>Divine Comedy
>Not funny
Hello? Are you serius? Why is this book so popular?
Dante was a fucking idiot
It's only funny after you get behind the 5 layers of metaphor.
>>8182302
>get past
damn that looks good
What are your /lit/ approved podcasts?
And before anyone begins with BEE's, don't. It's god awful and he's a hack.
In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01drwny
Comfy shit. Covers a range of topics, from Agripinna the Younger to The Frankfurt School to Rumi's Poetry.
>>8182283
This looks like a jackpot. Thanks.
>>8182320
linked you the wrong link, this has all the different subjects (not just culture) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl
What is your favorite sentient non-human being in SFF?
Recommendations
>Fantasy
Selected: http://i.imgur.com/r688cPe.jpg/
General: http://i.imgur.com/igBYngL.jpg/
Flowchart: http://i.imgur.com/uykqKJn.jpg/
>Sci-Fi
Selected: http://i.imgur.com/A96mTQX.jpg/
General: http://i.imgur.com/r55ODlL.jpg/ / http://i.imgur.com/gNTrDmc.jpg/
Previous: >>8177490
Favorite pulp-scifi? Already read Stainless Steel Rat.
So is ASOIAF actually shit or do I need binge read it for the rest of the day to make a well informed opinion on it myself?
>>8180863
>That's the furries in space meme book?
>The furriness isn't more than a few sentences a few books in, unless there's stuff in Legacy (I'm 4/5, mostly through Homecoming). Butchering is mostly confined to pidgin, but it makes an effectively jarring mask over some mindsets that would feel far less convincingly alien without.
Which country has the most patrician culture?
Canada
Best: Italy, France and Germany.
Runners-up: UK, Austria and Russia.
Surinam.
>the protagonist is supposedly the one writing the book
>The protagonist is a sickly young man from a well-off family who kills himself at the novel's climax
>>8182077
The human stain pulled it off nicely
ulysses, technically.
From an aesthetic standpoint, what is the most beautiful language?
Whale
French and Spanish as a close 2nd
attic greek
Is Cyberpunk a dead sub-genre?
I never read Snowcrash, Ive wanted to but it seems shitty and lame
>look at my samurai sword!
At least Neuromancer and other Cyberpunk stories have some subtlety about their Asian fetish
>>8181637
It's more of a satire of cyberpunk with it's over-the-topness. I mean the main dude's name is Hiro Protagonist.
>>8181637
I never read All Quiet on the Western Front, Ive wanted to but it seems shitty and lame
>look at my dying main characters!
At least A Farewell to Arms and other World War 1 stories have some subtlety about their tragedy fetish
How kind of the publishing industry to label all shit books for plebs so we don't buy them by mistake.
>>8181279
i dunno bud they look nice all together on the book shelf
>>8181279
>Not buying a bunch of penguins so that you can have a flock
Hey /lit/, what are some books that changed your perspectives on life and contributed to your self development, maturity, etc.?
You can most certainly recommend entry level literature. For instance, I read "Shogun" when I was really young and up untill this day the whole "shikata ga nai" perspective is still pretty strong in me. Hesse's Sidharta, also made a mark on me. Same with Seneca and Marcus Aurelius.
Thanks!
source un burger ?
>>8181255
2nded
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/nyregion/how-bill-nye-the-science-guy-spends-his-sundays.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0&referer=http://m.facebook.com
>I was legitimately criticized for an offhand remark about philosophy, so I’ve been reading books about philosophy, trying to catch up. The process of science, you could make a reasonable claim, is actually natural philosophy.
>>8181239
>mfw Bill Guy the Science Nye is finally seeing the light
Some day he might even reject the whole study of science. I'll be so proud of him when that happens.
>this guy is 50 and is probably reading plato for the first time
>>8181239
Is William "Bill Nye the Science Guy" Nye a legitimate scientist, or was he basically a proto-NDT?
Recommend me some good literature for improving your writing
>>8180961
Anything by Bellow, Roth, Gass.
To add to this shitty OP, I really want to learn how to do creative writing well, with humor mixed in for good measure. I don't even know where to begin, how the fuck does someone learn to write better? I'm beginning to think that me not being able to be creative with writing is more a symptom of just having a very inactive mind. I don't know!
>>8180975
I'll check them out. Any of their works in particular I should read?
>“As a mother of five, with another one on the way, my ironing board is always up.”
This is supposed to be grammatically incorrect... why is that? The meaning is clear
for one thing a preposition is what it ends with
>>8180737
not a real rule
>>8180733
the sentence has other problems but grammar is not one of them.
for example it is implying that all mothers of five (presumably children) will always have ironing boards that are up. this is not necessarily the case. the children could all have grown up and left home, or maybe they prefer unironed clothes. this kind of problem can be found in almost all sentences that begin "as a <member of subgroup>, ..." which preclude individuality.
How would you grade Vonnegut's work?
reddit gold.
Cat's Cradle was fantastic, Breakfast of Champions was pretty good, and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater was just awful.
>>8180700
You're the reason Big Dave killed himself.
What does /lit/ think of his body of work?
Epic Hitchslap videos aside, I always enjoyed his articles in Vanity Fair and his published essays.
Recommended Hitchens?
His book on the Clintons is excellent.
Many of his articles were very entertaining.
I don't care for his atheism stuff, though he is right about Islam, I think. I'm not sure whether I agree with him about the war in Iraq, but his point's compelling.
I think he was a real English man of feeling, which made him a good journalist.
I say this as one of those "Christian morons" he might have "Hitchslapped"
I enjoyed his memoir, though he spent way too much time talking about whether or not he was Jewish.
>>8180522
fuck off, for any thinking and feeling person it's a big deal
What does /lit/ think of this book?
>>8180376
I thought about reading it back when season 1 of True Detective was out, then I never got around to it and eventually lost interest.
>>8180467
yeah this too except I actually bought it
>>8180376
I started reading it about when True Detective season 2 was done and read the first two stories and eventually lost interest.