/hob/ - Hobbies

God fucking damn it, I tried to read the infamous Second Apocalypse series by Bakker, I've dropped at the first book, too unrelenting dark and bleak to the point of being stupid, no one is good, everyone is shit, the entire world is so fucking shit and bleaks that you wonder what the point in reading that shit afterall, in the end you hope the world comes to a end for how so shitty and bleak it is.

>>69087
I-is that a m-male?

I'm reading David Copperfield.

>>69168
The magician?
Didn't know he was a writer.

>>69178
Damn, I don't know if it is a femboy or a tomboy there, genuinely confused.

>>68295
I am currently reading the man without qualities by Robert Musil.
Since i have been pretty busy for the last months, i am only halfway through the first volume of the edition in picrel (on a sidenote, this is by far the best choice for a cover i have ever seen. It encapsulates the tone of the book and the main character perfectly. The portraits by Egon Schiele used in the later editions are still pretty fitting, but the fact they stopped using the original illustration bothers me nontheless).
As for the novel itself, it is probably the best book i ever tried to approach. The author takes all the best aspects of european modernity and realaborates them in a work that manages to be a psychological novel, a series of philosophical essays and considerations and a satire of european politics and culture during the belle epoque.
The story is set in early 20th cenury Vienna, and the protagonist is a man named Ulrich. He is a decently wealthy man who possesses all the qualities a man of his time can have: he's physically fit, beautiful, sensitive, decisive and an intellectual, but despite all of this, he doesnt feel like he belongs to any place the world can offer him, and as such all of his qualities stop becoming "his", since none of them is really part of said place in the world. Because of this, Ulrich is very often alienated and unfeeling from the reality he is living in, even as he is being beaten senseless by a gang of muggers or as his lover is crying due to his attitude towards her.
After a 60 page introduction in which Ulrich's life and outlook on the world he lives in, his sister Agathe recieves an invite to a group of intellectuals and activists formed to celebrate the 70th year of emperor Franz Joseph's reign (1918). Since the same year is also the 30th year of kaiser Wilhelm II's reign, this becomes an occasion for the association to show the spiritual superiority of Austria over Germany, despite the obvious disparity in their political influence.
All other characters in the book are examples of the models of life that are arising in the 20th century, and each one of them is trying, in their own way, to reject the spirit of the time they live in.
Most of the book (up until the point i have read it) is made out of descriptions of debates and considerations (made by both the characters and the narrator) and the characters' feelings and relationships with other people.
Aside from this, nothing really happens. The lives of the characters mostly remain the same and no one is ever able to make any difference in the reality he lives in, despite the long and convoluted pages spent depicting his considerations.

>>68991
I really really want to get through Infinite Jest but its like trying to eat popeyes biscuits and no water with your brain; there is just too much substance to every sentence. I thought Dan Brown was bad with his overly descriptive writing but this is a whole new level.

Tress of the emerald sea by brando sando. great read. fun short book that doesn't take itself seriously.

Do you people sometimes have difficult comprehend some paragraph in books you read? I'm finding myself sometimes not fully getting certain paragraphs.

>>69307
what are you reading? if you are reading philosphy or a technical subject like math, then yeah, it would be the shock to be able to understand everything rightaway.

>>69308
God Emperor of Dune and some book about behavioral genetics.

>>69208
>not buttering your biscuit
ngmi

>>69052
Remember that hh is writing to the jury.
And skip the part where they were traveling in car, you can come back to it later if you want.

Just finished reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. Currently reading Havoc by Tom Kristensen. Afterwards I'll begin on Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

>>69307
I have this with dense history books, sure i can pick a pop-history book but those are not comprehensive and detailed, not much different than a long youtube video

have you read a book about alchemy before?

