So basically I was unschooled, and the amount of books I’ve read in my life is embarrassingly low. It was never emforced like in a school, and with my family’s religious hangups, I never tried getting into new things because I never knew what would be deemed “offensive”.
But I’m always interested when I hear people talk about both storycraft and also literary criticism, so I want to take an earnest stab at getting into books.
No real criteria, I don’t know what I like so I can’t tell you what I’m looking for, other than it needs to be in English or have an English translation. Just wanna know what y’all think would make good or important reading.
ETA holy shit thanks for all the suggestions! Definitely gonna make a list
ETA if I reply extremely late it’s because it took me this long to get a library card in my new locale.
The dystopic books that warn us of what we could be.
1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, Animal Farm, The Giver (and yes, you should still read The Giver even if you’re an adult if you’ve never read it before).
But the first book that flashed through my mind when I read the question was Slaughterhouse Five.
Hmm, considering your religious upbringing you might want to try some absurdist literature to break the mold.
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
- The Cyberiad
- Discworld
- The Little Prince
These are accessible too, as you’re not used to reading yet.
I can also recommend subscribing to a monthly magazine and making a point to read it from cover to cover. That way your skills will improve. You can also buy a whole stack of old national geographics cheaply. This will expand your horizons.
Oh yes definitely The Little Prince is a must-read.
HHGttG is a must.
While other books have made a larger personal impact, Piranesi is a wonderful, easy to read mystery novel with a charming, innocent protagonist that I wish I could read for the first time all over again.
It’s only a couple hundred pages as well, as opposed to the thousand page monsters many people love.
Seconding this book. It’s one of the best books I’ve read this decade.
Piranesi is a real gem, I ran across it last year and it was absolutely delightful.
I know! I love Piranesi as a character, the way he sees the world and justifies it is charming. Read it a few weeks ago and it hasn’t left my head, I hadn’t been so enthralled by a book since I was a kid.
It left a big impression on me as well, the world the way he sees it is so peaceful and tranquil, but then you start gradually realizing the horrific situation he’s actually in. And this contrast between the way the character perceives his circumstances and the reality of the situation is kind of haunting.
It’s really well-written, absolutely. Wish I could wipe it from my mind and read it again anew.
It is rare that you run a book that sucks you in the way Piranesi does.
As far as good storytelling, some of my favs are:
- The count of monte cristo
- The arabian nights
- 100 years of solitude
- The silmarillion
- A confederacy of dunces
- The three musketeers
I have a very long ranked list, but there’s a few.
I really loved The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. I was surprised at how well they held up over time.
Is the three musketeers really on par with the count? I’ve been meaning to read it for months but I always got the sense it would be disappointing.
Maybe unpopular opinion here, but I just read The Three Musketeers, and it’s not even close to The Count of Monte Cristo.
The characters wildly change in tone and basic morals, the heroes are dirtbags, and the plot wanders.
I still enjoyed it, but it just wasn’t the same.
I think so. It’s top-tier adventure storytelling. The sequels are also great.
The sequels are worth it.
No. The Count of Monte Cristo is a much better and deeper novel, but The Three Musketeers is much lighter and more fun. They’re both good reads for different reasons.
I only read the Count, and I loved it
You know, I was on vacation and saw a newer translation of The Arabian Nights and pondered getting it for a REALLY long time before deciding not to spend all my money on the first day of my trip. Thank you for reminding me, gonna put it on my list!
No probs! I’m obsessed with adventure stories, and you can’t get much better than 1001 nights.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
The best five-book trilogy you’ll ever read, even though there are six of them.
I hope you’re referring to the unfinished compilation Salmon of Doubt as the sixth, and not that weak sub-fanfic tripe by Eoin Colfer.
For literature I find 100 years of Solitude to be without equal. An absolute joy to read.
For nonfiction I have learned so much from 1491. It was recommended to me by a friend though I have never heard of it elsewhere. The premise is that basically everything we think about Native Americans before Columbus arrived is wrong. I could go on but here is one tidbit: we tend to think of Native Americans as peoples without government. Now of course there are so many different groups of peoples all over the Americas and across so many eras it’s foolish to even think of them as being this way or that way because who and when are you referring to? But there were many types of government. In fact the Incas were total bureaucrats! Anyway I’m doing a poor job selling it i know but it’s a great read.
For self-help try How to Win Friends and Influence People. I know the title sounds like it’s a guide to manipulation but it’s really not. It’s 100 years old but still holds up so well. Times change, but people don’t, you know what I mean? People 100 years later still appreciate it when you remember their name and look them in the eye and make time to listen.
