beyond that

>>24824312 (OP)
30
parzival
its good. the asides eschanbach make are pretty funny and how he begins each book is inspiring. didnt have any idea 'fairies' in arthurian lore are supposed to be elves or something until i looked it up. gonna read faust afterwards and tickle my hegelian pickle and give phenomenology after that.

>>24824312 (OP)
32
Decline of the west
his blatant misrepresentation of Kant's philosophy and his constant harpoon style of evidence gathering kinda soured the experience, and reveals Spengler as a midwit. Also not a huge art guy so those chapters were a slog

>>24824312 (OP)
30
The Problems with the Other Sacraments Apart From the New Mass
Once I finished The Destruction of the Christian Tradition by Rama Coomaraswamy I knew I have to read another complementary work. It begins the same as the first book, explaining what is the Magisterium of the Church, difference between ordinary and extraordinary Magisterium etc. It is more a compilation of his essays on Catholicism and the corruption and advent of the New Church, falsely attributed as Catholic. I like it so far because he tackles different angles for the same subject and want to see if he says things in more detail than in The Destruction of the Christian Tradition.

22
Rrethimi i Shkodres (The Siege of Shkodra) by Marin Barleti
Enjoying it thus far. Barleti gives a pretty good historical backdrop to explain the events that led to the siege. He is kind of like the Albanian Herodotus with how he depicts the size of the Ottoman army and the resolve of the besieged (though he does glaze the Venetians too much even though they basically sold out the city in a peace treaty, but this is understandable since he is writing from Venice and they did grant him and other refugees from the city asylum). Friar Bartholomew is probably my favorite personality of the book.

40 plus.
Villette by Charlotte Bronte.

I'm almost finished and have mostly enjoyed it. Lucy Snowe's philosophy on how to deal with life as a plain and poor but bright young woman alone in the world somewhat agrees with my own. It's fairly bleak but survival often is. If Charlotte Bronte's experience in Brussels is anything like what's depicted she's tougher than I thought.

What I sometimes found hard going was the frequent lapse into French – which, as I don't understand, often broke the narrative rhythm for me.

Recommended for Bronte fans (especially those who know a little about Charlotte's life and Belgium adventures) but this is no Jane Eyre.

old
sanskrit plays (bhasa)
honestly pretty offensively bad. greek plays obviously use coincidence/fate but they use it to reinforce themes that mean something. these sanskrit plays seem very, very preoccupied with novelty. even an elizabethan comedy tends to make its misunderstandings and antics more deeply resonant than some of the stuff in bhasa. sometimes it does make for an affecting situation though, the dream of vasavadatta has its nice qualities. but it also focuses on inanities and novelties instead of bringing out the emotion of the situation. tbf there are similar flaws in aeschylus, except he at least sacrifices dramatic effect for moral argumentation, which while dull at least has a bit of substance. this is literally just slop a lot of the time. hope some of the later dramas will be better but i'm not too optimistic.
really wanted to like it too. oh well, learning experience.

>>24824457
>American Indian Stories
haven't read this but you're cool anon

>>24824533
things like that are super interesting to me sociologically. i'll feel the same way about bhasa once i finish it, it's just disappointing rn. in the case of ovid, think about it a little more, there's probably an interesting reason for it if you care to discover it.

>>24838441
what passage? i remember liking the part about the cleaning ladies mopping the floor in the airport or whatever it was.

>>24824312 (OP)
50, Authority (second time through).

Vandermeer is really good at striking a balance of being extremely weird and vague, while also leaving plenty of breadcrumbs for the reader to piece things together. If anything, he maybe goes a little too far leaving hints. This second book in the series really scratches the x-files itch.

His writing style is surprisingly clear and ingestable for the intentionally 'weird' genre.

>>24826332
I was really disappointed in Shadow Ticket. The Secret Agent is a significantly better novel. Conrad brutally mog'd Pynchon.

>>24824312 (OP)
19
The crisis of the modern world
Mid

33
The secret teachings of all ages
currently at quarter of the book. interesting stuff, on some stuff you get overloaded with information, while on some other i would like to read more of.
would appreciate if someone has a recommendation on something similar in this fashion

>>24845928
>Pankophile
WTF

>>24824312 (OP)
>lust provoking feet
What's your end game?

>>24848062
chewbas aren't my only hobby, brother :D water u reading??

>33
>Plato's Dialogues; Midsummer Night's Dream; Sufi Path of Love: Spiritual Teachings of Rumi; Marx's earlier papers
>all kino