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shirunei posted:Hello, so I've only ever read web serials, science fiction, and fantasy. If I wanted to dip my tow into this real lit thing what would be considered the kiddies pool? I don't want to overload my mind right off the bat obvs
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Mar 20, 2021 06:43
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if you try some lit and don't like something, then you don't like it, it doesn't really mean anything, except maybe try it again a few years later. unlike genre, books called 'literature' are all completely varied and different, so if you don't like one that doesn't really say anything about whether you like 'literature' or not, keep trying. for me it was crime and punishment and lolita that really made me think 'okay, this is the real good poo poo i want more of this' and now i haven't read a genre book in almost 4 years once u go lit you don't go back
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Mar 20, 2021 07:04
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i always think kafka's metamorphosis is one that's basic and understandable enough while also being interesting and fun so i always recommend that one
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Mar 20, 2021 08:32
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shirunei posted:Hello, so I've only ever read web serials, science fiction, and fantasy. If I wanted to dip my tow into this real lit thing what would be considered the kiddies pool? I don't want to overload my mind right off the bat obvs say literally anything about what you like or find interesting
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Mar 20, 2021 10:43
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There's all kinds of stuff that, like, won't get taught in lit class but I think is still worthy of being called literature. If the web-serial mood appeals to you, you'd probably like The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, just to pick an example from the bookshelf I'm looking at right now.
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Mar 20, 2021 15:33
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shirunei posted:Hello, so I've only ever read web serials, science fiction, and fantasy. If I wanted to dip my tow into this real lit thing what would be considered the kiddies pool? I don't want to overload my mind right off the bat obvs do you remember any books you liked or especially disliked in high school english class? how do you feel about plays?
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Mar 20, 2021 16:05
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shirunei posted:Hello, so I've only ever read web serials, science fiction, and fantasy. If I wanted to dip my tow into this real lit thing what would be considered the kiddies pool? I don't want to overload my mind right off the bat obvs There's a few options you can follow for an easy path from SF/Fantasy to literature: 1. You can read literary work from within those genres. I made a bigass list here which might be a good start. 2. You can read works of literature that were meant to be accessible: Jane Austen, Victor Hugo, Irish Murdoch, Hemingway, Swift, Graham Greene, Dickens, Shakespeare, Rudyard Kipling, Charles Portis, Zola, most classical literature. 3. You can read sub-literary works that while not all the way are still better than what you'll get in SF/Fantasy: Dumas, Patrick O'Brien, Poe, Greene's entertainments, John Le Carre, Dashiell Hammet, etc. etc. There's thousands of books to choose from here. A great way to find them is to read interviews of your favourite genre authors and note their faves and influences who don't write in the genre. Just remember if you don't like something classified as literature that's a fair response, put it down, and find something else you do like. There's a challenge to this stuff but it shouldn't be like eating gruel. fez_machine fucked around with this message at 18:14 on Mar 20, 2021 |
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Mar 20, 2021 18:08
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i agree with cest moi that you all are jumping the gun a bit and maybe we should hear what sort of things they like or enjoy about the other things they have read before immediately dumping a bunch of things on them
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Mar 20, 2021 18:16
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That's what we do, damnit. Somebody new comes in and says "books?" and we just start drawing up lists.
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Mar 20, 2021 18:38
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I've been reading Euripides' Helen recently and the very premise here feels strange to me. Like the whole backstory here of "Lol the Helen that Paris took to Troy was a ghostly crisis actor, the real Helen went to Egypt" just feels so weird to me.
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Mar 20, 2021 18:47
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mdemone posted:That's what we do, damnit. Somebody new comes in and says "books?" and we just start drawing up lists. well yeah but they could google a harold bloom list for that; the point is that even objectively good stuff is subject to taste and some parts of the pool are deeper than others vis a vis the canon so it’s helpful to tailor recommendations to taste much as i want everyone to read the master and margarita that doesn’t mean it’s gonna be the perfect “first grownup big boy book for adults” for everyone
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Mar 20, 2021 18:49
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The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain Siddhartha by Herman Hesse The Non-existent Knight by Italo Calvino All short, approachable good books that won't take ages to read and are really engaging.
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Mar 20, 2021 18:57
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Declan MacManus posted:well yeah but they could google a harold bloom list for that; the point is that even objectively good stuff is subject to taste and some parts of the pool are deeper than others vis a vis the canon so it’s helpful to tailor recommendations to taste Harold Bloom can take a flying gently caress at a rolling doughnut, I just wanted to make that clear.
