/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.17861080]

Hey there /lit/, I have read pretty much all my life, but I've read almost no books (about 30), as I pretty much spent most of that time re-reading Harry Potter and Hunger games.

I got a kindle that's coming in Friday, and I'd like your opinions on which books I should start with! I saw a post about this a few days ago I think, and some people were recommending "Start with the Greeks", which reminded me that I had saved an image on this very topic, so I'd like you to comment on pic related, and I'll be posting a couple more of these pictures, so if you want to give your thoughts, it would be much appreciated!

Also, here's my goodreads if you wanna check it out, just ignore the ratings: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/108664027?print=true&ref=nav_mybooks

[Anonymous No.17861088]

>>17861080
Looks like a decent starting point. What's the issue here?

[Anonymous No.17861095]

Oh, I also forgot to mention, I'm going to bed in about 1 hour, but I think the posts in board live a lot longer and are slower than what I'm used to,so I'll also check it out tomorrow if it's alive, or in the archive.

Anyway, here's flowchart greeks number 2, are these any good for starting?

[Anonymous No.17861101]

>>17861080
there's no right answer. pick randomly

[Anonymous No.17861110]

>>17861080
unironically just read whatever is of most interest honestly

[Anonymous No.17861149]

>>17861080
Like the other anons have said, read what interests you. Still, starting with the Greeks is almost always the answer, even if you want to read plays, poetry, philosophy, whatever. From there you can dive into later works on your interest, and have a deeper appreciation.

[Anonymous No.17861150]

>>17861101
>>17861110
Hm, I might go with this, but aren't there books that offer context to other books? So if those are sound interesting, it would be better to start with those first, no? This is what the description of the first book of the first image made me think at least

[Anonymous No.17861174]

Edith Hamilton's Mythology is a good starting point, especially for understanding any Greek epics or plays.

I believe you should also be fine in starting with Plato, even if you don't know shit about mythology. There might be some references to it, here and there, but most of Plato is just discussions about abstract and universal concepts like justice, virtue, love, etc.

[Anonymous No.17861261]

You're supposed to start with the Sumerians

[Anonymous No.17861268]

>>17861174
I think I'm going to go with Mythology for my first one then, after that I'll pick between either Plato or Homer I think

[Anonymous No.17861278]

>>17861261
Honestly, I didn't even know that name, saved for looking into it later, I think I'll start with the Greeks, but as I do like religion, I might go there after a bit

[Anonymous No.17861352]

>>17861278
If you're interested in western thought this a good list to refer to. Also make sure to read Herodotus/Thucydides when you read the Greeks. I can't tell you how important he was in conceptualizing their time period.

[Anonymous No.17861414]

>>17861080
If you are SOLELY interested in English literature, you can skip Herodotus and Thucydides. They're fun reads, especially Herodotus, but they don't contribute much to the development of later drama.

Before reading anything, I recommend 'The Well Educated Mind' by Bauer. Great breakdown of the Canon and gives you tips for insightful reading.

ESSENTIAL
>Hesiod
>Homer
>Aeschylus
>Sophocles
>Euripides
>Aristophanes

To prepare for the above I personally recommend Hamilton's Mythology and any primer to classical literature, I like the one by Jenkyns.

OPTIONAL
>Thucydides
>Herodotus
>Alcaeus
>Sappho
>Pindar

Then read a short philosophy primer. I recommend 'Problems of Philosophy' by Bertrand Russell.

