Getting started with Borges

[sir orange]

I was planning to read Borges. So, I was wondering, what's the best book to begin with?

[Lambert]

Ficciones and then The Aleph

[Ozymandias]

Those are good. My favorite collection is Borges: A Reader. It has some poetry and essays as well as short stories.

the House of Asterion is one of my favorite stories of his.

[stlukesguild]

Certainly Ficciones... or Labyrinths are the best starting points. I would probably go with Labyrinths simply because it is a marvelous collection... an anthology of sorts offering a glimpse of much of what is strongest in Borges... including essays as well as "fictions". My personal favorite volume is Dreamtigers or El hacedor... but as an avowed Borges lover I have pretty much everything he wrote.:nod: :thumbs_up

[crisaor]

Ficciones and then The Aleph
I second that as well. The Book of Sand is also a good choice.

[JCamilo]

actually, it does not matter much. Borges is the same, the themes, the stories, the Borges anytime with the few exceptions that are his first poems. You just have to choice if you want to read him writing poems, fiction or essays.

[Pecksie]

Borges's poetry is beautiful, although it may put off readers looking for Hallmark-card lines and easy truths (but then, so will the rest of his writing).

Check out his poem "1964", as well as the one about the execution of Charles I... They're simply perfect.

[Charles Darnay]

I started with Labyrinths and found that quite successful