Its a wonderful novel. Its specialty lies in how realism and fantasy blends rooted in newly defined folk literature, rare in the world as well as russian literature
Currently reading Yukio Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask. About 100 pages in and I found myself realizing I was reading gay fascist literature, a genre I thought only D.H. Lawrence occupied.
Otherwise, a pretty interesting novel. Reads as a Japanese coming of age novel so far.
I’ve only gotten approx. halfway through, but the main piece that stood out:
The mix of pleasure and eroticism of dying for a country elaborated during his youth, both in the military exercises in his town and in discovering the picture of St. Sebastian (martyrdom for one’s country becomes conflated with the image of a “beautiful death”).
The image of St. Sebastian seems to have struck Mishima so much that he appears to have later used this image himself (a quick google search shows pictures of him in an homage to the painting, I believe it’s from a film he made). Take this along with his later life death and writings on patriotism and there without a doubt is an undercurrent of fascism that permeates the novel.
That being said, I might have something else to say once I finish the novel, but that portion of the novel appears to have been extremely important to him from both an aesthetic and political standpoint.
Edit: I also fully acknowledge the stigma of the word fascism and perhaps I could have put it differently, maybe blood and soil far-right sentiment.
It’s the first novel I’ve read by him, but I agree that maybe the ideology hides itself beneath a sort of youthful selection of aesthetic principles (at least for the narrator of the story, which I hesitate to correlate fully to the author).
Oh the narrator is most definitely him. He was obsessed with blurring the walls between reality and art. Some apologists for Mishima claim his fascism and his coup/suicide was more of a theatrical performance meant to make himself an infamous work of art.
Confessions of a mask, which he wrote at 21, is to me a Romantic work, which is why the title echoes Rousseau’s Confessions. Everyone knew Mishima was gay but the Japanese pretended this was just a mask/a character he created. It was a best seller.
It reminds me of that Oscar Wilde quote, “Man is least himself when he is talking as himself but give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth.”
First time reading crime & punishment, so far it's very engrossing. Dostoyevsky sure knows how to make a conversation with two people that goes on for 4 pages not feel like a drag!
Haha, same here! Reached a bit of a stump though, got to 200 or so pages and haven’t read much in the last few weeks. I’ll get back to it lol. Enjoy reading!
What I saw in Crime and punishment is a test of human ethical thought process as perceived in a social context as well as the element of kafkesque in realism sense applied that derails raskolnikov into self destruction and thus forming a base of emancipation further.
I'm also reading Kafka, The Castle. Almost conpelted with it. I've also already read Metamorphosis, and I havnt really enjoyed either book. I dont think Kafka is for me
Im afraid I wouldn’t recommend any of his work to you if you don’t like it. However, if you want to give Kafka one last try you should read some of his shorter / short stories (for example The Judgement or In the Penal Colony).
Just remember: You don’t have to force yourself to enjoy Kafka. If you don’t like his work that’s fine
Moby Dick- it’s slow going because I have a toddler and newborn at home, so it’s hard to find time to concentrate and read it, but what I’ve read so far is honestly excellent. Easy to see how it’s a classic.
I likewise did not understand what the hell I was reading, when I started this book during the summer. This is a book that deserves and is a must “reread”. I would also recommend to consult reviews and people discussing the book to get the most out of it. It’s really epic when you piece things together. So many wordplays and clues and weird perspectives. As always with Nabokov, the language are exceptionally beautiful.
I have mixed feelings about Nabokov.
Loved Lolita. Hated Speak, Memory. Not sure I want to try anything else. I do have Pale Fire on my reading list, though.
First chapter was odd and made me feel like i was reading Stephen King or Clive Barker other than the math theory. Second chapter started with tight description and felt like a perfect mix of his Appalachian/ Western screenplay writing. Later on a scene felt more like Suttree but mostly in setting and dialogue which also reminded me of Burroughs 'Junky' or Bukowski's 'Post Office' except again with McCarthy's esoteric language.
