/lit/, what is the best book you have ever read.

And why?

>>8988490
Lolita, because I am obsessed with this one girl, and I can't get to talk to her without looking weird and perverted. I relate a lot to Humbert.

You'll hate me for it. But it was Infinite Jest.
I was ashamed to be seen reading it so I covered it with a Chinese newspaper I found on an airplane in Spain. I carried it everywhere with me, my sneaky cover eventually fell off.
I could always turn to it when I'd had a bad day because it was so fucking long that it seemed like I just read it forever. If I ever had a security blanket, it was that book.

"How to Recover from Terminal Autism"
because it helped me recover from terminal autism

don quixote, but I havent read that much books

>>8988490
In terms of pure enjoyment, the unabridged version of "The Count of Monte Cristo."

In terms of actual /lit/ quality, probably "À Rebours." Hit a little too close to home to be truly enjoyable, but goddamn that's a good book.

>>8988506
this, based dhammapadda

>>8988490
I'm no good at explaining "why" but I'll try.

Fiction - "The Name Of The Rose" by Umberto Eco. If I wrote a book this is what I would want it to be. It's a mishmash of nerdy topics without being autistic. The plot sounds like a joke about a trashy pulp novel. "Murder mystery set in a medieval monastery. A sexy lady gets burned at the stake and there's a labyrinth at the end." But by some miracle it works.


Nonfiction - "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" by Richard Rhodes.
Rhodes does a great job of explaining the technical details and how it drives the human story.

Slaughterhouse Five, or One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

>>8988502

> Relating to H. H.

You're doing Nabokov wrong.

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>>8988622
Huh. This whole time I thought those were two different books.

"The Charisma Myth"

It's basically a westernized guide to mindfulness meditation but somehow it really clicked. I can honestly say it changed my life. I'm no longer consumed by self-loathing or envy and I'm not afraid to interact with people. I still have a long way to go, but I'm actually genuinely happy and I haven't felt like that in a long time. (It was mostly thanks to the Metta meditation technique in the book but the rest of it is very good too.)

>>8988490
Candide

>>8988991
So good. One of my first magical experiences with Classic Literature TM outside school was listening a radio adaptation of "Candide" on BBC World Service.

Gravity's Rainbow, easily

Growth of the Soil

>>8988950
mmmm delicious placebo and power of suggestion

The Giver because it sparked my interest in reading

At Swim-Two-Birds, easily

>>8989308
That's a good one indeed.

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Roots by Alex Haley
read it during freshman year of high school and something about it just really captivated me
Gone With the Wind is a close second, i have an old ass 2nd edition

>>8988490
Moby Dick

probably Tom Sawyer (no homo)

Letters To A Young Poet, it always inspires me to write.

will you guys make fun of me if I say GRAVITY'S RAINBOW :-((

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>>8988490
Moby-Dick maybe.

>>8988490
I have just started reading novels this year and for now I have to say either Moby-Dick or Lolita. I'm also about to start reading Kafka's The Trial so I'll see how that sorts out.

>>8988502
That's not a good thing and not the point of the book at all.

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Too good.

>>8990445
I didnae like it much

MY FFFFFFFFFUCKING DIARY DESUUUUUUU

>>8990450
Fair enough, I can see why many people wouldn't like it.

Did you like any other Dostoevsky books?

The Iliad.

>>8990459
The only other one I've read of his is Crime & Punishment, and I really didn't like that one at all. I found his narrative voice very overblown, kinda platitudinous, and slightly condescending.

Not a fan of ol' Dosty at all I must say. Which makes me a little sad, because I went into these two books really wanting to enjoy them, but they ended up annoying me.

>>8990468
Which translations did you read?

>>8990479
Richard P. and Larissa V., same as the one you posted from Everyman Library.

>>8988526
Good taste, Huysmanons

The gospel according to Jesus Christ by Jose saramago

>>8990461
Finally.

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One Hundred Years of Solitude.

