lit - literature

I like the idea, I might do it if other lainons do it too. I need to read more anyway.

>>626
Not really. If I have time, I will read. If I don't, then I most likely won't.

I want to start reading more, though. I started reading the Harry Potter books for the first time ever on Monday, and am almost done with the third one now (I read slowly and leisurely when I am reading for pleasure).

I want to read more next year, though. Just like >>627

This year, I've been reading a lot more than years previous, and I plan on seeing if I can read even more the next year. The only thing I shoot for is 1 book per week, which is a lot lower than what I wind up reading but I think I'm making progress. If I can keep it up then it would be ideal.

Any of you reading more because it is summer now? I know that a decent amount of lainons are still in school, whether high or uni.

Dividing anything in weeks is not a particularly good idea, since most people will drop after the first missed deadline. Instead, I'd suggest a "weekly suggested" book. Let's start next monday, anyone got any ideas? I have a couple of suggestions if anyone is interested.

>>1500
Ready Player One
Or
Little Brother

Are a MUST.

I like the idea but I can never stick with it
I like >>1500 's idea but I have some of my own stuff to finish too

>>1500
if someone puts this together I can add a suggestion of the week to the sticky

>>626
I'm being realistic and am trying to finish at least 12 books this year.

I'm not counting any fiction, but I don't read fiction anyways. Everything I read is generally dense technical matter, like 1000 page standards, programming books that usually range at about 300-500 pages long, or other computer-related texts. I'm going to try to fit in some ancient history though.

You can't just breeze through material like this either, like you can with fiction. I can get stuck on a page until I actually understand something, but other times I can get through several chapters a day. I also generally need to experiment with the type of things I'm learning, which takes up time. Some books have problems that I need to do as well.

It's not a race though. I'm just happy that I'm learning about things that interest me, usually in a timely fashion.

I have a large backlog and it only gets bigger it seems.

>>1504
Hey Junk, did you get my `Recommended Reading' section for the second Lainzine? My email provider has reported hosting issues that may prevent me from sending outgoing mail for a while.

>>1507
I'm reading it right now

Forcing yourself to read programmatically will get you the same results of hopeless amateur writers forcing themselves to write programmatically, i.e. "1000 words a day". You drain the activity of all its inherent artfulness.

Personal reading is something you do out of interest and pleasure, not obligation to a schedule. Unless you're some sorry intern forced to proofread x pages an hour.

I'm sorry for you if all you get out of reading is marking names off a list, if you got anything more than that, you wouldn't have to FORCE yourself to read.

Just drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. Also, go to a cafe with a book, its the social stigma of loitering pushing you to do something productive looking that makes working in cafes so effective, not any soykaf about 'cafe ambiance' or whatever. But don't force yourself to goto a cafe 2 hours every day, slapping the book down as soon as you hit your daily quota.

Read when you get the feeling to start reading and read whatever you feel like reading, not whatever's next on your list. I read 3-5 books at a time and cycle between them depending on my mood, though they all tend to share certain thematic or stylistic parallels at a time.

I think the one book a year challenge is unrealistic if you're going to focus yourself with most non-fiction. I can knock out Aurelius- Meditations and Book of the Samurai in half a week, but The Art of War and Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (or really any books with exercises) are going to take a little longer.

>>1519
In defense of programatic writing, Hunter S. Thompson retyped The Great Gatsby countless times to get a handle on its flow. I'm just saying it can be a useful tool.

>>1519
You sound so elitist kek.
Look, I know people like to say it's effortless and for some it actually is, but it's simply true that reading is sometimes hard work.

What with us having the instant gratification of the internet, as well as 10000 other media outlets and activities fighting for attention, to sit down and focus the way reading demands, moreso than any other medium, is hard for some people. This doesn't mean it isn't fun A whole load of hard things are fun, but that doesn't mean you don't need discepline to get them done. Do you think a mountainclimber doesn't find his hobby fun? Well he still needs to work hard, otherwise he'll end up in front of a laptop or a TV.

One the most fun books I've ever read, Gravity's Rainbow, was also one of the hardest to read. And there's many other examples.

>>1524
I don't see anything elitist in his post.
Your problem is not about reading. It's about lack of will.

>>1527
s/will/willpower/ # fuarrrk my proofreading

fuarrrk it.

1 book every 3 weeks. It doesn't sound like a lot but it's a significant improvement to what I normally do.

>>1519
I honestly agree with this anon. How could liking books be an elitist thing? Don't tear him down just because he seems more intellectual than you, lol.

I honestly approach books in the same way, because I enjoy reading them. I don't set numeric goals, on the assumption that I need more numbers of books in me, (because some books are basically wastes of time) I read to understand the things in the books, and choose whether I want to read something based on what's in the book.

I agree with you, but I think the issue is that the "ticking off the box" has become a desperate attempt to spark some sort of routine and enjoy things again. I suffer from this problem. Pic related.

I read a lot but I rarely finish books, that's my real problem honestly. Usually I get to about 150 pages before moving onto a new book.

Somehow I need to keep my attention at certain subjects long enough to finish books not just read some of them.

>>626
why not spend a year repeatedly reading a specific text along with other background material where necessary? have a good chew before you swallow rather than gorging yourself.

>>1552

Nigga, just stop thinking of everything as a damn chore that you feel like you have to do and gradually train yourself to want to do stuff.

Just work at your own pace, be a nice person, and seriously, in this day and age nobody worth a damn gives a soykaf about the way you live your life. I have a pal that introduces himself as a meme and a helicopter (not kidding) and people smile and nod and don't give a soykaf because he's a nice person and has no intention of murdering them.

If you want a "good excuse" to do nothing, look into Zen practices. Does anybody look down upon monks because they don't "do something productive?" No, they look up to monks because they already get it. This is life dude, and you don't have to do a damn thing you don't want to.

I'm way happier since I accepted life as being just life and since I don't step on any toes I don't get bitched at. In fact, I'm currently weighing options between florist and war reporter as career choices, and certainly not for the money. Satisfaction is success, but success is a loaded word with a meaning defined by the individual. So just be satisfied and pay little heed to what somebody else says is success.

I bet you feel like a blank canvas because you've expected others to paint you. Well I for one am tired of being told what to do, and am fully prepared to paint myself into my ideal.

fuarrrk money, love company.

>>1552
I don't want to derail the thread by focusing on this tangent, but I had pretty much the exact same problem as you and your pic related is describing until I started on a course of venlafaxine. Not everything was fantastic immediately after, things like this aren't magical panaceas and I'm still, as you said yourself, forcing myself to develop productive routines and habits (with writing, reading etc). I'm not saying you should start drugging yourself, but you might look into there being something deeper going on in your life.

Back on topic, if there was a 'book a week' challenge to be organized I'd be in. I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep up once I'm back juggling work and school in September but for the rest of the summer definitely. As to suggestions, mine would be Ubik, The Book Of Evidence (not SciFi but damn good) and A Clockwork Orange (all very good imo, all easily doable in a couple of days or one very committed, sleepless night).

I used to read a soykaf-ton prior to taking college courses. Lately I have been trying to get back into it by going to a cafe/whatever once a week to read and reading every night or every other night before bed.
So far, I've been reading about 2 or so books a month, along with a bunch of short stories and soykaf from r/nosleep/. But my primary goal for this year is to make it through all of Neil Gaiman's main works, which is working out fairly well so far.