How to answer this question without sounding pretentious?

"Im reading hunger games. What are you reading user?"

"Im reading the brothers karamazamananov by dostioeuvskoyevskiney. Its a great philosophical piece of literature."

>Im reading hunger games. What are you reading user?
>not the Hunger Games

"im reading some crazy story about vodka nuts. wrote by some hardass russian"

"I'm reading The Brothers Karamazov. How are you liking the Hunger Games?"
No need to be autistic

The Brothers Karamazov, a passionate philosophical novel set in 19th-century Russia, that enters deeply into the ethical debates of God, free will, and morality. It is a spiritual drama of moral struggles concerning faith, doubt, judgment, and reason, set against a modernizing Russia, with a plot which revolves around the subject of patricide. Dostoyevsky composed much of the novel in Staraya Russa, which inspired the main setting.[1] Since its publication, it has been acclaimed as one of the supreme achievements in world literature.

>It’s called the Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky! How do you like The Hunger Games so far? Is it good?

Im reading an old story about two brothers who go on a road trip around russia

>"Its a great philosophical piece of literature."

Don't say this. It sounds pretentious & like you're trying to 1-up them.

Say this. If she asks what it's about, say someone recommended it to you or you heard about it somewhere.

"BRAINLET BEGONE"

just say im reading the bros karamazov at the moment
no one will find it weird youre reading booky books

brothers karmanaznazanov isnt even that good tbhh

Yes but the name sounds daunting to people who don't read that sort of thing

just say what the fuck you're reading you fucking faggot

I've told girls who i dated I was reading Baudrillard or Heidegger and they just said, "oh cool user, that sounds too hard for me lol but that's really interesting anyways do you..."

>"Im reading hunger games. What are you reading user?"
Speak not to me, trull. Get thee hence, lest ye feel my patrician hand about thy gangrel face.

>ye feel

I believe you mean, "thou feelst"

How is no one mentioning how weird it is that some people are STILL reading Hunger Games? That shit was almost ten years ago. Did I miss the moment where it became a permanent cultural touchstone? I guess it was the first huge YA Distopia novel series, but I didn't think YA Dystopia was going to have legs once its moment was up.

Now that I think about it, I'm not hearing about book crazes the same way there was for the Twilights and the Harry Potters and whatnot. I don't even remember that much hoopla over the last John Green book. What are the kids reading these days?

Yeah anyways, just tell them what you're reading and be true to your enthusiasm.

Are people really reading Hunger Games? I just thought it was being mentioned because nothing's reached that level of zeitgeistiness since

That makes more sense. I guess I was just thinking that the OP was based on a recent experience.

What ARE the kids reading these days?

Text messages

Rereading Harry Potter

Rupi Kaur, I guess, but she's way less popular than the Hunger Games were. Aside from her, I can't really think of any new books that have gained a lot of traction.

Powerful truth.


they had those when Fault in Our Stars came out, though. It's not like text messages have gotten that much more interesting


maybe the longform aspect of Netflix streaming has supplanted the intimacy of reading while still being more easily digested, shared and advertised.
The next time a book will get people's attention the same way is when something that can't be replicated by streaming shows also manages to scratch the same itch.

I forgot about her! Rupi Kauer is probably the closest there is to the prediction in my pet theory, since poetry is easier to share via short posts on Tumblr and can be put down easily to reply to a text message or something. I don't think the public is going to go for short-form visual tone poem collections any time before a book of poetry is massively embraced.

>Im reading the brothers karamazamananov by dostioeuvskoyevskiney.
say that and there you go

I really liked it but after a while it seemed to continue only for the sake of length.

Someone asked me the same when I was reading Samuel Beckett.
Instead of asking how I liked the reading so far, the person asked "What is [Molloy] about?" which completely threw me off.
The best I could come up with was that it's about an old guy who enjoys sucking on pebbles, reminiscing in a weird way about his life, all written in one single 200 pages long paragraph.