Help expand my taste in literature.

[byrd]

So, for the last few years I've read a ton of books which are either books I've a) found around the house or b) books I've borrowed from the library or bought. In regards to the books I find around the house, they vary from being a crime novel to an adventure type book (My dad has a few Clive Cussler ones floating around) to astronomy.

Now, the books I seek out are generally science fiction as that's my favourite thing to read and 90% of the books I've read are probably sci-fi.

But as the title implies, I want to read other types of books. A bad example (Possibly even a horrible one) would be that of Rory from Gilmore Girls (And her grandfather), she seems to read everything and has favourites like Russian literature. I want to get into 'everything' - of course, I will not like everything so it will be a sort of learning experience but I simply have no idea where the hell to start.

To try and give you more of an idea, in the next couple of days when I have the time I'm going to go down to Angus and Robertson and a buy a ton of books from the 'top 100' list (http://www.angusrobertson.com.au/) they have. Here are some I plan on buying:

To Kill A Mockingbird
Pride & Prejudice
Hitchhiker Trilogy
Time Travellers Wife
1984
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Moby Dick

A lot of these are classics (I just want to read good books, simple as that. So, it may be best if I start off with people like Hemingway, Wilde, Twain, Faulkner, etc who I have never really read before) but I have simply never read them despite the amount of reading I do do. Also, I wouldn't buy things so blindly and I may in fact cut some of these off the list after I do a little more reading about them.


Basically, I have no idea where to start, almost as much as you'll have no idea as to how start suggesting books - but try as best as you can. :) I'd lean away from comedy, drama and romantic novels but I have no problem reading those types, just there is generally fewer novels in those genres that I like.

Is there possibly a list of genres of literature (See: novels) I could go through to cherry pick some to give you kind folk a better starting point? Also, for a basic idea of some novels I've read and liked, basically 75% of the ones on this list (http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html) with ones like Brave New World, Childhood's End, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Fahrenheit 451, Snow Crash, etc, standing out..

Random things: I read fast, I do not shy away from 'intelligent' novels, sarcasm/wit is more than welcome, I'd rather read 'actual' stories & preferably not politics/taboo topics. Edit: And, ah, try not to overwhelm me, so do not list 7 books from your favourite author but rather 3 books from 3 favourite authors with a short paragraph on each one as to why I should read it, or why you like it. :)

[novelsryou]

As for Hemingway, start off with Green Hills Of Africa and The Old Man And The Sea. They're both adventurous and good reads.

[johann cruyff]

Well,it's probably the best that you start from the beginning,and work your way through.I mean,you don't have to read every single classic but you'll probably do better if you have some knowledge about the history of literature.(e.g. you are more likely to understand Dostoevsky or Kafka if you already have some basic background information about literature before them.)

Of course,it's very difficult to compile a definitive list of classics because everyone has their own preferences.If I were to write down 50 authors that you should definitely read,there would instantly be someone who disagrees.But,generally,you can't go wrong with the most famous authors.

[Abraxas]

Once you start, you can never stop! I find books always lead you on to more books...

If you like wit, I'd advise Jane Austen, whom I find very funny. I preferred Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility to Emma or Mansfield Park, but Northanger Abbey is a pretty enjoyable parody of gothic novels (and can lead you on to read "real" Gothics, such as Ann Radcliffe - all right, she's a bit boring, but still - or better, Lewis or Mathurin). And I saw you meant to read The Picture of Dorian Grey, but all of Wilde's plays are wonderful!

If you've read Brave New World, you have to read 1984, of course...

And now three personal favourites: Solyenitsin (I preferred the First Circle and Cancer Ward, since The Gulag Archipelago is a little dry and A Day in the Life of Ivan Denissovitch is - wail! - too short!!), the wonderful, astonishing Primo Levi (there again, I've read amost everything by him and have never felt let down, but preferred The Truce), and finally, the great Hermann Hesse (Steppenwolf, Demian, and Narziss and Goldmund - beautiful...).

[stlukesguild]

If you are essentially starting off on classic literature I would look around at various volumes that offer a list of the 'essential classics" and spell out some of their reasoning behind the choices:

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/greatbks.html

I would seriously avoid something like Saramgo or most of Faulkner (as much as I personally love both of them) until you have a bit more experience behind you. Among novels I would suggest Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, Falubert's Madame Bovary, Cervantes' Don Quixote, Tolstoy's War and Peace ( Big, yes... and powerful... but not overly difficult to read... beyond getting all those Russian names straight), Dostoevsky's Brothers Karamazov, Dickens Oliver Twist or David Copperfield. I would more likely recommend some short stories in order that you might explore a wider range of writers and styles. Check into tales/short stories by E.T.A Hoffmann, Anton Checkov, Maupassant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, E.A. Poe, Kipling, H.G. Wells, Ambrose Bierce, William Wilkie Collins, Henry James, Robert Louis Stevenson, Hemmingway, Kafka, etc... To get started in poetry you might wish to explore some poets who follow very structured poetic forms such as Petrarch's and Shakespeare's sonnets. I would recommend a little Poe, Baudelaire, Rimbaud... some of the great Romantics: Blake, Byron, Keats, Shelley, Coleridge and Wordsworth... and maybe some Whitman and Dickinson. Good luck.:thumbs_up

[Abraxas]

I would more likely recommend some short stories in order that you might explore a wider range of writers and styles.

Likewise, I always found it useful to start with the shorter books of authors who are considered as difficult: for Dostoievsky, you can start with his Notes of the Underground (easier than delving straight into The Idiot!!); for Tolstoï, it might be easier to start with the Kreutzer Sonata (a gem of a book) than with Anna Karenina; I'd advise getting acquainted with Thomas Mann through Death in Venice rather than the Magic Mountain, with Musil through Young Torless rather than The Man without Qualities...etc.

[Sir Bartholomew]

I'm doing this list (http://www.nytimes.com/library/books/072098best-novels-list.html) so far so good.

[Etienne]

I'm doing this list (http://www.nytimes.com/library/books/072098best-novels-list.html) so far so good.

But that is only English-language literature, not exactly what I would call "expanding one's tastes".

[byrd]

Ah, excellent suggestions, all of you. I'm going to make up a small list and take it down to the library when I can and see what they have.

Many thanks, and do not stop now. ;)

[Kent Edwins]

Another idea- why don't you keep tabs on the book of the month forum here? I find that, so far, that is an excellent way to expand your tastes. It not only has you read literature from all around world, but it has you read literature that you might not have ever read otherwise.