/comfy/ - A place to relax

Corpus Hermetica: “eberrything moves, nothing is still.. birth is not the beginning of life, nor is death the end of it all”. The fact that it is as old as it is makes it really impactful to me & made me shed a tear. The things they carried: “I couldn’t endure the mockery... I was a coward. I went to the war”. Typical war book but with a really great description of the beauty and tragedy or life & war What of yourself?

>>39
>Corpus Hermetica I need to read that someday.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky is one of my favourite books and was a major factor in my eventual conversion to Christianity. I'm not great at writing but I think primarily it has to do with Dostoevsky's understanding of the human condition and without spoiling the story I found the main character's thoughts relatable and the ending in regards to the characters' resolutions rather beautiful in a way.

I can't decide which one but one from Alan Watts. Maybe The Wisdom Of Insecurity, Psychotherapy East And West, Become What You Are, The Way Of Zen, Tao: The Watercourse Way.. I can't decide.

I could never pick a "best" book out of what I've read. I don't really know why. Right now I'm reading Congo by Michael Crichton.

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Definitely Journey to the end of the night by Louis Ferdinand Céline. It was the first and only time that a book had really moved me so deeply. I think that this book contributed to change my vision of life and my way of traveling it.

I have to add Thus Spoke Zarathustra to the list because it has helped me a lot in some difficult moments of my life. I always like to come back to it, just to read specific parts when I feel I need it.

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tl;dr: Can you recommend me books before the WW2 era?


Aspiring writer here. I've read in another imageboard about the Millennial Writing phenomenon with its tendency to write poor quality dialogues and give wacky personality or apathic personality to characters, specially the female ones. I actively intend to not follow the same methodology as them, and I love writing dialogues so I'm doing good so far. I have read Matilda, and 1984, and I love these books, they kinda help me as inspiration to write narratives and dialogues. But I have a feeling that it's not enough since I have read a few books.

In that thread I have seen someone's response replying with a certain line that resonated within me.
>If you really wanna be sure to not commit Millenial Writing, consider reading books that came out before the WW2 era.

I believe that if I read some of these books my perspective will become wider and towards in the direction I want. I've noticed >>41 and >>39 's mentioned books so I have a good feeling that these are good examples to start.

So... can you recommend me books to read that came out before WW2?

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>>8351
Ulysses, Neighbor of the Narcissus, Traumnovelle. You should start with these based on what you're looking to write.

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>>8351
>>9955
Replace Ulysses with Burmese Days if you think it's too hard.

>>38 (OP) 
Moby-Dick.  Melville's wit is timeless, and is perhaps not even the greatest of the book's attractions.  To go coursing around the world with Stubb, Starbuck and that whole motley is as comfy as Fellowship of the Ring.

As for whether it changed my worldview, it's hard to say; I first read it 20 years ago.  Captain Ahab is, in the final analysis, a madman, but is self-consciously so.  He knows what he's doing is wrong, but he's too pissed to give a caca.  He has "greatness" ascribed to him multiple times for the way his obsession drives him to be more or less superhuman.

I guess there's always been a part of me that's a little too eager to cast my pipe into the sea and declare jihad against things beyond my control.
>>8351
>Can you recommend me books before the WW2 era?
If we're talking about dialogue specifically,

1. Tales of Unrest by Joseph Conrad
2. Satan's Diary by Leonid Andreyev
3. The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde

I'm a little disappointed with myself that I can't think of any others, among the hundreds of things I've read.

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>>8351
The Burning of the World, by Bela Zombory Moldovan. It's a memoir of a Hungarian artist who fought in WW1, had PTSD, and lived though Hungary's communist era. It's a window into what life was like back then in that part of the world. His use of words have stood out to me, they're quite expressive and really capture what he thought and felt. (Fun fact, the photo on the cover of the book with him and his friends was taken just a few hours before he received the news his country was at war).

