What I should read first

[Rores28]

There are numerous authors I would like to read and before I start delving so deeply into any particular artist I'd like to acquire of wide breadth of literary savvy and have read at least 1 piece by a multitude of authors. Given this what are your recommendations for a good first read by the following authors.
It doesn't necessarily have to be there best work, just the one you think is best to read first, or wish that you had read first. Thanks


Dostoevsky

Dickens

Chuck Palahniuk

Don Delillo

Kafka

Joyce

Hemingway

Nabokov

Woolf

Eco

Nietzsche

Tolstoy

Vonnegut

[MTA]

Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment OR Notes from Underground


Dickens

A Tale of Two Cities


Chuck Palahniuk

Don't bother.


Don Delillo

White Noise


Kafka

I don't know. I'd be curious to hear another user's response to this. I want to delve into Kafka myself.


Joyce

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man OR Dubliners. I prefer the former.


Hemingway

Some short stories and The Old Man and the Sea.


Nabokov

Lolita


Woolf

Don't know.


Eco

Don't know.


Nietzsche

Beyond Good and Evil


Tolstoy

Anne Karenina


Vonnegut

Slaughter-House Five

[kiki1982]

For Kafka I'd maybe say The Metamorphosis or one of his other stories. They are short and weird enough without being confronted with weird stuff for 300 pages or so.

[dfloyd]

Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment

Dickens - Great Expectations

Palahunik - Read another Dickens, maybe a Tale of Two Cities

Delillo - Read anther Dickens, maybe David Copperfield

Kafka - The Trial

Joyce - Dubliners

Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises

Woolf - To the Lighthouse if you want to learn how not to write a novel, otherwise read another Hemingway, maybe A Moveable Feast

Eco - The Name of the Rose or a better Italian novel, The Leopard

Nietzche - Thus Spake Zarathustra

Nabikov - Lolita

Tolstoy - Anna Karenina

Vonnegut - Breakfast of Champions

[Katy North]

This reminds me of how many authors I just haven't read yet. I should probably be taking notes on this too!


Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment to start out, but make sure you read Notes from the Underground and the Brothers Karamazov too.

Dickens Start out with A Christmas Carol just to get a general feel for his works. Then read Oliver twist or David Copperfield, followed by the Pickwick Papers and Great Expectations.

Chuck Palahniuk

Don Delillo

Kafka

Joyce Portrait of the Artist as a Young man.

Hemingway

Nabokov

Woolf

Eco The Name of the Rose

Nietzsche Personally I was lucky enough to take a class of his works. I'd recommend keeping a secondary source close at hand while reading any of his books or

Tolstoy

Vonnegut

Other authors I'd recommend:

Austen: Pride and Prejudice

Murakami: Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the Universe

Twain: Huckleberry Finn

A good comprehensive Anthology of Poetry

Shakespeare: Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet

Orwell: 1984

Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

[Rores28]

Thanks alot for the advice so far.


I'm getting the subtle impression that Chuck Palahniuk is not worth reading then. I had read the first page of choke and was pretty turned off, but I liked the movie well enough as well as fight club.

Also some Delillo hate? I included those authors along with Eco because I want to read some works by authors who are still living.

Any recommendations on non-dead writers and their respective books?

Katy North
Thanks for the additional recommendations. I have never heard of Murakami. 1984, Great Gatsby, and Pride and Prejudice, I have read and enjoyed.

[kiki1982]

My eternal repeat:

Saramago!

He is almost dead though, depending on how long he still holds out... He is over 80 now.

[johnw1]

Any recommendations on non-dead writers and their respective books?

Katy North
Thanks for the additional recommendations. I have never heard of Murakami. 1984, Great Gatsby, and Pride and Prejudice, I have read and enjoyed.

The Name of the Rose is brilliant - you should definitely read that!

Also, for Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises is the way to go as it's his best and also an early one - and if you like Gatsby you'll probably like this. It's also shorter than For Whom the Bell Tolls or A Farewell to Arms (two other great novels). Alternatively, look at his great short stories.

[Katy North]

If you want a great author who is still living Murakami is a good one to go with. He is a Japanese author who has written numerous novels as well as short stories and a couple pieces of non-fiction. He has an incredible (I think), surreal style of writing.

[dfloyd]

try John LeCarre. His trilogy about the Russian spy Karla is his best. Tinker, Taior, Soldier, Spy;The Honourble Schoolby; and Smiley's People. Numbers 1 and 3 can be seen on Masterpiece Theatre DVDs.

[jadrianne]

There are numerous authors I would like to read and before I start delving so deeply into any particular artist I'd like to acquire of wide breadth of literary savvy and have read at least 1 piece by a multitude of authors. Given this what are your recommendations for a good first read by the following authors.
It doesn't necessarily have to be there best work, just the one you think is best to read first, or wish that you had read first. Thanks


Dostoevsky

Dickens

Chuck Palahniuk

Don Delillo

Kafka

Joyce

Hemingway

Nabokov

Woolf

Eco

Nietzsche

Tolstoy

Vonnegut

doesn't it necessarily have to be their best work?
I think that in order to understand an author you must read most of his books.

[One Gallant]

Dostoevsky - Crime and Punishment

Dickens - Great Expectations

Chuck Palahniuk - A writer who seems to be getting worse with age. If I had to pick one it'd be Fight Club

Don Delillo - White Noise

Kafka - Metamorphosis or The Penal Colony or The Trial if it's a novel you're after.

