/lit/erary confessions
tell us nasty things about yourself so we can all point and laugh
I don't enjoy reading. I just do it to feel better than other people because my life is beyond pathetic and I need to feel superior in some way.
I got into reading through unauthorised biographies of musicians and singers.
I can never throw away a book even if I hated it or it's YA shit that was given to me. I have a shelf full of low-tier literature which causes me to wince whenever I walk past it.
I like reading but I'm often reluctant to read books that have more than 300-400 pages as I know it will eat up most of my time and by halfway I'm just looking at my shelf at what I want to read next and then what I want to read after that, then after that, etc.
I love Joseph Conrad but I will never read Nigger of the Narcissus anywhere other than my bedroom and even then I can't keep it on my shelf just in case if somebody thinks it's some Mein Kampf-tier /pol/ shit.
>>7964058
I'm unable to articulate or properly describe books I've read.
I'm an architect and I've never been to Italy. It's saddening.
>>7964083
You got some shit to get over dude.
Anyway, Ive only recently began to like and enjoy reading. Before I would speed through stuff to say I finished another book
Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby is the most faithful adaptation of said book.
I steal from libraries only because I feel bad about buying more books when I have so many unread ones.
>>7964124
But this makes no sense
surely you'd feel worse because you're just adding to your collection of unread books, it doesn't matter if you're buying them or stealing them
I have readReady Player One
It was also a translation.Forgive me Father for I have sinned
i haven't read anything before 1800
I want the ironic meme culture to vanish.
I go to book stores to sit down, read, drink coffee, and then steal one or two books.
I like Ann Beattie.
I enjoy Tao Lin.
I don't like Goethe.
>>7964058
I like reading novelizations of scifi movies I like such as Star Wars and Alien
I have never read a book in my life yet I spend my days here shitposting and pretending I know what I'm talking about. Whenever I get into a discussion, I go to Sparknotes for help. I've won all the arguments I've ever had on /lit/ so far.
>>7964256
>I've won all the arguments I've ever had on /lit/ so far.
so who wants to let him know...?
In my own works I usually have a minor character be my self-insert and have a female character fall in love with him only for one of them to die and emotionally scar the other.
>>7964218
>apologizing for liking a Beattie, a good author
Only on fucking /lit/
I've written for multiple anime visual novels, some of them available on Steam.
>I hate Post-modernist writing
>I don't think anything good has come out of the British Isles, literary-wise
>Russian literature is the best
>It's better to read a lot from a few, than few from a lot
>Women have destroyed literature in the last 50 years
>Literature is never coming back
>Faulkner was the first in a line of really pretentious faggots, and it's a shame he wasn't stomped out early on
>>7964290
idk, I've only seen hate for her on this board so far.
![grid-cell-5151-1407875654-5[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/X9MM9QX.jpg "grid-cell-5151-1407875654-5[1].jpg")
>>7964246
>>7964293
>>It's better to read a lot from a few, than few from a lot
fucking this
>>7964293
>I don't think anything good literary-wise has come out of the British isles
>Who is Oscar Wilde
>>7964259
You.. you do it anon. It's best if he hears it from you
I hate David Foster Wallace, true hatred.
I've never read any of the Greeks.
The only Shakespeare I've read is Hamlet, and that's only because I studied it in school.
>>7964355
Do you have any interest in Shakespeare or The Greeks? They're worthwhile
>I think Faulkner, Goethe, Pynchon, DFW, some bits of Joyce, Sartre, Camus, Cervantes, Virgil, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and most poets of the world, to be honest, are all unimpressive writers.
>Good poems are one of the greatest form of literature, but they are extremely rare, and yet sometimes people who are not very famous or don’t have a great body of work are capable of writing single pieces that are greater than anything famous poets ever wrote. One example is Wilfred Owen's poem - Dulce et Decorum Est.
>If I could save only one book between the Bible and The Complete works of Shakespeare I would go for Shakespeare without a moment of hesitation: his poetry is so great and his enormous talent so rare that it is much more important than the cultural significance of the Bible.
>>7964290
Beattie is as garbage as Lin.
>>7964407
Yeah, I'll get to them eventually. There's just other stuff I want to read first.
I've recently read Bulfinch's Mythology, so I do have a bit of second-hand greek experience.
I like to smell my own ear serum
I like little girls.
>>7964440
you will love Leon The Professional
>>7964448
I already do.
>>7964218
>apologizing for not liking Goethe, a smug, talentless, reactionary, overrated prick
no need to, /lit/
>>7964428
Then I wouldn't worry about it too much, anon. We all have to start somewhere and we all were at a point where we hadn't read the greeks or Shakespeare. Just always remember to enjoy yourself, my man.
>>7964440
They make you feel so good?
>>7964070
This is most of /lit/
>>7964493
hah. Yes.
I've never read any philosophy or politics but I write articles for sjw magazines with the hope of sabotaging them without their knowledge, I read wiki entries on Marx and Engels and watch lectures to seem like a I know what I'm talking about.
>>7964512
That's actually pretty cool, youre like a secret agent or something. It also seems like a potential goldmine of humor if you incrementally make the articles more and more ridiculous.
