19-year-old booklet here

[Anonymous No.13504335]

I want to get into truly good literature, but I'm unsure of how to approach this challenge.
1. What are the most essential books of the Western canon?
2. Which ones are less challenging, which I can read first in order to better prepare myself for more difficult literature?
3. Are abridged versions acceptable, assuming they are made by trustworthy writers? Which abridged versions would you recommend? I have ADHD and a bad habit of drifting off while reading.

[Anonymous No.13504372]

>>13504335
>19 year old
filtered

[Anonymous No.13504373]

>>13504335


1 and 2. There are a billion "must-read books" or "western canon" lists around the place. Don't treat it like a to-do list. Just pick whatever looks interesting to you. Read a little to see if it's at your level of difficulty. You can decide for yourself. The Bible (you don't have to read it all at once), Homer's epics and Greek mythology in general (use Edith Hamilton's Mythology as a cheat sheet), and Shakespeare's more famous plays are the most essential because they're referenced by everyone (and because they're great of course).

3. Try to avoid them.

4. Get off of /lit/ if you want to take literature seriously.

[Anonymous No.13504375]

>>13504335
>abridged
yikes, just start with Crime and Punishment or The Stranger like any normal human being

[Anonymous No.13504392]

>>13504373
I have read some stuff while in high school, including most of the Bible, two works from ancient Greece, and three Shakespearean plays.Thanks for the advice, I'll use it.

[Anonymous No.13504426]

>>13504335
Read philosophy.

[Anonymous No.13504445]

>>13504335

I'm almost your age, but I'll go against the grain here.

Don't read philosophy yet. Start with fiction, books that pique your interest, but also make sure to read broadly, choosing from many different movements and countries.

Learn about the canon. Don't follow any of those lists, but it's important to understand what the canon contains. To be honest, the canon is almost a mythological term. It's like a fractal--it magnifies everytime you try to define its edges.

Also, don't read abridged.

[Anonymous No.13504456]

>>13504335
Read the Holy Bible (Authorized Version)

[Anonymous No.13504461]

>>13504335

There are hundreds of great writers, and that just among the better known. If one digs into the literature of any country one is likely to find great works.

I will avoid trying to judge what are the best writers of all time and instead just give you some options among the best works I have ever read.

Novels

War and Peace
Anna Karenina
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Memoirs of Hadrian
Lolita
Moby Dick (that one is especially recommended for people who love poetry and poetic language)

Poetry

The poems of Emily Dickinson (best lyric poet I know)
The book of Job (especially the last speech of God from inside the bowels of the storm)
The plays of Shakespeare (I count them as poetry, and perhaps the greatest poetry ever written)
The Oresteia

Short Stories

Chekhov (especially “In the Ravine”, “Ward number 6”, “Peasants”, “Lady with a lap dog”, “Misery” and “The Murder”). Chekhov is one of the greatest portraitists of poverty in world literature.

Tolstoy (especially “Kholstomer” and “The Death of Ivan Ilyicht”)

Borges

[Anonymous No.13504479]

>>13504335

[Anonymous No.13504485]

>>13504335
>booklet

[Anonymous No.13504518]

>>13504479
Inevitably there's several books I really don't like here, but it's a good accessible starter pack.

[Anonymous No.13504536]

Whatever you do, just pick a theme and study it for several months to a year. For example: the greeks and their culture or Shakespeare and his relation to the rest of Elizabethan Literature. Dont be like lit and read chaotically and without reason. You'll be wasting your time and wont have developed any critical vocabulary.

[Anonymous No.13504542]

>>13504479
>>13504518

It's not really about like or dislike. The point is that these are easy to analyze. When getting into serous literature, you'll have to be able to interpret a work of literature and seek meaning beyond the surface level of the plot, and these books are good introductions to that. People write it off as high school lit, but that's the point. They're taught in schools often because these books are easy to teach, and it's easy to discuss their themes and characters and use of literary techniques.

[Anonymous No.13504568]

>>13504536
no fun allowed the post

[Anonymous No.13504674]

>>13504536
I'm fascinated by the middle ages, and I've already read Song of Roland. I'm probably going to read Beowulf next.

[Anonymous No.13504684]

>>13504479
I've already read to Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Catcher in the Rye, Mice and Men, and Huck Finn. I will definitely keep the other books in mind

[Anonymous No.13504712]

>>13504335
newfag here, I only recognize Shakepeare, who are the rest?

[Anonymous No.13504788]

>>13504712
I'm OP, I only recognize Shakespeare, Joyce (only cause I read about him today), Hugo, Tolstoy, Dante, Machiavelli, and Twain.

I just pulled the image of the internet as a pic related.

[Anonymous No.13504798]

read our current top 100

[Anonymous No.13504832]

>>13504712
1st row: Homer, Virgil, Shakespeare, Milton, Joyce
2nd row: Cervantes, Pessoa, Molière, Hugo, Proust
3rd row: Tolstoy, Dostoyevksy, Dante, Machiavelli, Wordsworth?
4th row: Twain, Hemingway, Goethe, forgothisname, Mann

[Anonymous No.13504837]

>>13504798
So far, I've only read most of 4, the first book of 12, 14, parts of 15, 21, two-thirds of 34, 37, 46 (abridged version), 55, a third of 70, and 74.

Thanks for the list BTW.

[Anonymous No.13504842]

>>13504832
>forgothisname
Schiller