/lit/ - Literature

>>19241266
I recently dropped the lord of the flies, boring shit, annoying prose.

i think i remember you from some of the shelf/stack threads
good job!

>>19241266
What book thought you the most?

>>19241289
How far did you get in it? Some of the books I didn't enjoy at first but eventually I got into them. None I regret reading.
>>19241290
That's me, next I'm onto the start with the Greeks chart.
>>19241339
If you're asking which book made me think the most probably Siddhartha. It was my favorite book out of all of them and helped redefine my definition of success and what self improvement means.

>>19241266
>Only American highschool books
Sometimes i really hate this board

>>19241422
High school reading is good for starting out. Immediately jumping into works you don't yet have the reading skills to properly comprehend is just a bad idea

>>19241266
>I am new and have no idea what I'm talking about, AMA!
fuck off newfag, shut up, lurk moar, get back to your books

>>19241436
>calling someone newfag
>lurk moar
>4chan is a secret club
>AMA
What made you leave reddit?

>>19241684
go back retard

Should I read Diary of a Wimpy Kid?

>>19241742
only if you don't actually want to read them.

>>19241684
clearly you're from reddity

>>19241266

>anglo lit

>>19241289
Same, I started that book around 4 times already, I always drop it around 8 pages or so. Threre's something about the style that just makes it a chore to read.

>>19242266
Better than burger “lit” that’s for sure

>>19241266
That's neat. Noone ever finishes charts lol. Im not sure they should either.
Did you enjoy yourself?
>>19241436
Anon is giving his perpective as the kind of person for whom the chart is made

>>19242526
I did, there were some books I probably wouldn't have looked twice at that I ended up really enjoying and it stepped me out of my comfort zone as well as exposed me to a good variety of classics.
I felt like I learned a lot and would recommend it. This is my next chart. I'm about 300 pages into Hamilton's mythology. It's supposed to be my 2022 reading list but I'll probably finish early.

Should I read Pride and Prejudice or Emma?

>>19241432
I think that
>American
Is the real problem

>>19241422
It’s a decent starting point, anon. IME for a lot of American HS students, Honors and AP English classes serve as an “initiation” or “introduction” to the world of good /lit/

>>19242964
Kino, what did you think about gatsby? Im not a fan at all, extremely boring

>>19242985
I thought it was high level kino, sorry you didn't like it

>>19242964
Glad someone saved my shelf
>>19242985
I enjoyed it, I thought it was a sad book about how important it is to let go of your past. It's not a great love story but I feel it's a good book to read for teenagers to get over oneitis. Also a great periodic look into the roaring 20s.

>>19243144
>Glad someone saved my shelf
you went through the trouble of assembling an irl meme bro, ofc I'm gonna save it and spread the gospel

>>19241289
I had to read it at school, I remember it being boring as shit. An entire novel of filler just to get to
>boys kill a pig
>boys kill a fattie
>this is truly the dark nature of man

Anyone got a /lit/ finisher kit?

>>19241266
Fear and loathing was the best one, wasn't it?

>>19241289
Damn, I found it very engaging and basically read the whole thing in one sitting.

>>19242912
>>American
Please don't cry. Most of the best novelists were and are American

>>19242948
I was did an honors lit class my junior year and a regular for my senior year, and the regular class was insulting. We were reading YA shit. I'm not much of a pseud but even I was wondering where the lit was.

>>19241422
I fucking wish we were exposed to Hesse in high school.
Discovered him way too late in life.

>>19241422
We can make a less Americanized intro chart, you know.

>>19244051
what's so great about Hesse?

>>19241266
Do people actually care about A Clockwork Orange here? I don't think I have ever seen a single thread or post talking about it. All I know is that it's full of fake English-Russian hybrid words because all the characters talk like retards. Doesn't seem worth the pain.

>>19244784
Its probably good author for a neurotic young man

>>19244810
It's not painful, it's fun.

>>19244810
It is a great book and Burgess is a brilliant author

>>19244784
Well I can't give a full review or anything so I just recently started reading Hesse. I'm about half way through Glass Bead Game and I just really enjoy the world he has set up. I remember being in college and wanting to find a sort of self-actualization through scholarly pursuits, and I also happened to get into eastern philosophy shit by way of New Age cringe bullshit. It's really interesting to encounter this book that somewhat speaks to my mindset at that time.

From what little I've read at Steppenwolf I'm just immediately engaged by the premise of this lonely, sad, but also interesting, outsider who seems to regard society with disdain. It's "fuck normies", but doesn't feel cringe to read because its not written for the purpose of selling copies to angsty teenagers, but instead the deep convictions of a mature writer.

