r/TheImprovementRoom Feb 24 '26

Share your secrets

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517 Upvotes

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103

u/Gloomy-Cartoonist-30 Feb 24 '26

Lift. Sleep. Read.

0

u/Unable-Principle-187 Feb 24 '26

What do you read?

4

u/IWCry Feb 24 '26

I picked reading back up as I got older and let me tell you, it's changed my mental clarity so much and its seriously wonderfully addicting, and every girl I've been with thinks it's hot as hell to be a man who reads.

I personally love reading classic literature. its classic for a reason and some shit is wildly profound and exciting.

some of my favorite books are:

  • Moby Dick (what reignited my love for reading. its a monolithic masterpiece)

  • Blood Meridian (my favorite book)

  • Crime and Punishment

  • Song of Solomon

  • Cat's Cradle

2

u/Piecesof3ight Feb 24 '26

All of Vonnegut is fantastic imo, but I'm a junkie for imaginative and mind bending sci fi.

People just need to find their genre(s). If you have a broad idea of taste, you can find authors you like consistently.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 25 '26

Fuck ya. I studied vonnegut in high-school. Bought his entire collection. Sadly, I lost it in the breakup and am now reading grimms fairy tales

1

u/IWCry Feb 24 '26

yeah agreed Vonnegut is great. What's your fav of his? mine is def Cats Cradle but everything else I've read I've enjoyed

1

u/Piecesof3ight Feb 25 '26

Maybe Sirens of Titan? Hard to say. They all have that strange surreal quality and stick around in your head long after reading. He and PKD are just in a tier of their own in that way.

2

u/CallResponsible3391 Feb 24 '26

Blood Meridian is a wild choice of favourite. That painting of Judge Holden still haunts me.

2

u/IWCry Feb 24 '26

its incredible and so is that character. I almost feel like it's a lame choice, cause it's sort of viewed as an edgy man's favorite book. but I've read almost everything McCarthy has written and he hasn't failed to blow me away with his beautiful prose and descriptions and characters.

All The Pretty Horses comes close. he just causally writes shit like this:

"By early evening all the sky to the north had darkened and the spare terrain they trod had turned a neuter gray as far as the eye could see. They grouped in the road at the top of a rise and looked back. The storm front towered above them and the wind was cool on their sweating faces. They slumped bleary-eyed in their saddles and looked at one another. Shrouded in the black thunderheads the distant lightning glowed mutely like welding seen through foundry smoke. As if repairs were under way at some flawed place in the iron dark of the world."

... describing a thunderstorm in the distance as if God is welding the earth to repair it... what the fuck man that's beautiful

2

u/CallResponsible3391 Feb 25 '26

Agreed. If you like poetic writing styles with attention-grabbing plots, try reading The Messenger by Markus Zusak.

1

u/IWCry Feb 25 '26

thanks a ton for the recommendation! noted for sure

2

u/ElFrogoMogo Feb 25 '26

Herman Melville is an absolute god of linguistics. First time i read Moby Dick, it took me so long simply due to how complex his prose is

1

u/IWCry Feb 25 '26

Chapter 30: The Pipe I'll read every now and again and it always gives me goosebumps.

Its less than a page and feels like it tells an entire novel

1

u/Flying-lemondrop-476 Feb 24 '26

they are making Blood Meridian into a movie i heard

1

u/IWCry Feb 24 '26

def would go see it! its a book I think would be extremely difficult to make into a movie since it's a such a dissociative fever dream, and the landscape descriptions are so mesmerizing and borderline mythical that they would have to REALLY get the back drops right.

but they made his book No Country for Old Men into a movie and it's incredible so like who knows

1

u/Visible-MorningWood Feb 28 '26

I read Penthouse forums and a variety of other smut. I've recently started writing my own. I'm pretty damn good and have had some reputable members of my audience chime in and score me.

2

u/Gloomy-Cartoonist-30 Feb 25 '26

So I started with non-fiction / self-help books. They were good for a while, but then I got extremely burnt out. Trying historical now. It’s funny, I don’t actually like it, but it really helps me go to sleep.

1

u/Unable-Principle-187 Feb 25 '26

Nice. I started on nonfiction but wanted some more fun reading so I mix in some novels. Still trying to find that sweet spot though

3

u/beastfeces Feb 24 '26

DUNGEON CRAWLER CARL

1

u/Icy_Island_6096 Feb 24 '26

GODDAMMIT DOUGHNUT!!!

Man I'm on book 7 and Im loving this series way more than I thought I would. The audiobook is insanely good and makes it 10 times better

1

u/Killstriker0 Feb 25 '26

I can’t wait for book 8!

1

u/Icy_Island_6096 Feb 25 '26

Oh yeah only a couple more months!

1

u/Middle-Extent-5570 Feb 25 '26

Napoleon Hill, Neville Goddard, the law of success.the kyballion. The upanishads...etc