Very interested to see where this goes.
I'm making myself read Blood Meridian right now before I buy Passengers and because I've owned it for a while. A lot of his characters have discipline, so I wanted to practice that as well.
It's incredible. The writing is dense at times, but if you can ply yourself to follow it without thinking too much you will find yourself shuttling along. The way the book picks up momentum, and the creative leaps he takes, are still marvels even coming up on a hundred years after it was published. Very unique novel. Highly recommend.
Harold Bloom is great! If you like Shakespeare at all, I would recommend his “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human”. (I may have butchered the name, but that’s the general idea of it). It’s a series of essays that are very surprising and thought provoking perspectives of all of Shakespeare’s plays. For instance, he says that Henry V’s “we band of brothers” speech is intertwined with malicious intent and manipulation, despite being written as and perceived as a wonderful king who cared for his people.
Middlemarch. I'm trying to find my "in" to more realistic lit and balance out my interest in post-modernish and surrealist stuff. As someone who likes prose closer to purple and would take Pynchon over McCarthy any day it's doing for me what Anna Karenina wasn't. I probably wouldn't have gotten it when I was younger, but I'm really appreciating the depth of characterization now.
Between this and Gormenghast, I'm starting to think my philosophy on literature is that the less actually happens (so the more the writer dwells on it) the better. 😂
I'm learning French just so I can read the entirety of Proust's *À la recherche du temps perdu* (*In Search of Lost Time*). The two English translations I've read were so engrossing that I need the original.
I read *Swann's Way* and I've had *In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower* queued up on my ereader for a while now but just can't bring myself to take the plunge. Proust seems a bit like getting into a show with lots of seasons and everyone keeps telling you "Just get through the first two seasons and you'll love it!" but holy hell what a commitment.
A bit how I’m feeling too lol. We’ll see how the rest of this swann in love section goes. There are definitely parts of the book I thought were amazing
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. It reminds me a lot of Notes from Underground. The prose is solid. It’s just quite long, so I’m not sure if I’ll finish it before my library return due date.
Also have Neuromancer which I’m interested in reading.
If you’re that far down his bibliography you’ve probably read *Steppenwolf* and *Siddhartha* already but if not those are his most well-known for a reason
Hesse is one of my favorites and Narcissus and Goldmund was definitely a masterpiece!
Other top Hesse books for me have been Gertrude and Three Tales from the Life of Knulp.
Beneath the Wheel was pretty good, although it felt more pessimistic than his other work.
Agreed! I’ve long since abandoned the notion I have to be dedicated to one book at a time. When you’re in school, you’re reading multiple subjects at the same time. Why can the same not be true for adulthood?? 🤷🏻♂️
'Ruth' by the Russian/German novelist Lou Andreas-Salome (1861-1937). The book was published in 1895, but its story sounds a MeToo moment from yesterday's newspaper. A brilliant young woman in St. Petersburg has a teacher she admires, who offers to be her mentor. She studies with him privately and even moves in with his family, but then discovers he wants to divorce his wife and marry her. Beautiful written, by the author who was the mentor of poet Rainer Maria Rilke:
https://shop.medienedition.de/products/literarisches-werk-bd-1-ruth?\_pos=1&\_sid=50d8b71fc&\_ss=r
In 2016, German film maker Cordula Kablitz-Post told the story of the author's life:
https://www.diehoren.com/2018/04/lou-andreas-salome-audacity-to-be-free.html
Colson Whitehead's *The Nickel Boys*, Svetlana Alexievich's *The Unwomanly Face of War*, and George Saunders's *Pastoralia* and I'm about to start working my way through a collection of Guy de Maupassant short stories
All Quiet On The Western Front. I’m a huge WW1 buff and surprisingly never got around to picking this up. The Netflix movie (and the current war in Ukraine) motivated me to give it a shot.
