Literary confession thread

>>9985467
i got into a writing course by noting that the head of the department was a big fan of Jane Austen, and then writing a cyberpunk version of a chapter from "Persuasion" in my entrance test.

I end up regretting most of the books I buy because they're boring or I just lose interest in finishing them

The Alchemist is one of my favorite books

I still haven't read the greeks

I know I have potential to be a good writer but I keep sabotaging myself out of self-contempt.

>>9985467
Ender's Game and The Song of Achilles are my favorite books

I don't like anime as I much as I like books anymore and I feel bad about it

>>9985467
>I think non fiction has more literary merit than fiction
>I read 60% out of duty to improve myself and 40% pleasure alone.
>I get intimidated by authoritative writers in complex subjects.
>I deliberately derail stirner threads despite liking him as a thinker because I had a bad experience with someone who liked him irl.

I find Shakespeare woefully boring

I still haven't started with the Greeks, I'm too busy reading science-fiction. Gene Wolfe is just too good. I'll eventually read Herodotus though because I want to appreciate Latro of the Mist fully.

>>9985467
I barely read anything these days.

first time I tried to read IJ i skipped all the footnotes, intending to come back to them later

>>9986103
Other people read things for me

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I write in library books

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>>9986134
why

>>9986139
IDK usually I just underline a particularly poignant passage or two, not much. And usually only if I see someone else has already written in it. It makes me feel like I'm taking part in something bigger than me.

>>9985467
I have jacked off to pic of Android 18 that I drew myself.

I'm an english lit major and I rarely read as a hobby

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>>9986153

>>9985679
Pray, tell

>>9986157
thats quite common from what i understand

I'm a science major and I read for hours every day as a hobby.

I enjoyed the Wheel of Time series. Just not the shitty point of view chapters about annoying characters.

>>9985654
A Satanic tier sin against literature.

>>9986157

I never read a page of history that wasn't required until I finished my degree. Then it became fun again.

>>9986134
You are literary cancer.

>>9986197
I loved reading up through high school and I still very much enjoy what I do in the classes for my degree. But I never feel compelled to pick up a book in my free time since going to college, and I keep buying cheap books I want to read eventually and never reading them. Everybody I work with always asks what I'm reading when I tell them my major and I always have to go "nothing right now"

>>9986157
This was me when I was still studying. I still don't read casually. It's hard when you're stuck addicted to a shitty f2p MMO.

>>9986192
Who did you find annoying?

I'm attracted to women who are dead. Like Sappho.

I alternated between reading and the audiobook to complete both crime and punishment and the brothers karamazov

>>9986240
Nynaeve especially, but most of the good-side female cast. The evil female characters were fun and entertaining to watch steadily getting their comeuppance. It was obvious Jordan had some kinks.

>>9986157
this is why I switched out of english

now I read more than ever

>>9986226
which mmo

>>9985467
Everyone thinks I could be some academic because of the shit I read, solely because it's not genre fiction. I don't even enjoy reading it that much, I'd probably be considered a pseud. I'm currently a NEET but the gov is pushing me to attend an open university course for literature because they think I would fly through it, when in reality I'm just somebody who's a little above average in terms of reading.

It's my fault for cultivating this self image, and pretty soon my 'intellectual' ego could make me homeless unless I just bite the bullet and go through with a course I'm pretty sure I'll hate just to save face.

how did this happen

I think Heart of Darkness is really dull and pretentious.

I studied computer science for 9 years in college. The last semester I took a creative writing course because there was no test nor homework, I just needed to write a 40 page book delivery to pass.A wrote a 110 page story.
I want to keep writing even if I don't enjoy reading as much.

>>9987030
I never quite understand how people can get bored of a book that one can finish in a single evening.

>>9987053
Even though it was very short, to me it just seemed to drag on. It's weird, but reading a 400 page book on the history of international law was more interesting to me than 100 pages of Heart of Darkness.

>>9987030
I agree, but on the other hand I really enjoyed Nostromo

>>9987082
Never read it, may give it a try.

I find most of Kafka's works to be hilarious but I can't explain why. I just start laughing.

Carson McCullers is the only female writer whose works would not be improved by a bonfire

I started with the Greeks... And I'm not enjoying it.

The Iliad is super boring

Saramago is a fucking hack and all his novels are the same shit

>>9987172
What translation are you reading? Is it poetry or prose?

