Book Thread

Lumeinshin · 2022-11-06T17:40:17+00:00

This thread is for posting about what books you've been reading or one that has stuck with you since you read it. Think of this as a general book thread, fee...

gingermilk

I was having an idea on what I want to write about next upon walking home last week, specifically the "Lolita phenomenon", so I went to the library and got myself Lolita, Being Lolita, and My Dark Vanessa. My first impression of the books is nothing more than a funny remark: holy shit it is always the literature teacher.

But after seeing so many essays on the internet with similar arguments, I no longer wanted to write about it anymore (<--edgelord moment) since I would be merely repeating what has been stated so many times before. I nonetheless enjoyed these books, maybe not so much for Being Lolita due to its dryness. It's hard to comment on a memoir, especially on those about trauma. It feels like I am a participant in the author's personal life and by criticizing a memoir, I am not only criticizing the text, but also the past of the author that constitutes the text, which is not very...acceptable (?). Therefore I am in a conflicted state of mind on how to approach a memoir.

So yeah I was reading other stuff before this idea popped into my mind. But right now I am focusing on these three :>

histoire

gingermilk
The fact they put it out there into the public opens it to criticism IMO.

Lumeinshin
I stand by my recommendation. Of both lol.

Lumeinshin

gingermilk
I imagine reading those three books must be quite mentally draining? I find I cant read two books at the same time that are too similar.
If you do write something about them i'll be interested to read it regardless, I am not very familiar with them, aside from the whole 'older guy with VERY young girl' part lol. I wouldnt worry about criticising them as people, you can either do it to the confines of the story, or if you think they're bad people or whatever, feel free to think it, most of them are already dead right?

yukarihinata

gingermilk Lolita is one of those books that I have been meaning to read for a long time, because it is often talked about in regards to 20th century literature. I just can't get into it.

DollarBill

I'm working through The Virginian now. Definitely interesting to look at the prototype of what a lot of Cowboy Western tropes would form out of, and its writing definitely shows the tastes of the period. That said, there are some sticky lines in there.

gingermilk
Lolita is one of my favorites! I just love how embellished his writing is. A world apart from someone like Orwell, but it fits Humbert so perfectly.

Red

gingermilk trying to picture the face of the librarian after they see someone taking out those three specific books at the same time lol

I recently read A Confederacy of Dunces for the first time and it's such a great book. Feels timeless in its approach to the characters, particularly I can see a lot of people today finding a connection with Ignatius, the 30-yo-unemployed-living-with-his-mom main character. Really funny, unique book.
"The ironic thing about that program,” Ignatius was saying over the stove, keeping one eye peeled so that he could seize the pot as soon as the milk began to boil, “is that it is supposed to be an exemplum to the youth of our nation. I would like very much to know what the Founding Fathers would say if they could see these children being debauched to further the cause of Clearasil."

Another one I read a couple years ago that I really liked was After the Quake by Haruki Murakami. Really into short stories so it was a great read for me. All very melancholic in their own way, each with its own voice that form a cohesive whole like pieces of a puzzle.

gingermilk

Lumeinshin yeah it can be a bit draining. sometimes it would feel like I am reading them for the sole purpose of using them to build my cringe essay lol
both authors (except Nabokov) are well alive. maybe it's just because I haven't read contemporary novels/memoirs for a while and the style in general feels a bit foreign to me.

histoire I guess you are right. but criticism toward trauma memoirs can be fired back easily since they are there mostly as a "therapy" for the author, but not entertainment for the public. It might just be manipulation of morality that labels anyone who rates them low as unsympathetic sociopaths.

yukarihinata the language is absolutely beautiful but the content is disturbing. I like how it is both a great literary piece that also says a lot about hmm society. it triggered the debate on whether views of the protagonist in a book can also be applied to the author of a book.

Nvkie

I don't read that much nowadays, but I used to. One of the books I read that really stuck with me was Doppler by Erlend Loe. It's a good book, I haven't read it in a few years but from what I remember it was about an old man who retreats into the wilderness right outside his hometown due to the stresses of his everyday life and his failing marriage. It's about the futility of life or the inevitability of death I don't really remember which, but it was written by a Scandinavian so maybe it was both.
What made it stick with me is not it's wonderful prose and heart-rending message, though. I read this book for the first time when I was in fourth grade in order to present it to class for our literature journal, and my teacher gave me an F for my presentation because I interpreted the main theme of the book wrong. I thought the book was about a good for nothing coward who fled his responsibilities because he was week and instead of confronting his demons he chose to hide from them, but my teacher hated that interpretation and said I was stupid for reading a book I was too young to understand.
I fucking hated that bitch, she made the whole class go to counseling multiple times for being "problem children" and "abnormally dumb. She also gave us mountains of homework for no good reason.

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that Doppler was a pretty decent book and you should read it if they're still selling it somewhere. It's short, you won't lose much time if you read it, it can be funny, it's good.