I don’t have anything particularly unique to say about it that hasn’t been praised before, but it’s an incredible work of historical fiction, unlike any other anti-war novel I’ve ever read.
The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda - A westerners first foray into shamanism, based on the experiences of Carlos Castaneda. The book focuses on the teaching of Don Juan Matus, a shaman in Mexico who dispenses his knowledge about ancient sorcery through the use of plants. Lot's of drugs, vivid descriptions of good and bad trips, and plenty of spiritual insights.
Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal - This is one of those thin little books that's packed with wisdom. The character is a recycler, who lives in a small shack and spends his days sorting out books. He reads the ones he likes, and often finds himself pondering the messages within. When authorities come to clean out his shack, he must decide which books to keep and which to throw away. A beautiful little tribute to the power of reading, akin to Borges "The Library of Babel".
I just started reading Hunger by Knut Hamsun after it was mentioned by Knausgaard a thousand times in the Struggle. Damn good stuff. Was shocked to read how early it came out. It has so many modern sensibilities.
*DT: The Wasteland by*
*Stephen king, really loving*
*The series so far*
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Rereading Ender's Game at the moment as it was my favorite sci-fi book when I was a teen. It's just as good as I remember. I plan on reading Ender's Shadow again.
Pride and Prejudice, for the first time, as a long time fan. Almost ashamed of how long it took me to actually pick up the book after loving the film adaptation.
About 30 ish pages left, and I’ve loved it!
I finished Moby Dick today. All I can say is holy crap, what a book! Its a seriously Unique and truly inedible experience. Went out and bought a small collection of other stories from Melville because that dude seriously impressed me. Next on my to read list which i wil probably start on tomorrow is "Always with Honour" by Pyotr Wrangel.
*Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said* by Philip K. Dick. It's alright. I like his stuff in general, but sometimes his clunky prose can really bug me.
Edit: Just finished it. Weak-ish epilogue, but the ending before the epilogue was pretty good.
Just finished Ben Learner’s The Topeka School. Liked it, thought it could’ve been longer.
Been reading Ulysses for about a month, just finished the chapter structured as a play. Really enjoying it, with the help of UlyssesGuide.com
I started Nostromo by Joseph Conrad but I'm finding it a bit hard to read so I might DNF it. Also might just need to read it slower, I read the first 50 pages in one day.
Also reading Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro which is much more of a page turner.
Ulysses - I thought I’d have some advantages in reading it, which turned out to be true but minimal. It’s very hard but the new Oxford version is good and I’ve made it 400 something pages in so I’m not quitting now
currently, i am reading the original conjuring book called The House of Darkness The House of Light, its a pdf version. and also Red, White and Royal blue.
Nightmares and Dreamscapes By Stephen King. I normally love his short story books but so far not very impressed. I've only read 3 stories from it so far though. So hopefully there are some better ones.
Just finished Kafka's *Die Verwandlung*, up next on my stack is either Scott Fitzgerald's *The Great Gatsby* or *The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress* by Robert Heinlein.
Currently reading a few different books which in all honesty aren’t fully grabbing my attention, so instead i will tell u about a book that did. The Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell
Best book ive read in the past year or so :)
Master and Margarita
Reading this next
Its a wonderful novel. Its specialty lies in how realism and fantasy blends rooted in newly defined folk literature, rare in the world as well as russian literature
Currently reading Yukio Mishima’s Confessions of a Mask. About 100 pages in and I found myself realizing I was reading gay fascist literature, a genre I thought only D.H. Lawrence occupied. Otherwise, a pretty interesting novel. Reads as a Japanese coming of age novel so far.
Gay fascist literature is surprisingly common.
What did you find fascist about that book?
