Any Suggestions?

[Joely B]

Just to succinctly introduce myself, I am sixteen and in my last year of secondary school in Britain.

Around about two years ago I began avidly devouring non-fiction political tomes, such as Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldburg and My Life by Sir Oswald Molsey etc, and I also started reading the news routinely, taking note of the journalistic language used to maximise propaganda effect.

It was roughly 8 months ago that I came across an article in the Telegraph about George Orwell, which sparked enough interest in me to research him and thereafter read Animal Farm. Afrer Animal Farm I proceeded to 1984, which thus consolidated in my mind a deep yearning to unlock the world of literature.

I have now read and re-read almost the entire of Orwell's published works, though I have yet to read A Clergyman's Daughter and obviously many letters and essays. I moved onto Wells, reading Kipps and the History of Mr Polly, finding the prose a little flowery but nonetheless acceptable and wholesome.

I then read much of Kurt Vonnegut's work and dabbled in Jack London, reading non-fiction along the side, and dipping my nose into some contemporary fiction, such as Tom Wolfe. I winded up reading essays by Oscar Wilde and G.K. Chesterton, and am now deciding that I should finish a plethora of literary classics.

The only problem is I don't know what authors to read and what books to choose. I fear I may end up reading incomprehensible tripe. I've contemplated reading James Joyce and Tolstoy, alongside whom I would read Brave New World etc.

Could anyone suggest anything that would change my perspective of life slightly, something that is fundamentally enjoyable and epiphany inducing?

Thanks, Joel.

[wat??]

{edit}
Edit: Honestly you should really go ahead and read Crime and Punishment.

[Patrick_Bateman]

The Stranger - Albert Camus
The Trial - Kafka
A Farewell To Arms - Ernest Hemingway
Eugene Onegin - Alexander Pushkin
Cousin Bette - Honore de Balzac
American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis
Darkness At Noon - Arthur Koestler
Ask The Dust - John Fante
The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart

[Scheherazade]

Three Men in a Boat

The Diary of a Nobody

[Emil Miller]

Just to succinctly introduce myself, I am sixteen and in my last year of secondary school in Britain.

Around about two years ago I began avidly devouring non-fiction political tomes, such as Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldburg and My Life by Sir Oswald Molsey etc, and I also started reading the news routinely, taking note of the journalistic language used to maximise propaganda effect.

Thanks, Joel.


It is interesting that you chose to read books about propaganda and it's, therefore, not surprising that you went on to George Orwell who, apart from warning of it's pernicious effect was honest enough to admit that all his work had been written in the cause of democratic socialism and is ,therefore, by definition propaganda in its own right.
Reading such works should help you to avoid having the wool pulled over your eyes which is the fate of very many, if not most, people but it is no guarantee.
As for Wells, Chesterton and Wilde, they are excellent writers of a kind that unfortunately no longer exist and while Sir Oswald Mosley's autobiography was probably interesting, autobiographical works are too unreliable to take at face value.

I could suggest a number of books that might suit you but I think you are doing very well as it is. Your choice shows that you are able to sidestep the poor writing that you fear and although you may receive suggestions it is worth remembering that one man's meat is another man's poison.