So we'll see where the books go, but encountering them now I just feel lucky to have stumbled upon the author at all because I could easily see myself having missed him entirely since I'm not really a "literature" guy.

Or TL;DR what this commenter said >>19245035

>>19244810
I read it as a teenager and the language part was a really fun experience to me.
If you see it as a chore then don't read it.

>>19241289
Honestly, I loved. What's even weirded is that I was assigned to read it as a kid too, and you usually hate books when it's like that.

>>19241266
He rapes his sister, Phoebe.

>>19241289
What why it's a quick read every American has read it too ez

>>19241266
I have read only 1 of those books and I'm a high school English teacher.

>>19242863
Can a layman read the illiad and the Odyssey?

>>19243261
It's about the cold war and human nature yeah

>>19242985
i loved gatsby, but i'm working in nyc working in finance rn so that might be why lol

>>19245696
Yes. Just don’t overthink it and keep going with the flow

i didn't know there was a starter kit but here's my purely accidental progress

Is Fear and Loathing worth reading if I've already seen the movie several times?

Here's an updated version

>>19245763
>Readed
Anon...

>>19245914
A shorter Shakespeare play might be a better choice if we are assuming zero peevious experience.

>>19241266
A little off topic, but do you think audio books are a good way to get into reading? I have a longish commute.

>>19245949
Were plays really ever intended to be read and not seen? I think its better to see a live play or a recording of one.

>>19246024
No. Listening to books means you miss many of the skills that go into reading. Find time to read.

>>19246024
Of course.
Making your commute interesting is one of the best things you can do as a person. So much wasted time otherwise.

>>19246024
listen to sci fi audio books or podcasts or something but you need to actually read the classics

>>19241266
Most people would get bored reading these. Reading should be fun, if you want to build a habit of reading find something that interest you and not just some pretentious list a pseud prepared.

>>19246254
It's a good "literary fiction" intro list, not a good intro to reading list.

>>19241266

if the purpose of reading is to develop a broader perspective, consider including stuff written outside the western world. Maybe "Art of War".

>>19241289
How is the prose annoying? I remember it as pretty straight forward

>>19242985
But it had such beautiful prose

>>19246254
People like that simply aren't going to become readers.

>>19246318
>simply aren't going to become readers
Not that anon. But there are many people who only read empty calorie junk like Dan Brown, Pop-crime, airport novels etc.

>>19246254
It's a /lit/ starter kit, not a knuckle dragging normie pandering starter kit

>>19245914
Not a good starter kit for someone new getting into literature

>>19243641
>Most of the best novelists were and are American
Anon, you really should read some books.
Fuck, I bet you also think the best beers are american.

>>19245696
>Can a layman read
The answer is always yes, because it's better to read than not.
start with the Greeks

>>19245914
Lol what is this pseud bullshit, The Republic as a starter for someone who doesn't read? You're an imbecile for posting this.

>>19241266
>>19245914
you guys really should do an /int/ernational version

>>19243641
>this is what burgers actually believe

>>19243641
Read more

>>19244784
Its 20th century proto-YA. The predecessor of The Alchemist.

>>19243403
Call of the Arcade

>>19242964
This is the most R*ddit shelf I'e ever seen. It's just missing H2G2, Discworld, and Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.

>>19246421
I second this, a more diverse selection that what is considered culture canon in primarily America would without a doubt have merit.

>>19247174
That's the actual /lit/ starter kit

>>19247174
it's literally the pic from OP, in order. retard

>>19243641
Ahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa

Americans are entertaining, but they don't have the capability to have feelings beyond the need to consume.

>>19245914
This is arguably a better list. for the niggers saying noooo you cant start with that hard to read book: Read the hobbit first and continue from there lol
>>19246024
I listen to audiobooks if they're short (and I "read" along with a pdf)

>>19241266
rmeove lord of the flies and fahrenheit 451

>>19241422
Don't be a gatekeeping faggot and celebrate someone becoming another reader instead of a worthless coomer or consumer.

>>19247168
Evangelion the book? No thanks nigger

>>19245763
Same here

>>19246421
>>19247192
Yes please.

>>19248348
>using gatekeeping unironically

Yikes, my dude. Not a good look.

>>19243403
This is what /lit/ has produced.

>>19242863
I'm kind of in the same boat, although I started with Theogony and half remembered mythology books from my youth lel
I wanted to read the Apologia but Plato was about to spoil the Illiad so I'll bite the bullet I guess

>>19248976
Your autism is showing.

