/lit/ - Literature

sorry this is /mu/ now we don't do books

I spend 1-3 hours a day in the library looking at secondary materials on weekdays, but I don't check out novels or anything.

>>8614391

Strahov library. Prague is a great place to be.

I tried going to the library yesterday but it was closed because of Yom Kippur

Not since I finished university.

My local library had its funding cut and shut down after the council decided to centralise and make a Soviet style 'super library' about an hour away from me. The only other one nearby was redeveloped to make way for a block of flats and is now a huge open space devoid of privacy, full of screaming toddlers and containing more tablets than physical books.

All the time. I'm right by the main city branch. Almost never have to request books from other branches, the staff is super friendly, only downside is a lot of homeless people use the washrooms for personal grooming or fall asleep at the desks. It borders a somewhat sketch part of town.

Also sometimes the books smell odd. Still love it though.

>>8614391
Went to my country's national library last year and despite floors and floors of books from hundreds of years ago, every country in the world and every conceivable topic, found the entire place full of hipsters on laptops drinking pumpkin spice lattes

>>8615934
Plebbit-tier post

Yes, me

I just look stuff up on spotify

>>8615934
>hehe, im le REAL book fan and im above these HIPSTERS with their starbucks XD

i doo tings like get in ccab and say libbrary step on it

>library's

I go a lot. I don't have much to compare it to but I think my city's library system is pretty good. I still buy books they don't have copies of and books by authors I already love. I don't get it when I see posts that have "just bought this, what am I in for?" and it's a book that their library would have 10 copies of, unless they're all from non-Anglophone countries.

>>8614391

I torrent and go to the library. I don't see the point in buying a lot of books.

My library stinks and is full of homeless people making lots of noise.

Librarian told me in confidence there is basically nothing they can do.

Last time I went was almost 3 years ago someone took a shit in the sink of the male's bathroom with perfectly good toilets available.

Rip amazing institution

Anyone?

>>8614391
my local library just only has old textbooks and twilight.
so no

I run a library.

I live in Sweden and I only read swedish books if it's by a swedish author or if it's more like a textbook. Anything else I prefer to read in english because either the original language is english or the translation is better.

The libraries in sweden usually have very few english books and I'm not very interested in most swedish authors, so I end up buying almost every book I read (strong preference for physical books too).

Bookshops/secondhand stores also lack english lit so it's not very cheap for me.

>>8617462
What horseshit. They can hire a security guard to kick out people who are loitering.

>>8614391
>library's

>>8614568
Fuck you ;-;
Meanwhile I have to navigate a sea of James Patterson's and Danielle Steele's. Quite a few classics though, but of the Jane Austen kind.

I love going to the library. I go there once every week or two week and I'll take like 4-5 books.

Buying books is expensive, but I recently found a used bookstore and bought like 6 books for 14$, pretty worth.

>>8619084
>or the translation is better
[citation needed]

>>8619169

For major works I simply assume (I know this isn't good) that the work put into making the translation as good as possible for english is greater than for swedish. This is because there's usually more versions of english translations.

I also just prefer to read english because I'm more used to it (internet). I still prefer to speak swedish though.

>>8619197
>I also just prefer to read english
Well in that case there's no reason not too. I do seriously doubt that the difference in the quality of translations is so great that it matters more than which language is your first, however.

>>8619213

You might be right, it's probably something I've just made up. I still have a preference for english but I'm going to give some translations a try if I see something I'm interested in next time I'm at the library.

Thanks.

Do they let you take books home so you can return them later? I want to find a library like this

>>8619331

I thought all libraries let you do this (not with any book though).

>>8619336
Are you implying my country isn't civilized? :(

only recently started going to the library. i used to live in a shit neighborhood where the library really only existed so little dickheads could use the computers. now i live in a neighborhood that is still shitty enough that nobody cares for reading but not so poor that kids don't have computers at home.

>work in library system that has one of the best collections in the united states

>tfw pirating all my books is still more convenient

>>8617462

The library I work at made it a rule as of January 1st, 2016 no one is allowed to sleep in the library for any reason so all those fuckers have been gloriously expelled.

>>8619385
>mfw Kobo is in the mail

>>8619394

>mfw seeing fellow ebook enthusiast who also got the patricians choice for ereaders

when i had access to an excellent university library i did, but now i live abroad in a tiny town and have to order or libgen my own books

I live in between 3 major liberal arts colleges which I think contributes to my ability to cop good surprisingly good shit like nyrbs and Norton at places like a thrift shop on a soulless strip mall.

I really have no need for one and am getting good shit used every week.

If you live in a city with a university it may be worth seeing if they have a membership scheme for the general public. It's certain to have an unrivalled collection and almost complete solitude if you go early in the morning or during academic holidays.

>>8619331
There are libraries that don't let you do that?

Libraries are good for research, and provide some tangible source material you may not find elsewhere.

I'd rather have a personal library for casual reading/studying though, so I buy books. You can buy almost any well-known classic or decent book at a used store.

>>8619331

What

Isn't that the point of a library?

Where do you live?

>>8619394
>Kobo

Why do you hate yourself?

>There are people in this very thread who buy books when they can just borrow them

>>8619736
What else do you suggest I do with my money?

>>8619738
Buy weed, alcohol, avocados, expensive cologne instead of Axe stench, etc etc etc

Live better

>>8619761
>Buy weed, alcohol
Get out filthy degenerate.

>>8619761
>Live better

holy shit how spooked can you be

>>8619761

>Weed
>Alcohol
>Cologne

This is a joke right?

>>8619761
>most of today's people actually only live for materialistic shit like this

just

>>8614391
Used to do that when I had no money.

I just use the Internet.

>>8619761
>mocking others
>being this degenerate

>>8619769
I thought hedonism wasn't tainted by spooks.

>>8619768
>>8619770
>>8619771
>>8619800
>Things that make you feel good is bad! Being a pleb with a bookshelf is better than being a pleb that has read the bookshelf and also affords luxurious comforts

>>8619811
shallow hedonism is literally the global spook of modern times

>>8619811
>>8619819

Precisely. Alcohol and Weed are shit for you and cologne is a waste of your money.

Fucking degenerate

>>8619835
>Precisely. Alcohol and Weed are shit for you and cologne is a waste of your money.
Alcohol and weed do more good than bad, and cologne makes me smell good, rather than dried sweat, something that I'm willing to pay 120 euro a year for.

>>8619848
>alcohol and weed do more good than bad
>hasn't heard of deodorant

>>8619848

>Short term and low level pleasure that costs a lot of money and has a high risk of leading to addiction which not only reduces the pleasure gained from them but also generates other problems
>More good than bad

>>8619854
>He thinks deoderant makes you smell good

>>8619862
>He thinks I'm not fully aware

>>8619732
fuck this guy. kobo is goat