NEXT - ESSENTIAL
>Plato
>Aristotle
>Cicero
>Virgil
>Ovid
>Augustine
>Aquinas (yes you can read abridged)
>Dante

OPTIONAL
>The historical stuff like Plutarch's Lives, Tacitus' Annals, Livy, etc
>Horace
>Catullus
>Lucretius
>Caesar's bits and pieces
>Aurelius if you're more of a philosophical bent. I'm mainly dealing with development of western literature here

If you're primarily interested in English Literature you can look at the old stuff like Beowulf and other medieval literature. My specialism is Classical stuff (as above) and Renaissance, so there's a bit of a gap in my knowledge. However, Renaissance literature is far and away the best produced in England ever. In a very short span of time you had Shakespeare, Milton, Marlowe, Jonson, Donne, etc. So, to get to grips with Renaissance, after having read Dante I recommend:

ESSENTIAL
>Chaucer
>Malory
>Spenser
>Montaigne (Essais)
>Cervantes
>Shakespeare (complete works. Prior to attempting I recommend Bate's 'The Genius of Shakespeare' and '1599: A year in the life of Shakespeare' to really appreciate how incredible he was. Emma Smith has a half-decent primer too).
>Marlowe

OPTIONAL
>Jonson
>Kyd
>Webster
>Donne

NEXT, moving through restoration and enlightenment, you should probably read

>Moliere
>Milton
>Pascal - Pensees
>Spinoza - Ethics
>Voltaire
>Rousseau (confessions really for literature focus)
>Johnson - essays
>Goethe
>Balzac
>Stendhal
>Flaubert
>Maupassant
>Austen
>Eliot
>Thoreau
>Pushkin
>Dostoevsky
>Tolstoy
>Chekhov
>Dickens
>Henry James
>Proust
>Joyce
>Woolf

DAMN I did not expect to effort post like that. Obviously there are HUGE names missing but I think this works pretty well as a condensed Canon that shouldn't take more than 18 months to work through. Let me know if you have any questions, especially around the classical reading or Renaissance

[Anonymous No.17861417]

>>17861080
Pick something enjoyable to start with

Flashman is a fun read, though it nearly makes a better audiobook

[Anonymous No.17861590]

>>17861414
Not OP, but I do have some questions regarding Shakespeare. How necessary is to read primer books? Can I read the primer books after? (I'm poor, and bought a $8 oxford complete works, just finished Gentlemen of Verona). What will I be missing outside some biographical works?

[Anonymous No.17861609]

>>17861590
The primer isn't essential. I would really recommend the other two, because they help you to get more out of the plays. If you had to pick one, I'd say get Bate's book, 'The Genius of Shakespeare'. You'll better understand why what you're reading is so incredible, and why he's the greatest writer in the English language (what he did with language, his ingenuity, the incredible innovation, the savant-level understanding of human nature, the remarkable absence of the author's personality while still including self-referential elements, and so on). There's also a great refutation of Tolstoy's criticism in there.

[Anonymous No.17861617]

>>17861352
Damn that's an extensive list! Saved, thanks!

>>17861414
and double god damn! Thank you for this, pasted into a notepad for later reference!

Alright, I'm going to bed guys, I'll check the archive tomorrow, or the actual thread if it's still alive, much appreciated!

[Anonymous No.17861618]

>>17861080
Start with the Mesopotamians and Egyptians

[Anonymous No.17861642]

>>17861618
Not sure but I think you could skip everything else on this list if you want aside from those I don’t see how ancient Canaanite or hittite is relevant

[Anonymous No.17861650]

>>17861618

[Anonymous No.17861651]

>>17861352
This image is good but will take years and years

>>17861414
Good effort post, this is a condensed list but can be read in shorter time and has the essentials

>>17861618
Completely irrelevant to the Western literary tradition

[Anonymous No.17861741]

>>17861650
What is this a meme? These are all dry looking linguistic books.

[Anonymous No.17861885]

>>17861651
>This image is good but will take years and years
Yah obviously it's literally impossible to finish but it's useful when your interested in a specific time period or need to read things chronologically.

[Anonymous No.17861902]

>>17861651
>Completely irrelevant to the Western literary tradition
>He doesn’t see the parallels between Gilgamesh and the odyssey
Ngmi

[Anonymous No.17861955]

>>17861642
>I don’t see how ancient Canaanite or hittite is relevant
Only if you care about jews

[Anonymous No.17862210]

>>17861650
What's so special about Lithuanian?

[Anonymous No.17862245]

>>17861955
I mean I’ll read the Bible because it is influential but I could careless about random canaan stuff