>want to seriously get into literature
>think about the massive amounts of novels, stories, poems, and plays that have been written
>get overwhelmed by the amount of books you have to read
>tfw give up and read the same pleb books over and over again
Upvoted and subscribed.
>want to seriously get into literature
meaning
>i don't really like reading but i want to read anyways to look cool to my internet (or real - wait do i have real friends?) friends
>>7972176
This.
If you seriously want to get into literature you need to read. Start with the western canon. You know you're not supposed to read ALL the books, right? You know literature is not a competition, right?
>get overwhelmed by the amount of books you have to read
>tfw give up and read the same pleb books over and over again
That's like (but not really) being thirsty but instead of drinking water you only drink your urine because, you know there's the oceans, right?
>>7972164
start small dude, pick one book you've heard is good even if its a "meme" book or cheack on some "must read" lists and just read then that will be one more book you've read, remeber it only takes a few hours of time to read and average 300 page book
>books you have to read
You don't have to read anything if you don't feel like it.
>>7972164
Start by reading classics. That way you can be sure the selection isnt trash.
Just read Shakespeare.
Whenever I have reading block I turn to Shakespeare.
>>7972164
Just read something that's relevant to you. Something with actual characters, that's trying to get at some truth.
Don't read so that you can win theoretical arguments that you might have with people, don't read so you can drop subtle hints that you're Very Smart And Cultured™. In almost all social circumstances, talking about books will make you sound like a dick fuck.
Measuring your self-worth on how well-read or cultured you are is every bit as stupid as measuring your self-worth on how beautiful you are or how much money you have.
>>7972902
>I hate the people who complain how hard it is to find good books.
Do people say that? It's really, really not. I have a to-read list overflowing.
>tfw you will die before reading everything you want to
>>7972176
I don't want to do this for e-cred. It's just that there's this wonderful world of storytelling that I want to explore but it all seems to big and overwhelming.
>>7973225
It's not about storytelling, faggot. Go read Game of Thrones or Harry Potter if that's what you want. Literature is about the ideas and the prose. You're coming at this from the wrong angle. Anyway pick some books from this chart and dive in.
>>7972925
To be fair I never see it on /lit/. But definitely. I always ask these people if they've finished reading Shakespeare and Dante and James and Proust and everyone else who's been famous for hundreds of years. They get mad and rightly call me an asshole, but frankly they deserve to be ridiculed, for exactly the reasons you gave. My backlog is already years long, so to wring your hands because you can't find anything good to read is pathetic.
>>7973531
You /lit/-fags are way too narrow-minded. You are too focussed on novels and shit but most of you ass niggas could not answer what a derivative in a mathematical sense is. The whole knowledge inherent to the natural sciences and mathematics escapes your perceiving, yet you pretentious asshats claim to be educated and that you undrstand the world.
>>7973618
I majored in physics and economics at university. Eat shit.
>>7973618
ooh I can I can
>>7973618
And you can't spell 'focused', even on a device that has spell-check.
>>7973647
I can spell it in enough languages not just English like you fag.
>>7973618
>You are too focussed on novels and shit
This is a literature board, mate. I'm not that anon but all I am seeing is one egotistically fragile poster trying to call out another here.
Both of you should grow up.
>>7973642
The fact that you needed to say this reveals that you are very, very insecure about yourself. I fell with you. And btw you are an econ major? lmao
>>7973673
>The fact that you needed to say this reveals that you are very, very insecure about yourself.
>btw you are an econ major? lmao
The self-awareness levels of some of these posters... Wow...
>>7973328
>this is what your high school English teacher actually believes
>>7972219
It's like wanting to fuck every pretty girl but when you go out you realize there's way too many and too little time you get depressed then go home and masturbate and call it a day.
>>7973705
>tfw I have no problem chipping away at the western canon, but at 23 years old remain clueless about girls and have totally given up trying in favor of letting despair wash over me whenever I see someone pretty
Currently reading 1984. Still have Paradise Lost/Regained and The Grapes of Wrath.
Just bought Moby Dick and Siddhartha today.
Monday I'm buying: The Rebulic, The Art of Rhetoric, Beyond Good and Evil, Invisible Man, Inferno (maybe all 3), The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Leaves of Grass.
Is that a good starting list for really trying to study/read literature and improving my grasp on the subject?
(Not OP, but feel like this was as good a thread as any to ask)
>>7972869
>Shakespeare
>reading
I started with American Psycho and Crime And Punishment at 15. I then read the Jim Morrison biography No One Here Gets Out Alive and sought out many of the authors that he was inspired by, particularly Nietzsche. I'm now 28 and consider myself fairly well read. Just start with a good book and one thing will lead to another. Read interviews with authors that you like.
You should probably actually enjoy reading before you "get into" literature.
>>7973829
Bump
>>7973829
Each of those books will take you a few weeks to read if you're not speed reading for internet points.
It's better to go by schools of thought than to hit yourself with such a wide range (you're reading 1984, political, but still story based. Jump into the Republic then see if the philosophical direction is more interesting or the political one, there are also many references to tragedies so go with what if that makes sense).
It's really hard to be digesting Orwell's ideas and then start on Hemingway or Siddhartha, and you'll likely forget many good ideas in the process.
>>7975253
>Each of those books will take you a few weeks to read if you're not speed reading for internet points.
More like a few days.
This isn't a video game. The point isnt to get 100% completion. If you like to read, then just fucking read.
>>7975294
*pushes up glasses and lets out a Hmmph*
>>7975253
Well I've done spotty research into these books and topics already and along with many other religions and philosophies to help coincide with my own hypotheses and understandings. So I have an underlying knowledge of what I'm getting into already. It is specifically why I chose those works, because I am getting to a point where I need more specific backing structure into my own ideas.
I mostly chose them, and was asking about them, because I'm very rusty with reading and don't want to dive into more difficult or stylized books that I wouldn't understand well. (I'm holding out on Paradise, and I'm going to read those listed before trying the Bible, Ulysses, etc.)
So I'm not so much asking about content but more for them being a good footing in a growing ability of literary comprehension.
>>7975253
Also, not that it's very important, but I'm picking up Whitman, not Hemingway.
if you don't even enjoy reading, what makes you think you can become a good writer?
with that said, you don't need to read X amount of books to become a good writer. you should read culturally relevant books though so you can engage in the literary conversation tho
>>7972164
>I will never read the entirety of the Western Canon. Therefore, I will not try.
The problem here is that you forget that each single book you read can greatly impact your life.
>>7972164
It's about the journey, not the destination bro. Just pick one book and try it out. If you like it, awesome. If you don't, try another. After a while you'll have read plenty.
>>7972164
You don't "have" to read everything. Read what interests you from classics to contemporary. Read synopsis' or excerpts from certain works and see if you like what you read then go on and dive in. The great thing about books is that you're not a timed trial, take as long as you want and just enjoy it.
>>7972164
You don't need to read everything, you don't need to read some big list of great importance, you simply can't do that in your lifetime. All of the lists you will see simply serve as entry points. Eventually you should follow your interests and read whatever entertains and enlightens you.