>>19249004
>image so low resolution that you can't even read half the titles
>no titles outside of book covers for all except 3 which randomly have titles listed
low effort shit. if you want this to be a thing, try harder.

>>19241266
i read half this shit in highschool, seems weird seeing it mixed in with lolita and american psycho. what was your favorite book on the list?

>>19241289
when i read it in like 9th grade i kind of remember it being pretty slow too even though the story is interesting enough, so it probably was the prose

>>19250966
>hasn't read all of these and able to recognize them by cover
You're not ready to exit /lit/ yet.

>>19249004
>Exit level

Does this mean I have to leave once I've read these? I don't want to leave

>>19241266
/lit needs to produce a more diversified starter kit. If possible every continent should get at least one author

>>19249004
>Richard Powers
Unspeakably based

>>19251168
with the exception of hesse those are all written in english, i think they didn't want translation for whatever reason

>>19245914
>not only american highschool books
Sometimes i love this board

>>19249004
/exit/ level in what sense? Women & men is; rest not so much.

>>19242863
Is there like a continuation of this but with the Romans? With Petrarca, Virgile, Ovid etc. ?
Also, the image is missing all of the Greek plays and tragic which are also absolutely mandatory IMO.

>>19246421
Which books would be on the chart for essential international reading introduction?

>>19241422
>starter kit has sophomorish material
Wonderful insight!

>>19246421
>>19252825
Something like this?

Yasunari Kawabata - Snow Country
Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Notes from the Underground
Leo Tolstoy - The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Herman Hesse - Steppenwolf (or Siddhartha)
Knut Hamsun - Hunger
Stefan Zwieg - Chess Story
Yevgeni Zamyatin - We
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis
Albert Camus - The Stranger
Yukio Mishima - Confessions of a Mask

I was thinking of Pedro Páramo as well, but I'm not sure whether that's starter lit or not

>>19251168
diversity is bullshit
meritocracy is the only way

>>19241266
>freshman reading list with a few edgy additions

>>19253149
So does this mean that the current starter kit contains the best starter books in the world?

>>19241266
Are all copies of lolita tagged by the fbi for tracking?

>>19252733
Exit from this world, as in kill yourself

>>19254281
No. I have no idea how it was compiled. I'm just saying that something as arbitrary as "make it more diverse" will not necessarily serve to make it better or worse. The only thing that will assuredly do so is ranking works by merit.

>No Moby Dick

>>19254607
Moby Dick is not a starter novel, ya doofus

here's the one I have. why are there so many of these kicking around?

Too much 20th century jew bullshit.
Read Homer and Milton.
Bringing back classical education would literally solve about 95% of our problems.

>>19244810
I bet this anon's got malenky yarbles

>>19254860
This has got to be satire trying to pass as somewhat believable

>>19252913

I would suggest instead "War of the Newts" by Karl Kapek. It's got similar vibe to the three aforementioned books. It was written as a satirical critique of fasicm but could easily pass as one about climate change today. The Catbird Press edition was also vetted by many native Czech speakers so you don't have to worry about translation.

>>19254860
>>19255550
Yes, this is satire.

>>19254686
This is not a starter kit dumb dumb

>>19256970
there are a bunch that are common between all the charts though?

>>19252913

I would remove We and replace it with War of the Newts by Karl Kapek. I read We and even though I knew Orwell and Huxley lifted many ideas from it, I think 1984 and Brave New World are still better written with the same themes. It may be an issue of translation, and if so, I have yet to find a good one.

War with the Newts is also a dystopian novel and one of the first ever written. In my option, it still holds up really well today. It was written as a satirical critique of fascism but during my first read I could have mistook it for something written within the last decade on climate change.

>>19241266
wtf why is it almost all american lit

>>19257177
That sounds pretty interesting! Do you have any other suggestions for a potential chart?

>>19241266
I just read the wikipedia summary aand claim i read them

>>19247174
>Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.
Whats wrong with this?

>>19245705
Ok and ?

>>19242863
Well, you’ll probably ruin your enjoyment of reading by immediately doing that Greek chart

>>19259053
anybody who can read Edith Hamilton's Mythology straight through is a sadist.

>>19254607
It’s under Ulysses

>>19257165
That one literally has children’s books like Charlotte’s Web and Harry Potter. How do you not see it is a joke chart?

>>19242863
Add the Anabasis by Xenophon to this list, it's a treat to read and an excellent way to see a lot of the respect the Greeks had for their religion as well. The entire army doesn't eat for days at one point because when they took the omens before they went out foraging they saw a snake bite an eagle.

I enjoyed dorian gray