I have to imagine anyone who doesn't like this book hasn't actually finished it. For most of the novel, it has excellent prose and storytelling but I could see how the magical realism and repetitive plot lines might be off-putting. But if you get all the way to the last chapter, and then to the last paragraph, and you don't have the biggest litgasm of your life, I seriously question your taste and intellect.

Pic related is a handy visualization of what it's like to read this book.

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>>8990461
>>8990658

The Brothers Karamazov

Probably Catch 22 so far

>>8990708
I feel like that with so many books.

Let's say for a 800 page novel, I'll read the first 600 pages and be kinda "eh it's alright" and for the last part it becomes an incredible experience.

Just off the top of my head, a few of books where this has happened are Catch-22, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Moby-Dick, Gravity's Rainbow, V., The Grapes of Wrath, Under the Volcano, Cities of the Plain, Far Tortuga, Libra, and Mao II.

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>>8988490
Paradise Lost is probably the very best single book I've ever read desu.

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>Call me Ishmael. Some years ago--never mind how long precisely--having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

>There now is your insular city of the Manhattoes, belted round by wharves as Indian isles by coral reefs--commerce surrounds it with her surf. Right and left, the streets take you waterward. Its extreme downtown is the battery, where that noble mole is washed by waves, and cooled by breezes, which a few hours previous were out of sight of land. Look at the crowds of water-gazers there.

and so on

portrait of the artist
metamorphoses

>>8988502
That's disgusting

>>8988503
Why should I hate you for it?

>>8991043
Thanks. I was looking for my next book and after reading that I'm in.

>>8990708
One Hundred Years of Solitude is up there for me too. Can't put it as my favorite though, then again idk which I really can.

>>8988490
Journey To The End Of The Night
or
The Castle

Either Lolita or One Hundred Years of Solitude.

>>8990485
i feel the same way about dostoevsky, gonna try brothers and demons here pretty soon, and maybe the idiot
i really wanna like him

>>8988490
I'm just going to pick one that generates discussion. I liked The Great Gatsby.
>>8988495
The book was interesting to me because it excellently displayed the self-destructive nature of endless dissatisfaction. For a book that dictates on the American Dream, it really does display the American vice of always wanting more, always wanting the novel.
Gatsby, caught up in this blinding light he can never touch, dies searching for something he never needed in the first place.
The Buchanans are just blind idiots trying to justify their existence by pretending to be erudite and cultured, only accentuating their actual shallowness. Tom is a petty man-whore trying to keep a grasp on glory days past, Daisy acts like a fool to fit the society and and keep her gold-digger tendencies alive.
Nick is a study in hypocrisy- all the book he never really calls anyone else out on their bullshit while primly maintaining his sense of superiority and 'honesty' towards all these seemingly stuck-up prigs and treating Gatsby like a goddamned golden idol.
And that's not even getting into the other characters.
You might as well call it American Vice. As a burger myself, it's basically an essay on the characteristic corruptions of the US, and I'd be the first person to call myself Nick for sitting back and watching the fire rise. I don't even care what Fitzgerald meant.

Light in August

Joe Christmas bro

>>8988490
the grapes of wrath

You'll hate me but ir did really enjoy The name of The wind

>>8993871
I hate you for your capitalization choices

>>8988632
They are, he's saying that his favorite book is one or the other.

>>8989730
>>8989308
>>8989243
>>8990445
>>8989099
>>8991043
>>8989752
>>8988991
>>8988502
>>8988511


cool buds

Atlas Shrugged

>>8989308
Dope, Third Policeman definitely tops my list

Great Expectations

a work which enhances the quality of one's internal life

>>8989081
I loved Candide. I wish we had radio plays of Voltaire in America

Illuminatus!

Wilson's uncompromising blend of humanism, cynicism, psychological and philosophical musings, evolutionary idealism, and humour have been such a core part of my self development that I owe him a lot. He got me onto the path of true scepticism, to really consider the origins of all beliefs and attitudes. And he did it in a way that was accessible to a teenager, engaging to an adult, and completely fucking fun at the same time.

