Am I retarded?

>>8399976
Don't touch IJ or GR yet. Don't listen to anyone else telling you to. Tackle them after you've read like... 50 other books or so.

Look into an actual Plato reading order.

Atlas Shrugged isn't hard, but it's fairly retarded and hilariously long.

Crime + Punishment is an all-time top book, make sure you get a good translation. It's also a fairly easy read, just pay attention to who the characters are.

Dune is fine too.

>>8400000
Dude, nice get.

Anyways thanks for the advice. Would you have any other suggestions for a pleb?

It isn't terrible, but if you really don't have too much baggage when it comes to literature you should avoid IJ and GR, Ayn Raind will be a waste of time, Dune can be fun, expecially if you didn't read a lot yet, its decent genre fiction.

Of this list go for C&P first, maybe read some "light" Dosto first, like eternal husband, notes from the underground and the house of dead. His works are really well rounded and you can get a lot out of Dosto, Also read The idiot and Brothers Karamázov after C&P.

I would suggest some smaller books (under 500 pages) first, go for Kafka, Nabokov, Flaubert, Woolf, Buzzati, Calvino, Tchekov, Camus, you can't really go wrong with these. After this try to read some Shakespeare and Tolstoy, and go for bigger, more dense books. Try some epic poems, at least read Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, Divine Comedy and Paradise Lost once in your life.

The meme trilogy are really hard for someone that isn't used to reading, in the sense that you probably won't get much joy out of them.

Also don't fucking rush, read slowly, don't fall for the speedreading meme

>>8400047
>>8400000
P.S. I forgot to cross out atlas shrugged. I finished it yesterday. I know you this board hates it but its not that bad. (Or at least I simply don't know how bad it was)

>>8400047
Thanks for the tips. I think i'm gonna pick up Dune and C&P.

lit is filled with snobs who think there's an ideal way to go around literature, just read what appeals to you and do whatever it takes to understand what you're reading (slowly reading, reading up on analysis, reading other books). If you just keep reading you'll end up smarter than the vast majority of this board, and maybe in the real world if you're autistic enough to make sure people know

The only books I've read are The Giving Tree and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Can I jump right into Finnegans Wake and Phenomonology of Spirit?

>>8400082
I think I'd probably be higher up in life If i never stopped believing that I was smarter than everyone around me

>>8400082

This is true, but he should still probably not transition from Catcher in the Rye to Gravity's Rainbow, lol

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Follow the starter kits, the charts, the wiki stuff, etc

>>8399976
Replace Atlas Shrugged with anything else. Read The Conquest of Bread.

>>8399976
Read the Iliad.

>>8400000
>implying IJ is difficult
>implying IJ requires the same amount of reading experience as GR

>>8400143
IJ isn't difficult but if someone who doesn't read a lot reads IJ he'll think all literature is as infantile as DFW and be turned off reading forever.

>>8400147
It just increased my endurance and made good books which I'd previously passed over as likely unpalatable look short and engaging in comparison

>>8400147
>IJ isn't difficult but if someone who doesn't read a lot reads IJ he'll think all literature is as infantile as DFW and be turned off reading forever.

Would you care to elaborate on this? I was semi disappointed to be told not to read this book immediately since I gathered it was essential and also excellent.

>>8400162
its a good book, but its long, winded and will require a lot of attention to really enjoy it
its not just big, its full of notes and a lot of digression, the main story line have totally messed time line that will discourage a lot of readers, expecially new readers

also it really isn't was essential as this board makes it out to be, at least imho

>>8400090
yes

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>>8400090

>>8399976
I strongly recommend that you read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man before you read any of those. It's a really big step away from Dubliners, and it's wonderful.

>>8400000
>Don't touch IJ or GR yet. Don't listen to anyone else telling you to. Tackle them after you've read like... 50 other books or so.
Bad advice. You're telling people to stay away from a good book because they aren't experienced enough. Pynchon's style is really weird, but you're exaggerating.

>>8400113
But /lit/ hates the Picture of Dorian Gray and Kurt Vonnegut, and Grapes of Wrath and those last three on the bottom row never get mentioned here. If you're going to go with a Mishima book in a /lit/ chart then make it one that actually gets posted on /lit/.

>>8400113

Dorian Gray sucked. It was well written but its not worth being on the starter pack.

>>8400143
imo it doesn't but it's still hard nonetheless
it's more endurance than understanding. DFW goes into great detail about seemingly minuscule ideas, almost Mby-Dick level
however for a pleb it may seem near impossible if they aren't interested

>>8400113
I read only two of these plus one story of Dubliners I guess. Thanks for the starter kit anon

Skip atlas shrugged
the rest is good

Crime and Punishment singlehandedly got me into proper literature- I can't recommend it highly enough to someone just beginning the journey. You don't need prior familiarity with Dusty's works, but it helps to know a little about Russian culture; it can get extremely confusing if you aren't aware that characters are very often referred to by multiple names, some of which aren't obviously related (Mitya = Dmitri, for instance).
It's not a prerequisite by any means, but you would do well to read some Homer, as he is accessible & his influence on Western lit is tremendous. The Republic should be read, for similar reasons, but it's not quite as much fun.
When you feel ready for Pynchon, I suggest you start with something less explosive than GR; consider reading Lot 49 and then deciding if you want to hurl yourself down The Pinecone's rabbit hole.
In contrast, feel free to make IJ the first DFW work you pick up. It's an intimidating book, but it is far gentler than GR. Read the fucking endnotes!
Oh and Lolita is beautiful and surprisingly user-friendly. Pale Fire and Ada, or Ardor are better, but Lolita was his hit for a reason.
Most of all, have fun! You are reading of your own volition, and if you aren't enjoying a book, there's absolutely nothing wrong with dropping it.

>>8399976
Seems like a pretty decent list. They're all worth getting into. I agree with others that you may want to try some other books before tackling ones like Infinite Jest, but otherwise I think it's a good batch.

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>>8400270
>I strongly recommend that you read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man before you read any of those

God *damn* I loathe this book. Every time someone mentions it I picture high school English teachers farting into brandy snifters and savoring the aroma.

>>8400113
lmao The Odyssey is the first book on the starter kit? Talk about a weed-out book. Are we trying to drive people away from reading?

>>8400047
You forgot Metamorphoses (the most important piece of Roman writing)

>>8399976
Anyone here read Seven Pillars? How is it? I want to read it because I find Lawrence super interesting, and I've enjoyed the films and other historical fiction books about him.

>>8402495
It's my favorite book. What don't you like about it ? The image you described is what I get from the Great Gatsby, as none of my high school courses so much as made a passing mention to Joyce at all.