It's hard to pick a favorite book. From my university days the Epic of Gilgamesh was one of my favorites. I really enjoyed Lolita by Nabokov despite some of the *aspects* of it. The story telling and world building was amazing. Right now I'm reading Brave New World by Huxley.

For children's books, I will have to go with 'The Little Prince'. 'The Secret Garden' is a close second. Both are berry beautiful philosophical pieces that you enjoy as a child and truly appreciate as an adult. I heard that 'Night on the Galactic Railroad' was another good one, and I watched the anime movie featuring the two cats but not the novel (Movies don't count). It's something on my to-do list once my Japanese improves.
Now, as for literature aimed at an older audience, one of my favorites has to be 'The Confederacy of Dunces'. As a short summary, you may as well call it 'Anon's Eberryday Life' (And yes, my phrasing of the summary is a reference to that guro manga). I was told to read 'Don Quixote' next so that'll be my next stop.
'The Brothers Karamazov' is also one that I have read a bit of and have yet to finish, but already I am enjoying it immensely. Dostoevsky has so far touched my heart with what I've read from him, and that is rare. People make fun of his prose but he enriches the heart, right down to its core.
Now this next book, 'Memories of My Melancholy Whores' isn't a contender for my best book but I mention it because I hear so little of it. It's by the same man who wrote 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' and the prose (well, the english translated prose by Edith Grossman) was berry bretty. Subject matter is somewhat similar to Lolita, take that as you will. I find it funny how two books about older men taking advantage of young girls can have such wonderful wording.
>>10089
>Right now I'm reading Brave New World by Huxley.
You too? How coincidental.

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I picked up The Count of Monte Cristo recently and am enthralled.

France in the 1810s or so.  Napoleon's era seems to have ended, but he's still around.  A 19 year old gigachad is thrown into a gulag on behalf of a member of a managerial class and other lowlives who are mostly lashing out at a better man out of ressentiment.

The description of such banal evil, and of this guy languishing in a hole without trial made me think ah caca, this is too real, but I don't think this is going to be 117 chapters about how eberrything is terrible and only gets worse over time.

I'm hoping for some Ulysses returns home levels of bloody vengeance, but I'll just have to find out.  I don't want spoilers, obviously.

>>10120
No spoilers but I heard that book was awesome. Not a revenge type of guy, but that's something I really want to check out.

>>10125
It had my interest up until chapter 12.  Then it also had my admiration.

I'm not this anon >>10089 but I just finished Brave New World. I won't make a super long analysis on it but I will make a small note on how I really enjoyed John and Bernard's characters.
I think failed-pedestrian is the perfect way to describe Bernard. He's one of those guys who loathes society, in the guise of how they hate the way it functions, but really it's because they aren't able to reap the benefits of it in the way others can. I find it entertaining how quickly he changes the moment he reaches a higher status among his peers. It's really pathetic but berry human, and I'm glad we were able to have him as our protag for the first couple of chapters.
John was an extremely personal and tragic character. He truly belonged no where, a true outcast of society, and because he lamented being alone, he eventually gave in to pressure and betrayed his morals and his philosophy in the end. And when he truly realized the extent of what he had done, he couldn't bare himself any more. To live was to go against all in what he believed in, to live was to be a hypocrite. What I found interesting is that the author later wanted to give John another ending, I wonder how that wood have tied into the story.
There's so much to say about both of these characters but I'm not going to make my post too long, but to different extents I related to them, so that's why I made these comments. Thanks for taking the time to read.

