favorite book that youve read or book recommendation for a beginner literature reader

[literaturerocks]

hey guys..as you may know im new here and i just started reading the classics (such as dante and homer etc) and other literature like poe and things of that sort..i have not read much of anything yet and as of right now i am in the middle of the inferno of the divine comedy... i have read bits and pieces of the iliad and the odyssey but not the whole things ..i have read some poe stories and thats about it .. so... i was just wondering what your favorite books are or some books that you would recommend to me(or any other new lit reader) thanks for your consideration..feel free to rate books or say why you liked them but please no spoilers! :D THANKS!

[Scheherazade]

Welcome to the Forum, literaturerocks! :)

You might find this thread useful: http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2996&highlight=read

[bazarov]

Hi and welcome!!! I think you're a little bit young for Russians( no ofence), but they are my suggestion(Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Bulgakov, Turgenyev, Pushkin,etc.), Don Quixote, Kafka, Wilde...But you can't miss, in every book you'll find something new and interesting, and become smarter :nod: :lol: . Enjoy the forum!!!

[mono]

Hello, literaturerocks. Just as a simple suggestion, if you enjoyed The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer, I have no doubt you would also enjoy The Æneid by Virgil. Additionally, if you like the 'classic classics' from very old times, as evidenced by some works you listed, I would also recommend Metamorphosis by Ovid, The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio, and maybe some plays by the ancient Greeks. :nod:

[mtpspur]

You might enjoy Charles Dickens. I have fond memories of David Copperfield and Great Expectations (the latter being the more suspenseful). Along with The Iliad etc, you might try Beowulf. I salute you for Divine Comedy--I've never had the patience to dip much into epic poetry.

[downing]

Thomas Hardy-The Return of the native and The Mayor of Casterbridge
Jane Austen-Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility

[EAP]

Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Consider Phlebas - Iain Banks
Dune - Frank Herbert
A Game of Thrones - George R. R. Martin
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury

[literaturerocks]

thank you for the suggestions i appreciate them very much..baz i have started reading the brothers karamazov as it is the book club book of the month and i am enjoying it thouroughly..also i went through my dads book case and cleaned it out for him and he had doubles of the book don quixote so he said i could keep one copy so i may read that soon..i am also finding myself dipping into a bit of shakespeare although it is somewhat difficult for me as i am only thirteen :nod: but..i like dostoevsky's writing style very much and i find him very inspiring and quite brilliant. and mono..i bought the aeneid by virgil and im sure i will like that as it is cited in the notes of my divine comedy volume(inferno). i am probably also going to read the old man and the sea pretty soon and maybe a farewell to arms as well. i started to read 1984 but then started the brothers and now my father wants to read the former along with me so i will probably start it over when he decides he has time to read it but in the mean time i think i will be reading mostly the russians, i am hoping to dip more into the iliad and odyssey and finish them both as i have only read a few pages in them before at a friends house. i may read lotr and i am going to read catch 22 along with more of dostoevsky's work and maybe war and peace by tolstoy..along with any other book club books..haha so i definately have enough reading to keep me busy for the summer. but i thank you for your contribution and feel free to make as many recommendations as you want for i am always looking for more to read :D :nod: thank you! ;)

::edit:: one more thing. i also read to kill a mockingbird and i plan to read lord of the flies also. i just thought i would put that in so advisions on books can be more precise and i just thought i would tell you guys!:) but by the way i loved to kill a mockingbird. it was a veryvery good book. i finished it in one night..i stayed up 'till about two in the morning!..i just couldnt put it down:D

[pqb57]

Paradise Lost by John Milton may interest you.

[Lycosparks]

It is hard to fathom that you consider yourself a beginning reader while mentioning how you are tackling the Greats such as Homer and Dante! Good for you! I respect that.

However, if you wish to stray from classics, here are a few of the first novels I ever read for pleasure. The language is simple. Hope you consider:

Flowers for Algernon
They Cage the Animals at Night
Anthem

[alshadai]

If you like Dante's Divine Comedy then you might like to read Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness directly after. Conrad's book is based on Dante's Inferno and looking at them together is just an amazing experience! Conrad's book is also a novella, only around 120 pages long. Conrad basically takes Dante's descent into hell and reworks it into a character's descent into unexplored jungles. Beware though, it is a dark read!

[mono]

Nice choices, literaturerocks, especially with The Brothers Karamazov, The Old Man And The Sea, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Lord Of The Flies - all books very worth reading. And I feel honored to hear that you took the suggestion of reading Virgil's The Æneid.
Lastly, indeed, Shakespeare can seem quite difficult to read. Some of his play's plots, in fact, appear rather simple, but several readers, including myself, get a little confused in his language.
Happy reading! ;)

[literaturerocks]

thank you mono ..i have read some of your other posts and you have great taste in books. also to me you are very admirable as you are an RN and also very knowledgable about literature and poetry.both of these being things i am very interested in. i will have happy reading and hope to be as well read as you and some others here at the literature forum. :D

[tiredstudent]

if your looking for classical types of books i would suggest dune by frank Herbert. Its a great sci-fi book, supposedly its one of the greatest ever.

if your into politics or government or life in general, i would check out orwel's 1984, although beware, its heart wrenching.

or some history books:
you might try some Hawthorne books, like Scarlet Letter.
The Germinal By Emile Zola
The Red and the Black by Stendhal

[Manalive]

Light in August, The Sound and the Fury, The Reivers- William Faulkner (I can't recommend Faulkner enough.)
Moby Dick- Herman Melville
The Sun Also Rises, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Old Man and the Sea- Ernest Hemingway
The Trial- Franz Kafka

For Poetry: W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot

[victorianfan]

I'd recommend everything by Jules Verne and Mark Twain.:wave:

[_Shannon_]

14? You must read Twain--Huck Finn, at least. And Stevenson's Kidnapped! The Scarlet Pimpernel. Ender's Game. Hammett's The Red Harvest and The Maltese Falcon. Chandler's The Big Sleep. The Three Musketeers. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Kipling's Captain's Courageous and Kim. King Solomon's Mines. All of the Jules Verne stuff.

Or at least use these to balance out other "weightier" material. At it's essence reading literature ought to be fun!

[chum]

I would also suggest Catch 22

[Babak Movahed]

I would suggest The Stranger by Camus, The Picture of Dorian Grey by Wilde, Siddhartha by Hesse, and Metamorphosis by Kafka. They are all fairly short reads but they're all quite good.

[Cassidy Vitales]

if youre looking for a good book try Amos Oz "A Tale of Love and Darkness" and The Prophet from Khalil Gibran and Brothers Karmazova from Fydor Dostovesky

[Cassidy Vitales]

Anything from Dostovesky is pure Art in my opinion

[mal4mac]

I think you're a little bit young for Russians...

Depends on the Russians! Try Tolstoy's "The Cossacks" to start...

[Jazz_]

If you never finished them, I would suggest the Odyssey over the Iliad, even though it is a sort of 'sequel' - it's much easier to get through (and I enjoyed it more ;))

There's been some great suggestions, such as Catch-22, Great Expectations and The Three Musketeers (though I preferred The Count of Monte Cristo myself) - so thought I'd add my vote to those :D