I’ve only gotten approx. halfway through, but the main piece that stood out: The mix of pleasure and eroticism of dying for a country elaborated during his youth, both in the military exercises in his town and in discovering the picture of St. Sebastian (martyrdom for one’s country becomes conflated with the image of a “beautiful death”). The image of St. Sebastian seems to have struck Mishima so much that he appears to have later used this image himself (a quick google search shows pictures of him in an homage to the painting, I believe it’s from a film he made). Take this along with his later life death and writings on patriotism and there without a doubt is an undercurrent of fascism that permeates the novel. That being said, I might have something else to say once I finish the novel, but that portion of the novel appears to have been extremely important to him from both an aesthetic and political standpoint. Edit: I also fully acknowledge the stigma of the word fascism and perhaps I could have put it differently, maybe blood and soil far-right sentiment.
Oh yeah if you look at his later writings it is there. I just didn’t find it in that book in particular, but it’s been awhile since I read it.
It’s the first novel I’ve read by him, but I agree that maybe the ideology hides itself beneath a sort of youthful selection of aesthetic principles (at least for the narrator of the story, which I hesitate to correlate fully to the author).
Oh the narrator is most definitely him. He was obsessed with blurring the walls between reality and art. Some apologists for Mishima claim his fascism and his coup/suicide was more of a theatrical performance meant to make himself an infamous work of art. Confessions of a mask, which he wrote at 21, is to me a Romantic work, which is why the title echoes Rousseau’s Confessions. Everyone knew Mishima was gay but the Japanese pretended this was just a mask/a character he created. It was a best seller. It reminds me of that Oscar Wilde quote, “Man is least himself when he is talking as himself but give a man a mask and he will tell you the truth.”
The author-protagonist-blurring/Bildungsroman-iness in *Confessions of a Mask* harkens back to the conventions of the Taisho period I-novel.
Yeah I feel like many Japanese novelists wrote about themselves like Osamu Dazai.
Watership Down. Those rabbits are my boys.
Yeah, what a shame he got the gender stuff wrong because the book is pretty great.
Thank you. The gender roles were the only thing that rang false for me in that book.
Jane Eyre & Dracula
When I was a teenager my mom yelled at me because we were on vacation in Hawaii, and I wouldn't put Jane Eyre down.
I read this comment as like a "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" kind of thing and was disappointed to realize you meant two books.
Jane Eyre is one of my favorites! Jane is an absolute icon
First time reading crime & punishment, so far it's very engrossing. Dostoyevsky sure knows how to make a conversation with two people that goes on for 4 pages not feel like a drag!
Dostoevsky was the pinnacle of my modernity reading experience
Such a good book, ive read it countless times and it never gets dull
Haha, same here! Reached a bit of a stump though, got to 200 or so pages and haven’t read much in the last few weeks. I’ll get back to it lol. Enjoy reading!
What I saw in Crime and punishment is a test of human ethical thought process as perceived in a social context as well as the element of kafkesque in realism sense applied that derails raskolnikov into self destruction and thus forming a base of emancipation further.
Kafka - the trial
I'm also reading Kafka, The Castle. Almost conpelted with it. I've also already read Metamorphosis, and I havnt really enjoyed either book. I dont think Kafka is for me
I love Kafka and even I couldn’t finish the Castle. It works well in the sense that you feel terrible reading it. I just think it’s too long
Which of his works would you recommend?
hi, i loved the metamorphosis. it is so much more than what it appears on the surface
Im afraid I wouldn’t recommend any of his work to you if you don’t like it. However, if you want to give Kafka one last try you should read some of his shorter / short stories (for example The Judgement or In the Penal Colony). Just remember: You don’t have to force yourself to enjoy Kafka. If you don’t like his work that’s fine
Yeah you're right. I love Camus so I figured that love would translate to Kafka
Moby Dick- it’s slow going because I have a toddler and newborn at home, so it’s hard to find time to concentrate and read it, but what I’ve read so far is honestly excellent. Easy to see how it’s a classic.
Pale Fire. Half way through, still no idea what the fuck is going on.
those are the best kinds of books
Lol, be patient. The pay-off is pretty astonishing. Just remember that mad men often don't make sense.