Joyce - The Dubliners

Hemingway - Old Man and the Sea

Nabokov - Lolita

Woolf -

Eco -

Nietzsche - Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Tolstoy - The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five

[kelby_lake]

I'll try and suggest ones that are indicative of the author's style:

Kafka- The Trial or The Metamorphosis.
Nabokov- Lolita or Pale Fire

[Rores28]

I notice not a single recommendation for Virginia Woolf, is the general sentiment that she is no good or have people simply not read her.

Thanks again for the recommendations. I've picked up some of these and plan to start on Lolita and The Old Man and The Sea as soon as I'm done with Brave New World.

[IceM]

Dostoevsky--Notes from the Underground

Dickens--Oliver Twist

Chuck Palahniuk

Don Delillo--White Noise

Kafka--His short stories are great. Try those.

Joyce--Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man. After struggling with this for a few days, I unraveled it. Brilliant.

Hemingway--The Old Man and the Sea, or some short stories to get used to his style (i.e. Hills Like White Elephants).

Nabokov

Woolf--To The Lighthouse

Eco

Nietzsche--Beyond Good and Evil

Tolstoy--The Cossacks

Vonnegut--Slaughterhouse 5

[kiki1982]

I notice not a single recommendation for Virginia Woolf, is the general sentiment that she is no good or have people simply not read her.

I don't know, I think stream of consciousness is just confusing and boring to most people. Still, she has an admirable style. Only for that, one could read her work.

I read Mrs Dalloway recently, but nothing else. I should say, for me, that fortunately it was very short, otherwise I had considered giving up... That said, though, now I know what I'm in for, I'll still consider To the Lighthouse only because of her style.

The book is stream of consciousness and as such, every single tiny detail of what a character thinks is written down. Sometimes that might be interesting, but most of the time it is trivial and doesn't matter, certainly if the main character is a society woman...

But there are bigger spcialists on this forum who could give you a more to the point lecture on Modernism which ight shed a light on more interesting things to consider.

[dfloyd]

whom I can't abide. It's not the stream of conciousness style, I have read and liked Faulkner. It's the fact that she is concerned with triviality, and every time I try to read her, I fall asleep. Maybe it's because I am afraid of Virginia Woolf.

[mal4mac]

Dostoevsky - Crime & Punishment

Dickens - Great Expectations (*not* a Tale of Two Cities)

Palahniuk - Read another Dickens - Nicholas Nickleby.

Delillo - Read another Dickens, maybe David Copperfield

Kafka - Metamorphosis

Joyce - Ellmann's biography - it's useful to get some background!

Eco - The Name of the Rose

Nietzsche - Beyond Good and Evil (Anything but Zarathustra!)

Tolstoy - The Cossacks

Vonnegut - Slaughter-House Five

Shakespeare: RSC Complete

Virginia Woolf - A Room of One's Own

[Modest Proposal]

Dostoevsky-Brothers Karamazov is the best, but you may want to start with "Notes From the Underground" because it is shorter.

Dickens-"A Tale of Two Cities" and "Great Expectations" are both wonderful, again, "A Christmas Carol" is short but still brilliant.

Chuck Palahniuk- I've only read "Fight Club" which is good if a little limited.

Don Delillo- I've only read "White Noise" but it is one of the best books of the last 50 years.

Kafka- "The Trial" is incredible but the stories are a better introduction. Try "The Metamorphosis," "The Penal Colony," "A Hunger Artist," and "A Country Doctor".

Joyce- "Dubliners" has, in my mind, the best blend of his mastery and his experimentation for the common reader.

Hemingway- Short stories are really his forte. The only book of his I really loved was "The Sun Also Rises". "A Farewell to Arms," "The Old Man and the Sea" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" are all good but not as much to my personal taste.

Nabokov- "Lolita" is obviously a masterpiece but just as obviously disturbing. I have "Pale Fire" on my own next to read list.

Woolf- "Mrs. Dalloway," "The Waves," and "To the Lighthouse" are all incredible reading experiences for someone interested in the geneology of the western canon and all provide a certain degree of pleasure to most readers, but at a steep cost.

Eco- "The Name of the Rose" is fun and smart. I hear "Baudolino" is also great.

Nietzsche- "Thus Spake Zarathustra" and "The Birth of Tragedy" are both excellent.

Tolstoy- "Anna K." is obviously one of the great novelistic acheivments, but to see Tolstoy's style and depth, I would read "The Death of Ivan Ilyich".

Vonnegut- "Slaughter-House V", "Cat's Cradle," "Breakfast of Champions" and the "Sirens of Titan."

Great authors you've chosen. If you like these types I would also read...

100 Years of Solitude, Marquez
The Crying of Lot 49, Pynchen
Ficciones, Borges

[Modest Proposal]

whom I can't abide. It's not the stream of conciousness style, I have read and liked Faulkner. It's the fact that she is concerned with triviality, and every time I try to read her, I fall asleep. Maybe it's because I am afraid of Virginia Woolf.

That's a very good point. Have you by chance read H. G. Wells's critique of Henry James.

I will look for it, but it boils down to your point. What's interesting is that the two had been fairly close and the critique came as a shock and almost a betrayal to James.

[Modest Proposal]

Here it is:

It [any novel by James] is like a church lit but without a congregation to distract you, with every light and line focused on the high altar. And on the altar, very reverently placed, intensely there, is a dead kitten, an egg-shell, a bit of string. . . .