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Mar 20, 2021 18:59
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Hey guys I just impulse bought The Recognitions in the new NYRB edition (no, it's not my third copy. why would you ask that?) ...Wanna do a thread?
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Mar 20, 2021 19:45
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every goon should start with a confederacy of dunces for obvious reasons then they should proceed to down and out in Paris and London then death on the installment plan artism fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Mar 21, 2021 |
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Mar 21, 2021 15:35
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mdemone posted:Hey guys I just impulse bought The Recognitions in the new NYRB edition (no, it's not my third copy. why would you ask that?) That sounds cool, I read the first section on a transatlantic flight a decade ago and never picked it back up for who knows what reason. I'd be down to get back into it.
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Mar 22, 2021 01:42
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ya blew it we scared him off back to his web serials
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Mar 22, 2021 06:40
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derp posted:ya blew it no, im reading The Old Man and the Sea. thanks thread
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Mar 22, 2021 06:59
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Another TBB success story.
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Mar 22, 2021 07:09
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fez_machine posted:There's a few options you can follow for an easy path from SF/Fantasy to literature: why isnt stanislaw lem on your big list though, thats the most obvious one
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Mar 22, 2021 13:33
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i like harold bloom btw
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Mar 22, 2021 13:35
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I recently finished reading Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo. I found out about it from TBB, but I don't remember the thread. It was published in 1955 and is a foundational text of magical realism, and was a huge inspiration to Gabriel García Márquez and Jorge Luis Borges. For those unfamiliar, the novella begins with Juan Preciado traveling to the town of Comala, Mexico to honor his mother's dying wish for him to confront his father, the titular Pedro Páramo. When Juan arrives, he finds the town of Comala suffocated by remnants of memories and misfortunes, a literal ghost town devoid of life, where the past bleeds into the present. The narrative shifts from Juan into memories/stories told by the dead, which tells the story of the evil Pedro Páramo and Comala. It was disorienting and surreal. It's short, and the imagery was haunting and vivid. It seems like a fun title to revisit later and see how the ideas and themes change on each reading. I really enjoyed it. Franchescanado fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Mar 22, 2021 |
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Mar 22, 2021 13:48
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Shibawanko posted:i like harold bloom btw *updates spreadsheet*
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Mar 22, 2021 14:04
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I finished Michel Houellebecq's Serotonin and Yukio Mishima's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion recently, and what struck me was the difference in how quickly I refuse the protagonists' worldview. I think I have not read novels with such an intensely personal main characters. Serotonin's protagonist is supremely annoying to read, ugly and vulgar. By the time of his first misogynistic analysis about the worth of women being about their holes, I'd already stopped trying to sympathize with the person. Pavilion's, however, drew me in quite deep into the novel. I can see his point, his pride in deliberately trying to not be understood. At some point, I can even sympathize with his obsession with the Temple. What made me break out of his charm was the point where he stated to a prostitute he'll be famous within a week, and the woman laughed. In response to this, the protagonist instantly assumed by not believing in his words, the woman believed in literally nothing, that she is devoid of belief, that she would not believe an earthquake happening in front of her. It's just an absurd response, like a child lashing out. Really highlights the fact to me that the protagonist is sick, and all his beautiful observations of the world are as skewed as anyone else. Turns out what would make me sympathize with a nihilistic sexless bastard with violent impulses is just some amazing descriptions of natural wonders. I always felt that the descriptions of nature in Mishima's novel and in say, haikus always hit me hard because I'm a Japanophile. I came across a rec list on Tumblr of books with 'a tropical feeling' and decided on Derek Walcott's Omeros. Can someone recommend another novel with beautiful descriptions of nature, preferably in English? Thank you.
