Starting in literature, any recomendations?

[Joeri]

hello,
i have read some good books,
and i surely want to read more
but with some many good books around
it is somehow hard to make a start in the whole 'literature' thing.
so my do you know any books to start with?
just as a way to orientate me in this 'literature' thing.

some books i already read:
1984
animal farm
brave new world
a clockwork's orange
romeo & juliet
mc beth

so does anyone has any recomendations?

[atiguhya padma]

Looking at what you've read already, in a similar vein, I would recommend some more up-to-date lit., like Lanark by Alasdair Gray, or The Bridge by Iain Banks. The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan is short and a great read. And Wide Open by Nicola Barker.

Lanark is set in a bleak Scottish future and also in the present. It moves back and forth between these two worlds. The Bridge is a world created by a comatose man. The Cement Garden is about childhood and death and adolescent sex. Wide Open is whacky, a journey through the estuarine world east of London, where eccentrics are the norm and everything is rather more surreal than life in the capital.

I would also recommend anything by Will Self; most of Graham Swift's work, but especially Last Orders and Waterland; Maggie Gee, Toby Litt, David Mitchell are all good contemporary writers too.

The truth is though, you might not like any of this. But hopefully, one or two might appeal.

AP

[Joeri]

yo thanks!
that should keep me buisy for a while.

[Dick Diver]

The temple of the golden pavillion by Yukio Mishima

[simon]

How about Siddhartha.

[Dyrwen]

If you'd like to check out the poetic forms of literature, "Dante Alligheri's - Divine Comedy" is quite nice.

'The Inferno' was probably what first got me really interested in literature.

[Koa]

Is there a 'book recommendation' thread where Dante isn't mentioned at some point? ;););)
Personally is one of the last things I'd recommend but this is not the point, don't want to be polemic on others opinions...It just strikes me how influential that thing seems to be!:eek: :eek: :eek:

[IWilKikU]

have a look at Harold Bloom's The Western Canon and take your pick of the books he lists.

[emily655321]

Thumbs way up for A Clockwork Orange! Do you think in Nadsat now? I still do.

I second the recommendations for Siddhartha. Actually, if you liked Orwell, any Hermann Hesse is probably a good bet.

Try 'All Quiet on the Western Front,' too. It's not too long, a relatively easy read, but definitely one of the greats.

And if you dig that German stuff, go for some Kafka, too. His short stories are a good overview of his style, and 'Metamorphosis' is the most famous.

[avid_reader]

'A tale of two cities' by Dickens
had read it for the first time when i was in 5th.
so far i've read it arnd 4 times ... each time learning new things !!
i'd consider it as one of the best books ever written

[Black Flag]

Ditto on "All Quiet on the Western Front". I've read it four times and each time I find something I've missed before--some new insight, ya know. My copy is filled with underlined paragraphs and quotes.

If you don't like war novels though, try one of the suggestions already mentioned. :)

[Black Flag]

Or something romantic/tragic like The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. Or (if you're feeling really romantic--almost sappy--)something by Jane Austen.

[ucdawg12]

I would suggest the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (I think that it’s considered literature?) I thought it had good themes, symbolism and it had some humorous dialogue in it, its one of my favorite books.

[simon]

Try my favorite Mark Twain, A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

[subterranean]

I think Huckelybery Finn is a little bit boring (IMO)

[Black Flag]

Originally posted by Joeri
hello,
i have read some good books,
and i surely want to read more
but with some many good books around
it is somehow hard to make a start in the whole 'literature' thing.
so my do you know any books to start with?
just as a way to orientate me in this 'literature' thing.

some books i already read:
1984
animal farm
brave new world
a clockwork's orange
romeo & juliet
mc beth

so does anyone has any recomendations?

Bet you weren't ready for this barrage of titles, huh?!!!!!


:rolleyes:

[simon]

You'd better prepare yourself because recommendations will never cease.

[Isagel]

When studying english I used to get these anthologys with poetry for lit students, , just to get ideas on what to read. It was fun, and I got to read Frost, Blake , Donne and Whitman. You can get them in almost any bookstore. I think the Penguin brand has som huge collections.

