/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.15431647]

Was thinking of picking a book from Lits top 100 2019. I'm drawn towards ( no pun intended) gravity's rainbow.

Anyone else read this book and can share what you felt about it? Or if theres a different book altogether from the list that you can recommend? I've read Dostoyevsky, moby dick, and blood meridian already.

[Anonymous No.15431670]

it's a great book. i read it on an impulse without having read anything else of his first and it was one of the best reading experiences of my life. ignore anyone who acts like you have to gingerly work your way in from easier books first

[Anonymous No.15431686]

>>15431647
it's ok, but fuck /lit/ and fuck 4chan. most of the people who post here are undergraduate philosophy and english majors, and they don't know shit. don't come here for advice or recommendations.

if you want my honest opinion, if you haven't read pynchon before, gravity's rainbow is a difficult start. Crying of Lot 49 is much shorter, but I think V. is a much more compelling, complete, and interesting introduction to the author.

[Anonymous No.15431694]

>>15431647
Don't buy the edition in that pic, it sucks. They fucked with the formatting and the quality of Vintage's binding and paper isn't good.
>>15431670
I agree, but in my experience, reading V. beforehand helped me pick up on some stuff that would have gone over my head otherwise.

[Anonymous No.15431711]

>>15431686

Well I'm as far from that as can be being an engineer in the royal navy. But cheers for the recommendation lad. I think the only books I've really struggled with were book of the new sun, and blood meridian. I understood Dostoyevsky more than I understood whatever the fuck was going on in blood meridian. I found the prose hard to follow.

Do you think I'll struggle with this?

[Anonymous No.15431718]

>>15431694
Pretty sure that's the only edition on the UK Amazon store.

[Anonymous No.15431765]

>>15431711
maybe

[Anonymous No.15431802]

>>15431694
>>15431718
It's also apparently the only edition without a bunch of errors.

[Anonymous No.15431813]

>>15431802
i mean it's minor shit in the grand scheme of things

[Anonymous No.15431832]

>>15431813
I agree with that. I bought it because it was significantly cheaper, and also error free, so I figured it's good for a first read (I like to read my big novels physically specifically). It's not here yet so maybe it will be crappy, I know the other vintage book I have (Pale Fire) was fine, not really a nice book, but comfortable and cheap enough for reading (if I love it I can always replace it with a nice version)

[Anonymous No.15432047]

>>15431802
>>15431832
Older printings of pic related had a single sentence cut out, but they've fixed it since then. If you're buying a new Penguin copy it won't have any errors, and as far as I know other publishers never had a similar problem.
The Vintage edition removes the "sprocket-hole" dividers between sections, which isn't that big of an issue but their absence rankled my autism.

[Anonymous No.15432487]

>>15431711
>engineer in the navy

Sounds perfect

[Anonymous No.15432502]

>>15432487

Why's that?

[Anonymous No.15432515]

>>15431647
One of the best books of all time. Understands modern society as the machinations of huge systems of control, and features characters dealing with the psychic till of that realization. Also rockets. Read it!

[Anonymous No.15432543]

>>15432502
Pynchon studied engineering and was in the navy for a couple years.

[Anonymous No.15432910]

>>15432543
That's sold it then, I'll order it now. Cheers anon

[Anonymous No.15432996]

>>15432543
Don't forget the heavy British undertones and slang