Support NeoGAF

[echoshifting]

Didn't know Huff Post was sinking to buzzfeed level of clickbaiting.

You didn't? Do you just not read it?

 

[Arkos]

I've tried reading Super Sad True Love Story twice and it's self indulgent, not subtle, and doesn't posit anything interesting from what I read. It's horrible. I would not recommend it to anyone. And I really expected to like it. You'll go in looking for 1984 and walk away with a really crappy unimaginative version of 1984 (or something like that)

 

[kitchenmotors]

Yep, hate that fucking word and the obsession with labeling anybody that doesn't share your particular taste as one.

Same.

It's really become the new "gay" in terms of an insult. I find that certain groups like to use it as well, mostly the geek/nerd variety. As someone who is gay and has heard the word gay used as an insult growing up, now because of my tastes I'm labeled a hipster for no fucking reason.

 

[survivor]

1Q84 is hipster because it's more experimental and thus "less accessible" than his other books?

Seriously?

If anything it's too damn similar to everything else he's wriiten in his lifetime.

Yeah, it's the only novel from the list that I read and even then I didn't finish it, but I'm not sure how it's experimental. It's the same as his previous novels in writing style.

 

[Haly]

Murakami needed at least one mention in a list like this, 1Q84 is as good as any.

 

[thomaser]

Thought about Infinite Jest as I saw the header, and sure enough it's there. It's fantastic, though. Not sure about 1Q84, though. House of Leaves would be a better fit. And The Picture of Dorian Gray. Oscar Wilde was the first hipster.

 

[Zaphod]

it's a pretty old word actually

I've seen it on the road which was written in 1957

Oh I know it is old. I just get annoyed how it's used as a put down, as if only the most current generation is the one lazy and empty enough to do the stupid things they do. It's just used so dismissively to discount the fun that the kids are having building an identity on wreckage of the pop culture from the generations that preceded it. Which is what all youth trends seem to be built upon are built on.

 

[Gamer @ Heart]

I bet @midnight writers wish they started this.

 

[jayhawker]

Then what do you call people who say they've read Dostoyevsky, Marx and Machiavelli? I'm so confused.

"say"? You don't believe us?
Bro. Dostoyevsky is really good. Marx is interesting and often required for school. Admittedly, Machiavelli is terrible. But I've read all three and never in my life been accused of being a hipster. . .

 

[HuskerDutheDu]

I bet @midnight writers wish they started this.

@midnight Old Man Clothes and the Sea #hipsterbooks
@midnight Catcher and the Rye Beer #hipsterbooks

 

[Jitters]

 

[Haly]

"say"? You don't believe us?
Bro. Dostoyevsky is really good. Marx is interesting and often required for school. Admittedly, Machiavelli is terrible. But I've read all three and never in my life been accused of being a hipster. . .

Allow me break your hipster cherry then: Hipster

 

[dinazimmerman]

Lots of angry hipsters itt.

 

[Vocal Orgasmizzle]

Is it me, or is the word "hipster" the most misused word in this day and age?

 

[daydream]

Hipster and Pretentious are two of the worst words ever invented.

These guys should read a book to add to their vernacular.

Pretty much.

 

[jtb]

tao lin really is the worst though.

 

[dinazimmerman]

Hipsters are so easy to troll. Just say 'hipster.'

 

[fakefaker]

1Q84 is hipster because it's more experimental and thus "less accessible" than his other books?

Seriously?

If anything it's too damn similar to everything else he's wriiten in his lifetime.

I'm currently reading 1Q84 and it's incredibly boring. It's almost like the perfect cure for insomnia. I thought hipsters were more fun than that. Or is that the whole ironic thing. Frack I'm confused now.

 

[Real Hero]

all books are for hipsters if you think about it

 

[HK-47]

Allow me break your hipster cherry then: Hipster

Why you gotta be like that?

 

[echoshifting]

all books are for hipsters if you think about it

Audio books

 

[Porcile]

"say"? You don't believe us?
Bro. Dostoyevsky is really good. Marx is interesting and often required for school. Admittedly, Machiavelli is terrible. But I've read all three and never in my life been accused of being a hipster. . .

Nagh, I'm just playing around with the futility of defining what a hipster novel/author is. Marx and Dostoyevsky are just the sort of classic books alienated young people read before they're old enough to really understand them. I wouldn't describe them as hipster (Hipster being just another vague catch-all term like Hippy and Beatnik) but no doubt there are a bunch of privileged white kids worshiping at the alter of a bunch 19th Century Russian authors.

 

[outunderthestars]

For everything you like, there is someone who thinks you are a hipster for liking it.

 

[Mifune]

House of Leaves is incredible.

