What's that book you just know, deep in your heart, everybody is only pretending to enjoy?

Russian realism.

That's xkdc. The r*ddit STEM normalfag crowd swears by it

Going the other way to the rest of the thread with this. Stephen King. If you're happy to consume crap watching a film would be quicker. The only reason to read King is to try to impress people by the fact that you read books at all.

On Writong was great, but ironically only the parts that weren't about writing

randall literally has all the autisms and acts like a child, it't not a surprise that he doesn't love beer yet also cannot understand that a lot of people do.

Definitely the Greeks.

When I started reading him, at first I made an effort to advance, thinking the reason why everybody praised the books. Now I can say that most of the well-redacted prosed, with implicit poetic-ish metric and good wording is hidden in the middle of end of each book. The same with the fun of the story.

I enjoy every page of Moby-Dick and have read it a couple times. Every whaling info-dump chapter serves a dual purpose, the literal and metaphysical, and you may interpret them as referring to many different things. Take for example the last paragraph of “Cetology”

>“Finally: It was stated at the outset, that this system would not be here, and at once, perfected. You cannot but plainly see that I have kept my word. But I now leave my cetological system standing thus unfinished, even as the great Cathedral of Cologne was left, with the crane still standing upon the top of the uncompleted tower. For small erections may be finished by their first architects; grand ones, true ones, ever leave the cope-stone to posterity. God keep me from ever completing anything. This whole book is but a draught—nay, but the draught of a draught. Oh, Time, Strength, Cash, and Patience!”

I don’t think he’s just referring to his system alone here.

How? Aside from the obvious (the endless enlisting of lineages and the typologies of ships in the Iliad) I've never found anything Greek to be less than compelling

Samuel Beckett for sure

*Name of book I don't like*

Good comment.

Der Einzige und sein Eigentum - Max Stirner

Why would you post a book you like in this thread

or any philosophy book for that matter.

That’s his argument.

The hobbling scene in Misery is actually amazingly well written.

"Enjoy" limits things. I didn't "enjoy" reading Aeschylus the first time, but the Oresteia was so compelling that I started studying Classics (and spent three years learning Greek and Latin) to read it more closely and understand it more fully. Lots of talk about the Greeks being un-enjoyable itt, but that's probably just people that haven't spent much time out of their comfort zone or haven't really tried to study a foreign thing, I think, and are being literal with "enjoy."

Ask us what books people only pretend are rewarding or worth re-reading or something.

Threads and comments like these really grind my gears, because they’re made by pseuds who can’t appreciate that people have different tastes from them. I’ve genuinely enjoyed a fair amount of books in this thread already (Ulysses, Gravity’s Rainbow, Moby Dick, Beckett’s works). I remember reading once on this board about how “no one actually likes Shakespeare, they’re just pretending to like him”, and I had to take a break to stutter and gasp with rage. Just because you’re a midwit doesn’t mean everyone else ls. Just because a book is too challenging for you doesn’t mean others don’t actually find it provocative and entertaining in a different way, say, from reading Harry Potter.

Attached: E25FCA57-2FE4-4365-A9B2-C6B9907065ED.jpg (838x671, 154K)

The bibble, infinite jest...

No, seriously. It was a bad translation that I read, but it was still quite a page turner for me. If the wiki description doesn’t grab you that’s fine, but it is a good book. Enlightening basis and entertaining approach.

Not those people, but I honestly like the catalog of ships and all the genealogies. I like getting an old map and trying to put together a mental image of where the people came from and how small(large) that world was for them

the catalog of ships and genealogies were just paid ads.
you gave homer some cash and he added in your family on his next public recital.

Doesn't change anything for me. still interesting to hear about ancient people on a personal level and try to understand where they existed

>If the wiki description doesn’t grab you that’s fine

What do you mean? I read the book, I'm German. I think that book is bad for your soul and no I'm not christian or anything. That book wasn't special anyway. Just some weak perspectives, I tought about them when I was 12 on my own. Stirner just digged them thought a little bit depper.

/ck/ crossposter or the other way around ?

Butterfly, if you enjoy the Bible then so be it, but it is simply supposed to be a collection of stories and tales of Gods glory to educate you.

Sometimes education and reading in general is not supposed to be enjoyable, it’s something you do to further your understanding. Actually that principle is going to be a very important one: that we do things we do not enjoy for the future benefits.

The idea that you should only read things you enjoy to read is an inherently hedonistic lifestyle. :3

How is you imaginary soul hurt by the mans book, user?

Read the Bible

It's just boring, repetitive bullshit. Edith Hamilton's 30-page summary was more than sufficient. I suffered all the way through the Odyssey as a freshman in high school and put down the Iliad after 12 books last month.

The Catcher in the Rye

Attached: 81PJRw8JJLL.jpg (1359x2522, 412K)

Grapes of wrath

If you don't genuinely enjoy Ulysses, provided that you're able to read it, then you probably just don't have a soul. Literal NPC style

>actually reading the books you were assigned in school

>t. middle-upper class

Oh look, it's butterfly, the insufferable tripfrag who, for some reason, feels the need to spew her burning hatred of God into every thread. Why don't you just go to reddit and be annoying there, since that is very clearly where you belong

All of them. I think nerds just pretend to enjoy reading. There's no real difference between harry potter or the bible, it's all just boring text.

im no nihilist ; I went onto Beckett's novels with the attitude of 'let's just dismiss this quickly then' and i now love him.

probably a lot of hate comes from people who hear about it and how great it is here and on reddit and try to read it when the only other books they read were assigned in highschool

One Hundreds Years Of Solitude

This is probably true. I feel like it's that way with a lot of "difficult" books. They're just labeled as being pretentious, which is an absolutely garbage word these days, since they're written in a different style than Harry Potter.