May I ask, why did you like 100 years of solitude? Did you read it in Spanish or translated to another language? I read it in Spanish and can appreciate a lot of good things in it, but I always wonder how it feels like for people who don’t have a latin/Spanish background. Perhaps you do, I don’t know. Still curious!
Fahrenheit 451 is certainly worth a read. I read it late in life, and could see immediately why it’s so often read in schools. Very well written, and a compelling story.
Another book that you may find quite personally compelling is The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (Archive.org has a free audio book version), due to the themes it covers.
+1 for The Chrysalids … read it on English class in high school and loved it
Ursula Le Guin’s the dispossessed is pretty impactfull. Very confronting anarchist utopia that is not a Paradise.
The lions of al rassan by guy gavriel Kay (worked on the silmarillion). A deeply melencholic fictional reflection on the reconquista of the Iberian peninsula.
The liveship traders by Robin Hobb has the best realised characters in fiction I’ve ever seen. Jaw dropping craft.
And finally, an entire shelf of book: The malazan book of the fallen. you will laugh, you will cry, and in the end you will love compassion.
Yeah you can’t go wrong with Ursula Le Guin IMO. I loved The Left Hand of Darkness too.
Also 'cause I love sharing it, her 2014 book award speech is worth a read as well:
We live in capitalism, its power seems inescapable — but then, so did the divine right of kings. Any human power can be resisted and changed by human beings. Resistance and change often begin in art. Very often in our art, the art of words.
I’ve heard that about The Dispossessed. I tried to listen to it on audiobook and the narration was terrible, so I just couldn’t get far into it. I need to pick up a physical or digital copy.
100% read it. I think most things aren’t “must reads” even my favourite stories, but some have such unique ideas or skillful execution that if you enjoy literature you owe it to yourself to read them.
There’s obviously a very large list, I suggested some I didn’t think would be represented here. The dispossessed is a short read and uncomplex in its construction and pros so it’s easy to squeeze in a chapter here and there or before bed.
Idk if you will agree it’s a must read, that’s obviously quite subjective, but I highly doubt you’ll find the time you spent with it unsatisfying.
Discword series is really good. - very witty comedy with subtle commentary about real world
I wouldn’t say it’s must read but I can’t reccomend it highly enough: “Ascendance of a Bookworm” - an slow adventure about a girl struggling with an unknown disease in another world, and all she wants is to read books.
you can also hang out in !chat@literature.cafe and tell about your experience.
I’m not sure how subtle discworld really is 🤣
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All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing are beautiful western novels by Cormac McCarthy. Both are very much “a boy and his horse” kind of stories about learning to be yourself. They’re loosely related and there’s a third book that brings the boys together and concludes their stories
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The Jungle and Oil! by Upton Sinclair are novelizations of Sinclair’s investigative journalism work in the meat packing industry and the nascent workers rights movement respectively. Oil! was very loosely adapted into the film There Will Be Blood (the film covers maybe the first 3-4 chapters by greatly expanding upon the material
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Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was a very impactful book for me as a child. It’s a YA novel, but still worth a read. The main character Brian survives a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness and is forced to find a way to survive on his own
A few more recent novels that I enjoyed:
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Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Won the 2024 Booker Prize (best English language novel) about an authoritarian government taking power in Ireland and how that unfolds from the perspective of a mother with young children. It’s a hard read, but very well written
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Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. Translated into English. A friend described it as “sexy witches in South America deal with authoritarian rule.” And that’s pretty close…
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Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park. A semi-fictionalized history of the Korean Peninsula and the desire to have a unified identity. Many people come to the peninsula (same bed) with very different goals for its use (different dreams). Really fascinating book and engaging
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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Follows a trio of friends as they explore the world of video game design. Starts in the early 80s and runs through the 2000s. Reminder me very much of the show Halt and Catch Fire.
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My Friends by Hisham Matar. Follows a Libyan immigrant living in England in the 80s through 2010s as he wrestles with his identity, his homeland, his friends and family. Khaled’s closest friends serve as foils to his own feelings, reacting to the same circumstances very differently from himself
Hatchet was such a powerful book when I was a kid. I bet it still holds up, so maybe I should reread it soon.
I’ve been thinking the same myself. I remember it having such an impact on me as a kid.
The only McCarthy book at my library was The Passenger. The librarian told me I was brave and that last time she checked out a McCarthy book, she needed therapy.
Absolutely not what you recommended but I’m in for a treat.
The Passenger is mild… but only half the story. You want to read the companion novel Stella Maris too
Some of his books are fucked up. The Road and Blood Meridian are stomach turning, gut-wrenching explorations of the awful side of humans.