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>>9985467
I don't even read books anymore, I just read their wikipedia summary so I can shitpost about them

>>9987154
Carson McCullers is GOAT my friendo

King is my favourite author simply because his books never bored me like many of the classics did. In the end I admit I just might be too dumb for some books.

>>9986157
Can relate, in high school I barely read outside of required stuff. Once I graduated I started reading twice as much

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>>9987172
I started with Greeks and ended up amazed. Now everything that is popular feels shallow.

I will continue with Germans. Romans can wait.

I own 5 Barnes & Noble Leatherbound Classics

>>9985980
Never thought I'd see TSoA on here but hey, I loved that book too.

Still enjoy Haruki Murakami.

Hated V. by Pynchon.

I think that Stephen King is fineish, even though some of his novels are utter trash.

Infinite Jest is not that great.

I don't think the overabundance of YA stuff is bad. I just don't care.

I prefer reading on my Kindle than on paper.

I started with the Greeks and now I'm a complete greekaboo. Thanks guys

stagger was a mistake

>>9985467
I read through every philosopher, psychologist and linguist you people ever told me about and now I have no answers, only a nagging sensation to use myself in some way resembling productively in this hostile, impersonal and meaningless life. I just took my practice asvab and got a 76. Waiting for a call to take the real thing and then with any luck it'll be boot camp followed by navy cryptologic technician interpreter training.

I can't read contemporary books and sometimes I feel bad about it.

>>9987143
Not sure if you already know this and are just being a pseud, but so did he.

When Kafka was writing, his neighbours would often hear maniacal laughter coming from his house.

>>9985467
The summa teologica is the single most boring thing I have ever read. Yes it is thorough but there wasn't a single line of reasoning that impressed me, despite all those people claiming Aquinas was so brilliant.
I suspect all the christians who namedrop him are really just being pseuds.

>>9987398
This is serious. Are you in need of medical assistance?

I didn't think The Crying of Lot 49 was all that great. It was ok, I guess. I was annoyed with The Sopranos ending, and I tried to return it, but I lost the receipt.

>>9985467
I can only read for about 10 minutes before I get bored and put the book down. It takes me a long time to finish books because of this so I do maybe 8-10 in a year.

>>9987956
you need an exorcism, not a confession

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>>9987849

>>9985981
Start reading some lit theory so you can interpret your anime better. Worked for me. Also read more nip literature, so you can spot similarities with anime.

>>9985467
I am hard reactionary, but mostly read po-mo and Frankfurt school for enjoyment.

>>9985467
I end up hating 90% of the books I read.

I just feel like writing instead.

>>9985467
I started with the Romans

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I'm a very VERY slow reader.

I reread the Harry Potter series when I was 18, and I enjoyed it.

>>9985467
I fucked a book of critical essays about William Faulkner when I was a teenager. I don't remember why, probably because I was a teenager

I don't actually read books that I shit on

>>9987849
>he read the whole summa and he's not even a christfag/theologyfag

absolute madman

>>9985467
I only read 3 hours a day and waste about 10 hours on bs

>>9986076
Reading Shakespeare is tough, go watch a play by professionals. It really comes alive then.

>>9987154

I agree, except I've never read her. Will check out.

>>9985467
I haven't even read 30 entire books in my life

>>9985467
I've only read one book over the last three months

I read Gorilla Mindset.

>>9989220

*grunt*

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>>9989227
*grunts louder*

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I'm moving to China in about about 8 months with my qt3.14 gf, plan on establishing an Asian pseudonym to hopefully be published under. Living where I will live will give the name heavy credence, and I can claim that I'm a "raised in Hong-Kong native English speaker."

In reality, I know practicably zero Mandarin or Cantonese and will not be able to integrate the thought/ grammar/ phrasing structures of those languages into my writing in any meaningful way without great effort. As such, not sure anyone will actually buy that I'm from China for any meaningful period of time.

My writing focuses on the nature and name of sacrifice. What it means to honestly give your entire being for another, a person, a concept, a society. I think people need to hear from the outside, that they've forgotten, and so that they'll listen. I have a few short stories written, half a novel with a plan for a much bigger one. The latter will more deal with the relationship between man and the concept of God.

>>9987849
Is it any better than Aquinas's Five Ways? Because those are some of the worst theological arguments I've ever seen, despite how much praise they seem to get by the people who tell me to look into them.

>>9987143
read DFW on kafka

>>9985467
I hate novels.

