/lit/ - Literature

>>16038265
I'm biased because I just read the Old Testament and I'm incredibly excited to read Moby Dick now as a result, but I would recommend it if you can stomach it. Just know that it's a commitment if you want to read the whole thing.

Try breaking it up into chunks. Read the Pentateuch at least, but keep in mind that big chunks of it you're going to skim. Genesis and Exodus are great, but Levicitus-Numbers-Deuteronomy have large sections that are purely records of laws. You want to read things like Moses' speech, but you will be surprised how much you just glance over.

Then look at Joshua-Judges-Samuel-Kings-Chronicles as something you just have to read almost like its own little history book of Israel. That can be a slog but stick with it. Look up Youtube videos on each book that help process them into sections. Use a pic like pic related to guide you.

Then read any major books that everyone seems to like (so you will have more motivation), like Ecclesiastes, Job, Daniel. Then you might as well read all the easier, short prophets.

Do what I do for Proverbs/Psalms and just read one or two books of each a day.

There you go, you've effectively read the entire Old Testament as 3~ smaller more digestible books. The New Testament is easier. I read the King James, but I recommend Robert Alter if you aren't into that.

For side readings, you should know that the history and archaeology of ancient Israel is in flux right now. Israel Finkelstein is an extreme minimalist who says that nothing in the book is really accurate to history, but this view is giving way fast as new discoveries are made and people are less terrorized into minimalism for the sake of minimalism. I did a lot of side reading, unsystematically and bit by bit, and got as much from Youtube lectures as I did from books. Because the consensus is changing so rapidly I can't recommend any one book but I can recommend fishing around and getting a feel for the archaeology. And for the region. Here are some ones I liked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnNqu7RN9Z8&list=PL49208CAE353159FA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8letIrov_Ds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJOju5Dw0V0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4VWcpmOBag