I am halfway through an English Literature degree and the last time I thoroughly enjoyed a novel (I, Claudius) was over two years ago.
>>7964519
Haha yeah I have considered that if I were to crank up the heat very slowly they I might be able to get some real loony shit out there before they know what's going on.
>>7964083
dude if people don't know Conrad as a classic writer, no matter how "problematic" the book's name is, they need a fucking slap
>>7964070
this is not a confession, this is why people write
>>7964147
>i didn't realise what i was reading until it was too late
i thought about killing myself after that fat heroine was revealed
>>7964463
Found the pseud pleb
Some time back, I used to read in the subway for two reasons:
>Read the book
>Hope that a cute literary girl notices me reading among the sea of people playing shitty cellphone games and walks up to me to start a conversation. She can then be impressed with what I'm reading and my thoughts on it and maybe we exchange numbers.
I used to do this while being COMPLETELY aware of just how pathetic this fantasy was. I'd be unable to focus if a cute girl would come and stand next to me in the train because anticipation and acute awareness of her would constantly be on my head.
>Is she looking in this general direction?
>Can she see the title of the book I'm reading?
>Better tilt the book so that she can
>Oh wait, haven't turned the page in a while, she'll think I'm not reading but thinking about her. Better turn the page
>Fuck I actually hadn't read the previous page
>Surreptitiously flip back
>hurriedly read the page
>flip again
>breathe a sigh of relief. now i have some time to think about her presence near me
>Damn I think she's peeking into my book. why the fuck does this particular part of the book not have something patrician on it? fuck my luck. wait. she's not looking anymore. maybe just contemplating how to start talking to me
>she's still got her earphones on. (seems to be texting chad)
>she's still looking away and doesn't seem to be showing an interest...oh, here comes her stop. oh well, back to reading now.....is that...is that another cutie? maybe this one will notice me. nope. she's with chad2. can they both just stop chatting and giggling I'm trying to read here ffs.
I would reach home having shamefully read 1 page which I'd reread anyway.
More recently I've started enjoying books more so I don't care enough about women around me in the subway and just read for the pleasure of reading. But a part of me still hopes that some cute girl comes over and starts a conversation on seeing me read.
>>7964428
how did you like Bulfinch? i just started him today, and i chose him over Hamilton.
>>7964767
this is pathetic but I will reply anyway
no one will start a conversation with you if you're reading. Interrupting someone who's reading is rude and no one does that.
>>7964792
Obviously. you don't think I haven't thought of that in my utterly pathetic state? Reading without looking up is a rookie mistake. I used to pause after a few pages as if contemplating and would look up. Or to check if my station has arrived or not. So that others would get a window to start a conversation. You really underestimate the extent to which I can think like a pathetic lonely person.
>>7964767
Put the book down and say hi in this situation.
No one wants to be the conversation starter and you're the one with ground to make up cause you're a spaz.
>>7964810
I don't think it's pathetic desu. Every time I read in public I'm overcome with self-consciousness, with how I appear as "the reader", with what other people think of the book I'm reading. I think about how I'd summarize the book if someone asked, and then I get anxious when I realize that I don't actually have a summary for the book, that maybe my reading has been entirely superficial, that I'm not a reader at all but some cuck who only wants people to THINK he reads so he can feel superior.
I don't read much in public.
>>7964814
>I'm overcome with self-consciousness, with how I appear as "the reader"
Yes. Exactly this. If I'm lucky the book will be good enough for me to immerse myself into it for long enough to stop being so conscious about this.
i bought a bunch of books that i couldnt understand and ended up giving Leaves of Grass to my dads kebab friend
>>7964767
I've posted this before but a couple of years ago when I was riding the train home from uni for winter break, a qt asian girl approached me after I set my book down and said "I love that book! It really changes your perspective on pedophiles." I ended up losing my virginity to her in one of the train bathrooms and never saw her again after I reached my destination.
sry for the blog post
I read literature and poetry over anything else for aesthetic value alone. I'm too ignorant to pick up on most every reference or literary device and so on from books so I read them just for the pleasure of reading, not so much in a "omg bookz xd" or serious academic pleasure but absorbing all the wonderful ways writers can make beautiful passages out of language. My language skills are dogshit so I can't really "translate" my intuitive knowledge of something into written or spoken word without it sounding stilted as shit, if that makes sense, which makes me envy great writers so much. I can't hold a conversation for shit about the contents of books with anyone beyond the most vapid observations and I have the feeling people think I am pretentious for my "elitist" taste, so I usually read up on what the hell is going on with the deeper meanings or allusions or whatever the fuck from secondary sources just so if I ever have to talk to someone about a book they think I have some idea of what the hell I'm doing.
>>7964767
> can they both just stop chatting and giggling I'm trying to read here ffs.
I know this feel. Not the rest of your post, only this. I get it's a public space, but if they're so loud that I can hear them three carriages down on the same train then maybe they're just so retarded they can't understand the difference between an indoors and outdoors voice.
