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/lit/ - Literature

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6504061 No.6504061 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: we post must-read books.
Keep in mind, must-read =/= favorites

I'll go first
>The Bible
>Divine Comedy
>Don Quijote
>Paradise Lost

>> No.6504072

Iliad and Odyssey

>> No.6504074

the entire western canon starting with the greeks and ending with Tai Pei by Towel Inn

>> No.6504126

>>6504074
Are you just now waking up, Tao?

>> No.6506241

How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler.

No, I'm not trolling. It is seriously helpful for getting the most out of books.

>> No.6506257

>>6504061
>Keep in mind, must-read =/= favorites
There isn't nearly as much of a difference between how those two things are evaluated as you'd assume there is.

>> No.6506274

in search of lost time
ulysses
anna karenina
madame bovary

>> No.6506284

>>6506274
>anna karenina
>madame bovary

These have basically blended into the same book in my memory.

>> No.6506291

>>6506284
it's kind of funny that what are probably the two greatest "traditional realist" novels tackle an incredibly similar topic. they are pretty different though. i'm sure there are a million classes taught every year that teach the two books together and compare and contrast them

>> No.6506292

>>6506274
>mfw this retard has only read volume 1

>> No.6506302

>>6506284
>>6506274

Am I alone in thinking Bovary is way, way, way better than Karenina?

and OP I'll add Sound and the Fury. Not Faulkner's best novel but it's pretty important for modernist fiction/development of the novel in general

>> No.6506307

>>6506302
what's your reasoning for liking bovary so much more?

>> No.6506315

Paradise Lost
Moby Dick

>> No.6506320

>>6506307

I think it's just incredibly beautifully written, especially compared to Karenina. The dense, layered imagery is so evocative and just filled my head with very clearly articulated images that still linger. I also think Bovary is a tragic figure who is extraordinarily well-drawn. She's one of the few characters I can think about who is so meticulously explored that I can think about her as though she were a real person. I know Tolstoy was interested in writing for the people but I find that desire necessitates a prose style that is less interesting to me than Flaubert's. I think both books are incredible but Bovary resonated with me much more.

Also, do you know if Flaubert's other stuff is as good? I read A Sentimental Education and didn't find it to be nearly as moving as Bovary. Way too political and dialog-heavy

>> No.6506375
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6506375

Swann's Way
Madame Bovary
Dubliners
The Man Without Qualities
Hunger
The Metamorphosis
Chekhov's Stories
The Sun Also Rises
The Narrow Road to the Deep North

>> No.6506392

>>6504061
One hundred years of solitude
crime and punishment
do androids dream of electric sheep?

>> No.6506395

>>6506375
Terrible list, m8. It's like you're trying to stop being a pleb, but you can't.

>> No.6506398

>>6506375
Why would someone own four copies of Infinite Jest, and why would they be kept in the bathroom? Is he going to wipe his ass with them?

>> No.6506399
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6506399

Essential YA:

Looking for Alaska
An Abundance of Katherines
Paper Towns
The Fault in Our Stars
The Catcher in the Rye

>> No.6506411

Pedro Paramo

>> No.6506412

>>6504061
>steppenwolf
>0 results
>Demian
>0 results
>siddharta
>0 results
>narcissus and goldmund
>0 results

This thread is shit.

>> No.6506646

>>6506412
>ctrl-f in a 20 post thread
YOURE a shit