So, say I really like the stranger by Albert Camus. The story itself was a bit dry and bland while I was reading it, but for some reason it really stuck with me. If I was looking for something that has that sort of shock wave of intellectual effect in your brain, but was also more engaging to read, what would you recommend? And you don't have to say it, I confess to being a pseudo intellectual.
>>8219779
>I confess to being a pseudo intellectual
It shows.
If you want a real brainfuck and insight into the truth of things, read these:
>Mein Kampf by Hitler
>On Women by Schopenhauer
>Ride the Tiger by Evola
>The Culture of Critique Series by McDonald
Read these and you'll know how the world and people work. You'll be redpilled in no time
>>8219792
agreed! whatever you do don't start with the greeks, its a joke, just read some nietzche and get all existentialist brother. We're all gonna make it, us geniuses.
>>8219792
>Mein Kampf by Hitler
THE TRUTH INIT WILL SHAKE YOU
WE ARE BREAKING THE CONDITIONING!!! GET YOUR FLORUIDE FILTERS NOW!!!! FUCK THE KIKES!!!!!!!!!!
Which of these should I buy and why?
>no Barthelme
>no Munro
>no Hemingway
>no Crane
>no Chekov
Besides, the books it features by Kafka, Borges and Cortazar are far from their best.
The answer to your question is Lydia Davis, OP, but this is a sucky chart
>>8219759
>Lydia Davis
Thank you, I don't really know much about short stories. I hope I'm not getting memed though. I was gonna get the complete short stories of kafka, I actually have that in my cart on amazon right now. Waiting til the time is right to buy it.
I hear that invisible cities is really deep, I think I'll pick that one up as well.
lit, am I fucking alone in feeling this way??? I started like 5 books and I have this tendency to start books and not finish them because I get bored. Does this happen to other people too? I often start a book and feel like it has nothing of deeper value that I am going to be walking away thinking about, so I put the book down because I don't want it to become a chore that makes me hate the book.
>>8219648
>am I fucking alone in feeling this way
yeah, kid, you're the only person in the history of the world that has ever felt that way. congratulations. good post.
>>8219648
Just read short stories.
>>8219663
like what?
do you write in your mother tongue? i find it almost obscene, both the experience and the postwriting reading. i can only write in other two languages i know, it flows quite smoothly in them. on the other hand, i can only have full philosophical discussions in my 1st language. i can have them in the other two, but a conscious effort is needed.
what about you anon, whats your relationship to language? and to writing in particular?
>>8219634
Can read/understand 5 languages but exclusively speak/write in based English.
>>8219634
>do you write in your mother tongue?
no, for the same reasons.
>>8219634
What's your mother tongue?
Beckett prefered writing in French, can't think of any other famous writers off the top of my head though.
Can someone pretty please with a cherry on top explain why the hell people like these books?
Even real writers talk about them like they're hot shit. I do not understand. Is this a giant meme or something? I had to immediately stop reading when the Mary Sue protagonist with flaws like "some teachers hate him because he's SO good at stuff!" and "oh he's brash which can get him into trouble sometimes that little rascal!", with color-changing eyes and bright red hair, who is not only the greatest, but the youngest to ever be so great- and...
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I gave up on the book when Denna was losing at cards.
I thought
>huh, this is refreshing
>normally she's an unbearably clever Mary Sue
>it's nice to see she's not perfect at everythi...
Oh wait, it was all a clever ruse. She was just lulling everyone into a false sense of security. Denna wins!
Fuck it.
You have to talk about them while knowing what they are.
If we're talking fantasy stories for young ones, it's an alright book. If we're comparing it to literary fiction of high caliber, it's absolute garbage.
It's like reviewing OG Maco's 'U Guessed It' and saying it's shit because it's nowhere near the quality of Bach.
If you like this shit as a teenager or a kid, it's okay; but if you are an adult who would be able to comprehend something beyond a children's book and still read this type of...
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>>8219577
It's a Bard, a performer, telling his life's story. Very definition of an unreliable narrator. That's why he's so perfect.
Having said that, I still hate the story as well. Denna and Kvothe are fucking insufferable. I like the prose though, the guy can write.
Read Starship Troopers. first book in a long time that I really thoroughly enjoyed..
are any of Robert A. Heinlein's other books worth a read
>>8219559
Stranger in a Strange Land and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress seem like obvious recommendations.
I like how this one and Stranger in a Strange Land are basically polar opposites.
Nigga really shifted his views.
People really like to criticize Heinlein for his ideological preachiness. Honestly that's kind of what I like about him.
Anyway The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a real good one.
>by which
>upon which
>over which
>thusly
>off of
>had had
should i read this or infinite jest?
Both or neither.
>>8219442
this
>>8219442
No.
What is some good fiction about growing up?
Particularly thelewdaspects
>first love / kiss / fuck etc.
>not-so-innocent interactions with siblings
>puberty-related stuff
>burgeoning sexuality
>wincest (or the regular, soul-destroying kind)
>inappropriate adult "friends"
Generally, all the stuff that Cinema is afraid to do, and only literature can do...
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Joyce's A Portrait.
This.
A comfy af coming of age story with a sympathetic main character (especially if you were a loser who fapped to his sisters when you were a teenager) plus wincest.
And it's written by a patrician writer so it has dat prose.
I'll start.
>>8219384
The God Delusion
Is Mistborn worth the 1700 pages?
>>8219382
No. Don't make the same mistake I made. It's cringe-worthy with all the YA romance and anime-tier plot. He desperately tries to make it quirky and subversive but it just doesn't work. Don't even bother with it.
>>8219382
For 1700 pages you could read Gibbon.
>>8219382
Nope, it really should have been about 400 pages tops.
Hey lit, sorry if this isn't appropriate but I had a question for y'all. Are contractions always grammatically legal? I've had a history teacher take off points for using the contractions "don't" and "shouldn't" in a paper. I've tried looking through sources for grammatical and writing rules he had sourced. Chicago Press manual of style 1906, but could only find a definition of a contraction which makes me think its entirely legal.
Please help me understand senpaitachi.
contractions are grammatically legal but not really formal enough for a paper
>>8219213
>grammatically legal
Don't use contractions on a college paper, *especially* not a history paper. Grammar prudery is all most history professors have.
Can /lit/ give me some good right wing writers/books that are not on this list pls?
Yukio Mishima
>>8219133
evelyn waugh
CS Lewis
Are there any qt girls that actually read novels of substantial merit that aren't feminist prudes? All the girls on my campus read shitty YA and distopian novels. Ever met a girl that really loves to read good books, /lit/?
I know one.
She is a Greek lit student and actually knows some of the language.
>>8219001
She cute?
>women
.
..
and but so
w/r/t [1]
[1] jest