Sometimes.

I used to eat paper and packets when I was a child. I stopped after I ate a candle and threw up.

it makes you smarter

They're delicious

I've only been eating Stephen King novels for the past six weeks. On an unrelated note, I've had non-stop diarrhea for the past six weeks as well. How do I stop this?

>>209
IMO you should read "A Short History of Man" by the same author instead, if you haven't already; it's almost as good as "Democracy: the God that failed".

Going to bat for Bruce Catton's Centennial History of the Civil War trilogy & Army of the Potomac trilogy, and Jamees McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" & "For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War." Some of the best books on the American Civil War you can find. Perfectly break down the conflict and takes a look at the motivations & goals of both sides of the war.

In a similar vain, "Company Aytch" and "All for the Union" are both great books giving the perspectives from common soldiers on both sides of the war.

>>179
I always forget I told myself I’d give this a read a while back.
Pic rel is what I’m working through now.

Anti-Oedipus is legitimately the best book I've ever read.

>>327
you should really read a thousand plateaus if you haven’t yet. even if you just read nomadology and get back to the rest of it later

>>241
>Is there any character who gets treated more unfairly than Cordelia?
Maybe Desdemona from Othello? Although, in the case of Cordelia, it seems to me more that her suffering exists for the inevitable effect it will have on Lear, and the pity his character evokes, rather than for us to pity her fate. After the first scene we don't actually see her suffer, she dies off stage and we only see Lear's reaction. Meanwhile you actually see [spoiler][spoiler][spoiler]Desdemona strangled on stage.[spoiler][spoiler][spoiler].

This guy is gay.

Watch Shakespeare first (theatre or film) then enjoy the text. Education system gets this in the wrong order (text first) and it turns each generation off what should be their pride and joy as English speakers

I watched Titus (1999) recently. pretty good. Aaron is a good villain and his scaffold speech is memorable

>>276
The problem is more that most actors in Shakespeare are atrocious and that teachers suck. People have appreciated Shakespeare as a purely literary phenomenon for centuries, even if it's not the ideal, and he will continue to be appreciated as such for centuries to come. You can still see the drama in your mind's eye via reading.

>>234
I've only read Julius Caesar and Merchant of Venice. Definitely Julius Caesar

>Tell me, good Brutus, can you see your face?
>No, Cassius; for the eye sees not itself,
But by reflection, by some other things.

been reading Histories by Herodotus.
It inspired me to start studying ancient greek, and I've spent the past two weeks mostly translating Aesops fables as practice, with the eventual goal being to tackle Histories in its original language.

The only books i have been reading are university manuals, i can't do this anymore.
I'm tired.

The prose is a bit mannered but I'm sticking with it bc I heard good things

I enjoyed The Wheel of Time, but finishing it felt more a relief than the melancholy of parting with a good story. Jordan's work is a monument to American cliche. If this is one of the best, I don't want to see the rest. Soulless almost from the beginning and to the very end, it failed to be anything more than a seasonal anime. The only edge it had that made me prefer it over any anime is that imagination is far more rewarding than consuming precooked visuals.

Aside from soulless characters I also want to mention that the plot was hugely inflated. While The Last Battle was well written and all plots/subplots were finished, majority of information fed to us earlier was simply truncated.

The most soulless thing about The Wheel of Time is that at no point does the story convince me that certain objects truly have mentioned properties. "Light, but he/she is beautiful!" "He/She's a genius!" "He/She's so smart!" "He/She's so scary!" It is especially infuriating when things that are obviously oversimplified are actually described as overly complex/great/magnificent/genius/etc.

The One Power is an almost unbearable thing. It does not exist to expand the universe or introduce novel concepts or interesting techniques. It is no more than a plot filler that plays no substantial role. He took classic elements from <Name Of Any RPG Ever Made> and then… then he did nothing. Weaves (webs) of One Power are unlocked to characters at need, when plot demands it, and characters do not need to expend any of their efforts to achieve anything. They just plod along the story randomly "discovering" amazing powers withing them. The only explanation author ever gives is "I do not know what I did, but it felt right so here's this overpowered weave to beat our enemies!" Well most of the time the weaves were not overpowered, but the fact that they were Sent From Above instead of Honestly Earned made it a boring reading. Basically nobody understands anything about the One Power (even Forsaken) and everyone's just doing what "feels right", so weaves can only be unlocked when The Wheel deigns to put it in the mind of a channeler. Such magic systems are worthless, they are soulless business jewish slop.

