/lit/ - Literature

While I know the journey is its own reward, I am lining up a couple of fun easy reads as reward for finishing this monster.

haven't found a comfier book desu

Is this the ultimate “touch the grass” novel?
Every chapter is an ever growing fuck you to anyone who tries to over-interpret art

Is this book the end of literature?

Fucking hell. This was not good. The plot is all over the place. It reeks of lazy writing. The protagonist is a boring dunce. Ludmilla is clearly a roastie whore and on top of that a pretentious art hoe who is clearly fucking her friend. Marana and Flannery are the only interesting characters and I wish the whole book were about them. The points that the book makes about reading could easily be said in one or two sentences. Only a few of the stories in the book are actually good, the rest are pornographic and gross. The sex scenes weren't even good (except maybe the Japanese one). Certain parts of the book were a legit drag to get through. And what a tacky fucking ending.

Is this the best Calvino has? Because if so I'm not picking up another book by him again. It had some good moments, but on the whole it was too much muck for me to want to go through it again.

>The novel begins in a railway station, a locomotive huffs, steam from a piston covers the opening of the chapter, a cloud of smoke hides part of the first paragraph. In the odor of the station there is a passing whiff of station café odor. There is someone looking through the befogged glass, he opens the glass door of the bar, everything is misty, inside, too, as if seen by nearsighted eyes, or eyes irritated by coal dust. The pages of the book are clouded like the windows of an old train, the cloud of smoke rests on the sentences. It is a rainy evening; the man enters the bar; he unbuttons his damp overcoat; a cloud of steam enfolds him; a whistle dies away along tracks that are glistening with rain, as far as the eye can see.
A whistling sound, like a locomotive's, and a cloud of steam rise from the coffee machine that the old counterman puts under pressure, as if he were sending up a signal, or at least so it seems from the series of sentences in the second paragraph, in which the players at the table close the fans of cards against their chests and turn toward the newcomer with a triple twist of their necks,

Name a single more comfy opening that Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler

>>14087237

imo, very good layered narrative that unfolds similar to works by Nabakov, Calvino. The novel explores a multitude of themes including alienation, romance, deterioration, families and companionship throughout each of the three layered stories. The central story is a spin on the Gothic genre. The one above it is a satire of journalism and academia. There are numerous references to older literature and mythos. Albeit being an important aspect of the novel, if your biggest takeaway from the HoL was the weird typography, then you've sorely misunderstood it.

Easily.

lmao how is he so good bros
Any related books to recommend?

I don't see Calvino mentioned enough on /lit/. Every winter, I read pic related and his other works. He's pretty darn comfy.
Favorite books of his?

you can thank me later

>>13759639
murakami pretty comfy too desu

What's the comfiest novel you've ever read?

how would you explain postmodern literature to someone?

I got to Leaning from the Steep Slope without problem and then my mind got completely fucked. I walked away for a week or two then continued on to chapter four but that’s even more difficult.
I’ve never had much trouble understanding Calvino in the past, and when I have I’m usually able to figure everything out with a quick reread or two. Am I just getting dumber anons, or is this bit just more dense than the rest of the book?
More importantly, if you guys understand it could you help a brain/lit/ out and guide me in the right direction? Thanks in advance, anons

>>12978954

Just finished this. Thought it was good, but too reliant on the cleverness of its central gimmick, and some parts felt like second-rate Borges.
That's said, what are your favourites of the "books" found in it?

also this

God I wish my version had this cover.

>tfw no ludmilla gf

What's the comfiest novel you've ever read?