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/lit/ - Literature

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4116759 No.4116759 [Reply] [Original]

Hey /lit/ i was thinking about reading more books but dont really know where to start. Can you help?
>pic related
>finished first chapter already

>> No.4116774

hello anybody

>> No.4116775

cool

>> No.4116784

Find a book that you like
find similar books on goodreads
or just read all the books by the author

>> No.4116790

>>4116784
I would do thqtnbut i have never read any books that werent school related

>> No.4116791

>>4116759
Check the wiki. Find a genre that interests you. Pick a few books that look appealing, google them, and decide.

>> No.4116797

>>4116759

1984 is a fantastic book. read it few weeks back. Try Animal farm , its from same author

>> No.4116802

If you like 1984 by Orwell you would LOVE Animal Farm by him. It's short but it's powerful. It's also got a hidden meaning. Up to you to research before or after to find out what.

>> No.4116803

>>4116790
why are you on /lit/

>> No.4116807

>>4116802
>>4116797
Thanks ill probably research after i like to interpret the book myself first and then see others opinions

>> No.4116810
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4116810

>mfw I met an English major at a party yesterday and he told me his favorite book of all time was 1984

>> No.4116815

>>4116813
respectable dude. my apologies.

>> No.4116813

>>4116803
thought it would be the best place to start and get helpful opinions

>> No.4116818

>>4116815
no problem

>> No.4116823

>>4116810
>at party
>expecting anyone with good taste
you probably have shit taste yourself, so get off your high horse.

>> No.4116824

Thanks for the help and the suggestions, later

>> No.4116835

Brave New World was the superior predictive fiction.

>> No.4116839

>>4116823
>implying /lit/ isn't filled with perfectly normal, social bros that also enjoy reading books

Go back to /r9k/ buddy.

>> No.4116865

>>4116835

I liked both, but I felt they were really going for entirely different objectives so it's difficult to directly compare them. They're both about societies at the extremes, but 1984 took the ideas of totalitarianism to conclusions worse than anything that had ever happened, showing how far coercion could fuck with people, how freedom wasn't just about what we could do but what we could even conceive of doing. Where control goes past guns and concrete walls, and right into the depths of the mind. BNW was showing us a society where ideals hold in high regard, like happiness, could be taken to such extremes that it becomes disgusting and horrifying to us.

Maybe I'm explaining it shitty but hopefully it comes across.

>> No.4116871

>>4116865

You got it across.

To explain it as simple as possible, 1984 was everything we hate will "destroy us" and BNW was everything we love will "destroy us"

The hate and love taken to extremes of course.

>> No.4116874

>>4116810

That's a personal opinion, you don't know his life and experiences that shape the impact a given book would have, or what he values, and you're in no position to judge anybody for it. People have different opinions. This is just like those music "connoisseurs" whose primary talking point is "yeah, but The Beatles are really over rated". Well done.

>> No.4116883

>>4116871

I think what really got me about BNW is the underlying message that's there's more to life than happiness. That really stumped me. Huxley seemed to know, but I've thought about it a while now and I still don't feel comfortable with any answer.

>> No.4116894 [DELETED] 

>>4116810
going to a party
>>4116839
you keep thinking that.

>> No.4116898

>>4116810
>going to a party
>>4116839
you keep thinking that

>> No.4116902

>>4116883
If I were now to rewrite the book, I would offer the Savage a third alternative. Between the Utopian and primitive horns of his dilemma would lie the possibility of sanity... In this community economics would be decentralist and Henry-Georgian, politics Kropotkinesque co-operative.

Aldous Huxley

>> No.4116925

>>4116902

Man, I wish I knew what 'Henry-Georgian economics with Kropotkinesque politics' meant.

>> No.4116940

Read Finnegan's wake and if you don't like that, well, something's not right with you buddy.

>> No.4116951
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4116951

>>4116940
Don't listen to this troll

Pic related is full of good starter suggestions

>> No.4116954

>>4116925
Anarchy.

>> No.4116964

>>4116951
>tfw no Tolstoy

>> No.4116971

>>4116964

There's limited space there, and let's be honest, it gives a good range and depth. It's a starter kit, not a list of the best novels of all time, which would be meaningless to condense into a 4x5. It misses out loads of great novels.

>> No.4117013

>>4116951
more like
>essential assigned highschool literature

>> No.4117033

>>4117013

Well duh. Why do you think they're so often assigned high school literature? Education boards don't pull this out their dick holes.

>> No.4117062

1984 is awesome. If you liked it read A Brave New World and Animal Farm.

>> No.4117066

>>4116971
I don't think it's a good list because I think most of the books are "dead ends." What I mean by that is they're the kind of books that people read when they haven't read anything else, but they don't inspire those people to read anything other than similar books. Kids seem to just read 1984 and then only read dystopian lit. A good entry level list would have works that were more directly integrated into the canon.

>> No.4117072

go look around at a bookstore.

>> No.4117080
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4117080

>>4117013
>Fear and Loathing
>assigned literature

>> No.4117084

>>4117066
What are your alternative

>> No.4117176
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4117176

>> No.4117178

>>4117084
The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Crime and Punishment, Great Expectations, Dubliners. Picture of Dorian Gray and Lolita should be there from that picture. I can put others on a list if you actually care. I don't think any of these are tough at all and they should all be of interest to most people who will ever like literature at all.

>> No.4117203

>>4116871
I always thought that that description wasn't just simple but misleading; I found the core of Orwell's argument to be focused on language and the power that is gained when speech is controlled or limited. Critical or judgemental thought and speech are inseparable. Huxley talked more about the complacency of most people in their social roles, and his book seems to argue that only the best of us have the chance (or responsibility?) to notice what others do not, and to seek what others do not consider. The whole sex-pleasure-preplanned-enjoyment fantasy of BNW only felt relevant when compared to the fierce asceticism of the religious savages.

Perhaps being an outcast was what made the savage think clearly. I wonder if Huxley was aware that he was giving two examples of how uncommon wisdom can be acquired in Helmholtz and John(?).