What exactly would you consider traditional? Closest example I could think of is Leo Tolstoy's short novella family Hapiness, but that might not fit the the time range you're looking for.

>>307
Uh pre modern I guess? Thanks for the recommendation. I will check it out.

>>230
What would be the point? More specifically, what would the contribution be to the board if I were to do that? It's unlikely anyone else on here has read a particular book I have read on here, so there would be nothing to share in that way, and there is no market for people to hear the themes of a book they don't know nor care about. It would be a shot in the dark for any specific book I have read to appeal to the demographics of the board. I don't believe any discussion would come from posting like this, and there would be no point in posting my thoughts on a public platform knowing that no conversation would be spurred by it - I have a diary for thoughts like that. It would be rude of me to fill a board with dialogue that contributes nothing to the overall conversation. I could make a thread about whatever I wanted to bookwise here, but it would be inconsiderate of me to vomit whatever I wanted to without regard. No existing thread fills this niche, neither - the "what book are you reading?" thread is a place to talk about books and not about themes. It's a "Brown's Inferno is a cool book about racing to stop a virus outbreak" thread and not a "Brown's Inferno is a cool book that deals with themes of belonging and anonymity" kind of thread.

I don't want to seem like I am talking down on the threads here or on any other /lit/ board (and I do mean to apply all of this generally.) I really enjoy reading what everyone has to say about everything, and one of the wonderful things about internet boards like this is that I am introduced to so many wonderful books and genres that I likely would not have found on my own. It is simply not the kind of place I post. I also am not a very creative person, and so can't contribute to the Poems thread and such. I'm not particularly grieved by this, it's simply the reason I don't post.

Now that I have sat here and thought about it, perhaps a book review thread would be nice to have around here.

>>231
Talking about books is not rocket science, who cares if others haven't read the book. At least you did something instead of complain. Please just post something that isn't you worrying about made up problems. I don't give a shit if you aren't a "creative" person. Just post something fun. Please. You could've put all that effort into a simple but fun book review.

>>231
Im always looking for good book recommendations so i always check the /lit/ boards. Im not as well read as most of the anons itt but reading about a certain book might encourage me to check it out, so your posts are not in vain. I think you are just taking things too seriously, write whatever you want and chances are someone somewhere will engage with it.thats pretty much every creative endeavor.

we're into manga desu

Literature threads are dull because almost nobody reads anymore. There is nobody to have a real discussion with because nobody bothers to read a book or discuss concepts deeply. Try talking about a book and the average person will look at you with shock "A book? People read those?" We live in a culture and a time that despises reading, unless its some lame novel the Times is promoting or a textbook. Society values mathematics, technical thinking. We like to count, do statistics, design systems. Finding meanings in words and contemplating ideas is now considered worthless. So where should I discuss books? There is literally nowhere on this vast internet where I can post about them and get some kind of response, especially if I want to discuss something niche or less popular.

>>202
Yummy drink!

Picrel is a good read. Also acts as an interesting introduction of African anthropolgy, as well. >>202

>>210
Although it's worth noting that it isn't written by Africans and the myths are largely taken from anthropolgy papers. It gives a very good insight into Pagan African culture and how migrations and hunter-gatherer cultures really shaped the continent.

>>210
Thanks for the suggestion anon. I'll go find it in the wild and get my hands on a copy. African paganism has some of the strangest stories that I would love to read.

Wioaw! Someone who also loves Amos Tutuola's books! Very cool!

I will have to add these:

My life in the bush of ghosts (if you havent read it already)
anthills of the savannah
things fall apart
the forest of a thousand demons
chaka

That's the ones i've read :3

There’s a show produced by NHK called Yokai narrated by Michael Dylan Foster which looks at various yokai stories and their origin. You might find it interesting.

There are a lot of compilations published in English. Japanese Gothic Tales by Izumi Kyoka. Tales of Moonlight and Rain by Ueda Akinari which was written in the 1770s and has an English translation.You could check out this inactive blog too:
https://hyakumonogatari.com/