Lumeinshin

Nvkie
it sounds interesting and something thats right up my alley
I had a similar thing with my english teacher reading way into some parts and not others, and then chastising kids for not quite 'getting' her interpretation

Lumeinshin

gingermilk
I'd try not to get stressed about that too much, you just gotta think (well maybe not you, i'll just remind you, dont want you getting a big head lol) you speak two languages and read a metric shit ton compared to a lot of people, you cant be expected to have the utmost respect for literally everyone whos ever wrote anything.

I think its similar to say reading the memoirs of murders, at least in this case you can quite comfortably say they are bad people, but it doesnt mean that they cant be good or even excellent writers with creative vivid imaginations. I will say that it is probably far more difficult to decide whether to apply their writings to them as people, rather than the other way of say, seperating the work from the writer.
Surprisingly interesting to think about tho

gingermilk

DollarBill It's the type of books people either hate or love. I like it too.

dog

im too low iq to read books
Took a moby dick class in uni but dropped it halfway through because I lost motivation

Woland

I tend to go through phases of reading a ton and reading nothing, and currently I'm in the latter. I read a ton over the summer though. I got into Cormac McCarthy through Blood Meridian and The Road and was hoping that his new book (probably the only one in my lifetime I'll be able to actually read day one) would also be excellent. Sadly, it wasn't really for me.

I know it's sort of a meme book at this point, but I really can't overstate how excellent Blood Meridian was. I first tried picking it up in high school and couldn't get more than a few chapters in, but boy am I glad that I gave it that second chance. I don't want to say too much about it other than it genuinely gives Moby Dick a run for its money. The prose is really that good, not to mention the themes it explores. If you liked any part of Moby Dick, read Blood Meridian It's also incredibly violent though so if you're even slightly squeamish I would say to avoid it.

histoire
It's genuinely really funny to me the quality drop off that The King In Yellow has. The first story is a genuinely groundbreaking bit of scifi and then the second is a totally generic romance with a slight scifi veneer. And then it only gets worse. Lovecraft wasn't as perfect a writer as some claim but those who put Chambers above him have clearly only read the one story.

dog Took a moby dick class in uni but dropped it halfway through because I lost motivation

I can't imagine reading Moby Dick that quickly, don't beat yourself up for dropping the class. I read the book at a leisurely two chapters a day and I genuinely think if I had forced myself to read faster I wouldn't have enjoyed it. Don't be afraid to pick it back up and go through at your own pace.

dog

Aside from finishing Moby Dick, I’d like to read The Network State by Balaji and Seeing like a state by James Scott.

The Network State is balaji’s take on a successor to our current concept of a state, centered on online communities. The book came out about a month ago and is trending in my Twitter circles. If I was a reader I’d love to read it.

Seeing Like a State is about how countries like China use technology to understand populations, and the various metrics these technologies create, and how that impacts people. Heard a good deal about it when I was in uni last year and thought it would be interesting to read.

Aside from those, Super-intelligence by Nick Bostrom seems really applicable to a lot of the recent AI developments we’ve all been hearing about. An artificial general intelligence is closer than ever and this book provides a good philosophical basis for related issues, mostly focused on the concept of AI safety. Pretty worthless research topic currently imo but the overall premise is interesting

Nevermeant

Recently read a book called The hour of the star, it’s short but impactful enough for me to remember. Narrative feels like a wholehearted conversation and the story is melancholic but not too heavy. An ideal emotion dose for 2 hours or so.

histoire

Finally took a day to read "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". Shorter than I expected, great though.

Read a novel via Kindle Unlimited called Into the Neon. Aggressively mediocre.

I'm currently reading Snow Crash, which is.... weird, but good. It's one of those that needs to be read to really get because a summary can't do it justice.

theotherpeopleplace

Haven't read as much as I would like, but I managed to get some reading in during a recent flight. I read "Schoolgirl" by Osamu Dazai. I thought the whole thing was heartbreaking. The main character has this immense feeling of loneliness that she struggles with. So many feelings of worthlessness and self-hatred. Despite being a 24 year old man who lives a different life, I felt like I understood exactly how she felt.

gingermilk

theotherpeopleplace I like his other book The Setting Sun. It's surprising how modern the concepts and the stream of consciousness are in Dazai's works that they echo the exact thinking process of mentally troubled or ostracized people nowadays.

theotherpeopleplace

gingermilk Yeah, I felt similar. As old as it is, it just proves how little people change, and how these feelings carry through the generation. So much of the world has changed, but people themselves have changed so little.

Lumeinshin

For this month I am reading The Sailor Who Fell from the Sea by Mishima. I definitely definitely didnt get carried away at the book shop and spend too much money...
It has the usual Japanese "oh this in an odd way of writing/sense of direction" that I've found from most Jap authors aside from Kazuo Ishiguro. I believe he was raised in the UK for a lot of his youth, so he adopts a more 'standard' writing style, at least from my PoV

I have also been listening to the audiobook of The Case of the Damaged Detective by Drew Hayes. I'm nearly finished with it, its been an amusing listen somewhat related to sherlock holmes, or at least the cultural icon of him, but with an odd secret agent/ evil megacorp mind altering twist. I do hope it goes somewhere interesting though, as so far its just been a road trip, albeit one thats been a good listen.

Hope you've all been reading!