/lit/ - Literature

Folio Society and Easton Press books are ugly and pretentious for the most part.
There's nothing wrong with listening to audiobook recordings of "light" fiction, and in many cases a narrator can add a lot to the story.
Most science fiction is garbage, but on average it's better than fantasy. In the hands of a good author a sci-fi story has the potential to say something about the real world, whereas fantasy stories are bound to be copies of copies of copies of ancient literature written by people hopelessly disconnected from the culture they're copying.
"Self-improvement" is a massive meme unless you treat it as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. People who read for no other reason than "improving themselves" will never get anywhere.
Most "hard" books, fiction in particular, aren't actually that difficult to read. The vast majority of "hard" novels get the label either from critics who want to feel superior, or from pseuds who want to have an opinion on a book they haven't read.
People who bash others for reading "hard" books or accuse them of being pretentious or attention-seeking are absolute cretins. They're ironically bigger cultural gatekeepers than the "le white male pretentious MFA man" strawman that lives in their heads rent-free.
Anyone who tries to lower the status of canonical literature and raise the status of pop culture by comparing the two ("The Illiad is just ancient Greek Avengers guys! Epic poetry is gangsta rap!") deserves to be kicked in the head, or worse.

>>13591910
>no facebook memes
>no twitter screencaps
>not a single peepee or feelsman
>no trannies
>all-around higher quality of discourse
God, I want to go back so bad.

>read the narrative of arthur gordon pym
>it's actually written by edgar allen poe

I hate the way my roommate and his girlfriend speak. They talk to one another like they are imitating a relationship, and they try so desperately hard to be adult. They are both so scared to say anything that will potentially offend the other, so they speak like they're selecting from a list of video game prompts. Their conversations are so boring and mindless, and they only talk about movies and tv shows. It's so tedious.

I hate the way they talk about feelings also. Like one will have a stressful day and the other will respond again with a list of prompts. Just a list of things you say to someone when they are feeling bad. But there is no genuine emotion behind it. And it goes back and forth like that. They pretend to be sad when they know they are expected to be sad, but I'm not sure they are ever really sad.They are afraid to say anything outside of what is expected of them, like they learned what a relationship was from watching sitcoms.

I am bitter yes, of course. But it drives me up the wall.

I miss the cat's wet footprints through the kitchen
Now I piss wet vomit off the toilet walls
PORCELAIN THRONE
I whispered to the Fat Controller
I whispered to the fat Controller
is this what Ginsberg wanted?

Ginsberg stands in his kitchen naked
Missing the cat's wet footprints

Today I ate an ice cream topped with cocoa pops
Today I woke up at seven and was proud
And I thought about before school care
And tubs
And in Year 6 I saw Harry's pubes
When we changed before swimming lessons
I whispered to the Fat Controller
Stuffed below my bed

I miss the cat's wet foorprints