/lit/ - Literature / Fanfic / Poetry

Frankenstein: This book was very thought-provoking. It's a little hard to get into, but once you become comfortable with the style and look up what countenance means, you should be fine. After reading this, Dracula seemed simple and maybe even a step down, but despite their similarities, they're apples and oranges. The actual plot isn't anything too compelling, but the way the book plays with your emotions and makes you doubt your own perceptions of characters is extremely compelling. The point is, you're not always right about your moral judgments. There isn't a security in your own perspective in Frankenstein. The monster is, by the way, eloquent and intelligent, which makes the theatrical version seem completely butchered. It upsets me a bit to see how people's conception of both Dracula and the monster are based on bastardized versions. It's not long and I definitely think it's worth a read through.

Solaris: Starting a sci-fi book after the last two was jarring, but I powered through that pretty quickly. It's about a distant planet covered in a massive, life-like ocean with the bizarre abilities to influence its own orbit around two stars and continually form massive structures that perform unbelievably complex processes and then disintegrate. The planet has been being studied for 100 years already and at this point investigations seem to be at their tail end without any definitive conclusions having been made. When the main character arrives to the research station, there's only two scientists still left there, with the third having recently committed suicide. Starting from recently, these scientists have been being 'visited' by people from their past memories, like hallucinations, but actually physical. The main character's nineteen year old wife who committed suicide years ago is who comes to him and with no recollection of her death. It's not immediately clear whether these visitors are actually self-aware, or just following a program.

The similarities to Evangelion are too numerous to seem like a coincidence to me. The red ocean, descriptions of giant humanoids floating in it, the planet 'mind raping' people to learn information about them and humans in general, etc. Their atmospheres are also very much alike and there's many similarities between the utterly inhuman nature of the planet, the structures that form on it, and the angels. It's also similarly depressing as hell. There's way too many themes and thought-provoking questiPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>The similarities to Evangelion are too numerous to seem like a coincidence to me.
It probably is a coincidence, there's not much similarity beside the superfluous theme of something more powerful than humanity messing with people's heads. Which is not even the focus of Eva, now that I think of it. But who knows, Lem is a very renowned writer, maybe Anno was in fact influenced by his work somehow.

>>855
I meant more along the lines of visual similarities, though a lot of that probably comes from my own imagination. The way in which the planet and angels 'mess' with people has some stuff in common too, like the book's dream sequences(the melting together parts among others). I'm not the first person to have made the connection.
>superfluous
Wrong word I think.

>>856
>Wrong word I think.
Ah, yeah, meant to say "superficial". Derp.

My fave children's book was pic related, a strange monster hunting manual that really struck home thanks to the fantastic illustrations. Closely following Where the WIld Things Are and this crazy book about a crocodile and toothpaste, been looking everywhere for it to no avail.

>>523
My savior has been amazon and book swaps/hand-me-down libaries. I also stopped by a toy store a while ago with a couple friends and found awesome books i forgot i remembered.

>>530
i loved strega nona as a child, i've never heard anyone else mention it before

hershel and the hanukkah goblins
madeline
the velveteen rabbit
so many others that i can't remember right now

i used to get these children's books about a little witch girl out from the library and i've been trying to remember what they were for something like a decade now

>>804
…forgot pic

apparently more is coming

>>799
More? You mean like a sequal, or a translation of her pixiv thing? Could you post a link please?

>>694
Hey, are you still around? Did you ever get around to doing the translation? Sorry if this is jarring after almost two years.

Random anon says, "What does sideboob have to do with loneliness?"

>>802
Nothing, but it has everything to do with lesbians.

I know this can be considered a necrobump but I'm interested in this discussion and have a little to contribute. Recently I was looking for books like OP mentions and here is a few I read and recommend (most of them are german but there are surely translations available)

>Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
>Rhapsody: A Dream Novel by Arthur Schnitzler
>A Dream Play by August Strindberg (was a huge influence to the german literature scene in the early 20th century, together with Freud's work)
>Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse (not solely centered about dreams but the paranormal/psychedelic plays a huge part)
>Kafka's short stories (espescially Der Landarzt)
>The Dream Cycle by H.P. Lovecraft
>The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa

I'll add to this post if I remember/read more.