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Last series that I finished was The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. It was a great series, but a challenging first read through, because Wolfe goes all out in making it a vocabulary landmine meant to capture the impact of attempting to translate some long-lost autobiography from ages past. The setting is an unknown, vast period of time in the future, where the Sun is dying and Earth is still recovering from a past post-apocalyptic event that disrupted its golden age. The remnants live among the echoes of the past, almost at a pseudo-medieval technological level. In contrast, elements of the past's technology are still present, representing what was lost, with an understanding that humanity had already achieved interstellar travel. An interesting dichotomy presents itself when humans from the stars return and interact with the humans left on Earth; those from the stars are perceived as alien and god-like due to their extraordinary abilities and appearance. Great story, but the only downside initially for those who want to start reading it is having to stop eberry few minutes to look up a word that Wolfe decides to use. There is a separate book, called the Lexicon Urthus, meant to help the reader through this, but I wood only recommend it after the first read-through, as the difficulty helps to give that feeling of reading something from another time. One last thing is that Wolfe really did put some thought into the space tech and some other advanced philosophical views. There are some amazing settings in here I wood love to see as a movie or series, but I know that it wood be screwed up somehow.

>>15353
Sounds interesting. I have not read any books in years.

I'm thinking about Malazan time and again, then I also think about gouging my eyes out. American fantasy is a disappointment, but I don't want stuff laden with whatever social issues were relevant at the time of writing. I want something escapist, yet not utterly stupid. Maybe Dune, but it's also American.

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>>15362
>stuff laden with whatever social issues were relevant at the time of writing.

Same problem I'm having. I got back into scifi (post covid stuff) and it's dripping with 202X politics even 900 years into the future for some reason.

>>15376
>pronouns
Oh this is sick, I don't think I'd go on reading about that, personally. That particular discourse really got out of hand somehow.

On that note, my personal impression is that especially contemporary literature is overloaded with mass produced caca, that has neither thought nor effort put into it. It's berry hard to dig for anything worthwhile, because the mainstream aggressively advertises and pushes low quality books.

I guess we're just not in the era for reading or something. I'm bretty confident it's impossible for one person to keep up with the entire flood, and there are so berry few people whose opinion you can trust. Berry uncomfy. I wish some nation rolled out some tangible competition or I don't know. I mean a nation enforcing some quality standard for literature on their ground, so that people who don't want mass produced junk could have a home.

>>15380
>I mean a nation enforcing some quality standard for literature on their ground, so that people who don't want mass produced junk could have a home.
I like the way you think, Anon. One built without hands is probably the only answer!  :)

>>15381
True! Running a comfy bookworm community wood be berry nice. I've been wondering for a long time if anyone took up that torch before, but couldn't find anything on the surface.

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Laurus was another good read and one that I have actually thought about picking up again recently. The book is a richly textured novel set in 15th-century Russia, tracing the life of a man whose path is shaped by love, loss, and a relentless pursuit of redemption. As he navigates the various roles of healer, pilgrim, holy fool, and hermit, his story evolves into a meditation on time, faith, and the human condition. I believe this book will resonate with readers who appreciate Dostoevsky's works. It seems almost like a type of fictional hagiography. I thought it was a beautiful read.

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Without a doubt this one. Sincerely changed my life for the better, like a few other books by the same author like Behold The Spirit which convinced even a former anti-theist nihilist misanthrope to give accepting Christ as my lord and savior a chance. Other greatly influential ones have been Still The Mind: An Introduction To Meditation, The Way Of Zen, Buddhism: The Religion Of No-Religion, Tao: The Watercourse Way, and Myth & Ritual In Christianity.

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>>15492
Almost forgot these two, plus this several hour audiobook archive if it counts ITT.

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Does anyone have any comfy reading from their childhood? I remember enjoying the Johnny Dixon series by John Bellairs, which featured illustrations by Edward Gorey. Whenever I see those old covers, it brings back good memories. I wish they hadn't updated the artwork. 

>>15492
>Myth & Ritual In Christianity.
Interesting, I had no idea Alan Watts wrote on Christianity. I am aware that one of Watts's students actually became a Christian, and depending on who you ask is glorified as a saint.

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>>15546
>comfy reading from their childhood?
I really liked Silverwing by Kenneth Opal. The sequel books in the series, Sunwing, and Firewing were also bretty nice.  I also liked the Redwall series, Tolkien's books, and the Chronicles of Narnia series. 