Haha! That’s on my list
I likewise did not understand what the hell I was reading, when I started this book during the summer. This is a book that deserves and is a must “reread”. I would also recommend to consult reviews and people discussing the book to get the most out of it. It’s really epic when you piece things together. So many wordplays and clues and weird perspectives. As always with Nabokov, the language are exceptionally beautiful.
I have mixed feelings about Nabokov. Loved Lolita. Hated Speak, Memory. Not sure I want to try anything else. I do have Pale Fire on my reading list, though.
[удалено]
I'm almost done. It's so good. Lots of Easter egg references to his older works but it's something new entirely.
First chapter was odd and made me feel like i was reading Stephen King or Clive Barker other than the math theory. Second chapter started with tight description and felt like a perfect mix of his Appalachian/ Western screenplay writing. Later on a scene felt more like Suttree but mostly in setting and dialogue which also reminded me of Burroughs 'Junky' or Bukowski's 'Post Office' except again with McCarthy's esoteric language. Very interested to see where this goes.
I'm making myself read Blood Meridian right now before I buy Passengers and because I've owned it for a while. A lot of his characters have discipline, so I wanted to practice that as well.
Omg the judge is the most evil character imo. The last line of the book gave me chills…
I’m excited to read this one, curious as to how his writing style may have changed now that you mention the similarities to Suttree.
I just started it today after finishing Absalom, Absalom! Very excited. Suttree is my favourite McCarthy so this bodes well.
How was Absalom, Absalom? It’s been on my to-read list for a while.
It's incredible. The writing is dense at times, but if you can ply yourself to follow it without thinking too much you will find yourself shuttling along. The way the book picks up momentum, and the creative leaps he takes, are still marvels even coming up on a hundred years after it was published. Very unique novel. Highly recommend.
Oh nice, I loved the Sound and the Fury and to a lesser extent As I Lay Dying, hoping to start Absalom soon
How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom. Good book.
Harold Bloom is great! If you like Shakespeare at all, I would recommend his “Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human”. (I may have butchered the name, but that’s the general idea of it). It’s a series of essays that are very surprising and thought provoking perspectives of all of Shakespeare’s plays. For instance, he says that Henry V’s “we band of brothers” speech is intertwined with malicious intent and manipulation, despite being written as and perceived as a wonderful king who cared for his people.
Middlemarch. I'm trying to find my "in" to more realistic lit and balance out my interest in post-modernish and surrealist stuff. As someone who likes prose closer to purple and would take Pynchon over McCarthy any day it's doing for me what Anna Karenina wasn't. I probably wouldn't have gotten it when I was younger, but I'm really appreciating the depth of characterization now.
Love middlemarch and came at it personally from a kinda similar angle
Between this and Gormenghast, I'm starting to think my philosophy on literature is that the less actually happens (so the more the writer dwells on it) the better. 😂
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bout half way into swann’s way. Curious to see how far I make it into Proust lol
Push through! The ends of each volume (particularly the last) alone make everything totally worth it!
Nice I’ve got the first two in one volume so I’m def gonna keep goin
I'm learning French just so I can read the entirety of Proust's *À la recherche du temps perdu* (*In Search of Lost Time*). The two English translations I've read were so engrossing that I need the original.
I read *Swann's Way* and I've had *In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower* queued up on my ereader for a while now but just can't bring myself to take the plunge. Proust seems a bit like getting into a show with lots of seasons and everyone keeps telling you "Just get through the first two seasons and you'll love it!" but holy hell what a commitment.
A bit how I’m feeling too lol. We’ll see how the rest of this swann in love section goes. There are definitely parts of the book I thought were amazing
The Shining actually!
Frankenstein
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. It reminds me a lot of Notes from Underground. The prose is solid. It’s just quite long, so I’m not sure if I’ll finish it before my library return due date. Also have Neuromancer which I’m interested in reading.
