What should I read before reading Anna Karenina? I've already read Death of Ivan Ilyich and some basic Biblical stuff but not much.
War and Peace is better.
>>9014357
That doesn't contribute anything
>>9014345
Don't need to read anything before Anna
Tolstoy isn't about allusions so it isn't important. What makes him classic is his style and approach. If you don't know what is going on historically in Russia/Europe at that time just read the introduction or watch a 5 minute youtube video or something.
If you want to appreciate Tolstoy go to the grave of a loved relative and contemplate life for a while.
In your best prose, BTFO him.
he is gay and a loser lol LMOA
>>9014329
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Nietzsche was a Nihilist
Worse than a Jew
>>9014339
Nietzsche was the opposite of a nihilist
Nietzsche: Is proclaiming Nietzsche to be the best philosopher ever a fair statement? Or has it just been said so much that people blindly accept it as being true?
>pic: My book haul, any other recommendations?
>>9014317
>Is proclaiming Nietzsche to be the best philosopher ever a fair statement?
No because he's not even a philosopher, he's a Sophist.
If you want to know why Nietzsche is the greatest he wrote all about it in Ecce Homoalso he tells you that your diet should be fruit based and that coffee is to avoided at all costs among other fun wisdoms
>>9014317
There is no such thing as "best philosopher"
The thing with Nietzsche is that he hitted a certain spot in such an original and prolific way that everyone was like "wasup with that?" and "everyone" wasnt half as intelligent as he was so to this day people still dont get him at all
>No new Penguin classics being released
>Just shitty one-colour reprints rebranded as 'pocket penguins'
It's finally happened folks. OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS triumphant!
Ave true to OUP!
>>9014308
Morrissey killed them
>>9014856
YOU BITCH
>>9014308
>publishing tribalists
Brawling with flick-knives on a street corner near you.
I was recently gifted this book. I've never heard of this guy before. What should I expect? Did you enjoy any of his works?
>>9014245
I enjoyed 'This is How you Lose Her'. This book was fine too.
>>9014263
fuckin LOL I haven't read any of those books yet but good luck anon. Enjoy the sex, I'd recommend not getting too deep too quickly
There's a lot of Dominican history in it, which I found interesting. The way Diaz uses slang and switches between spanish and english was great. I was in the middle of reading several books and didn't finish it. Thanks for reminding me.
It's humorous and can be read in an afternoon if you have the time. It's definitely worth it, in particular for the 4chan crowd since Oscar is a culture mirror for some of the shit on here.
>All ancient Greeks obsessed with anal
>Shakespeare bisexual, definitely pitched
>James Joyce loved doing it arseways to women
>Marcel Proust pitched
>Oscar Wilde pitched
>Nabakov was at least enough of a pervert to have tried it with a lady
Why is there such a high correlation between good writers and anal sex?
>>9014219
over the ages how many pillows were bitten in the name of god-tier literature?
share some of your mum's writing
>>9014219
you're onto something big, OP, good find
I want to read some.
What are your thoughts on him?
Which book should I get first?
>>9014005
read the nigga of the dasracis
>>9014005
Heart of Darkness, then Nostromo.
I just finished Victory and it was the first/only Conrad I've read
It was beautifully written and I enjoyed the overall themes but it felt a little long-winded at points. Are his other works similar?
How does one write a good sex scene? What is your favorite sex scene from a novel?
I think mine is the one from the first chapter of Stardust.
>>9013987
>sex
never gonna make it
>>9013987
There are some posts by J Tellison that can really get you out of the "Rod A Slot B" route that most people hate.
https://www.jtellison.com/lets-talk-about-sex/
Read "A Wise Man's Fear". Everyone on /lit/ unanimously agrees it has one of the best sex scenes ever put to paper.
If I go to my university literature society will I make friends?
Has anyone tried one?
Do they only read Harry Potter?
Is it a good society for assburgs like me?
You won't know until you've met them.
>>9013929
stop being a pussy and go
Worth a try if you think you're capable of not losing sight of why you're there.
But for the average anon the need to make sure everyone knows that he is a certified patrician will overcome the desire to make friends.
BMV at yonge and dundas just got in a giant shipment of NYRB books. the tables and shelves are filled with them. most are $7- $9. I've been going for years and have never seen this many NYRB.
Posting in oddball thread
I don't live in Toronto but good on any person that finds this info relevant.
Thanks anon, I got a reason to leave my house now
>>9013903
not sure if the same goes for all of their locations. but most likely?
Is there a more based character than Meursault? The ending just fucking blew my mind. He figured it all out at the end of the book and took the ultimate red pill, he realized that in the grand scheme of things nothing is really relevant and none of our choices really have any impact in the long run, why the fuck isn't this book mandatory in all schools?
>>9013899
>why the fuck isn't this book mandatory in all schools?
Because "realizing that in the grand scheme of things nothing is really relevant and none of our choices really have any impact in the long run" is a terrible thing to teach children.
>>9013899
Nihilism is a disease
>>9013922
>Implying Camus was a nihilist and this dumb as fuck OP mistook the book to be a validation of his apathy and selfishness, like every other 16 year old
Who are some good writers that /lit/ doesn't circlejerk over?
/lit/ circlejerks over everything, but looking at my shelf and trying to remember who hasn't been flavor of the month recently:
James Michener
Mikhail Yemtsev
Aristophanes
>>9013894
Carlo Emilio Gadda
>>9013894
W. Somerset Maugham
What are the 10 most essential modernist novels lit?
Ulysses
A la recherche du temps
To the lighthouse
The man without qualities
The sound and the fury
Heart of darkness
Lolita
The waste land (not a novel though)
Maybe something by Kafka
Beckett's trilogy
Hunger by Knut Hamsun - aka the OG modernist novel
>>9013757
Mcelroy
Pynchon
Gass
Vollmann
Ishiguro
Joshua Cohen
there you go.
Hello, /lit/ I'm new here
Could you recommend some books? I checked the sticky beforehand and added some to my list
Please recommend books to further my vocabulary and introduce me to the world of books
Thanks
Stephen King - The Tommyknockers
Well constructed bate
>>9013736
>Please recommend books to further my vocabulary
OED
I feel like such a fucking idiot whenever I get to Kant. I get the universalisability thing to a point, but then confuse myself by wondering what extent one's circumstances play into the situation. It's not okay to steal but is it okay to steal if you are starving to death and would otherwise die? How far can you consider the individual circumstances of the situation before it becomes universalisable for anyone named Greg who is 6ft tall to steal bread if it;s a Thursday etc.
I know I must sound like a dolt and I know I just need to read more, but if anyone has any helpful opinions on Kant I'd love to hear them.
>>9013735
Kant himself was lost in a maze of moral relativism. He isn't relevant anymore after Nietzsche.
>>9013735
Would you be OK if everyone whos starving stole a loaf of bread?
If yes then go haed
>>9013735
> but is it okay to steal if you are starving to death
There can be no "if". An action cannot be good "if" X while bad "if" Y.
Actually your question about "how far..." etc. doesnt sound dumb to me. It's worth discussing, and it's definitely an issue.