So is Infinite Jest. Why people gotta hate?

 

[echoshifting]

For everything you like, there is someone who thinks you are a hipster for liking it.

American Idol
Call of Duty
Kate Gosselin

 

[Sub_Level]

Is it me, or is the word "hipster" the most misused word in this day and age?

No that would be "literally".

 

[Mifune]

no doubt there are a bunch of privileged white kids worshiping at the alter of a bunch 19th Century Russian authors.

Did someone really just write this? My god what a vapid fucking statement.

 

[Empty]

franzen isn't a hipster choice, he's just an irate person who likes a moan and his recent books are traditional victorian style novels and don't have much ironic humour or structural trickery. i guess they're mentioning the kraus project, which i suppose could be 'check out this obscure austrian satirist that you've never heard of' but he presents it like old man shouting at cloud stuff, not really tao lin or eggers. hipsters would call him bland middlebrow and talk about how problematic his comments about edith wharton were.

 

[ComputerMKII]

Is it me, or is the word "hipster" the most misused word in this day and age?

Language is what people say, not what you think is the correct origin of a word.

 

[Arkos]

No that would be "literally".

The dictionary folk have caved though I think the next edition of Webster's or something recognized the use of "literally" as an intensifier. It's literally the stupidest thing I've ever seen a dictionary do.

 

[offtopic]

Lots of angry hipsters itt.

Was about to leave this comment. Well done.

 

[Chinner]

death of superman is the biggest hipster book ever.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Hipsters are so easy to troll. Just say 'hipster.'

Yup. Only hispters care

If you care about hipsters and their defining characteristics you're a hipster.

 

[Porcile]

Did someone really just write this? My god what a vapid fucking statement.

I'm not including everyone who reads those sorts of books in that statement. Are you telling me you've never encountered these sorts of people in your life?? Maybe going to an arts university and living around London has clouded my opinion of people or something.

 

[B-Dubs]

Going by the criteria you'd think Finnegan's Wake would have been #1 on that list, but I suppose it's too nigh incomprehensible.

 

[Kodiak]

If you refer to people as hipsters or things as hipster you are just worst. A true asshole. A boob.

 

[Real Hero]

only hipsters say hipster these days

 

[Mifune]

I'm not including everyone who reads those sorts of books in that statement. Are you telling me you've never encountered these sorts of people in your life?? Maybe going to an arts university and living around London has clouded my opinion of people or something.

Well 19th century Russia produced some really great literature so of course you're gonna find people of a certain demographic who love those writers. But I guarantee you'll find far more fans outside that demo. That's why those authors are considered great and why their work endures.

 

[Porcile]

Well 19th century Russia produced some really great literature so of course you're gonna find people of a certain demographic who love those writers. But I guarantee you'll find far more fans outside that demo. That's why those authors are considered great and why their work endures.

Okay, so 'worshipping at the alter' was undoubtedly over-condescending and exaggerated of me, but there absolutely are people out there who like to consume difficult subject matter purely as a badge of honour. I've met them many times and they tend to be young middle-class white people!

 

[Bobs Big Boy]

Have a couple new books to read.

 

[WorldStar]

Lots of angry hipsters itt.

lol yup

 

[Larsa]

Infinite Jest is a great book yo. Dumb list.

 

[outunderthestars]

Infinite Jest is a great book yo. Dumb list.

Just a way for a bunch of people to mock a list of books they have not read.

 

[Esch]

duuuuuuuuuude lmfao

 

[Mifune]

Okay, so 'worshipping at the alter' was undoubtedly over-condescending and exaggerated of me, but there absolutely are people out there who like to consume difficult subject matter purely as a badge of honour. I've met them many times and they tend to be young middle-class white people!

Or maybe they just enjoy reading great literature. I mean, if you like to read and you're not reading the classics, you're missing out. Dostoevsky is not exactly Beckett or Pynchon; his books are incredibly easy to read and understand.

I guess I can see feeling special for reading one of those post-modern writers, but for 19th Century realist classics that are taught in high school Lit classes all over the world, I can only imagine the reason to read one is personal edification and enjoyment.

 

[……forgetit]

.....I like Super Sad True Love Story.

 

[not psycho]

But we already have a list of the 100 most hipster books of all time:

http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

 

[Mifune]

.....I like Super Sad True Love Story.

It's a fun book. GAF book club entry, and largely well liked there iirc.

 

[WorldStar]

But we already have a list of the 100 most hipster books of all time:

http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

nah, too much Ayn Rand to be hipster

 

[B-Dubs]

But we already have a list of the 100 most hipster books of all time:

http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/

The reader's list is bad, that Top 5 makes no sense. Ayn Rand belongs no where on a best novels list. The board's list is much better.