I very rarely read books with more than 200 pages. I also like reading epic poetry, but I need to read a summary of each section before delving into the verses or else I get lost

>>9989546
How about noooooo
Just because you want to write it doesn't mean ppl want to read it. Especially when it sounds all preachy like you described. If you've never finished a novel before then you might want to just write a 'template' story and come up with something new in it. I.e. Knight saves princess, soldier goes to war etc etc.

I enjoyed reading Infinite Jest. Maybe not as much the story itself, but rather the psycho-sadistic reading experience.

>>9985467
I don't read books and I only come here for the lolita threads.

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>>9989572

"If you've never written a novel, don't write a novel." Solid logic there, extrapolates beautifully. You back it perfectly with "what people want to read."

People "want" to read Young Adult Fiction, Erotica, Paperback Thrillers, and ghost written books containing political opinions they already agree with.

This is a literary confessions thread. I confess I'm going to try my hand at some form of lit worth reading. If it is not worth reading, I am quite sure you will be the first to tell me. In the mean time, kindly lick a dick. I've written template stories before, among a few other things.

>>9985467
I think Ulysses is a dumpster fire of a book.

>>9985467
I reject about 95% of books based on the summary alone.

>>9989623
hahahaha moron. you are literally going to crash and burn and die.

>>9986134
i do this too, pal. i read books from my college library and there usually some notes or underlines in there already. i like adding to it. nothing too distracting though.

i couldn't get through bleeding edge. i was really interested in the setting/idea of the novel, and enjoyed the bit about the mmo, but man was it dull and pointless.

donated it to my local library last week

>>9986192
>A Satanic tier sin against literature.

yeah, but i got in.

day 1 of novel writing: teacher says "I only have three rules. no hats, no cellphones and no genre fiction. and that means (looks right at me) no SCIENCE FICTION."

me: o rly (submits barely disguised sf novel outline)

she didn't catch on

>>9986240
Perrin during the entire search for Faile arc was unbearable for me

>>9989937
>no genre fiction. and that means [...] no SCIENCE FICTION.
Not being able to write sci-fi (or fantasy) was the most disappointing thing about my writing class. All we did was literary fiction, and most of it was just dull. Though I will give the instructor credit, she did speak up in defense of genre fiction, even if she wasn't teaching it.

I didnt like Moby Dicks, it gets boring by the time they get on the ship.

>>9986134
>>9986153
>>9989871
Kys

The only book I've read this year is Born Standing Up. Think I'm gonna try House of Leaves, because there seems to be no good horror movies and I was recommended it.

I'm just recently getting into the Eragon Inheritance series.

An anon falls in love with Palmer Eldritch
Unable to confess, anon is gifted with by a deus ex machina with the Palmer Eldritch's phone number. Never minding the strange area code, anon immediately calls Palmer Eldritch, and is overjoyed to find out that Palmer Eldritch has a crush on anon as well.
But, the next day, when anon recounts the previous day’s confessions to Palmer Eldritch, he only looks at anon with a perplexed expression. After some investigation, he finds out that the Palmer Eldritch anon had called is not the same Palmer Eldritch anon fell in love with. In fact, Palmer Eldritch doesn’t exist in this universe at all, he is the alternate universe counterpart, who has fallen in love with the anon's own AU self, who too is blissfully unaware of his crush.
Hijinks ensue as the two strike up a deal to give each other their darkest, most private secrets in order to equip the other with the weapons they need to conquer the heart of their other selves. While the two chase their respective loved ones, DRAMA ensues as they begin to fall in love with each other instead and question the NATURE of the PKD MINDFUCK.

>>9986094
This. I try to re-read the republic but I can't be bothered... I need something to kickstart my interest in literature again.

>>9987172
Just skip the part about the boats.

>>9991575
Stop. If you're going to read genre fiction, at least read the wheel of time or the Stormlight Archive. Ideally, don't read genre fiction

>>9992068
I'll give them a go. What'd you recommend over fiction?

>>9992524
Things that actually help you improve yourself, in whichever way you desire. Or read philosophy but make sure you're actually interested because otherwise it gets really boring really quickly. If you don't want to read either of those, read fiction but read good classics, or even poetry.

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>>9986134
Jesus fucking Christ, at least have the decency to do it in pencil.

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>>9986134

I have no hobbies, no skills, and every post I make is a more or less subtle cry for help

>>9994289
Find something you love, Anon. Then give it everything you got.

