/lit/ help

[Anonymous No.1987704]

Hello, I've always read books, but they were never anything with real substance. I've been trying to get into real literature, but,unfortunately, I am not very smart and fail to find deeper meanings in books and truly enjoy them the way other people do. This may be to me being relatively young, I am about to become a sophomore in high school, but I still want to get into literature. I don't know where to start though. If some of you would be so kind to recommend me some books that would be a good place to start. If anyone cares about what preferences I have in book, I do prefer science fiction books, but I do no want to limit my self to new experiences. So here is a list of some books I am currently reading or recently acquired:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ( I thoroughly enjoyed this, but I hear it is a mediocre Phillip K. Dick novel so I am looking into some other of his works)
Dune
The Road (I just started this and Dune.)
1984
The Odyssey

Please no trolls. I am looking for some serious help.

[Anonymous No.1987706]

find deeper meanings? what do you mean?

just think outside the box. if you can't do that, then... lol dunno

[FuckYouBased !God7VIHtsc No.1987711]

Crime and Punishment is a good 'real literature' book to begin with.

Stranger in a Strange Land is fantastic if you enjoy science fiction ( which you apparently do ).

You could read the Beats . . Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road' is fantastic, and you could try your luck with Naked Lunch as well.

[Anonymous No.1987734]

>> 1987706
To be honest, I don't know what I mean. Usually I read a book a find some meaning in it, but then I hear other people talking about shit in the book that I didn't even catch. Maybe that just means I need to read the book a second time.

[Anonymous No.1987871]

>>1987704
>not very smart
>fail to grasp even the most basic ideas
>relatively young

Stop right there little man. If I were you I wouldn't even bother with The Odyssey, The Road, or Nineteen Eighty Four. Try some non-fiction, auto/biographies, or some short stories..

[Anonymous No.1987882]

>>1987871
lol, terrible advice. Ignore him, OP. If you want to read lit, read it, and you'll become a better reader.

[Anonymous No.1987900]

You'll start to get deeper meanings when you learn more about philosophy, or if you read/write essays about novels. A good place to start is to know the setting/culture in which the author lived (and of course that hints to you what he may be alluding to.)
But in the end, just listen to what other people have to say about the meanings in books you have read, and eventually you'll find that you're able to grasp meanings on your own.

[thewholesystemisawholesystem !19/MTb7X0g No.1987908]

i have an idea, and it might catch some flack, but i'm going to throw it out there anyway.

read joseph campbell's "hero with a thousand faces".

it's a very, very, very simplified form of what we like to call "literary criticism". campbell pulls meaning from stories and myths in very broad ways.

once you've read that, start reading the people that disagree with him. he's got a lot of problems. don't follow him like a religion. use your head, think for yourself.

[thewholesystemisawholesystem !19/MTb7X0g No.1987911]

>>1987900

this, too. and remember that you're always allowed to disagree with what you hear, if you feel you have good reason. there is no "one meaning", just stronger and weaker arguments.

[Anonymous No.1987916]

>>1987908
"It's a metapher." -Joseph Campbell

[Anonymous No.1987922]

Sticky > Recommended Reading > Science Fiction

[Anonymous No.1987925]

Battle Royale

[thewholesystemisawholesystem !19/MTb7X0g No.1987927]

>>1987916

hahaha oh man

[Anonymous No.1987929]

>>1987882
Yeah, this is good advice. Anyone who is in high school and actually wants to read is on the right path. If you are an avid reader, you will feel yourself develop as a reader over time. It's not that you'll become a "deeper" reader; it's more like you'll have more confidence and skill to recombine and play with the ideas the author serves up. Here are some books I read in the 10th grade.

Black Boy - Wright
Animal Farm - Orwell
Separate Peace - Knowles
Ethan Frome - Wharton
Aesop's Fables
1001 Arabian Nights (don't get the censored version. Routledge has a good English translation.)
Hope that helps!

[Anonymous No.1987934]

>>1987929
Oh yeah, and read some "Huck Finn" and "Tom Sawyer" while you're at it.
Also, Dune, The Road, 1984 and the Odyssey are all fine books to read. If you don't have a translation of the Odyssey, I read the Lattimore translation, and it was very good.