suggestions in English literature

[cactu]

I moved to the US last year, and I've been trying to read some great English books. I am from Korea and I didn't have any knowledge in English literature before I come here (I read translations, then I don't even know where the author's from...).

It seems that many of modern popular novels have styles that I hate, I much preferred older ones. for novelists I don't remember any name in English but i think it's because I haven't read a lot. Poe was pretty good, Dickens okay(difficult for me to read quickly), Hemingway okay, I didn't like Orwell. Joyce I shall try again when my English is better. My favorite novel so far is maybe Winnie the Pooh and it's successor. But I did very much like plays by Shaw( not every) and Shakespeare (every!). English has the greatest plays. other than english, I really like Dostoevski and many other russian novels like Yevgeny Onegin, Oblomov, Tolstoy's short stories, I liked Don Quixote and Borges's. anything you think I would like to read?

thanks for your recommendation!

[PeterL]

Have you read any of Marl Twain's writing? If not, then try. You might go to your local public library and see what you like. In a place like thaat or a used book store, you could read a page of a book to see how you liked the writing, and you could check out quite a few in a few hours.

[hannah_arendt]

Maybe any play by A. Miller?

[mona amon]

I moved to the US last year, and I've been trying to read some great English books. I am from Korea and I didn't have any knowledge in English literature before I come here (I read translations, then I don't even know where the author's from...).

It seems that many of modern popular novels have styles that I hate, I much preferred older ones. for novelists I don't remember any name in English but i think it's because I haven't read a lot. Poe was pretty good, Dickens okay(difficult for me to read quickly), Hemingway okay, I didn't like Orwell. Joyce I shall try again when my English is better. My favorite novel so far is maybe Winnie the Pooh and it's successor. But I did very much like plays by Shaw( not every) and Shakespeare (every!). English has the greatest plays. other than english, I really like Dostoevski and many other russian novels like Yevgeny Onegin, Oblomov, Tolstoy's short stories, I liked Don Quixote and Borges's. anything you think I would like to read?

thanks for your recommendation!

I like your list - it's so refreshing to see Pooh Bear sharing the stage with Shakespeare and Shaw, Cervantes and Borges! :p I recommend Harry Potter, Jane Austen, The Brontes, and Henry James, and Lolita, Huckleberry Finn, Waiting for Godot, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Heart of Darkness. You can also check out best English plays lists like this one - http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3914.Best_British_Plays

[ralfyman]

You can probably consider something like a Lexile measure:

http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/lexile-overview/

http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/How-to-get-lexile-measures/

[mal4mac]

What Dickens did you read? As you find him "OK", why not read everything by him? As you gain more ability in English you should appreciate him more. I agree with Mona's recommendations of Jane Austen, The Brontes, and Huckleberry Finn, given the authors you like so far. The others may be more problematic... but give them a try. Joyce is especially difficult, start with "Dubliners" and a good biography (for instance, Ellman) But I shouldn't really be giving advice on Joyce, I never got through Ulysses...

[kiki1982]

I would wait a little with Jane Austen. If you can't read Dickens fluently, then you shouldn't go for something denser like Austen. Let's face it, Dickens hasn't got the most intricate vocab (unlike Austen). You need to be able to appreciate the double entendres.

If your favourite is Winnie the Pooh (that was my second ever book in English!), then read the sequel (Poohsticks or something). Try some Dahl. That's also for children, but it should get you going on the basic vocab front and tell you something about the (modern) English psyche. Personally I've only read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in English (that was very accurate where English children are concerned), but I've read Matilda and The BFG in Dutch translation and especially Matilda is very accurate as to the portrayal of English working class people. The bingo, the second hand car salesman... They're in EastEnders or Coronation Street almost... He's fun and he writes easily, as he's doing it for children.

If you are on that road you could read The Wind in the Willows. I saw an adaptation of that a year or two ago. It looked fun, actually. The Secret Garden is also a children's classic and the chronicles of Narnia. The Beatrix Potter stories.

If you want something more serious, you could get a detective. Agatha Christie, but Sherlock Holmes gives you a slightly older style of the turn of the century (your gateway to the bigger classics).

Of the real classics, the Brontës aren't difficult. Anne tends to use very precise language to express what she wants to say, which gives you obscure words and somewhat pompous style at times. Charlotte and Emily didn't strike me as 'difficult' per se, only assuming in your understanding of the context.
If you want to try something really old which is surprisingly easy, try Defoe. That's 17th century, but it's surprisingly straightforward.

Late 19th century, early 20th century should be easier, because the language becomes less precise and the sentences less intricate. Evelyn Waugh I found quite OK, but maybe a bit glum sometimes (WWI, you know). PG Wodehouse is definitely worth a try. There might be some slang in there, but his way of writing is rather 'talky', it's as if he's just spoken it into a computer programme. The prose flows easily and he's funny. The advantage of that man is also that he wrote lots of short stories. So if you've got a hard time reading him, you just read the story and that's it. He's got some novels too.