Comically, there is a melodeath song about Silverwing. It's bretty catchy. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYFWLxUHYHI
Fly with me on a starlit sky
I'll set you free... Yes, it can be
A dream unchased is a life at waste
Never let them conquer your pride
Our love is warm here
Like the image of a distant sun
This star will always shine
And never, ever fade away

Fly on... Silverwing
Fly with me... Stay free... Silverwing

Seeking truths in spirit skies
Which one of you will guide me tonight?
The milky way tastes sour,
Has heaven lost its power?
So let us set sail on this sea of dreams
The moon gets lost in the morning sun
Just let the spinning wheel spin
And let your life begin

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>>15550
I also liked the Mouse and the Motorcycle (Beverly Cleary wrote a bunch a good children's books), the Dimwood Forest series by Avi, The Indian in the Cupboard series, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and anything written by Roald Dahl. I guess I really liked talking animals.

>>15553
Roald Dahl was based. His works are under revisionist attacks today... that should tell you enough.

>>15546
Watts was born in Britain in 1915 at the tail end of Britain's worldwide conquest, raised in a Catholic school, went to (I think) Catholic universities to earn his doctorate in divinity and master's in theology, and was an Episcopalian minister in the United States for over half his life, but was booted trying to speak of non-Christian concepts without naming their sources. (Zen, Taoism, etc.)

But he became fascinated too with Central and East Asia thanks to all the Indian, Chinese, and Japanese artifacts taken by the British he interacted with in his youth and early adulthood before moving to the States.

>>15564
Artifacts as well as artwork (especially Zen art) and translations of suttas, sutras, and Zen koans straight from the source.

>>15546
>comfy reading from their childhood? 
I don't remember any of their titles, but I once read a fantasy book about a pig-farmer who was nevertheless friends with the king, and who was once kidnapped by some undead warlock thing and when the main character unbound himself and attacked with a sword and it did nothing but bounce off the fiend it told him "If I had feared your blade, I wood have taken it from you." And another about some obese teenager friends with a girl with severe burn scars who both were trying to become less depressed over their hideous looks and self-improve and so on.

>>15567
Oohh. I'd say it's grimly atmospheric, though.

By the way, I can't think of anything comfy I've read in childhood, maybe because I didn't read much. Maybe Karlsson-on-the-Roof lol.

>>15568
Oh yeah! In that fantasy novel, the main character had a friend or familiar thing in the form of this weird talking bird, I only remember its speech was written out in annoying child speak, saying caca like "Clean the in? But that be women's toiling!" and another phrase near the end, the king to the protagonist which for some reason has stuck with me, "I'd rather a wise pig-farmer than a blood prince who's a fool!"

>>15550
My parents got some of the Redwall books for me from those scholastic book orders, I never did get to reading them. I wish I had them still. Maybe I will see if my library does. 
>>15553
Indian in the Cupboard was a fantastic series. I never did read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH but I loved the movie, so it has to be even better. 
>>15554
You can still purchase the unedited versions under the title Classic Collection. Amazon has the complete set for like a whopping $167. I might actually save up for it. I loved his works and one story that fascinated me when I was a kid was The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar about the guy that learned to see with his eyes closed. I actually tried doing this after reading the story with no luck. I guess they made finally into a short film with B. Cumberbatch. Never saw it though.

>>15588
Maybe there is something to be gained from revisiting young adult books from decades past. Most of them stayed out of politics and usually had habby endings. I imagine that if I were to read back through some of them, I wood catch some adult themes that the author brought in intentionally or unintentionally. However, it wood most likely pale in comparison to what is on the self today.

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>>15588
>Never saw it though
It defiantly has that signature Wes Anderson styling.  I found it a pleasure to watch for the cinematography. 
>>15550
>>15553
I forgot Hatchet and Rascal.
>>15589
I think it's mostly just harder to see the social and political reflections of the past in period writing shrimply because you are not there living in that moment.