I think his books are close to genius.

I don't know about best, but my very favorite books that made me feel the most alive inside would be:
>One Hundred Years of Solitude
>The Grapes of Wrath
>Great Expectations
>ON THE ROAD (original scroll)
>Down and Out in Paris and London
>David Copperfield
>The Autobiogeaphy of Alice B. Toklas (by Gertrude Stein)
>First Love by Turgenev
>Franny and Zooey
>Winesburg, Ohio
>Lit by Mary Karr

>>8993421
if you really didn't like C&P there might not be much point, it is the most dostoyevsky-y thing he's done

>>8988490
my diary desu

I think Blood Meridian.

>>8990963
How did you get that from V.? Genuinely curious.

>>8988503
Don't feel bad, I enjoyed it too.

>>8994757
It might not have been that late in the book, but it felt like a while. I haven't read it in five years or so, but I remember it not clicking for me until the alligators in the sewer and the rat priest. I think that was like halfway or something like that.

>>8994540
im gonna give it just 1 more try

>>8988511
go to bed nargna

>>8995217
Read of the karamazovs. They're so funny and adorable.

All Harry Potter books, and by that I mean movies.
Lol didn't

>>8988503
Hey that's exactly how I felt with The Sopranos. For months it was something I could always continue watching if I felt down for whatever reason.
But Infinite Jest is a fantastic book, fuck what /lit/ might have thought at some point.

>>8995530
Sopranos is my favorite series. I can watch it on loop endlessly. But it's nowhere near that for everyone.

One of my friends couldn't watch it past the fifth season. While he could see the immense quality of the writing and the acting of the show, he just couldn't bear how awfully depressing the it was. Every episode was just an hour of sadness and depression and self-destructive characters for him, and he couldn't watch it anymore and had to stop. He would enjoy it while sitting and viewing it, but afterwards he always felt like shit.

Some books are like that for me, especially McCarthy, even though I never quit a novel once I've started.

>>8995205
that's pretty early on in the book, like the first quarter or third

>>8995579
ok fair enough

Blood Meridian

>>8988490
depends on my mood. I really like The Three Musketeers, but I also like Kate Atkinson's "Emotionally Weird" and David Benioff's "City of Thieves" and Mary Renault's works on Greek legends.

>>8989273
placebo is a meme. why does it matter if something's "placebo" when the result is the same either way?

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Candide because as a teenager it gave me the courage to graze my hand over my first girlfriends breast as I kissed her which led to ~something~ and then further to me coming out of my shell of shyness. Read it again every year or so, get a nice nostalgia boner ever time cause it reminds me of her, then I always look her up on Facebook and remember that she has me blocked on all social media. Then I remember that I saved her nudes in a file in my secondary private email and open them up, get close to masturbating, remember that I haven't masturbated since October, and then debate whether it's moral to unknowingly keep in my possession the nude images of one who now hates me, decide that it sounds like a future problem for future me to deal with and then I remember I have a fuckbuddy so I text her and go over to her house to fuck but I'm thinking of that first girl the whole time and I know for a fact when she lies with someone else she can't get me out of her head which, admittedly assuming she hates that fact, turns me on even more. I like being hated, more so than I miss her.

Anyway ya Candide is pretty good. I like it

Moby-Dick desu

>>8996057
>which led to ~something~ and then further to me coming out of my shell of shyness

holy...

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>>8996057

If there a "superior" /lit/ where people have more patrician taste than this awful thread? Preferable a site where people also don't whine about their pathetic lives too.

>>8996414
>>8996418
Jealous

>>8996600
have u tried reddit?

I don't like books. I read them precisely to not like them.

>>8996414
That's not even close to the worst part in that rambling.

>>8996613
XD

Goodreads seems like a decent site, but it's got plenty of crap too.

