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/lit/ - Literature

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1000174 No.1000174 [Reply] [Original]

if you were new to literature, which of these books would you read first? in order

Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger
1984 / George Orwell
Slaughterhouse-Five / Kurt Vonnegut
Hopscotch / Julio Cortázar
The Idiot / Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Notes from Underground / Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Crime and Punishment / Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Brothers Karamazov / Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Trial / Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis / Franz Kafka
Brave New World / Aldous Huxley

pic unrelated

>> No.1000185

I don't fucking know man up and chose for your goddamn self that's what i did when i was new to literature and by the way it was Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo

>> No.1000183

troll harder

>> No.1000190

>>1000183
i'm not trolling.
>>1000185
dunno. someone said i should start off with Dostoyevsky's stuff

>> No.1000192

>>1000190
okay. well. go with that, i guess. read notes from underground. or crime and punishment.

>> No.1000198

>>1000190

New to literature? I would not start with Dostoevsky.

I would read Catcher first, then Kafka, then 1984/Brave New World.

Then Dostoevsky.

>> No.1000204

if you are 'new to literature' dont start with any of these shitty authors, the only reason people recommend them is to look smart.

>> No.1000218

>>1000204

Recommend Salinger to look smart?

Most people on this board get made fun of for liking his stuff.

And Kafka is basically fairy tales and parables for grown ups.

>> No.1000221

I'd say start with something more contemporary in common language like Catcher in the Rye... move onto the weirdly surreal and dystopian stuff like Vonnegut, BNW, and 1984, then move into the heavier territory like Dostoevsky and Kafka where the writing is more heavily thematic and not quite as obvious at times.

>> No.1000224

>>1000000

>> No.1000230

>>1000198
>>1000221
thanks alot!

>> No.1000241

>>1000218
"And Kafka is basically fairy tales and parables for grown ups."

I wouldn't say that he wrote parables. Parables imply that his stories illustrated some kind of moral or religious message. I really don't think that that is the case.

>> No.1000248

>>1000218
youve never met any douchebags that cite kafka, dostoyevsky, vonnegut and orwell as their favourite authors?

>> No.1000269

>>1000241

I meant it complementary for sure. I think I meant it less in the "stories with morals" way and more in the "once upon a time there was a guy" kind of way. Almost all (if not all) of his stories have that magical "my grandpa is telling me a story at bedtime" type of feeling to me. "Once upon a time there was a guy who turned into a bug, got arrested but didn't know what for, couldn't get into this big castle that he was supposed to get into, starved himself to entertain people, etc.

Maybe it's just because my grandpa told me so many stories when I was little. Kafka just reminds me of that is all.

>> No.1000287

>>1000248

Dostoevsky and Vonnegut for sure, but not Salinger. And for some reason, I think people that are drawn to Kafka are pretty sincere about it.

>> No.1000293

>>1000287

Although, maybe Salinger moreso now because he died.

>> No.1000516

Slaughterhouse Five seems like the obvious starting point. Then go into Kafka and Salinger followed by Orwell and Huxley. Fyodor at the end as you have got to have a lot of patience and attention span to read those.

>> No.1000546

>>1000248
>someone likes this author
>must be a hipster

Fuck off moron

>> No.1000786

>>1000516
this man speaks the truth.

>> No.1002295

>>1000174
1984 / George Orwell
Crime and Punishment / Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Brothers Karamazov / Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Trial / Franz Kafka
The Metamorphosis / Franz Kafka
Brave New World / Aldous Huxley
Catcher in the Rye / J. D. Salinger
1984 / George Orwell
Slaughterhouse-Five / Kurt Vonnegut
Hopscotch / Julio Cortázar
The Idiot / Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Notes from Underground / Fyodor Dostoyevsky

>> No.1002647

>>1000516

No, Kafka is the starting point. He is the father of modern Western literature.

>> No.1003000

I don't recomend Dostoyevsky. I've only read Crime and Punishment by him, but it wasn't good

>> No.1003047

>>1003000

I think "Crime and Punishment" would have been far better if Dostoevsky hadn't violated the logical integrity of the novel and gone all christfag on us.

>> No.1003098

>>1000516
Nothing would have turned me away from reading faster than Slaughterhouse Five, although I would be interested in hearing your reasons as to why this would be a good book to start on.

>> No.1004862

>>1003098

Everyone has their own opinions. Personally, when I read Slaughterhouse-Five, I couldn't put it down.

>> No.1004866

out of that list Cather in the Rye and 1984 are the easiest reads

>> No.1004878

>>1004866
Eh? 1984 is longer and denser than Slaughterhouse-Five, and it has that godawful historical segment.

>> No.1004883

>>1003047
It's pretty logical for christians.

Go read Dawkings instead if you don't like it.

>> No.1004908

>>1000174
but rant was actually a good book....

>> No.1004912

I'd read Brothers Karamazov first. But I'd also cross Slughterhouse-Five, Catcher in the Rye and Brave New World off that list.

>> No.1004913

The Bible, The Odyssey, The Iliad, Shakespeare's Collected Works, and the Canturbury Tales.

>> No.1005150

I have read a few of those that you listed OP.

Halfway through crime and punishment, haven't read any other of Dostoyevsky's books. But so far I find crime and punishment needlessly 'indirect' while some parts are gripping entire chapters don't add to the story at all.

So I ask, are the rest of Dostoyevsky's books written in the similiar manner or are the mannerisms that I dislike critical to the story?