All the Pretty Horses is: young man likes horses. Moves to Mexico to work on a ranch. Young man falls in love with woman. Hijinks. horses. Done
Ooh OK, good to know! I’ve read excerpts of The Road that made me cry from descriptions alone. I wasn’t wasn’t sure how his other works compare.
My friend is obsessed with The Road so I’m sure I’ll read it somewhere down the line. I’m just starting with what I can check out for free right now.
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From a philosophy standpoint, Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. It’s a brutally tough read, but a very interesting perspective of a Holocaust survivor and some of the more “mundane” parts (which were still horrific) in between the parts most people know about. The philosophy that follows is interesting.
It’s certainly not without it’s faults and criticisms, though.
How about some pre-transhuman solarpunk? I recommend my favorite book, Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. It’s about the birth pangs of a post scarcity society. Absolutely brilliant.
The Stranger by Albert Camus, Franny & Zooey by JD Salinger, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and the entire short story collection of Edgar Allan Poe
Wholeheartedly agree with The Stranger, but I think most people would not quite get it/appreciate its theme.
Especially if you’re new to reading, the books worth reading are the ones you enjoy reading.
Like anything else reading is a skill and you get better at it the more you do it. There’s a reason we don’t start kindergarteners on Tolstoy and Shakespeare.
There are great suggestions in this thread so I’m not going to suggest any more. But I’d recommend to start every new book with an open mind, but if you’re not “feeling it” by page 10 or 20 it’s 100% okay to put it down and try a different one.
You can always come back to it later. Or not. There are more “must read” books than can ever be read in a lifetime. Find the ones you enjoy and which make an impact on you.
Soooooo many pretentious replies in this thread, they’re always the same.
Fuck that boring crap, start with good old light-hearted fiction.
Try -
The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of A Window And Disappeared
The Breach by Travis Lee
The Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell (all 5 of them, dear god they’re hilarious)
The Girl With All The Gifts
Invasion by DC Alden
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (Anxious People is amazing too)
Wayward Pines by Blake Crouch (Recursion too)
The Idiots’ Club by Tony Moyle
And of course, The Internet Is A Playground by David Thorne
Waaaaaay more entertaining than all the classics mentioned, a very small selection of contemporary authors are vastly superior to the writers of yesteryear
Edit - downvoted by the wanks that think reading George Orwell makes them clever lmao. Once you get over 30 you realise that books are for entertaining, not to leave on your coffee table to try to seem interesting
Enjoying a classic book is not pretentious. Conversely, gatekeeping what people think is a must-read is pretty pretentious.
Reading books which make you think is also not pretentious, and I get the idea that you sure think it is. There’s nothing wrong with light reading for fun, but some people enjoy more variety than that.
Books are not meant to entertain. If you “realize” when you are over 30 that books are only for entertainment, then you are simply put, a lazy person.
Classics never outdate. They will forever remain as the must-reads for people who want to expand their knowledge and perception of the world because they come from a time where information was not as easily exchangeable as it was today. The only way to share ideas effectively and permanently was writing books.
You have no right to downlook on classics. Reading a classic book that has proven it’s value long ago will forever be more beneficial to a person than an author’s silly book that is written with the sole purpose of entertainment.
Reading 1984 WILL make a person clever.
Of course, you can always say some stuff like “damn who hurt you” and leave the discussion if you wish. Don’t make ignorant comments if you don’t know what you are speaking about.
lmao.
Removed by mod
Of course, you can always say some stuff like “damn who hurt you” and leave the discussion if you wish.
Thanks for obeying! Much appreciated.
Thanks for the recs! I’ll look into these, because I could always go for something light and entertaining, but I don’t really think any medium is “for” anything.
Like with movies, most of the time I’m looking for something to laugh at to forget my problems, or at least an exciting adventure to get lost in. But sometimes I find something that just punches me in the gut and makes me think about life, and I see that as a positive experience, even if it’s not strictly “fun”.
I get the backlash, though. I think too many people have held literature up as the only way to be smart, and moreso, held book smarts up as the bare minimum for being treated as a human. I’ve heard it from all sides.
I’ve been on the opposite end of a pretty similar dynamic, too. I enjoy lifting weights, and people treat it like a virtue instead of a hobby. People say shit like “wow, you’re better than me” or start giving me excuses for why they can’t go to the gym, as if I was judging them for having different hobbies.
People are pompous dicks about fitness, but I do it because I really enjoy it. People are also pompous dicks about the classics, but I have to assume that most folks are like me. They just enjoy it.