>>7964767
he looks like a qt i'd fugg his asian boipussi desu
I remember finding this in a Value Village when I was 14 or 15, and the crease in the spine led me to a passage where the main character is getting some mad pussy from some chick. I immediately bought that book and used it to jerk off for the next few years until I discovered hardcore porn. I think I still have that old copy lying around somewhere, with its jizz-stained pages and scent of decade-old adolescent juices.
>>7967302
dude if it's actually stained with cum why didn't you throw that shit away wow gross, remind me to never go round yours for a hardcore reading marathon sesh, faggot
I actually believe that writing fanfiction can be good for writers.
It allows you to play around with style and character in an established setting. Plus I just think everyone needs a creative thing to do
>>7964147
My flatmate has that on a shelf. What's so bad about it? I've never encountered it before.
>>7964083
yknow throwing away a book isn't the only way to stop owning it
some might say it's actually the worst
>>7964415
Owen wrote a lot of great poems besides Dulce et Decorum est though
>>7964058
I clean my fingernails with the edges of my books.
That's the only really nasty thing I can think of.
>>7967329
> guy says "I can never throw a book away"
> guy responds saying "throwing away things is baaaaad"
At least you tried to function in a conversation???????? nice
>>7964124
yknow libraries _let_ you take books, with a v simple protocol, you faggot
I've been told from various sources including anons here that my writing and ideas are pretty decent. The thing is, I rarely read, and even when I do, its mostly trash. I just don't find much enjoyment from it. Most of my inspiration comes from vidya and sometimes animu/comics. I also got a scholarship to a top 15 US university and entrance to their writing society, which I turned down. I eventually ended up at a small state college in my hometown.
>>7967334
and you fuckers all wonder why you're single.
>>7967341
If you're more interested in vidya and comics, have you considered trying to write in those mediums? Makes more sense than going for straight up prose if you're not so keen on the conventional novel.
>>7964415
Fair enough about Shakespeare and The Bible
>>7967334
Gross, are all your books pages black along the ridges?
>>7964767
this seems like something I would do lmao
I hate that you cannot be nearly as snobbish with your choice of music as you can be with literature.
Even though I study Italian and French at uni, I often don't like to read prose in those languages since I'm such a fast reader in English that I just feel really slow and stupid when reading in a foreign language. I will not read translated poetry though.
I can count on one hand the number of poems (in English) that I think are any good from the past 60 or so years. I'm less virulently opposed to modern stuff than I was, but I still really think most poetry produced today is incredibly shit.
>>7967324
From what ive heard its just nerd glorification, which is whatever, but it comes off as forced and tacky
>>7965987
this is more normal than you seem to think
>>7964767
if you had catalogued all these grills into a book, you'd at least be a new sartre if not a flaubert. i say do it again.
>>7967319
lol that's canon faggot every heard of specs
>>7964058
I really like Stephen King. I'm not embarrased about it either, but seeing most posts here on /lit/ I'm guessing it is something that would trigger most posters here.
>>7967337
lol dumbass
I just really wish I could have a conversation about classic literature every now and again with somebody I knew who was also interested in it. Talking to my friends about literature is a no-no since they don't read.
>>7967385
haha lol epic nice
>>7967337
maybe because "confessing" you can't throw a book away implies guilt for not doing so????
>>7964293
>I don't think anything good has come out of the British Isles, literary-wise
That's a big claim. Care to elaborate?
>>7967397
It's literally just a bunch of "wibbly bibbly bing bong" bullshit for gaylords
>>7967334
>>7967401
Dracula and Frankenstein are pretty good. You don't like those?
>>7964058
happiness isn't productive for now.
>>7964120
hahahahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAHHAA
not saying much desu
>>7967334
shit is this not acceptable/normal
gonna reevaluate some life decisions/nail products
>>7967352
I don't have a talent for drawing, and I'm not too keen on letting someone else handle my characters visually. Oh well
>>7967401
Riiiiiight.
>>7964256
Why don't you get a more constructive hobby, like reading?
Just one of the perks you'd get out of it would be to move away from discussion with the endgame being "winning", and instead to engage in discussion with the endgame being winning knowledge =)
i jerked off to a video where a guy pisses on a book a lady has been reading
i mean he's also pissing on her, but the pissing on the book was the real appeal
>>7964058
When i write i go back and forth between writing and editing. Stupid i know. I'm starting to think there is no perfect language except for very simple matters. Especially when you write about spiritual matters as many of the words we use to describe that world can mean so many things and a lot of people have their own interpretations of those words.
>>7964070
Infidel!
>>7967513
Screenplays?
Git gud at drawing?
Or have good content and shit art? It happens a lot, and people seem fairly ready to forgive it if it is artsy in content.
Example: Blue is Warmest Color
Loads of cringe-tier art, but by leaning heavy on content it's considered great.The movie was still better.
I'd been planning novels for 4 years and not actually writing them before coming to /lit/ in 2015. Then I realized, amazingly, that one should not attempt to write books when they have not read anything but manga. For the last year now I've been slowly reading the classics and learning to appreciate literature for its inherent value. I want to attempt to write again but I lack discipline.
tl;dr I'm an idea guy trying to git gud