>>8996635
You're so mad

>>8996639
i regret to inform you that people are, in general, fucking stupid, and that /lit/ is about as good as they can really do

at least our mods delete things, the place sort of functions

>>8996639
/lit/ has more off-topic and /r9k/ type stuff but the on topic stuff is generally higher quality than Goodreads and Reddit.

>>8996635
idk man, the picture and the "~something~" really ticked my nerves

It's like he thinks he's a "quirky" girl like in one of his chinese cartoons

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>>8996674
You've never touched a boob have you anon

Fate Is The Hunter.

A memoir written by an airline pilot in the golden days of aviation. It's a great book for many reasons, but I appreciate that I can relate his stories to my own as an airline pilot 50 years later.

>>8996706
Yes I have, one (1) time as a matter of fact

You came here from reddit didn't you anon

>>8996726
I only use Reddit for finding free football streams because my new tv scrambles on ESPN for some reason, faggot

>>8996600
What do you consider good taste?

Shel Silverstein's 'The Missing Piece'.

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>>8996750
>faggot

Gee, what a hothead. I hope you meant ~naughty word~?

>>8996789
>he has that image saved on his computer

...holy

>>8996801
CRASH! I looked it up just for you, my friend

>>8996811
What's your tumblr? I'd love to keep in touch outside of the 'Chan so we don't keep bumping this thread~~ :)

>>8996814
It's SwedishLover/ExtraHalal, hit me up sometime!
You know, maybe one thing can lead to another and maybe then that onwards and maybe... a little ~something~, if you catch my flow ;)))))

this discussion just proved that sincerity has not and will not replace postmodernist cynicism, instead becoming just a branch that disappears between the more dominant and human-like (not humane) expressions of socializing.

>>8996847
I haven't done one sincere thing since 2014. Everything I do is a sham and I hate it. It's not even ironically being an idiot it's just me being a dumb fuck it doesn't make sense.

But for real you got a snapchat or something I wanna see your butt

>>8996909
>But for real you got a snapchat or something I wanna see your butt

no. also I made up the tumblr

>>8996935
I know anon. I act like a retard but I'm not a retard

Right? :)

>>8996909
>being gay
>2017 anno domini

>>8996942
I know, me too

Maybe we are now in the spirit of fraternity and sincerity exchanging analytical phrases or continuing the selfdestructive irony which our contemporary culture embraces. But, since our medium of conversation inherently hides our meaningful intentions, we may never know. I'm going to get some sleep, need to wake up in four hours.

>>8996993
>he sleeps
Cuck

This Side of Paradise

I read this book on memorization in high school.
Probably one of the best things to happen to me. Being able to memorize anything I want is something pretty powerful to me and has helped me self study math and other sort of lofty subjects that I pursue

Wish I knew the name of the book

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>>8997090

Slaughterhouse 5 saved my life. Its a good book it teaches you a lot without being unnecessarily preachy and autistic about it

>>8998877
You better explain thyself, Mr. Triple Decrescent Dubsman.

>>8990708
100YoS was weird for me. Everytime I picked it up I got so wrapped up in the story and enjoyed it to a fair degree... and yet when I finished the chapter I had no desire to read another one. As I result I only read one chapter per sitting. I think exhausting might be the right word.

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>>8988490

>>8998877
>Slaughterhouse 5
>not preachy

pick one

catch-22 or slaughterhouse five. both helped me when i was in the military overseas. ironic, huh

>>8989273
The fact that it's a placebo effect is what makes it so powerful, because it means it requires nothing but a change in perception. In that sense it is a "natural" change.

The Sirens of Titan fucked me up forever

>>8988490
If I'm being perfectly honest, "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest".

I've always been able to visualize whats happening in a book in my head pretty well.

OFOTKN was the most vivid book I've ever read, I felt like I was right there with the characters, I've never even seen the film.

I was super pissed when they lobotomized Murphy.

Never felt a deep connection with fictional characters in any other work of fiction I've ever read.

Notes from Underground

>>8994472
Same. Definitely the best. So simple, so fucking good.

>>9002589
Have you tried Sometimes a Great Notion?

>>9000000