/lit/ - Literature

>>4978260
>Barth

I'd probably just recommend you start chronologically.

The Floating Opera and The End of the Road are his first two and are short and fairly easy. Opera has it's moments, though it's comparatively weak, and Road is more successful as a novel, but is less characteristic of his work in general, being less funny than sad.

The Sot-Weed Factor is the tits. You don't have to have read the poem it's based on to get it, it's funny as hell, and it's exquisitely written. It is long, however, and there are many narrative digressions, so that scares some folks off.

Giles Goat-Boy is really good, but not for everybody. Don't start here. This is from around the time John Barth started to get 'weird' (metafictional). It's funny, it's long, it's a lot more 'academic'

If you are more interested in Barth as a tricksy metafictional writer though, you might dive into things with Lost in the Funhouse. It's a short story collection (mostly) and while some stories are better than others, the good ones are really really good, and the ones that aren't as much are at least over quickly. If you like what he was doing with his mythic reimaginings at the end, check out Chimera. It's also fun.

If you get through all of those above, maybe check out LETTERS. It's about Barth (the writer/the character) writing letters to character from or related to his first six books.

It's worth noting that Barth's sense of humor is transgressive, so if you are offended by rape being played for laughs (like a lot,) or adultery, or suicide, ect., he might not be for you. People (like John Gardner) have long accused him of being Immoral for the sorts of reasons I think the average c/lit/ would really like him. I'm surprised he isn't mentioned here more, but I guess his sort of novels went out of fashion like 30 years ago- maybe that's why I've never really met anyone who's read anything but the ones I've listed.