As a teenager I went to the library and decided to read i alphabetic order from the shelves I would read one author that started with the letter A , on that started on B, and so forth.

That took a lot of time. But evryone needs a hobby.

I guess this isn´t really the kind of advice you where looking for. :-) But it made me read alot of things I never would have read otherwise.

But thats how I ended up reading Burroughs "The Naked lunch"
and Truman Capote.

I can´t remember who I read for the letter Q. I think it was a spanish author.

[IWilKikU]

Who'd you read for X?

[Isagel]

Malcolm X - I think it was a speech.

[verybaddmom]

there are a couple of really good anthologies for poetry, drama, literature (14th -18th century), fiction and short stories by both Norton and Harbrace. I have purchased all of them at various times over the years for classes (or because they were on sale from someone elses classes) and love the fact that i can leave the book somewhere (like beside where i smoke outside) and pick it up whenever i have a chance and enlighten myself. often, these anthologies will have some good background information that is really helpful in analyzing the work as well.

[EAP]

1. Fantasy

a. The Lord of the Rings Triology - Tolkien
b. Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan
c. A Song of Fire and Ice Saga - George R R Martin
d. The Riftwar Saga - Raymond E Feist


2. Detective Fiction [Similar to Film Noir].

a. The Dupin Stories by Edgar Allan Poe. 'The Murder at Rue Morgue' Et al.

b. Sherlock Holmes - ConanDoyle.

c. Lord Peter Wilmsey novels - Dorothy L Sayers.

d. The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler

e. The innocence of Father Brown - G. K. Chesterton

f. Moonstone - Wilkie Collins.

g. The Murder of Roger Acroyd - Agatha Christie.

3. Horror

a. The Masque of Red Death, The Fall of House of Usher, The Tell Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe.

b. Works by Lovecraft.

c. It, Insomnia, The Shinning by Stephen King.

d. Works by Peter Straub.

e. Dracula - Bram Stoker


4. Victorian Classics

a. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte

b. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

c. Shirley - Charlotte Bronte

d. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

e. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackery

f. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

g. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

h. Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson

i. The Mill on Floss - George Elliot

j. The Return of the Native - Thomas Hardy

5. Humor

a. Any work by Mark Twain.

b. The Catcher in the Rye - J.D.Salinger

6. [B]Various[/I]

a. Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery

b. The Invisible Man

c. Grapes of Wrath - John Stienback

d. Babbit - Lewis Sinclair

e. The Europeons - Henry James

f. Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthrone

g. Moby Dick - Herman Melville

h. Roots Alex Healey

i. Farhenheit 451 - Ray Bradburry

i. Slaughterhouse Five


Offcourse It isn't possible to read all of them in a short while but I hope you'll pick out atleast some out of these. If specially recommend Fahrenheit 451; you might like it, judging from the books you have allready read.

[emily655321]

:D :D :D The Shinning.

"Fondly Fahrenheit" by Alfred Bester. It's no feat to beat the heat. So jeet your seat. All reet all reet! I LOVED that book.

[amuse]

EAP, you might like Tolkien's Roverandom and Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn. Also Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea Series (wonderful).

What about Pride and Prejudice? I'm embarassed to write this, but have read it around 4 times.
Has anyone made it through Vanity Fair? I couldn't get into it and am considering another go 'round. (as well as W&P - dear God, why???)

Oh, Yeah, i totally recommend Anna Karenina. :) :) :)

[EAP]

amuse posted,


EAP, you might like Tolkien's Roverandom and Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn. Also Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea Series (wonderful).

I loved Roverandom although not as much as 'Farmer Giles of Hamfast'. I started on the Earthsea triology but It just didn't catch my fancy. I'll look for Peter S. Beagle's 'The Last Unicorn' though.


Has anyone made it through Vanity Fair? I couldn't get into it and am considering another go 'round. (as well as W&P - dear God, why???)