>>750
Wonderful suggestions, The Book of Disquiet and Rhapsody: A Dream Novel seem very interesting. It's unfortunate then that Rhapsody seems so expensive…

>>752
Rhapsody is freely available on the net (legally too)
The copyright expired.

Finnegans Wake reads like you're in a fever dream, and it was meant to feel like a dream. But its not everyone's taste.

The Rings Of Saturn by W. G. Sebald

>>783
Well, thank you first of all. I have had other ideas, but I wanted to wait until I've heard what people think of this one. Just spewing out all of my ideas seems pointless to me. I admitted to a major weakness for the sake of getting better advice.
>This has overtones of sex involving underage characters. I'm not saying to not do this. I am saying that you should have a good idea of how your audience will react to this.
lol that's the whole point so I don't care. I definitely wont put in an actual sex scene if I do get around to it, because it's not meant to be smut. I also don't plan on publishing it or making any money off of it. I'll just post it somewhere online under an alias and ask people for critique.

I've recently had a kind of weird, but interesting idea. Basically its a, "subversion", of harem comedies. So the premise is that five monstrous, horrifying aliens or demons or something like that arrive on earth for some reason I haven't thought of yet. Really not important. They have the ability to look like totally normal girls to everybody else and nonverbally communicate with one another. They are all drawn to one boy becuase something about him just seems unusual, but they don't know what. He's just different. They decide to play a game. Over three months they each will attempt to make this boy fall in love with them. The victor gets to kill and eat him. If nobody wins, they'll kill him and nobody gets to feast. The thing that's so different about the boy is that he can see right through their disguise and understand everything they communicate to each other for some inexplicable reason. So now this boy has three months to try to find some way out of this situation without blowing his cover. It's kind of like a reverse Saya no Uta. So ya, does it sound cliche or could it work?

>>785
Addition: It would probably also make more sense if the girls were introduced as totally normal and the mc gets his ability after some thing, whatever, happens to him.

>>785
What POV is the story seen from?
If it's the guy, how'd the reader know they're aliens disgusted as cute girls if he can see right through them?

>>787
Probably the third person. It's kind of stupid, but maybe the main character meets the girls and they look totally normal to him, but then one day he accidentally drinks from one of their water bottles instead of his own, which makes him really sick, but after that he can see their true selves. Maybe as they're visiting him while he is sick, he's like in some kind of a transitional phase where they sometimes look human to him, and sometimes don't, which allows him to connect the dots. Or maybe he finds out through a fever dream somehow. I don't know. How dumb does that sound? The visitations would require the main character to already have some kind of connection with the five(or three, doesn't matter) monsters. Maybe that could be done through a mutual friend.

>>744
>email
You know you don't need an email to post right?

I never understood why people like Borges that much, he always writes so pretentiously. Do the translations carry all that bullshit or they are at least readable without a fucking dictionary?

>>746
The people who enjoy him usually don't need a dictionary while reading his stories.

>>747
Have you read borges in spanish? I don't have a problem with the words themselves, I have a problem with how he tries to sound too smart with the words and how he bends a simple phrase into something too esoteric and unnatural. Oh behold, I who for one among all mortals is capable of not only writing in such an exquisite prose but one who vaunts of besetting words with empyreal meanings seldom wrought by enthralled humans in the depths of the mire of destiny and creation… can I have my prize now?

>>748
No I read it in English like a pleb, sorry.

