What should I read first?

[PrimordialBeast]

I am big on the classics and have over 25 books in my possession at the moment but am having trouble where I should begin. Based on public opinion where do you think I should start? Here is my short list of titles:
Don Quixote
Les Miserables
The Idiot
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Moby Dick
Lord Jim
2001 A Space Odyssey
Beyond Good and Evil
The Deerslayer
David Copperfield
Notes From the Underground
The Inheritors
Eugene Onegin
Raise High the Roofbeam Carpenters
The Birth of Tragedy
Great Expectations
Growth of the Soil

based upon this small list, where do you think I should begin?

[Alexander III]

I would suggest to start with Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or David Copperfield

[mal4mac]

Portrait of the Artist is a great, but difficult, work. Does your version have good notes? I agree unreservedly with "David Copperfield".

[Heteronym]

Start with Don Quixote. It's the father of the modern novel. Every novel that follows owes a huge debt to it and you'll be able to see how the novel changed with the centuries.

[Iwanuschka]

I would suggest The Idiot. Seeing the perfect philanthrope failing at living is certainly amusing.

[stlukesguild]

I don't know how we can recommend which book you should read first without knowing a good deal about your reading experience and tastes. Choosing from the list you offered I would suggest that the strongest books include:

Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Eugene Onegin
The Idiot
Les Miserables
David Copperfield
Notes From the Underground
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

[Gregory Samsa]

"Notes From the Underground". Imagine being locked in a very small room with a verbose, insane, brilliant, jaded, before-his-times, clerk-come-philosopher....with a wicked sense of humor, and a toothache that's lasted a month. Pleasant company....I hope you don't searching for the door.

[breathtest]

probably not helping due to everybody giving you a dfferent opinion of what you should read first, but i've read the birth of tragedy twice and it is unbelievable. i think it's perhaps the best one in that list but i found i could only read it in small bits, as it takes a lot of thought to digest everything. Probably you should read something else alongside, something a tad easier going, like notes from the underground. But hey that's just me, you may be much much cleverer and be ableto read nietsche in a oner.

i say they're all brilliiant. If you cant decide, pick one at random. you'll get through them all eventually.

[IceM]

I never found Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man difficult and still found it brilliant. I'd second Notes of the Underground after the former. They are both premier novels.

[spookymulder93]

Notes from the Underground.

[OrphanPip]

My favorite novel on that list is Great Expectations, but I'd start with Note From the Underground because of its length and the fact that I haven't met many people who have disliked that novel.

[Persuasion]

Start with Les Miserables

[JBI]

Go Chronologically. Or better yet, take London as the centre, and read the books in the order of which author's birthplace is closest to London - I think Dickens first, then work your way from there.

Or you could do it better. Take another point of focus, such as Mecca, and calculate from there.

[PrimordialBeast]

I don't know how we can recommend which book you should read first without knowing a good deal about your reading experience and tastes. Choosing from the list you offered I would suggest that the strongest books include:

Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Eugene Onegin
The Idiot
Les Miserables
David Copperfield
Notes From the Underground
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Thanks for all the suggestions, and I agree about my tastes being a factor. For one, I'll read just about anything, but, what I prefer usually lies along the line of high adventure, but I also like thought-provoking and philosophically insightful literature. I geuss that's why I enjoy and lean towards the Russians a lot.

I might add I started Moby Dick last summer and got about 200 pages in and let it down for some reason, and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man I picked up a few days ago and couldn't get past the first ten pages, but either way I'd like finish these two either way, but when, I don't know.


probably not helping due to everybody giving you a dfferent opinion of what you should read first, but i've read the birth of tragedy twice and it is unbelievable. i think it's perhaps the best one in that list but i found i could only read it in small bits, as it takes a lot of thought to digest everything. Probably you should read something else alongside, something a tad easier going, like notes from the underground. But hey that's just me, you may be much much cleverer and be ableto read nietsche in a oner.

i say they're all brilliiant. If you cant decide, pick one at random. you'll get through them all eventually.

I know what you mean, my philosophy prefessor introduced me to Nietzsche, we read The Gay Science for the final, and yes, you definitely need to read Nietzsche at a slow pace, bit by bit, to even get the slightest point of what he's getting across. I guess that's why I'd probably be more hesitant to get into more of his work at the moment, with the interpretation and what not, but thanks for this suggestion.

[mal4mac]

... Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man I picked up a few days ago and couldn't get past the first ten pages...

What stopped you? I read the "Wordsworth Classics" version recently and would highly recommend it - it has superb notes & is very inexpensive.

[kelby_lake]

I am big on the classics and have over 25 books in my possession at the moment but am having trouble where I should begin. Based on public opinion where do you think I should start? Here is my short list of titles:
Don Quixote
Les Miserables
The Idiot
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Moby Dick
Lord Jim
2001 A Space Odyssey
Beyond Good and Evil
The Deerslayer
David Copperfield
Notes From the Underground
The Inheritors
Eugene Onegin
Raise High the Roofbeam Carpenters
The Birth of Tragedy
Great Expectations
Growth of the Soil

based upon this small list, where do you think I should begin?

Notes From The Underground is pretty short so start with that.

[goatlips]

The list has too many translated works. Also, many are meant for study purposes. Try something more recent by, say, Updike or Martin Amis, Julian Barnes, etc. Or, Anthony Trollope's The Warden.

[bhamtya]

i suggest u read Great Expectation.....its a perfect classic whn outlines d society in dicken's era.

[country doctor]

Start with Les Miserables

this...

[dafydd manton]

Frankly, why not just shut your eyes, wave your hand about a bit, stick it on one particular book, and start with that. When you've finished, put it on another table, and try the same system. That way, it'll be spontaneous, and not quite so formatted. Probably more fun, too!