Recommend me a novel that will make me less dumb

>>9816487
Novels won't make you less dumb, even the 'hard' ones. If you want to dip your toes into reading more serious and better literature I'd recommend:
Jesus' Son - Dennis Johnson (RIP)
The writing is phenomenal, it'll give you something to think about while and after you've read it, and it is pretty short.

>>9816498
He's saying that the material is too intelligent for him, not the other way around.

read them anyway

turgenev - sportsmans sketches
shalamov - kolyma tales

both top tier patrician short story collections that are easy to read

Just look for 'the /lit/ starter kit'.

Go with Infinite Jest. No joke. It's long and the footnote may be tedious but it's easy to read and it will make you feel way smarter than you truly are, which will give you the confidence to read Ulysses and Gravity's Rainbow and so on.

>>9816487
Start with something short like Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata or Candide.

Start with high school core like 1984, Gatsby, etc
If you're past that, start with harder short stories like >>9816534 said. Borges is fun.
Then start with the Greeks - you'll be more than prepared. At least read Homer and the tragic plays if you're only here for literature.
Progress to the Romans, Christianity and the like. You can read some contemporary books here if you're bored of "old white men"™
By now you've probably read some of the /lit/ 100 already, but choose anything.
Write a thesis on Finnegans Wake

>>9817182
I am reading Infinite Jest without paying attention to the footnotes

Did I do well?

>>9816487
Read the classics you bum. After you read a book look for essays on that book. If you're not doing that then you might as well be doing nothing

>>9817189
You're evil, suggesting Finnegan's Wake. I've been told the best way to read that is just read without thinking about the story...or the theme...or the words.