I haven't read any books outside of assigned books back

>>9721240
dunno about céline, but house of leaves isn't a good place to start

>>9721240

I'm reading journey... it seems dated. Most of the novelty centers around things we're already aware of- war is inglorious, colonies are miserable, love is ugly, etc.

celine is a good place to start for an edgy 12th grader

>>9721254
There's also, y'know, the art of its writing style.

>>9721240
Those are fine. I don't think HoL is a particularly good book, but it's entertaining enough and if it'll encourage you to read better stuff, then so be it.

>>9721263

"the art of its writing style"? The fuck are you talking about? It's the most straightforward narrative prose I could possibly name.

HoL is only entertaining if you're 12 and like spooky ghost stories, btw.

bitch

>>9721240
Reading HoL before Borges is a huge mistake.
Also it's reddit as fuck

>>9721279
>"the art of its writing style"? The fuck are you talking about? It's the most straightforward narrative prose I could possibly name.

I'm talking about the beauty of Celine's prose, which I hear is far superior in the original French. The ideas feeling dated is fair, although I don't know how straightforward prose is an issue, but what most justifies the novel is the writing itself.

“When you stop to examine the way in which our words are formed and uttered, our sentences are hard-put to it to survive the disaster of their slobbery origins. The mechanical effort of conversation is nastier and more complicated than defecation. That corolla of bloated flesh, the mouth, which screws itself up to whistle, which sucks in breath, contorts itself, discharges all manner of viscous sounds across a fetid barrier of decaying teeth—how revolting! Yet that is what we are adjured to sublimate into an ideal. It's not easy. Since we are nothing but packages of tepid, half-rotted viscera, we shall always have trouble with sentiment. Being in love is nothing, its sticking together that's difficult. Feces on the other hand make no attempt to endure or grow. On this score we are far more unfortunate than shit; our frenzy to persist in ourpresent state—that's the unconscionable torture.
Unquestionably we worship nothing more divine than our smell. All our misery comes from wanting at all costs to go on being Tom, Dick, or Harry, year in year out. This body of ours, this disguise put on by common jumping molecules, is in constant revolt against the abominable farce of having to endure. Our molecules, the dears, want to get lost in the universe as fast as they can! It makes them miserable to be nothing but 'us,' the jerks of infinity. We'd burst if we had the courage, day after day we come very close to it. The atomic torture we love so is locked up inside us by our pride.”

Why do Redditors getting into actual literature for the first time 'bridge the gap' between normie books and literature with a copy of House of Leaves? It's the ultimate Redditor filter.

>>9721480
what would you recommend they "bridge the gap" with? or are you just being a bitch?

>>9721691
start with gaddis

>>9721240
Read some Hemingway desu

>>9721240
START

File: greeks.jpg (2MB, 3240x3600px) Image search: [Google]

2MB, 3240x3600px

>>9721743
Alternatively
>>9721751
WUZ

>>9721743
>>9721752
Just start with the Romans, they do everything the Greeks do but better. Plus Latin > Greek

>>9721240
honestly i feel like journey is not celine's best book, death on the installment plan and death on credit are way better