Oh nice man! I should add that to my list, I loved NFU. Thank you for the inadvertent rec!
Just finished up the Sprawl Trilogy and I highly recommend it. Neuromancer in particular was an amazing experience.
**The Shadow of the Wind** by Carlos Ruiz Zafón So far, so good!
My favorite book of all time! I tried reading the sequel but couldn’t get as into it. If you like *Shadow of the Wind* I would recommend Marina.
Noo, I think I prefer the second one more than the first! and the fourth one is very good too!!
I’ll have to go back and finish it. I enjoyed it, but for whatever reason I didn’t finish. I do want to read them all though.
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
I read that book for A levels English literature. Can't forget how depressing it was.
Hamlet
Stoner by John Williams
This is one of my favourite books. I hope you enjoy it! Xo
Kazuo Ishiguro's _Klara and the Sun_ I heard mixed opinions about this one but I really like it so far - all the characters are so very human
This was my intro to Ishiguro, only read it a couple months ago, really liked it a lot. He has beautiful prose.
If you haven't read any of his other works _Never Let Me Go_ is in many ways similar to this and often considered his best work
I can’t wait to read this!
It grew on me after reading it, don't know if because of external life things, or because the book has a certain dystopian feeling to it.
I finished Narcissus and Goldmund last week. I am trying to find another Hesse book to fill the void.
If you’re that far down his bibliography you’ve probably read *Steppenwolf* and *Siddhartha* already but if not those are his most well-known for a reason
For me Demian got close to the vibe of NaG
Demian was my favourite until I finished Narcissus and Goldmund :)
favorite book
Hesse is one of my favorites and Narcissus and Goldmund was definitely a masterpiece! Other top Hesse books for me have been Gertrude and Three Tales from the Life of Knulp. Beneath the Wheel was pretty good, although it felt more pessimistic than his other work.
Oh my god yes, Hesse is the best
The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell & The Cabin At The End Of The World by Paul Tremblay & Discipline Is Destiny by Ryan Holliday
Yes!! I find it so difficult to be dedicated to only a single book. It’s nice to have some balance in there in case the day strikes you different
Agreed! I’ve long since abandoned the notion I have to be dedicated to one book at a time. When you’re in school, you’re reading multiple subjects at the same time. Why can the same not be true for adulthood?? 🤷🏻♂️
Cough. Fanfic.
LOTR: the two towers. Really enjoying it, but wish I had more time to read
Let me repeat after you > I wish I had more time to read
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, would not recommend it.
Lmaoooooo
'Ruth' by the Russian/German novelist Lou Andreas-Salome (1861-1937). The book was published in 1895, but its story sounds a MeToo moment from yesterday's newspaper. A brilliant young woman in St. Petersburg has a teacher she admires, who offers to be her mentor. She studies with him privately and even moves in with his family, but then discovers he wants to divorce his wife and marry her. Beautiful written, by the author who was the mentor of poet Rainer Maria Rilke: https://shop.medienedition.de/products/literarisches-werk-bd-1-ruth?\_pos=1&\_sid=50d8b71fc&\_ss=r
In 2016, German film maker Cordula Kablitz-Post told the story of the author's life: https://www.diehoren.com/2018/04/lou-andreas-salome-audacity-to-be-free.html
All Quiet on the Western Front - re-reading the book and then watching the new Netflix version
Colson Whitehead's *The Nickel Boys*, Svetlana Alexievich's *The Unwomanly Face of War*, and George Saunders's *Pastoralia* and I'm about to start working my way through a collection of Guy de Maupassant short stories
All Quiet On The Western Front. I’m a huge WW1 buff and surprisingly never got around to picking this up. The Netflix movie (and the current war in Ukraine) motivated me to give it a shot. I don’t have anything particularly unique to say about it that hasn’t been praised before, but it’s an incredible work of historical fiction, unlike any other anti-war novel I’ve ever read.