Eh yes. I made it through Vanity Fair. :) Although not through the later book you mentioned. I was considering give W and P a second go though.

Pride and Prejudice is an excellent book, and its inclusion in the top 5 British books manifests it's enduring popularity, even in times like this.
I love Jane Austen among classic writters second only to Anne Bronte.

[amuse]

liked Farmer Giles :) too. not very happy that it hid from me the other day. does your copy have Smith of Wooton Major included?

[EAP]

Amuse posted,


liked Farmer Giles too. not very happy that it hid from me the other day. does your copy have Smith of Wooton Major included?

Sadly no. :( But I still was able to read Smith of Wooton Major thanks to the efforts of our Russian friends.

[amuse]

:) Cool. Is it hard to get books in Pakistan?

[EAP]

Pretty hard. The only fiction novels generally avalable are classics in prescribed text courses, grisly fiction, porn/romantic novels and recent blockbuster's.

Heck even Silmarillion is not avalable just because it is not economically feasible for local printers.

[amuse]

someone needs to do the readers of that book a favor one day and publish a family tree, as is done sometimes for the houses of stuart and windsor before reading about those families. i've been tempted many! times to write myself notes on lineage while reading.

[EAP]

Amuse posted,


someone needs to do the readers of that book a favor one day and publish a family tree, as is done sometimes for the houses of stuart and windsor before reading about those families. i've been tempted many! times to write myself notes on lineage while reading.

There are many such trees in existance. I'll post one sooner or later, as soon as my computer allows me to upload a file. But information gleaned from HOME's and other resources often causes dispute in the lines.

[GapingStarling]

EAP, in your nice long list of books, you mention The Invisible Man. Do you mean the one by Ralph Ellison? I just read that not too long ago, it was wonderful. Every time I think of it, I see his cellar, with all the walls and ceiling space wired with light bulbs, powered by electricity that he has stealthily appropriated from the electric company...

[simon]

For any comic book lovers out there here's a great peice about two men writing a comic called, the Adventures of Calvalier and Klay, by Michael Chabon. Klay may be spelled with a C.

[EAP]

GapingStarling posted,


EAP, in your nice long list of books, you mention The Invisible Man. Do you mean the one by Ralph Ellison? I just read that not too long ago, it was wonderful. Every time I think of it, I see his cellar, with all the walls and ceiling space wired with light bulbs, powered by electricity that he has stealthily appropriated from the electric company...

Ah, yes, that's the writer. Eventhough I am only on Chapter Six, the story seems good, although the fifth chapter was more on the dour side. And the dialogue drags on sometimes. As the story progresses, it might even live upto Alex Healey's Roots.

[amuse]

I liked Invisible Man, too. Read it in my teens around the same time as James Baldwin's Another Country. That was one helluva book.

[amuse]

*think you meant Alex Haley. was an excellent story. the end blew me away.

[emily655321]

Originally posted by simon
For any comic book lovers out there here's a great peice about two men writing a comic called, the Adventures of Calvalier and Klay, by Michael Chabon. Klay may be spelled with a C.

My mother read that two years ago and she still raves about it whenever people start talking books. I didn't read it (more of a classics girl) but she read me plenty of exerpts from it and on her behalf I would recommend it to anyone. Funny, intelligent, well-written.

[PaulDavid]

well if you want to start off on writing your own literature, try blogspot.com
I have started a little blog that will one day be the start of my novel.
Check it out,
http://thehowlingcrossroads.blogspot.com/2008/08/first-section.html

[clumsy angelle]

Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

[MissCosette]

Good suggestions.

[Melmoth]

I humbly believe there's an age and a moment for each book and if you are lucky enough to match both... that really is the point... I think I'll start a thread.... he he

Anyway, as a start I would recommend some Dickens, Great Expectations or Hard Times for instance.

However, if you are already into Shakespeare... have a chance at a must.. Hamlet!!

[Suzie_Q]

If you like Huxley: I liked Guests at Crome Yellow by Huxley and somewhat in the same genre (I think) To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf). Furthermore, Kafka and Hesse are some of my favorite writers.