>>753
Moscow, late evening – I can call it “night”. Catteus sits inside his little room and looks at the display with the concentration of a neurosurgeon. Black Empress of Computing clacks under the schoolboy's fingers. Clack-clack-clack. Misprints are quickly backspaced, coherent text is appearing in posting field.
“So, I'll tell you. There is one repeating story in my dreams. I'm going through snow-covered park. In real life I often walk there when I'm depressed and don't want to return to my flat from university…”
Catteus throws a look at his table littered with school textbooks. Chemistry is lying awry, spreading its covers like a whore and telling Catteus' sight about fuarrrking scheme of the thermal decomposition of the nitrogen and its compounds. He's a little ashamed for his lie but when have someone ever listened to scholars at Mailach (Mailach aka Sosach (Suckachan) – the biggest European imageboard – Linalique.)?
“Sometimes I walk in that park at night after my Martial Arts training's ending. It is calm and quiet at this time, especially I never had problems with chavs.”
Hunched schoolboy stretches at his armchair, thrown his lean stickarms that look like biological pieces from unrealistic mantis over his head. With edge of sight he notices frowned and disturbing spring night outside. Night shows him his face: disheveled hair, bulging eyes, femineity that can be evidently seen in his manners and gestures. Yeah, the ideal man, he thinks and turns to the computer.
“I can always see her in my dream. She stands near tree and shivers from the insufferable cold because she is absolutely naked. She asks me to warm her up and stretches her hands to me opening her breast of the perfect shape for my sight. I embrace her and she softly replies my kiss. I see that dream every day…”
Really it's not. The guy invented this dream when accidentally got a nocturnal emission half a year ago. That day he gave free rein to his imagination.
“There is only one problem. She is. My. Sister.”

>>754
Dorotheus and Theodora's names were a product of their mother's luxuriant imagination. In his thoughts Catteus (as he undersigned in the Internet, easily mixed his first name and surname) was glad that he wasn't christened as Akakios or Theopist. (Dorotheus and Theodora are names that aren't often used in Russia of nowadays 'cause of their obsolescence – Linalique.) Strangeness of the names is supplemented by surname that was glorified by the one fervent revolutionary – Kotowski. I can surely say that the story of Dorotheus' REVOLUTIONARY fervent desire began about half a year ago when his parents left home for Europe to build their business and entrusted care of adolescents to their aunt. Shortly party of Dora and Dora – as the aunt called our protagonists infuriating Dorotheus, - bored her, and after only a week she went to Goa, taking the teens' word of honor not to overuse drugs and not to organize too dirty orgies. Bank card was full of currency, utilities and net connection were paid for four years in advance. As classic poet said… “Soup in the pot, loaf on the board, water in the well, mind inside the shell… Live as you know and don't wait for me”. The one problem teens had was to make the order of cleaning and cooking. In fact – Theodora had a problem to make Dorotheus follow the actual order.

“Heard about maniac?” Dora's low voice made Catteus to pause the attempt to catch the word “FUCK” from the lines of soup keys. (Al-Imgchani says about pasta in the form of alphabet letters. – Linalique.)
Dora was sitting at the head of the long table choked up with dishes, pizza boxes and various electronic trash including a drone with broken propeller. That day, as always, sixteen-year-old girl opted for naturalness of her appearance: long and uncombed for eternity hair was packed to ponytail with a plastic clamp, the third eye of pimple shone at her forehead; the last fact could confuse Dorotheus but anyway he could never stop to dream about her body. Dora's blue eyes gazed straight and without unnecessary emotions, she frowned once again masticating piece of fried chicken.
“Yeah” Catteus caught the fat letter of U but at the last moment it burst and partly got into rich array of symbols making the guy swear mutely. “Eugene noticed him when he was returning from school. He titles him as ~ Weeweejiggle.”
Dora chuckled and raised lefPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

Tabloid sister-loving writers usually apply one stereotype: until some moment Character X treats Character Y like sister but not an object of his love. Despite this, Dorotheus began admire her since the day of his first single sexual practice (same as admiring his mother, later – aunt). Seventeen-year-old adolescent's libido is a complex of things; for the time being, thoughts in his head are only the thoughts. However, there also were no usual brotherly-sisterly feelings between them: the leading emotion that Theodora evoked in Dorotheus was an indescribable anger. Every trait of Theodora maddened him: her manners, her clothing style, her hobbies – instead of reading “Twilight” or doing handicrafts she read Knuth and assembled AVRs and Arduinos. In her turn, Theodora reciprocated – his visions annoyed her, she became frenzied about his pseudo-intellectualism and the fact he thought that his gender and birthright were an indulgence for any behavior including the most irrational. Dorotheus wondered why Theodora who spent so much time with him in childhood are such a stranger for him present day. “How curiosly” he thought washing a pan with adhered pieces of animal that suffered from its unbearable life at poultry farm less then a few weeks ago. The guy positioned himself as a vegan but really just positioned.