>>9994443
I'm very drunk so it's hard for me to answer. But still.
I wish I had something, anon. Often I dabble in subject [x], only to dabble in subject [y] shortly after.
I just want to become good at something
I wish I wasn't a stupid, permanently horny, slut
I wish I wasn't born
ahahahah

when people say start with the greeks they mean percy jackson right?

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I've only read 2 books to completion in the past 10 or so years and they were Star Wars books.

>>9989823
Btfo lol

I'm re-reading Infinite Jest and it's no shit my favorite book of all time. It doesn't even come close to being the greatest book of all time, but I fucking love it. I used to be convinced that I preferred stuff that was less regarded as "cult classics" and moreso actual classics, but this rereading is seriously making me consider it my favorite novel of all time.

And I think that's OK.

>>9987154
>Virginia Woolf
>Flannery O'Connor

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I just finished reading the Bill Hodges trilogy by Stephen King and I liked it.

Now I'm going to read the wheel of time books

Just started Zaregoto vol. 2 and it's a blast. I think take's occasional illustrations are the only thing lowering it to the level of "light novel" since it's better written than most of Murakami's stuff

>>9988159
>I am hard reactionary, but mostly read po-mo and Frankfurt school for enjoyment.
I'm an isolationist """libertarian""" but my isolationism extends into racial separatism, and I have /r9k/-tier views on roasties that I disguise in my mind as "Schopenhauerian," but I love using Frankfurt techniques to dissect capeshit and anime

i started reading more frequently after i started watching jordan peterson. he also broke me out of my depression, kind of. at least i sort of have a mission in life.

>>9995366
what is your mission in life?

weed increases my volume of output for writing

I have literally never finished a complete book. Anything over 100 pages that I claim to have read is about 85% read. I either don't finish or I finish by skipping over parts I don't care about. This has never affected my life in any meaningful way.

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>>9995366
it would be more accurate to say that i have several missions in life. several "hero's journeys" all going on simultaneously

1. serve God by working to reduce suffering on this planet in some capacity (this is why i said sort of - i haven't figured out what this entails yet)
2. love my wife and raise a family
3. produce writing that entertains and delights
4. continue to inform the above by reading good literature
5. enjoy the beauty of God's creation, i.e. worship
6. live simply and reduce my environmental impact
7. teach others. don't know what this means exactly yet, either, but i have a burning desire to teach in some capacity

>>9995393
what are you a fucking hippy

>>9995393
>>9995371

whoops i meant this to reply to (you), not me. i guess i still have a lot to learn

I used to read lots of genre fiction when I was a kid, but stopped having the motivation to actually finish books sometime around highschool. The only thing I've finished reading in years is some stupid webnovel.

>>9995393
Strong 7 to light 8 livelihood

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I was recently released from prison. During my time incarcerated I read hundreds of novels from Cervantes to Palaniuk. My favorite book of all is Steppenwolf.

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I don't actually read, I just post here 'cause it's /lit/

I am becoming progressively more and more upset by the complete lack of people who read in my entourage. Every time I enter a book store it is always filled with middle-aged women (with the sort of literary taste you can expect from that demographic) and no one else.

I visit a great used books place on a regular basis and I think I might have seen someone my own age there twice at best. It always stings me a little bit when I open one of those books and I see a girl's name written in neat little characters at the top whose face I will never see and whose voice I will never hear ; and also when I think that she is probably in her 40's by now.

I sometimes dream of burning down every school, every library, every book shop and every personal bookshelf in the town so that undeserving hands may never touch books again.

>>9995432
i hate it when u buy some old patrish shit and there's like one of those personal library plates on the inside like "t. olde protestant, harvard college" and ur like fml

>>9988943
That's actually pretty cool.

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>>9986226
>ffxi will never be free to play or playable offline

I actually purchase books not to read, but to decorate my shelf

I jacked it to Android 18 the same way I jacked it to Lyra Belaqua

>>9995679
I feel somehow scandalised by that.

>>9992068
>Ideally, don't read genre fiction
Why not?

>>9994454
Rupi?

