Bookbros...
Posted by eitherair5@reddit | 4chan | View on Reddit | 47 comments
Posted by eitherair5@reddit | 4chan | View on Reddit | 47 comments
WorkerClass@reddit
I remember when I first realized books were bloated.
It was a fight scene in a fantasy novel. Instead of being quick and short with the details to get on with the action, the author went into huge detail about every spell being casted and swing of a sword and where each character learned the technique.
Keep in mind, this wasn't two people 'at the academy' having a simple spar. This was fight to the death between enemy soldiers. I ended up losing track of what was happening in the fight and had to reread it 3 times to figure out the events.
Dark_Matter_Guy@reddit
I hate this about books so much, everytime I try to get some reading going the author has to describe the colour and exact shape of the main characters dibgleberries for ten full pages.
Cozy_Minty@reddit
Do you have aphantasia by any chance?
Dark_Matter_Guy@reddit
No, I just get bored easily.
-Goatllama-@reddit
sounds like you get bored reasonably
fuck that shit
YinuS_WinneR@reddit
It goes deeper than that. Once you read a good book you will not be able to help yourself but see the bloated textual fat in chekhov style books
Idiot_of_Babel@reddit
Chekhovs lust provocaing picture
-Goatllama-@reddit
Nabokov time-wasting post
UpbeatRegister@reddit
I guess it depends on what book it is honestly. Ulysses by James Joyce? Pff, social media can't compare. But Morning Glory Milking Farm? Nah, you're better off scrolling Instagram Reels ad infinitum.
perhapsanotherbot@reddit
Morning Glory Milking Farm...
> Violet is a typical, down-on-her-luck millennial: mid-twenties, over-educated and drowning in debt, on the verge of moving into her parents' basement. When a lifeline appears in the form of a very unconventional job in neighboring Cambric Creek, she has no choice but to grab at it with both hands.
> Morning Glory Farm offers full-time hours, full benefits, and generous pay with no experience needed . . . there's only one catch. The clientele is Grade A certified prime beef, with the manly, meaty endowments to match. Hands-on work with minotaurs isn't something Violet ever considered as a career option, but she's determined to turn the opportunity into a reversal of fortune.
> When a stern, deep-voiced client begins to specially request her for his sessions at the farm, maintaining her professionalism and keeping him out of her dreams is easier said than done. Violet is resolved to make a dent in her student loans and afford name-brand orange juice, and a one-sided crush on an out-of-her-league minotaur is not a part of her plan--unless her feelings aren't so one-sided after all.
> Contains mature themes.
Dafuq did I just read?
BOUKEN-BEN@reddit
Tfw you realize even Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters were basically just the 19th century version of this slop
☕ writers were a mistake
Realistic-Life-3084@reddit
Simply don't read women authors, easy
BBWArchitect@reddit
Kino.
Valuable-Chipmunk784@reddit
It depends on the social media as well. A youtube channel with insightful in-depth 20-40 minute video essays on interesting topics vs a girl doing a stupid dance for tiktok with a shallow slogan in front.
Knee_Ger_Cmpt13@reddit
The Anna Karenina test.
If you can stand in front of an auditorium and present your analysis of the characters and the story, withoir ever reading the full edition of the book as it was published, by only reading the condensed no filler version thats like half the size.
You lose nothing if you skip the page depicting the floral patterns of some 304's dress for the ball.
seeyagatorr@reddit
Thats an embarrassing take.
Literature is more than the story and characters. Dopes like you may as well have chat gpt break it down into dot points.
Istencsaszar@reddit
It is more, sure, but there is no reason why that would inherently add to its value. Detailed descriptions of floral patterns or whatever belong in encyclopedias, not novels. It is genuinely worthless to read these descriptions from someone who is blatantly a non-expert on the topic anyway.
seeyagatorr@reddit
Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it doesn't belong there or that it's not artistically worthy. It's notoriously hard for redditors to understand art and to instead look at these things for pure utility.
Famously (if you give a shit about literature) in Umberto Eco's "In the Name of the Rose" at approximately the midway point there's a break in the movement for a pages long description of a bas-relief. You can imagine how the casual reader reacted. Yet, it was a very deliberate choice by Eco to put it in there and exactly where he put it. It's intended to slow the pace and have you reflect, as well as being a mirror to the structure of the story itself.
I know it's typical to bash these and laugh at 'pretentious art'. It's a shame people feel that it's better mock rather than try to understand why an artist mase a decision. We're sadly quite anti-intellectual when it comes to anything outside of STEM.
Istencsaszar@reddit
Imagine calling someone a redditor in the same comment where you soyface over something like this. You are no different than the "you have to be very intelligent to understand Rick and Morty" crowd.
seeyagatorr@reddit
Rocked on the subject and too much of a soyjak to do anything original, so you resort to a "Too late, I am the Chad" insult.
Pathetic.
Istencsaszar@reddit
"noooooo it's actually you who's the soyjak" wow man you're so literary, I'm sure your pickle rick is totally different
I would've literally been open to honest debate but your wall of text boils down to "I'm so smart because I understood some guy's literary devices and everyone who doesn't like his work must have not understood it". There's nearly nothing in it that would merit serious discussion.