While Dorotheus was returning to his room, he habitually looked into the slit in the ajar door and saw Dora working. She hovered over the table with one of dozens of scattered microchips gripping switched-on soldering-iron in her hand and slowly soldered LED hookup biting her lips. A dribble heavily crossed her forehead, and Dorotheus who regarded technics and technicians with contempt couldn't take his eyes off of sister – every detail of her image represented something that human could hardly understood, that feeling that Dorotheus called as “observator of animated's joy”. After a half of awkward minute Dora turned her eyes to the aperture of door and saw over Dorotheus.
“I hope you washed all dishes.”
Cat mutely moved to his room feeling insane heartbeat and excitement – surprisingly not akin to sexual excitement. He locked the door. That moment he had the last method to relieve tension and fall asleep. Anonymism. He must do it again.
Catteus took already shabby but unbroken paper bag with holes for eyes (Oppressor Mask – paper bag with eye slots, symbol of the Anonymous Movement in Russia, picrelated. – Linalique.) out of bottoPost too long. Click here to view the full text.

>>682
Anon, it's just using google…
https://www.amazon.com/UNIX-Linux-System-Administration-Handbook/dp/0131480057

>>683
ya but I saw the cover and figured it wasn't it

I wanted to take a picture but can't find my batteries…
Usually bringing three books with myself nowadays, a Chomsky (Language and problems of knowledge) and a Watts/Bennett (Theory and practice of psychiatric rehabilitation). Third one is a local magazine thing that I kind of count as a book as it's close to 200 pages usually.

recently finished:
The Vegetarian by Han Kang (translated by Deborah Smith). I bought this on the back of it winning the 2016 Man Booker International Prize and I was not disappointed. Essentially the decent of a young woman into madness told through the eyes of members of her family. Beautifully dark.

The Wisdom Of Insecurity: A Message For An Age Of Anxiety by Alan Watts. This is a good book but it was preaching to the converted. I suppose if you were someone who is quite anxious then there might be some helpful advice. I still love the authors' The Way Of Zen.

The Investigation by Phillipe Claudel. Kafkaesque is the word. Reads like a bad nightmare without ever letting up. Not recommended at all.

currently on:
Overcomplicated: Technology At The Limits Of Comprehension by Samuel Arbesman. Popsci intro to Complexity Theory. I'm punching above the weight of this book so it's been tough keeping focus during the lengthy gaps between points of interest. However it is also very short so it won't be long before I move on.

waiting to be read:
Where The Dead Pause And The Japanese Say Goodbye by Marie Mutsuki Mockett
Ours To Hack And To Own: The Rise Of Platform Cooperatirvism, A New Vision For The Future Of Work And A Fairer Internet edited by Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider

big up to whoever mentioned Montaigne.

I'm currently reading The Well of Loneliness by Hall.
Pretty gay, but interesting story and perspective of a girl in the 1920s

Also reading Anthem by Ayn Rand because I like memes uwu

I'm still trying to trudge through
Lolita. While I enjoy reading it, I have to take a break at the most every hour or so. I also have a hard time getting back into it the next day so I'll take weeks in between sessions with it.

>>736
I understand you. For me, it got really boring starting part 2. While the narrative is splendid, the plot isn't so much and it gets hard to keep reading.

I'll get around to reading The Brothers of Karamazof one of these days.

Let me add a gigantic milestone for you people:
You all ought to read Discworld.

>>735
Well, dang. I wonder how much I am missing by reading a translation.

Stumbled upon it in the library and started reading without giving it much thought. I suppose I should download an English pdf.