XKCD is unironically one of the worst webcomics ever made.

I especially love this one because the guy here is portrayed as being correct, or "cool", or whatever, while simultaneously being uber pretentious. But XKCD also goes out of its way to deride OTHER pretentious people, simply for being pretentious. It is really not good.

Holy Bible

I already did.

Because I'm not a virgin.

Thoughts on this series? Just finished the second book, and found it to be an enjoyable read. Wish the righting was a little smoother, but I’ve heard it gets better

Attached: C9B76CE4-B5CC-4720-A282-FC073D841568.jpg (182x277, 11K)

I actually enjoyed many of the books in this thread, so I must be a galaxy brain.

Genuinely liking some piece of classic literature is hell. You can never tell anyone, they'll assume you're trying to sound intellectual, and it's not helped by the fact that most times someone says they do, they really are just showing off. Why can't we be more honest, lads?

What? Greek tragedy and comedy looks like mexican "telenovelas", it's great

the bible is the mediocre white boy of books. this fucking thing is such a slog to go though. the only reason i got it is because reactionary and fascist culture relies on acquired bible memes i could never relate to

Best fantasy series ever written. The books only get better imo, but that could be because I love the series so much that I can't get enough of it.

To Kill A Mockingbird

I genuinely enjoyed this book, hell, it might even be my favorite. I don't know what makes me like it. The cetology lessons seem to just add to the book, rather than make it dull; even if I had to struggle through the in-depth analysis of the skeleton. It's a lot of symbolism, rather than just what's in plain sight, but if you read it just on a superficial level, it's a gread read nonetheless. I love the ending.

I knew this going in so I was ready to enjoy le journey, not the destination.

I can't see why it would be anything other than a work that's difficult to understand. A sort of Emperor's New Clothes-syndrome.

Infinite Jest

Haven't seen much discussion on this but I thought it was mediocre

elaborate

Maybe you should stop talking in such objective terms. I read the Iliad very quickly as I found it very easy to read. I even enjoyed the catalogue of ships since I like names...

Attached: SYO_CG_CP_TR_223.jpg (800x577, 45K)

thinking that people who enjoy something you cannot enjoy must be faking it is a sign of sociopathy

repeat it after reading this

the first time I read this I thought it was an indictment against the guy who doesn't like beer and it still reads that way to me now many years later. This must be due to the deficiencies of the author as a writer.

I agree with everything you said but you seem like such an unbearable faggot I'd just prefer if you stopped posting.

>I don't like the taste of beer
>Therefore, no one likes the taste of beer and if they say they do, they're lying

Ulysses

Like what, beacuse Thucididyes and Herotodus are great, and the Myths are fantastic. What particularly are you referring too?

How can you hate the Iliad when one dude hits another dude SO Hard his Bone marrow flies out of his legs. Goddamn. That's impressive in its violence.

Who the fuck would hate on Billy Shakes? The fuck.

It's also mostly a fabrication from her "Editor" - read "Call the Watchmen" if you want a more accurate description of the event she was describing. It's urban-bug-people literature from the 60s for other urban bug people.

>insulting the catalogue
Boldly Plebeian

Attached: GG8ulWW.jpg (595x345, 29K)

To Kill a Mockingbird

I need to stop coming here it's honestly giving me existential crises and paranoia thinking everyone is just pretending to like all the stuff I like.

Shakespeare is actually the antithesis to the OP. He's the only author that I categorically REFUSE to believe anyone dislikes. I am convinced everyone who says they don't like him is lying to seem unique. He is better than anyone has any right to be and I didn't read a lick of Shakespeare until I was in my 20s and I come from a completely working class an non-elitist background.

"Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."

No one can honestly say that isn't fantastic.

the waste land

From Eliot? That's actually great, but, I can understand not everyone would like it. Still, I don't think that's a "we're all larping that we like it" bit.

yeah it's very hypocritical, pretentious and obnoxious
most webcomics are terrible in general

Attached: buzzfeed coffee comic.gif (800x800, 300K)

Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock is the superior Eliot poem, but they're all nice

Definitely the bible.
Look no further than the crossboarders here for proof.

Pathetic unoriginal $oy scribbling

The Great Gatsby. Every page is a fucking bore.

absolutely not.

Beckett’s actually funny. is he exhausting sometimes? sure, but you can’t say he’s boring for the most part when a fair chunk is just Beckett cracking jokes.

Go away.

Too vague. Which parts do you think people are just "pretending" to enjoy?

>Woah dude you don't actually enjoy what you think you do, you are just pretending!

Do people actually think this way unironically

Why do you pretend you don't think that way?

kys

1984

I’m sorry you don’t appreciate the value of being a slightly effeminate, snobbish, aristocratic over-refined, sadomasochistic man of letters. I’m going to go have a danish with some tea while reading Nabokov.