ITT: Books that people read just to feel smart

Hegel. German Bastard ruined philosophy with his nonsensical bullshit.

Albert Camus. Compared to other French authors like Celine, his stuff is pretty mediocre.

James Joyce. The fucker is Ireland's lamest author and his books are abysmal.

Kurt Vonnegut. His humor sucks and I never found his books funny, also All Quiet on the Western Front is way better war novel than SH9.

Harry Potter. Harold Bloom is right l, this shit is only entertaining once and forgettable after.

Hard disagree Mencken was based.
Wasn't Mencken an Ayn Rand fanboy?
 
Hegel. German Bastard ruined philosophy with his nonsensical bullshit.

Albert Camus. Compared to other French authors like Celine, his stuff is pretty mediocre.

James Joyce. The fucker is Ireland's lamest author and his books are abysmal.

Kurt Vonnegut. His humor sucks and I never found his books funny, also All Quiet on the Western Front is way better war novel than SH9.

Harry Potter. Harold Bloom is right l, this shit is only entertaining once and forgettable after.


Wasn't Mencken an Ayn Rand fanboy?
Mencken came long before Any Rand.
 
Mencken came long before Any Rand.
Nah, he definitely was.

Mencken recommended for publication philosopher and author Ayn Rand's first novel, We the Living and called it "a really excellent piece of work". Shortly afterward, Rand addressed him in correspondence as "the greatest representative of a philosophy" to which she wanted to dedicate her life, "individualism" and later listed him as her favorite columnist
 
Hegel. German Bastard ruined philosophy with his nonsensical bullshit.

Albert Camus. Compared to other French authors like Celine, his stuff is pretty mediocre.

James Joyce. The fucker is Ireland's lamest author and his books are abysmal.

Kurt Vonnegut. His humor sucks and I never found his books funny, also All Quiet on the Western Front is way better war novel than SH9.

Harry Potter. Harold Bloom is right l, this shit is only entertaining once and forgettable after.


Wasn't Mencken an Ayn Rand fanboy?
Harold Bloom was based af, dude shunned anything postmodern and deconstructionist (the shit popularised by hedonistic French philosophers). Most modern literature is poorly written drivel.

As for my contribution to the list, I’m adding Infinite Jest or mainly anything written by David Foster Wallace.
 
As for my contribution to the list, I’m adding Infinite Jest or mainly anything written by David Foster WaWallace.
I didn't mind his essays, but I cannot finish his fiction. Too many annoying asides and Americanisms that are too cutesy to be enjoyed. I've met Englishmen who like Pynchon or DeLillo, but not one seriously enjoyed a Foster Wallace novel. I wanted to like Oblivion but I was unable.

It was a shame he killed himself, however, since his journalism had a great eye for detail.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: CowPox
Atlas Shrugged - I tried twice but just could not get through it.

Anything by David Foster Wallace - Every single book I tried to read was just a rambling stream of consciousness with no discernible plot or point.

The Bible ranks pretty high on the list of 'books people pretend to have read'. Always poorly referenced by armchair Christian boomers/trads, and smug Liberals who try to dunk on the former.

This could apply to literally every board on 4chan.
I've been a Christian my whole adult life and I can honestly say that I have not yet read the entire Bible.

No one else brought 'em up, so I may as well do it: The pretentiousness combo:

1. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
2. La Rebelion De Las Masas, José Ortega y Gasset
3. The Art of War, Sun Tzu
4. Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
5. On the Road, Jack Kerouac
I enjoyed Catcher in the Rye when I read it. I was also 17 though.

I love Old Man and The Sea exactly for that reason. It's just man vs. nature for like, a hundred pages. No flowery bullshit, just a dude killing a fish, as God intended
I remember a story (true or apocryphal?) about Hemingway being interviewed about the true meaning of Old Man and the Sea. "Was it a metaphor about man vs. nature? A story of masculine insecurity and the desire to conquer something bigger than yourself? A spiritual parable?" Hemingway's answer, "No, I just wanted to write a story about a guy catching a fish."

the matrix?
They Live?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Harlan Ellison
Maus
Hunter S. Thompson
Transmetropolitan or anything by Warren Ellis
Franz Kafka
Christopher Hitchens

I'll also add that nobody actually has actually watched a George Carlin standup or a Woody Allen film in the last 20 years, they just like to quote them.
 
Anyone who unironically says they like NK Jemisin is lying.
 
Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

It's literally just the random musings of a Roman emperor. You'd be better off just googling the best of quotes and you'll get about the same result. Its basically just him coming back to a few topics and figuring out different ways to say the same thing, and its really not that revolutionary as some people who haven't read it pretend. And in truth, I'm not really knocking stoicism or his thoughts, because if you read every random thought that crossed my mind in a journal, it would probably be dull as hell to read too.

After a while, I was just reminded of Ecclesiastes, where ultimately the conclusion to a life full of pain, cruelty, and random fate, all you can do is fear God and keep his commandments. Except that Aurelius was a Roman pagan and not a Jew.
 
Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

It's literally just the random musings of a Roman emperor. You'd be better off just googling the best of quotes and you'll get about the same result. Its basically just him coming back to a few topics and figuring out different ways to say the same thing, and its really not that revolutionary as some people who haven't read it pretend. And in truth, I'm not really knocking stoicism or his thoughts, because if you read every random thought that crossed my mind in a journal, it would probably be dull as hell to read too.

After a while, I was just reminded of Ecclesiastes, where ultimately the conclusion to a life full of pain, cruelty, and random fate, all you can do is fear God and keep his commandments. Except that Aurelius was a Roman pagan and not a Jew.

I agree that Meditations can be a wandering, repetitive read. The reason why is the same reason it's revolutionary: We're seeing the equivalent of a CBT workbook for what was one of the most powerful men on the planet. There's nothing else quite like it. We have journals of other powerful men, but those were composed with a mind towards future audiences. Meditations was meant for Marcus alone.

The reason he comes back to the same topics is because he's practicing how to respond to his struggles. It's an example of how philosophy should be treated. It's not a revelation you receive once and then are forever changed by, but something you keep returning to as part of an active practice.

And the things Marcus struggled with 2000 years ago are the same things we struggle with today. Despite being emperor, he still had to deal with pain, mortality, and selfish assholes. He faced the same temptations we do, only worse, because he had the power to indulge them without restraint.

It survives to the modern age not because some fart huffing professor put it on a canon list to impress other professors, but because it was passed down by people who found it useful. You shouldn't feel like a genius after reading it. It should be read as an example of the kind of hard and boring work it takes to be a good person.
 
Harlan Ellison
Maus
Hunter S. Thompson
Transmetropolitan or anything by Warren Ellis
Franz Kafka
Christopher Hitchens

I'll also add that nobody actually has actually watched a George Carlin standup or a Woody Allen film in the last 20 years, they just like to quote them.
Have you read "SuperGod" by Ellis? Thoughts?
 
Have you read "SuperGod" by Ellis? Thoughts?
I've heard it was good, but that was from someone who literally the personifcation of reddit.
Still sounds interesting. I'll check it out eventually.

The Prince goes without saying. I don't know how many times I've heard the term "Machiavelian" over my life by people who have probably never read a single word he wrote.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: CowPox
anything by a celebrity like hillary clinton or bill nye
I remember Obama’s book, Dreams from My Father was very popular when he got elected, for this reason.

Also, Guns, Germs, and Steel. Diamond is a lying kike and most of his arguments fall flat as soon as you put them to any scrutiny. Papua New Guineans ain’t shit compared to western man.
 
Back