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Mar 22, 2021 14:13
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shirunei posted:no, im reading The Old Man and the Sea. thanks thread that's a good one; if you're looking for more classics you can breeze through pretty quickly i recommend The Pearl by John Steinbeck, The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy (get the pevear and volokhonsky translation from 2009 imo), and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Phillip K. Dick (this one's scifi!) artism posted:every goon should start with a confederacy of dunces for obvious reasons haven't read confederacy in a long time; it did help me get into sports and prevented me from being a turbo goon in high school so y'know, thanks mr. toole sorry about your depression
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Mar 22, 2021 14:58
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toanoradian posted:
the peregrine
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Mar 22, 2021 16:03
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Tree Goat posted:the peregrine this. i read it for the second time a few weeks ago and it could be my favorite book, and is definitely the most beautiful book i know of
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Mar 22, 2021 16:08
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mdemone posted:*updates spreadsheet* i dont agree with his canon specifically but im not against the idea of a canon, or at the very minimum a selection of what we can think of as good and bad, even if good isn't always the same as old kids reading harry potter and twilight in school and their teachers going "eh, at least they're reading something!" makes me kind of sad
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Mar 22, 2021 16:34
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omeros is so good, and so's the peregrine i'm reading blinding by cartarescu and there was a stunningly beautiful description of a village getting too high on poppy seeds and neglecting their dead and then the dead rise up and murder everyone. balkan lit since the 90s seems to be going through a pretty incredible phase of being really ridiculously good
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Mar 22, 2021 16:46
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Shibawanko posted:i like harold bloom btw I enjoyed the Book of J and have Jesus and Yahweh waiting on the shelf for when the mood strikes. Have not read The Western Canon however. I should have bought it when I saw it at the annual fundraiser booksale 
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Mar 22, 2021 17:32
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CestMoi posted:i'm reading blinding by cartarescu and there was a stunningly beautiful description of a village getting too high on poppy seeds and neglecting their dead and then the dead rise up and murder everyone. balkan lit since the 90s seems to be going through a pretty incredible phase of being really ridiculously good yeah dog
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Mar 22, 2021 19:12
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Tree Goat posted:the peregrine Oh, it's non-fiction! Well, could pair well with Omeros' fiction, I hope. edit: Oh, there's an audiobook read by David Attenborough. Nice. toanoradian fucked around with this message at 23:40 on Mar 22, 2021 |
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Mar 22, 2021 23:36
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Shibawanko posted:why isnt stanislaw lem on your big list though, thats the most obvious one honestly? I haven't read enough Lem to remember him when I was making the list. Coincidentally, his name did come up in an unrelated context just before I read this post and I was like yeah I should have put Lem in.
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Mar 22, 2021 23:46
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Read the new Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun, which I quite enjoyed, I think if someone likes his general schtick they'll like it. For something completely different I'm now gonna try Fathers and Sons.
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Mar 22, 2021 23:49
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toanoradian posted:Oh, it's non-fiction! Well, could pair well with Omeros' fiction, I hope. If you want more stunning reflections on nature, Helen Macdonald's Vesper Flights was the best book I read last year, mini poetic meditations on nature and its gradual disappearance in our modern era that reads like poetry. Her memoir H is for Hawk is also very good, and has some great reflections on TH White.
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Mar 23, 2021 03:08
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smug n stuff posted:Read the new Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun, which I quite enjoyed, I think if someone likes his general schtick they'll like it. For something completely different I'm now gonna try Fathers and Sons. I recently read Fathers and Sons, and the foreword was written by an old British professor in 1968. The professor wrote about how driven and idealist Bazarov was, a real rebel out to change the world! Not like all these lazy god dam hippies hanging about London! I can't decide if that foreword was intentionally or unintentionally brilliant.
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Mar 23, 2021 03:54
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Segue posted:If you want more stunning reflections on nature, Helen Macdonald's Vesper Flights was the best book I read last year, mini poetic meditations on nature and its gradual disappearance in our modern era that reads like poetry. ohhh this looks very much like My Kind of Thing, thanks for the rec (even if it wasnt for me)
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Mar 23, 2021 04:28
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I've started The Iliad after neglecting ancient lit since school days and it rips. Back when I read exclusively sci fi and fantasy I loved it when gods directly interacted in the story and it's so much cooler in The Iliad. Call me a monster but I hate the heroic verse and find it very distracting. Hoping it'll grow on me. Also, my desire to read more short stories led me to Dubliners by Joyce and it's exceptional. Have been jumping around in it and my favorite's Ivy Day in the Committee Room. Makes me wish Joyce had written more in that style rather than whatever Finnegan's Wake is (I haven't read it and I'm sure it's good but it's definitely not the same as Ivy Day)
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Mar 23, 2021 13:30
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apophenium posted:I've started The Iliad after neglecting ancient lit since school days and it rips. Back when I read exclusively sci fi and fantasy I loved it when gods directly interacted in the story and it's so much cooler in The Iliad. It's no Joyce, but I think Sherwood Anderson's Winesberg, Ohio is pretty tonally close to Dubliners, and it's a "novel" that's actually intertwining short stories. I also think the novella Ballad of the Sad Cafe by Carson McCullers has a similar melancholy as a lot of the stories in Dubliners. I've also been trying to read Lattimore's translation of The Iliad lately, but it's really just been a few false starts.
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Mar 23, 2021 13:40
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I actually started Iliad again myself after reading some Euripides plays, but I'm going with the Robert Fagles translation after really enjoying his Aeneid in college. Fagles is just very readable IMO.
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Mar 23, 2021 13:50
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