I read the first book back in high school, but it took the first of the newer movie adaptations for me to go back and read the rest of the series (Frank's books).
I don't think I've ever read something that's stayed glued to my brain as much as Dune has. Especially the last three books. I understand why the earlier ones are more popular, but the last three are just filled with so many layers in depth of understanding, I come away from each re-read feeling like I've attained a deep understanding of some new universal truth.
I'm not well read compared to a /lit/ type, but I've read my fair share of scifi novels, and I've always been one to reread every book I read at least once. But I just keep finding myself coming back to dune.
I've even started remembering full quotes from the books even though I've never had the memory for others.

I think Chapterhouse has been my favorite. Odrade is a wonderful character and the perfect primary perspective for the book. Watching her pick apart the issues with the Bene Gesserit, seeing their need for an injection of humanity, her own training and mission constantly clashing with the little succubus still inside that misses the succubus who raised her, and it's never ham-fisted. Her approach is subtle, elegant, and just done so amazingly well that her getting Bellonda to take a fucking shower somehow feels like she's moved a mountain.

Emotions so taboo that being friendly to some initiate in the hallway is enough to rouse suspicion about her ability to lead properly. All with this constant contrast between the "Sexual Agility" the bene gesserit posses and this cold sterile loveless setting. Odrade understanding their perspective puts them outside of humanity, and beginning the steps to force them towards a more human future. It just touched a part of my brain I can't get rid of, it was honestly beautiful.

>>69402
Man, Dune after Messiah is dogshit, a read until God Emperor, and the quality just keep droping, Dune should have ended at Messiah.

>>69402
>>69410
I was told to stop reading at god empror

>>69411
Things get even worse after God Emperor, Frank just jumped the sharks, read until God and stop, just read for yourself and see if you like God or not, for me was really shitty and convoluted

>>69027
I don’t contribute to these threads because I find it very difficult to write about the books I’ve read, but I enjoy reading your book “reviews” very much.

Did anyone here tried to read philosophy, specially the primary sources like Kant?

>>69482
I've read some of the early shit. Like pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. I've also read a LOT of christian theology. Some Descartes, but other than him, I didn't get that close to the present other than theology.

>>69482
Honestly not since college. My tolerance for convoluted word games and spending whole books on something that can easily be explained with a well written paragraph to page of text at most.
There is just so much horribly written intellectual wankery to make arguments for ideas that are fundamentally not functional in objective reality. Far too many just make shit up and then play word games and faulty premises to construct false logic to support their make up nonsense. Results don't matter, the real world doesn't matter, reason doesn't matter, it's all just mental masterbation and intentional overcomplication because if they just came out and said their point even a small child could point out how fucking stupid all of their premises and conclusions are.

God damn did I waste too much time on that bullshit in my late teens and early 20s.

decided to read the bible cover to cover
just finished genesis
it's actually a lot more entartaining than i thought it would be
there's some really crazy shit in it

>>69518
nova vulgata
but i occasionally check out other translations to compare such as the niv and nrsvue

I can't read fiction for the life of me, I can only read nonfiction. I try reading fiction and I immediately lose interest.
Which puts me in a difficult position because I've been learning russian in order to read Dostoievsky and Tolstoi in the original language.

>>69520
You have the curse of being a productivefag, only read stuff if "productive" or "have value", I bet you are one of those simple minded people that doesn't like animation because "its for kids".

>>69526
While you're not entirely wrong, animation is my favorite form of cinema.

>>69526
This comes hand in hand with anhedonia. If you can't enjoy things anyway, the thought process is that you may as well do things that are productive.

>>69410
>>69411
>>69421

I honestly think you both should give dune another chance. It's one of those book series that get better on a reread.
It's easy to tear a story down saying it's convoluted or that frank jumps the shark, but what are your actual issues? It feels like you don't understand it and you're lashing out because it's 2deep4u


Don't read Brians books though.

>>69539
What's deep about a fucking man-worm moaning about not being human anymore and everything being boring because he knows all the psychological variation of mankind?