>>9995746
It's a waste of time when you compare it to books that could actually improve you as a person and give you meaningful knowledge.

t. Read exclusively genre fiction until 16

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>>9986134
that looks like a nice cozy dog

gonna get this cozy tonight i swear my dudes, get my duvet, sit on the sofa by the fire, play some dishonored on a no detection stealth run and drink oolong tea

autumn is the best season and not just because i'm autistic for autumn (although i am). best seasonal clothing; the countryside is aesthetic as fuck; the weather is comfortably warm but not too warm; my birthday is in this season; it's followed shortly by winter which although it isn't autumn winter is clearly the second best season.

man, this time of year is awesome. time to go walk my pug, get pleasantries from passers by and read more 19th century literature DUDES

>>9987030
I think you have to be in the right frame of mind really. I tried reading it on a train once and I was frustrated by it, but I read it slowly over the course of a weekend in a quiet room and it really resonated with me.

Don't necessarily strike it as one of the worst books of all time just because your initial reaction was negative, anon. Maybe return back to it after delving a little more into Conrad? He's really worth the time to be honest. Please understand.

>>9987172
> The Iliad is super boring

"No"

Seriously though, how far are you into it? What is your translations you are reading?

For me, it was a slow start but I was never bored, and it really does go full-throttle action-movie-esque just before you hit the halfway mark (and it really doesn't slow down from then on). There's also some humour and intense tragedy by the end of it that I couldn't help but consider it a personal favourite of mine.

>>9987956
It's all about that Sopranos ending, anon. You're meant to be as frustrated and dissatisfied like Oedipa was because she was a bored housewife who was desperate to find meaning in the most meaningless. It was all a ruse - there was never any mystery.

The more I think about it after reading it, the more I love but also loathe the book. It's genuinely brilliant. Like most of Pynchon, it's rewarding the second time around.

>>9994529
Fuck off back to /tv/ or /v/ then, nothing stops you from reading more other than your own lazy ass

No wonder /lit/ is so shit

>>9995394
dude he didnt say he was followin the grateful dead on fuckin tour, you muttonheaded mugwump

>>9987172
Read Butler's translation you absolute pleb

>>9985467
I never look at things from a different POV

I honestly don't think that I'll be able to fall in love again unless the person is literate. I've tried dating non-bookish people, and its just awful, only makes me feel more alone.
>>9995419
How was the library in prison?

>>9996114
I feel bad about it because there's a lot of women I've liked who don't read much but I do feel that we wouldn't have much to talk about when it boiled down to it.

I feel a little alone about it too - how many people really read nowadays? I suppose I'm a little lucky that I'm a screenwriter who associates with more screenwriters so if I don't know someone who reads the classics, at least they write and read something.

>>9996151
Yeah, I feel that. My last partner, pretty much all we did was smoke pot and watch movies. At a certain point I kinda realized it was because we had nothing else to say to each other.

I mean, its not like they're not human, they still have all the drives and complexity of others. But it is kinda hard to form a bond with someone who just doesn't use your medium of choice, you know?
I know about four people who I've been able to hold a solid literary conversation with, one is my ex, who I'll never see again, and the other three are all friends at varying distances.

>>9996176
I don't mind movies so much because I can discuss them with the people I watched them with, but it's finding the perfect viewing partner who doesn't talk all the way through it, cracking bad jokes because they're bored. It's also difficult to find someone who doesn't just watch the Oscar contenders, the big dumb blockbusters and the shit they were nostalgic for because they watched it as a kid. The amount of girls I know who call Jumanji their favourite film of all time makes me give up asking out normies.

>>9989547
the five ways are part of the suma.

>>9989547
I'm easily shamed into reading stuff I suppose

100% of my philosophy knowledge comes from unrelated histories or SEP.

I read at a pretty slow place and often get distracted by my own thoughts. I don't know how to improve or become a better reader.

>>9986973
Become a farmer

>>9986973
Just join the army or something and quit bitching

- I criticised Marx all the time here but haven't read any of his stuff outside of the Communist manifesto
- Before I decide I my opinion on something I Google to see what Jordan Peterson has said re: subject

Bandanas are cool.

>>9985467
My bible is sticky, especially around 1 Samuel

>>9999194
Did that one slut's poem do it for you?

I hate Greeks, mythology, and medieval lit andI hate that I may have to teach it one day.


I hate 19th-cent british lit and poets the prose is too fluffy and flowery and even the light-hearted stuff is too heavy

>>9987422
i'm 300 pages into v right now why do you hate it?

>>9999390
19th-century british lit is the fucking worst, fuck that shit

>>9985467
I enjoy reading fanfiction about children's cartoons with a healthy amount of edge written in.

>>9991545
Watch the neon demon.

>>10000000

oscar wilde has been relentlessly disappointing

>>9985687
Start with the greeks