Daysleeper1234@reddit
God forbid if there are people who enjoy reading and using their imagination. You know, journey and all, not the destination thing.
Slide-Maleficent@reddit
Absolutely correct. This is why everyone clearly prefers reading scripts to watching movies, and reading design documents over playing video games.
PrrrromotionGiven1@reddit
It's bad to have strong, clear characters and themes now?
Knee_Ger_Cmpt13@reddit
Not what I posted.
Try to condense and in such way shorten some Greek epic poem and you will lose too much important detail and the analysis will be obviously different or flawed, by the reader that didn't read the full original.
PrrrromotionGiven1@reddit
I can say the same thing about most stories... whether you care or not about those "important details" is determined by how much you like the work. Meaning all you are really saying here is "good things are good".
I could give a quick summary of the themes and characters of a story I like, and touch on most of the vital points, but that doesn't mean I don't find great value in the smaller elements. Rather, a story whose major themes are impossible to articulate in a concise manner probably lacks the "punch" of a more thematically powerful, in-your-face work. Then once you have established that major thematic framework, it seeps into more minor scenes, recontextualising them, enriching the work.
Knee_Ger_Cmpt13@reddit
Can you say it about Leviticus 20 13 and Deuteronomy 23
Groundbreaking_Bag8@reddit
Fuck books.
"Ooh, look at me! I wrote a bunch of words down!"
Fuck off.
rectal_expansion@reddit
If your social media feed is full of mediocre slop then you’re using it wrong. There so much amazing educational content that’s really high quality and links you to other high quality journalism and educational resources. Most people just get trapped in a slop feed because they have zero media literacy, which you get from reading books.
MonotonyDauntSonder@reddit
Kind of crazy it took me so long to realize that books are literally just people's opinions. I used to think there was something a bit better about books but in truth I'd probably not really care for them if it was just some random guy on the street talking about that shit.
ddg31415@reddit
Have you ever read a book?
MonotonyDauntSonder@reddit
No, they tend to scream out creep every time I try to read one. Seeing as they hate the idea of me having never read a book before and think it would look bad in front of their friends if I was the first book they read.
Alas I shall remain unlettered. Fuck my stupid unlettered life.
LooseButtPlug@reddit
...I'm not sure you've ever read a book.
MonotonyDauntSonder@reddit
Sorry, I had not properly elucidated. I had not realized such a thing was expected on this subreddit. I humbly apologize and promise to do better next time. Thank you very much for showing me the error of my ways.
mischling2543@reddit
I mean I guess, but you decide what/who to read. You can look up the author's qualifications and reviews of the book to get an idea about whether should put stock into what it says
MonotonyDauntSonder@reddit
> Look up author's qualifications
> Now am forced to look up the qualifications of the school they went to
> Now am forced to investigate if the school they went to is even legitimate
> Now am forced to investigate the qualifications of the teachers who taught at this school
> Repeat
Man it does seem like checking for qualifications is a useless task where people arbitrarily decide to stop at some point.
mischling2543@reddit
Sure but if your author went to Oxford you can definitely trust him more than some rando on reddit
MonotonyDauntSonder@reddit
Bait. :)
PrrrromotionGiven1@reddit
Social media is addicting because it is easy to consume it in bite-size chunks
Knee_Ger_Cmpt13@reddit
Zoomettes doomscroll 500 pages of gossip, offers, memetic warfare materials, photos with tect, shorts, tiktoks, etc. in one evening.
FinancialElephant@reddit
That's why the amount of text doesn't matter, information matters.
If your reading is essentially the regurgitation of the same kinds of topics and information in different configuration, it's a waste of time as far as learning or development is concerned.
Reading a book where information sequentially builds, or each chapter treads new ground, is a completely different experience. Far more information density and novelty in the latter, which is also why it takes more effort to digest.
PrrrromotionGiven1@reddit
It's like a bag of popcorn vs a banquet
With the popcorn, you can theoretically stop at any time. The fact that you will probably actually eat the whole bag doesn't factor into that assessment.
With the banquet, you are committed. This is a significant psychological drawback.
The banquet is probably better for you and definitely tastes better, but it's a commitment, and these days everyone is afraid of committing to anything.
Knee_Ger_Cmpt13@reddit
Its more of a digital golden shower burning trough their braincells.
FinancialElephant@reddit
Books are good if you either go far back in time (because bad books are forgotten) or if you heavily filter them. If you go onto top ten lists, you'll usually find garbage (at least in non-fiction, fiction IDK). If you stick to timeless classics, you usually can't go wrong.
Top ten nonfiction are usually books for people that want to say they read books, not people who want to learn new things. Publishers actually force writers to pad their lengths so people who read get a greater sense of accomplishment from reading. That gives you a sense of the kind of slop we're talking about.
JettClark@reddit
A good chunk of academic works could be cut down to 5% of their current length. People with an essay's worth of information are always looking to sell a book.
Slide-Maleficent@reddit
DickManning@reddit
Honestly this is somewhat true. Theres no reason Tolkein needs to spend 5 pages describing a tree