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A CHALLENGER APPEARS

>>15591
2spooky4me
I never read any of them. They were super popular when I was in school though.

>>15590
Hatchet was an awesome book when I was younger. We had to read it in 5th grade and up until that point I had hated eberry book we were assigned to read for school, but that one I finished way ahead of eberryone else.
>mostly just harder to see the social and political reflections of the past in period writing shrimply because you are not there living in that moment
There probably is a little bit of that going on, but I woodn't say "mostly" because it's subtle enough to not detract from the stories, meanwhile even a hundred years into the future someone wood be able to tell a writer from this era was butthurt because subtlety and nuance are borderline non-existent with modern writers. Or maybe there's just so many bad writers out there now that they swamp and cover up the worthwhile ones.

>>15595
>even a hundred years into the future someone wood be able to tell a writer from this era was butthurt 
Maybe, but I doubt they will understand why the author wrote what they did or what it was like to live now.  There are many past examples of unsubtle social/political writings becoming children's classics.  To Kill a Mockingbird or Huckleberry Finn immediately come to mind.
>Or maybe there's just so many bad writers out there now that they swamp and cover up the worthwhile ones.
The bar to get something published has dropped immensely with popularity of low cost digital media.  I'm certain good books are being written today, but I'm not really out there looking for new children's novels to confirm anything.

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Book Confession
My mom bought and made me read some of the Anne of Green Gables books and she became my first fictional crush. Probably explains why I have a fondness for red head women.

>>15591
Read them all the time as a child. I thought I was hardcore moving on to stevie kwayne novels as a teen, pfft. If only I discovered good authors in my youth, my tastes might have developed more maturely so I'd become less of a sucker for slop... And if only I discovered other classics I missed like Alone In The Dark and Twilight Zone and Unsolved Mysteries.

>>15600
Please make sure to check out Night Gallery.

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>>15546
>Does anyone have any comfy reading from their childhood?
I like the Narnia books even if I don't agree with their religious bent. I have a big omnibus edition sitting on my shelf, although I feel more nostalgia for the artwork of the old paperback editions. Pic related is one I remember my family having.
>>15553
>The Indian in the Cupboard
As a kid I remember my parents bringing the movie home on VHS. If I remember right, it came with a Little Bear figurine and the VHS case had a little keyhole in it and a key to go with it. Later on I think we read the book in school.
>>15554
I got into his books when I was an older elementary school student. Quentin Blake's illustrations rubbed me the wrong way though.
>>15590
When I was a kid I saw a movie that involved a boy being involved in a plane crash after the pilot died and remembered it freaking me out. I learned when I was older that it was comfy on Hatchet.
>>15593
Same. The funny things is that I think I thought they were too mature for me or something.
>>15597
Have you seen the movie from the '80s? My family had a VHS tape with a section of it as a kid that was recorded over with Three Stooges shorts. I ended up watching the whole movie as an adult, and admittedly I thought it was bretty entertaining.

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>>15604
I have a little plastic man of my own.

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I remember when Choose Your Own Adventure were the hardest books to obtain in the school library. Good times. 

>>15604
I feel more nostalgia for the artwork of the old paperback editions.
Yeah, I find myself turned off by a lot of modern editions. Maybe because they use less hand drawn art now or maybe I am just nostalgic, but I often hunt and pay more for the old book covers. Fantasy and Sci-Fi book covers are the same way. Here are some examples of old-style cover art I enjoyed. While the Encyclopedia Brown series went through a number of different releases I liked this style of realism for this series edition that was around when I was a kid. 

>Have you seen the movie from the '80s?
I can't remember having watched it, but I think I will give it go now and see how much I remember.

>>15621
>Encyclopedia Brown
Now that was a "comfy read" where the protagonist was as much as a sperg as I was.

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As a departure from children's novels, I'd suggest picrel to anybody who has not read it. It's a shrimple and short story and will only take a few hours to read.

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>>15670
I never read that one but I did enjoy A Farewell to Arms.