I've always been apt to read for fun, but now as I go through the "classics" I'm shocked to find just how little I'm enjoying things. Here are all the books I've read this year:
Macbeth by Shakespeare
Stoner by Williams
As I Lay Dying by Faulkner
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway
Of Human Bondage by W. S. Maugham
The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
Those are just the ones I've finished so far this year, with other books like The Iliad (didn't finish), The Grapes of Wrath (read last year), and even The Wasteland (poem) that I haven't liked either. Out of all of those above, the only one I really liked was The Great Gatsby. I'm fine with not liking some classics, but there are so few classics I do like that I think something might be wrong with me.
Anyone else go through with this? From the lack of results I find on this on internet searches I can only conclude I'm in the minority feeling this way.
>>17186027
>I think something might be wrong with me
There is no objective list of books (hell even activities, anything) which every human being HAVE TO enjoy.
Because enjoying stuff is SUBJECTIVE.
Maybe you are just reading heavy literature which is considered by Wikipedia "worth of your time". Seems like all big novels.
Change genre. I always liked books with action. Like Tolkien The Lord of the Rings. You can try to read some red library, detective things.
Also
>>>/lit/ is a place for your brain gains needs.
>>17186050
I have already read all Lord of the Rings books and they were only okay. The weird thing is that all the people with the same problem as me ones that naturally read Young Adult books or action-heavy stuff or whatnot, but I feel more of an attraction naturally to stuff /lit/ likes.
For example I loved Hamlet when we read it in class and thought it the most profound thing I'd ever read, but nothing has given me that sensation since and I'm scared to go back and reread Hamlet since I'd probably not enjoy it close to as much.
"Real literature" is astounding whenever I can get into it, but it's so hard to get to that point of enjoyment and I have no idea how it comes to /lit/-types so easily.
Classics maybe classics, but writing styles, topics, conventions and the audience has changed so much that it would be super surprising if you sincerely like all of those. Not liking any of those is a bit odd, but seems like your just more honest with yourself and your taste then most /lit/ards.
I loved reading as a kid but nowadays as far as storytelling goes I prefer movies. Just how it is I guess. Try reading nonfiction and books about your hobbies and career as I have better luck with those.
>>17186050
>>17186058
Lotr is technically one book with different parts. That was tolkien's intention at least. Also, /lit/ is really pretentious. /lit/ will suggest Ulysses which is well written but not really interesting.
Are you into movies at all? Is it story you're after or what?
I'm sorry you didn't like lotr, it gave me a fantasy boner.
>>17186087
I'm not into movies at all. It's kinda the same deal with videogames, I haven't enjoyed either for a really long time. The only art form I can get into nowadays is music but that's been waning which is why I want to find some novel to enjoy.
/lit/ isn't so much as pretentious as unreasonably terrible, and act high and mighty while often being as bad as /v/. Still, the novels they praise are also the same ones praised enough to where they're bound to have something great about them.
>>17186095
So what I'm thinking is that you simply can't feel the same way about any art form anymore. The same happened to me as I got older.
It may have to do with you reading something amazing and then that being stuck as your idea of what a good story is, or you just growing old enough for the stories to not affect you as much anymore. You may not ever find anything that lives up to macbeth
For me it was movies and music, now I can't ever get as into them as I used to though I can still kinda enjoy really good ones that are new.
>>17186114
Macbeth is actually kind of meh to me. I loved Hamlet though.
Also, A Moon Shaped Pool was okay. Present Tense was a really good song. I used to browse /mu/ a lot and some of my favorite experiences have been with music I discovered there. I've heard some hobbies get less enjoyable as you age, but I didn't think I would stop caring about most of the things I liked before I even reached college. You only hear about this sort of thing with people who have depression, and even then it's a very strong feeling accompanied by suicidal thoughts and the like. The fact that this sort of thing is never really talked about worries me a little, and I'm half persuaded to go see a doctor about it.
>>17186134
Sorry I meant hamlet.
I was waiting for a radiohead album for so long but I wasn't expecting something amazing. It's good of course being radiohead and better than king of limbs imo but a part of me hoped for another httt.
I have a deep history of depression, and it isn't always a strong feeling. Sometimes quite the opposite, it's strongly devoid of feeling to where you can't even tell anything is wrong until you realize how boring everything is and how nothing matters to you
I'd say there is a possibility of depression for you, given you're losing interest at a young age
>>17186149
I think depression might be with it, but I've never felt an extreme draining feeling or real suicidal thoughts that are common in sufferers of depression. The real fear for me is that it's a result of growing up in a very unstable family, and that I kind of stifled my strongest feelings due to that. No way of knowing really until I can go see a therapist or something.