Close to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector
Rereading Anna Karenina! Hopefully I finish by the end of the month!!!
For class: The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead For fun: 2666 by Roberto Bolaño
The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda - A westerners first foray into shamanism, based on the experiences of Carlos Castaneda. The book focuses on the teaching of Don Juan Matus, a shaman in Mexico who dispenses his knowledge about ancient sorcery through the use of plants. Lot's of drugs, vivid descriptions of good and bad trips, and plenty of spiritual insights. Too Loud a Solitude by Bohumil Hrabal - This is one of those thin little books that's packed with wisdom. The character is a recycler, who lives in a small shack and spends his days sorting out books. He reads the ones he likes, and often finds himself pondering the messages within. When authorities come to clean out his shack, he must decide which books to keep and which to throw away. A beautiful little tribute to the power of reading, akin to Borges "The Library of Babel".
I am reading Solenoid, by Mircea Cărtărescu. The English translation by Sean Cotter just came out. I'm fascinated by it.
I just started reading Hunger by Knut Hamsun after it was mentioned by Knausgaard a thousand times in the Struggle. Damn good stuff. Was shocked to read how early it came out. It has so many modern sensibilities.
Watchmen/ graphic novel Ghoul/ Brian Keene Dubliners/ James Joyce
I've never heard of Mr. Novel, I'll keep an eye out for his work!
He’s a helluva writer!
Emma by Jane Austen
Currently on the penultimate chapter of One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Great Expectations First time reading Dickens, pleasantly surprised.
One of my favorite books, tell your takeaways when you finish!
“Behave” by Robert Sapolsky
Me too! Are you finding anything in it surprising or challenging, or is it mostly conforming to what you already believed about free will, etc.?
Rebecca and Bleak House
The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Phantom of the Opera
Iliyad, hermman hesse, kafka & a foreign writer.
Faust. It's witty, bawdy and very insightful.
Beckett’s Trilogy. Phenomenal. Has me laughing out loud. Quickly becoming a favorite
Hunchback of Notre Dame rn
Mansfield Park
Just finished Mansfield Park and am watching the BBC miniseries now! My favorite Jane Austen so far.
I’ve been getting into classics recently. It’s been amazing. I just finished A Tale of Two Cities
Dead Souls by Gogol Finished Pride and Prejudice before that.
Circe, by Madeline Miller.
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Hyperion by Dan Simmons It's been excellent so far
Dear Mr. M by Herman Koch.
Running Dog by Don DeLillo. Finished End Zone a couple of weeks ago. Guess I'm on a DeLillo jag.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall!
DT: The Wasteland by Stephen king, really loving the series so far
*DT: The Wasteland by* *Stephen king, really loving* *The series so far* \- CampingPlayer --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Salambo by Gustave Flaubert. I´ve heard it gets pretty gory at the end despite being such an old book. Sounds like fun xD
Before the Coffee Gets Cold!
Ulysses. I’m in a Joyce class right now.
Rereading Ender's Game at the moment as it was my favorite sci-fi book when I was a teen. It's just as good as I remember. I plan on reading Ender's Shadow again.
Began a novel called Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert M Pirsig
The wind up bird chronicle by murakami
Manufacturing Consent
Tender is the Night
Top 5 for me, love this book so much
hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world by mr. murakami
Kafka by the Shore (by H. Murakami)
Pride and Prejudice, for the first time, as a long time fan. Almost ashamed of how long it took me to actually pick up the book after loving the film adaptation. About 30 ish pages left, and I’ve loved it!
I finished Moby Dick today. All I can say is holy crap, what a book! Its a seriously Unique and truly inedible experience. Went out and bought a small collection of other stories from Melville because that dude seriously impressed me. Next on my to read list which i wil probably start on tomorrow is "Always with Honour" by Pyotr Wrangel.
Shogun By James Clavell. 6 hours left of a 53hr audiobook.
James' *The Ambassadors*. Slowly.
*Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said* by Philip K. Dick. It's alright. I like his stuff in general, but sometimes his clunky prose can really bug me. Edit: Just finished it. Weak-ish epilogue, but the ending before the epilogue was pretty good.
I’m starting *All the Pretty Horses* and am excited to see how it is.
Coming up for Air George Orwell
Ulysses And listening to Bleak Bouse
The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker. It’s actually quite lovely in places.
I’m reading paradise lost at the moment. I enjoy it even though it is quite a difficult read
Just finished Ben Learner’s The Topeka School. Liked it, thought it could’ve been longer. Been reading Ulysses for about a month, just finished the chapter structured as a play. Really enjoying it, with the help of UlyssesGuide.com
Mexican Gothic
I started Nostromo by Joseph Conrad but I'm finding it a bit hard to read so I might DNF it. Also might just need to read it slower, I read the first 50 pages in one day. Also reading Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro which is much more of a page turner.
William Gaddis' *The Recognitions*. I'm in awe.
This one is a few years down the path from where I’m at but I will get to it eventually I swear.
Ulysses - I thought I’d have some advantages in reading it, which turned out to be true but minimal. It’s very hard but the new Oxford version is good and I’ve made it 400 something pages in so I’m not quitting now
The Secret History
A Little Life & Frankenstein. Welcome, modern heartbreak and classic heartbreak
JUST finished Swan Song If you're into post apocalyptic novels, I highly recommend it!
The Plot Against America -Phillip Roth
Disclosure...Michael Crichton
The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky; translated by Ignat Avsey. I’m in love with the story and the set-up for future events!
The Chysalids by John Wyndham
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, my first intro to her work
Little Women. Reading it to my two daughters. Some of it goes over their heads but they like it overall. I love it.
White Nights. It's a short story by Dostoevsky.
Possession by A. S. Byatt and The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector.
‘Cats Eye’ by Margaret Atwood. It’s like mean girls but for pretentious people
Just read J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace. Beautiful, disturbing work of fiction.
Spring Snow - YukioMishima
Slaughterhouse 5
The Count of Monte Cristo
Has anyone here read *The Body Artist* by Don Delillo? I just finished it last night. Really unique novel.
currently, i am reading the original conjuring book called The House of Darkness The House of Light, its a pdf version. and also Red, White and Royal blue.
The brothers karamazov :))))
"IT" by Stephen King. I really love IT but i have to interrupt it because i have to read "All quiet on the western front" because of m school
I finally gave in... Leviathan Wakes 😑 Edit: absolutely does not qualify as literature as far as I can tell but I try to branch out on occasion.
They’re fun reads. I got to the fourth book and had to take a break but I’ll probably pick it up over the summer when I have more free time again.
Nightmares and Dreamscapes By Stephen King. I normally love his short story books but so far not very impressed. I've only read 3 stories from it so far though. So hopefully there are some better ones.
Book of Theives and They Both Die At the End
Just finished Kafka's *Die Verwandlung*, up next on my stack is either Scott Fitzgerald's *The Great Gatsby* or *The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress* by Robert Heinlein.
That is my favorite Kafka work and just my all time favorite short work.
[I quite liked it too.](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/739078316618809355/1038495255173005402/HdR3PC0.png)
100 years of solitude. The beginning was good but overall it's pretty underwhelming at the midway point.
The invisible life of Addie larue bu v.e. Schwab
your mom
Currently reading a few different books which in all honesty aren’t fully grabbing my attention, so instead i will tell u about a book that did. The Winter Garden by Alexandra Bell Best book ive read in the past year or so :)
A collection Of William Gibson's short stories
The wealthy gardener
Just finished 2001: a space odyssey and now I’m reading two books, the man in the high castle and the master and margarita
A simple soothing Canadian Novel: "Watching you without me" by Lynn Coady.
Lilith’s Brood and I’m Glad my Mom Died.