how to /lit/

[Anonymous No.1075455]

Sup.
I have recently noticed that I should start reading.
I am a geeky math/sci type, so in the past I have read the stereotypical sci-fi shizz: terry pratchett, robert jordan etc etc.
I enjoy these books, but I feel like there is an extremely large gap in my education regarding more classical literature.

Please recommend all the books you can think of which a person MUST read before he/she can consider themselves cultured.

And yes i am totally doing this just so i can sound smart. derp.

[Anonymous No.1075456]

The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene

[Anonymous No.1075457]

Thanks, keep the suggestions rolling.

[Anonymous No.1075459]

You should read some Dostoevsky.

[Anonymous No.1075460]

http://thegreatestbooks.org/

And pic related, though we're not as organised as other boards, like /mu/, with this sort of thing.

[Anonymous No.1075462]

John Milton: The high poems: Paradise Lost, Samson Agonistes, Paradise Regain'd.
The polemics: Areopagitica.

[Anonymous No.1075464]

WARNING: A FAMILIARITY WITH GOOD BOOKS RENDERS 90% OF FANTASY LAUGHABLY UNREADABLE.

[Anonymous No.1075466]

>>1075456

He said literature, not pop-science crap.

I second the Dostoevsky guy. You must read Dostoevsky. You should also get your self reasonably grounded in philosophy.

[Anonymous No.1075468]

>>1075464
Yeah, you'll basically become a pretentious cunt. One of us.

[Anonymous No.1075469]

>>1075460
I'm this guy, and I third Dostoevsky.

[Anonymous No.1075472]

Only read Dostoevsky is you fancy Christian preaching and being able to tell people you read Dostoevsky.

[Anonymous No.1075476]

Read Faulkner.

Everything Faulkner.

[Anonymous No.1075478]

>>1075472
>And yes i am totally doing this just so i can sound smart. derp.

That's exactly what OP wants.

[Anonymous No.1075481]

At minimum... Mostly the classics.
Everyone should be at least vaguely familiar with the Iliad and the Odyssey. The latter is more popular because it's more episodic.
Everyone should know Shakespeare's tragedies, if only to know when bluestockings reference them, eyes rolling back in the ecstasy of being erudite, which is almost as good as being pretty.
Plato's Apology.
You should understand the circumstances of Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler's rises to power, all the biggest names and pithiest quotes involved.
A familiarity with Alexander the Great, the Spartan social system, and Athenian democracy.
Ovid's Metamorphoses. Asides from being a famous piece of literature, it'll fill in the gaps of your knowledge of greek mythology.
Goethe's Faust.
Greek Tragedy (mainly Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides)
etc.

[Anonymous No.1075480]

hey, so I haven't read that much this summer and I thought I'd read some fantasy. I found this novel laying around in my house and I started reading it, it seems kinda slow but the character and setting are rather interesting.

My question, is this series worth putting my time into? I've noticed that with a lot of fantasy you either love it or you hate it, so I'm curious to see what /lit/ thinks about it.

[Anonymous No.1075484]

Not OP, but I've been wondering: are Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy actually good? What are their best books? I hear Dostoyevsky is sort of... wordy?

I'm similar to OP in that I'm trying to educate myself a bit. I've read three books (Lolita, Brave New World, Heart of Darkness) from >>1075460 and just ordered 2 more (Wuthering Heights, Picture of Dorian Gray) from bookdepository last week. Currently reading Plato's Republic.

[Anonymous No.1075486]

The Metamorphosis

[Anonymous No.1075491]

>>1075484
They're both sort of wordy, although I reckon Dostoevsky's an easier read. You're probably up to it if you're reading the Republic. Also, The Picture of Dorian Grey is fuckwin, both you and OP should get your hands on as much Wilde as possible. I hate Wuthering Heights, but I studied the shit out of it in year twelve, so I figure I just need to give it time and then reread it, maybe I'll see what everyone else is on about.

[Anonymous No.1075495]

>>1075484
Notes from the Underground is Dosto's least intimidating book at around 100 pages long, although it's hard to get used to the style at first. There's some very good food for thought in there.

If you end up liking The Picture of Dorian Gray, I recommend À Rebours.

[Anonymous No.1075504]

>>1075491
Thanks for the clarification. I'm not a native speaker, so it took me a while to get used to some of the old language in the Republic, but I'm reading it rather smoothly now.

>>1075495
Thank you for the recommendations.

[Anonymous No.1075639]

>>1075486

This.