Archived threads in /lit/ - Literature - 4395. page

>>7678793
I have. I enjoyed the prose style. It's a story about existential despair punctuated with moments of absurdist humor. Walker Percy was a well known Catholic writer, but the Catholic themes aren't very overt here. Great book, actually.

>>7678925
I've marathoned 36 pages so far and all that's happened is guy jumps from point to point while describing his walk to his aunt's house. He's now watching a parade and his cousin or whatever is asking him to be part of his krewe. It's pretty much a yawnfest so far. I might just sparknotes the rest so I can mark it as "Read" on goodreads.

It's a really boring book. Probably the most hamfisted way of trying to present Kierkegaard.

>>7678692
MOBY-DICK

>>7678692
Blood Meridian

red badge of courage

Yukio Mishima

>>7678456
When I'm reading I don't hear anything at all.

>>7678496
>When i'm reading I only hear the sound of my own mental voice praising me for being such a smart boy

I hear the classical music I play

Productive as in write own shit?
Yes.

>>7678432
Reading is productive, retard

>>7678438
not completely...

haha le quirky no photographs recluse man

>>7678394
OP, finish Gravity's Rainbow first and see what you think of it. Sometimes people need a long break from Pynchon after GR.

If you're ready to dive right in but want something easier (easier in comparison to his other works), then try Inherent Vice.

If you want to try more of his chunky releases, try V. and then tackle Mason & Dixon which many consider his best work.

Slow Learner is often seen as one to skip because it's not Pynchon at his best but when he was just starting out as a writer. It's not dreadful or anything like that and it might serve as an interesting insight into how his work gradually progressed into what it is renowned as today, but other than that, it's not essential Pynchon reading. It's worth seeking out if you have a burning passion for the man's work though.

Hope this helps, anon. Big fan of Pynchon myself and I think it's a shame now that he's seen as a meme on here by people who haven't attempted his work.

>>7678865
good. i'll see in a couple+ weeks then.

>>7678383
>I'm tired of the hero winning so often
I don't remember the last book that I read with a hero and a villian...

>>7678383
>droll
youkeepusingthatword.jpg

Sounds like you need antiheroes. White Tiger might be what you're after. Also Oskar in the Tin Drum does some nasty shit.

Well I'm reading all of Lady Snowblood and Yuki is a nasty person. She makes a butler rape the daughter of his master, and later on kills a sick nobleman's daughter by having so much sex with her she dehydrates and dies.

I read "Red Storm Rising" while locked away in a mental ward and loved every fucking page.

I tried a few of his other works (Red Rabbit, Clear and Present Danger, The something in the Kremlin) and they were all overbloated and over cliched.

I think he had amazing technical knowledge and possessed an admirable passion for his work. But at the other end, I don't care for any of his characters.

>>7678270
>Highest paid author of the 90s

Because he consistently released work, he was well known as the dominant figure within his specific war thriller niche and his books regularly sold. I guess this should qualify Stephan King too, but eh.

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>genre fiction

What are you, a woman?

Write, take a break, write, take a break, perform checks whether it's any good, fix errors or stupid shit, rinse and repeat.
That's what I do.

Luck is for gamblers.

Pick up a book on technique, learn your shit and hone what you naturally have. Recommending John Gardner's Art of Fiction and Lajos Egri's Art of Dramatic Writing

>>7678160
Russian.

wondering why you posted a pic of philip k dick there

>>7678160
>Crime and Punishment
McDuff
>The Brothers Karamazov
Avsey
>Notes from Underground
P&V
>War and Peace
Briggs

tell them to rephrase the question to your liking

I just answer as honestly as I can without telling/spoiling the whole story like an autist.

A one sentence summary of the basic premise will do.

>>7678140
>How do you answer this when the book in question isn't genre fiction?
I know, right? Like, how is it even possible for there to be summaries for a Gass book or Lolita? These fucking pop plebs got is so easy with their cliché plots and themes. Thank Bloom I'm not a pleb.

>>7678135
dfw to both

on /lit/ pynchon is underated overrated

he gets memed alot, lot of empty dicksucking of him by people who started reading ~1 year ago and are blown away by the inclusion of mathetmatical symbols into a novel, everyone accepts he's a good writer, but there's very little appreciation for his true flourishes of greatness

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>ywn spank kafka

I don't read enough and I wish I was reading more

I own too many books I haven't read

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>>7678078
Fuckin' aye. You can't make this shit up.

do you have autism? read the fucking book if you want to.

>>7678046
I'm reading it now. It's great. Man up.

>>7678046
I'd say it'd be a very bad idea. A very bad idea indeed.

It's a good thing you asked.

the crying of lot 49

Paulo Coelho " The Alchemist"

>>7678045
By no means the worst book I've ever read. I'd never want to spend another minute on it though.