>>68412
I know this post is several months old, but i bought an edition of "the ballad of the salty sea around a month ago.
I started reading today, and while the art isn't that great (especially when compared to other 70s comics), i found it to be pretty enjoyable overall.
My dad is a really big fan

..I mean, just because it's called "The unbearable likeness of being"…

I'm reading a book about FDR called Traitor to His Class by H. W. Brands. It's one hell of a doorstopper and I'm not sure if I can finish it even though the book is well written.
I enjoy reading biographies like that, they mix historical facts and anecdotes and it makes you know the man rather than a historical figure and learn more about the historical period, both the facts and how people lived.
I have some more presidential biographies in my backlog. I'm not even American, but I likr US history and I'm slowly learning about the presidents.
Anyway, the book is great, but I came to hate FDR the man. His presidency was complex, but I mean him as a person. I can't put my finger on it, but something makes me disgusted with him. He wasn't a very intelligent man, sort of a nepobaby, a shallow normalfag and an incestous lecherous fuckward who fucked up everything he did, from business to law practice. Or maybe it's how I see him… I think he was a bad man, as a person, idk.

>>69593
I met H.W. Brands and he signed my copy of his biography of U.S. Grant which I never finished

Need easy reading recommendations for when I am too weak and brainfogged to read real books but it can't require too much or attention so I don't get intimidated back into doomscrolling again. Doesn't even have to be books. It can be websites or anything one rung higher intellectually than reading about controversies on 4chan.

>>69670
Manga/doujin/comics?

Just gave the Enchiridion another quick read since its short, despite a lot of it being old and inapplicable (to me) the heart of philosophy never changes. I was reminded that iv been living in accordance with some of the stoic strategy in it for quite some time and I wouldn't give it up for any other way of being that I have come across.

>We cannot control the external events around us; we can control ourselves. It is not things that trouble us, but our judgments about things.

>Immediately prescribe some character and form of conduce to yourself, which you may keep both alone and in company

>Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them.

>>69670
I like audiobooks for this. You can get public domain ones at https://librivox.org/ (although whether the reader is pleasant or unlistenable is always a dice roll) or torrent proffessional ones at https://audiobookbay.lu, or myanonymouse if you can deal with private tracker stuff.

>>69681
Man, stoicism really became a grift this days

>>69681
>Immediately prescribe some character and form of conduce to yourself, which you may keep both alone and in company
How? i dont get it.
>We cannot control the external events around us; we can control ourselves. It is not things that trouble us, but our judgments about things.
Sound Buddhist and Taoist to me.
I remember reading something about the buddhist and chinese philosophers of how they see the relationship we have with things, rather than the things themselves. You don't hate people, but rather the relationship you have with those people or things. The problem is that we don't see it and we are being deceived.
>Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them.
Yep, never call you a awaken up buddha or something. live based on your own actions, because titles are useless and do not count as merit.

This blog is awesome for book recommendations:
www.cadaverminimal.blogspot.com

Reading Borges. Where's my reading bros at?

https://thegreatestbooks.org/

What's the books wiz think about this site? It's a cool place to get know books.

>>69788
thanks for posting there's a lot of books I want to read after reading the summary of the books

>>69788
here's the books I want to read:

>>69788
>Ulysses at #1
holy based. Didn't expect that.
As a litfag, I'd say it's a pretty good list. Some proper classics mixed in with shit you should've really read in high school mostly. Essentially babby's first literature but by far not a terrible place to start.
If you read the top 25 you'll have some great books and experiences under your belt and you'll also be better read than 99.9% of the population. Do take it with a small grain of salt though. Some books, especially Ulysses, shouldn't be read without reading the author's other works. Also no Pynchon in the top 50 is concerning. On the other hand, no magical realism shit other than Marquez, and no "le starkly profound look at america" slice of life shit like Franzen or Delillo either, so it all balances out.
>Pride and prejudice at 12
succubi must have found the list
>lolita at 13
yuck. Hate nabokov. Such a try hard. Maybe that was the point- didn't like it either way.