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What books do you consider must reads?

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.

Unquote0270 ,

All of HP Lovecraft’s stories.

TheOubliette ,

For nonfiction I would recommend books about media criticism and history. Manufacturing consent and The Jakarta Method, for example. These can help set you up for further reading. For media criticism, it will help you recognize when to keep reading about the people that journalists talk to and who they don’t, why they are writing this article rather than that one, and identify others that take a media critical approach, as they are good people to read. For history, I think it is good to read widely and critically. We are not taught particularly thorough or accurate history in school. Much is left out or glossed over with selective narratives. For example, I was taught that the US Civil War was about states’ rights, not slavery, because the text was from Texas and my teacher taught from the book. This was, of course, nonsense. A People’s History of The United States is a pretty good way to start out if you want to start with US history. That might be better than The Jakarta Method, actually.

For fiction, it really depends on what you enjoy! What kinds of stories or topics do you find most interesting?

i_stole_ur_taco ,

Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein is one the books I read during my formative years that I still think about a lot.

If you like graphic novels, The Sandman by Neil Gaiman is fantastic. Great writing and great artwork.

Drusas ,

Funny. I absolutely hated Stranger in a Strange Land. It felt like a 14-year-old boy's fantasy/im14andiamsmart. Pretentious and masturbatory.

Maybe I would have loved it if I read it when I was 14 instead of when I was something like 22.

It's actually my go-to example for a book that I dislike. I think it's the only book I've really actually hated. I would have just thought it was tripe if it hadn't taken such a wonderful title away. Now there will never be a good book with that fantastic title.

Unquote0270 , (edited )

I liked it until about half way through, it seemed to lose all the intrigue and then there was the weird bit about rape (if I remember correctly) at which point I gave up. Shame because it started well.

Drusas ,

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.

MonkeMischief ,

Ah yes, all those books whose plots are being used as manuals these days. :( lol

The Giver was really neat. Accessible too. The movie adaptation was such a bad idea because I thought one of its strengths was how it was set in an ambiguous time, iirc. The reader’s visuals seemed really important for that story.

selokichtli ,

Won’t be taking very much of your time:

Kafka’s The Trial, Shelley’s Frankenstein, Machiavelli’s Prince, Rulfo’s Pedro Paramo

Just to avoid naming the very obvious ones.

Bldck ,
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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:

  • 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
  • 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…
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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
adhocfungus ,

Hatchet was such a powerful book when I was a kid. I bet it still holds up, so maybe I should reread it soon.

Drusas ,

I've been thinking the same myself. I remember it having such an impact on me as a kid.

fubarx ,
  • Catch 22
  • Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (series)
Drusas ,

I don't mean to be replying to every post on this thread--I guess I love a lot of books--, but I'm going to have to recommend these in particular for people who don't usually read.

I had this friend in college who had never read a book of his own volition. He wasn't the sort of person who was proud of the fact, he just thought books were boring and had trouble getting through them. This horrified me, as somebody who had a collection of some 500 books or so at that point (almost all of them read). Anyway, he read Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and then Catch-22, and he was hooked. He's been a reader ever since.

xilliah ,

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.

BlueSquid0741 ,

The best science fiction has to offer:

Metro 2033

Sphere

Jurassic Park

Roadside Picnic

Metamorphosis

Add from Stephen King:

Night Shift

4 Minutes to Midnight

(Both are novellas/story collections)

And also:

The Call of Cthulhu and other weird tales

Drusas ,

I agree with more than one of these, but I would call out The Metamorphosis as one that everybody should read. You can appreciate it at any age (well, within reason--maybe not for the 8-year-olds), it's dramatic and captivating, and it's short.

I always try to recommend books of short stories to my friends who like to read but don't have much time for it.

dessalines ,

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.

Drusas ,

I really loved The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. I was surprised at how well they held up over time.

ProdigalFrog ,

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.

ininewcrow ,
@ininewcrow@lemmy.ca avatar

+1 for The Chrysalids … read it on English class in high school and loved it

bimily ,

I also come from a religious family, which is why I say: For a fun read, please read Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff by Christopher Moore. Honestly, everything by Kurt Vonnegut, but if I have to pick, Harrison Bergeron is one of the best short stories I have ever read, and I carry Cat’s Cradle in my heart.

Someone else suggested Catch-22, and I consider it a must read.

The Sun Also Rises is my favorite cock-and-bull story, but also, incredible for learning how to read critically. What I mean is, Hemingway is a 2 for 1 deal. There’s the story that’s written out, but when you read it again, you see everything he didn’t say is a whole different story. Hemingway was a very deliberate writer, every word chosen for a reason, so when reading his work, it enhances the experience to ask yourself why he would choose to write that way.

But if you want some real good recommendations, I suggest finding a banned books list.

absGeekNZ ,
@absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz avatar

It depends on what you are looking for.

Look at the classics, some can be a bit heavy. But there is generally a reason they are considered classic stories.

protist , (edited )

The Stranger by Albert Camus, Franny & Zooey by JD Salinger, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and the entire short story collection of Edgar Allan Poe

Drusas , (edited )

Wholeheartedly agree with The Stranger, but I think most people would not quite get it/appreciate its theme.

NataliePortland ,
@NataliePortland@lemmy.ca avatar

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.

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