I'm not a huge reader but recently got a job with hours of downtime every night and I've found reading a very enjoyable hobby. Since starting the job I've read all the gurrm books, the book of the new sun, and just started pic related.

I'm thinking the next book i wanna read will be either
>the stand
>urth of the new sun
>the elric books

I wanna branch away from genre fiction tho. So any advice? Catcher in the rye was my favorite book in school, and lord of the flies was pretty good.

>>24520957 (OP)
As a callow youth I used to read nothing but sci-fi and fantasy. My gateway to grown-up fiction was Catch-22. It's easy to read becasuse it's so funny.

>>24521036
Thanks I never read that in school

>>24520957 (OP)
You might have a hard time with New Sun books, but you should still read them. Don't fall into the slop trap.

>>24520957 (OP)
>urth of the new sun
It makes sense to read the final book in the series.
>the elric books
Easy to read.

If you like fantasy try the old epics. I actually think the Aenied is the most accessible and it's pretty fast paced. There is the athletic games book, but it's kino. Fagles is fine. It's like 250 pages in verse, so not super long. If you like the first six books with the wanderings more, read the Odyssey after. If you like the last six about the war more, definitely check out the Iliad. Beowulf is a good read too.

>>24521128
Yea apparently urth is essential but I think I need a break from new sun for a couple books at least

>>24521128
>the final book in the series
It's more of an appendix. Wolfe considered it unnecessary, and only wrote it at his publishers' insistence.

>>24521355
Interesting, thanks.

>>24520957 (OP)
Very nice, Anon, Conan's stories are elite. What's your favorite one so far?

If you'd like to read more Robert E. Howard, once you're done with the Conan stories you could read the Solmon Kane stories, or the Kull of Atlantis stories.

Howard has great technical skill as a writer, I once saw someone say that if he hadn't killed himself he probably would have turned into a major American writer like Faulkner or Hemingway, and I think they're right.

OP here. Just got back from the book store. Bought:
>the stand
>urth of the new sun
>the count of monte Cristo
>Dracula

>>24521411
Ive only read the first three. I think maybe the crimson citadel is my favorite so far

>>24521419
My favorite is "The Pool of the Black One," but "The Scarlet Citadel" is elite, too. I always love it when Conan has to deal with wizards, entirely against his own liking.

>>24520957 (OP)
I've got no advice but I'm in a similar position, I came on here looking at the recommended reading and top 100 list but all the choices seem quite daunting, I looked up the number 1 book, Infinite Jest which I've never heard of until now, and I'm seeing it's this ultra hard book that's almost considered a meme and I can't really tell if it being number 1 is a joke or not. This is way harder than going on /a/ or something where all the picks are pretty good for a newbie. I'm also really just interested in fiction, I don't want to start with historical books.
I tried to pick up Moby Dick because of its reputation, and the first thing I saw when I googled it is it isn't worth reading without prior knowledge of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, and a huge amount of philosophical writing, all of which I have no knowledge of.
I feel like I'm in quite an awkward place right now since it seems hard to find a place for recommendations that's in between quite difficult books that requires knowledge of philosophy and in depth analysis, or your standard TikTok slop like the Court of Thorns book or whatever it's called

>>24521476
>I tried to pick up Moby Dick because of its reputation, and the first thing I saw when I googled it is it isn't worth reading without prior knowledge of the Bible, the works of Shakespeare, and a huge amount of philosophical writing, all of which I have no knowledge of.
You got memed by pseud faggots. Don't let anybody dissuade you from reading great literature.

>>24521476
Bullshit lol I am ESL and not even that smart and Moby Dick was one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read. You don't really need any prior knowledge to enjoy it. It also has the greatest opening chapter of any book.

>>24521481
>>24521487
Thanks lads I'll give it a start

>>24521430
There was alot of wizard shenanigans and a big battle, good stuff

The Dying Earth series is very fun if you like fantasy

>I consider myself the single honest man in a world of rogues and blackguards, present company excepted. In these conditions it is hard to accumulate wealth.


>Look along the dock yonder; you will notice three persons standing under the street - lamp . All are men . The faces of each are hidden behind hoods and veils . For this precaution there is reason : the ebullience of the local females . So vivacious is their nature that men dare not display their faces for fear of provoking ungovernable impulses . Female voyeurs go so far as to peek through windows of the clubhouse where the men gather to drink beer , sometimes with their faces partially exposed .

>>24521200
>>24521379
Urth was my personal favorite. It's crazy.
A good gateway from genre to more "serious" literature is more Wolfe, HG Wells, CS Lewis' space trilogy and the classic dystopians like 1984, Brave new world, farenheit 451 and We.

>>24521586
4chan memed me into reading new sun and im happy for it. I can't stop thinking about it since finishing Citadel of the Autarch but I don't know anyone else who has read it to talk about it. Another 4chan meme im considering is Blood Meridian. Is that any good?

>>24521563
Ive heard New Sun is considered part of the "dying earth" sub genre. I really liked the setting so I would probably like that

>>24521601
>Blood Meridian. Is that any good?
It's like a spaghetti western that decided to be even more violent than the most violent SW.

>>24521612
That's what I've heard. I also accidentally saw a spoiler about what happens to the kid so that kinda sucks for me

>>24521617
it's not much of a plot book dude it just goes from one violent ass thing to another i mean i know at one point they're being chased by some dudes and another time they're chasing some dudes or something but it's just an experience not a plot driven thing anyways

>>24520957 (OP)
>doesn't read
>knows /lit/ calls GRRM "Gurrm"
Wow, the meme's real. /lit/ really doesn't read?

>>24521642
I heard that from /tv/ actually. But that's funny that /lit/ doesn't read is a meme, reminds me of pic related

>>24521633
Interesting

>>24520957 (OP)
Read Solomon Kane after Conan, maybe Bran Mak Morn and El Borak as well. I just started Fleming’s Bond novels myself.

>>24521786
>Flemings bond novels
How are they? My grandpa has some and I might try to get those and some of his other books after he passes

>>24521828
I just read casino royale (the first) and it was pretty cool.

>>24520957 (OP)
Just go for what interests you, your taste is fine far as I can tell.
Mixing literary fiction in with genre is great, sooner or later you might feel like reading a nonfiction book or even poetry too. I love novels though.
A couple of guys who do genre more or less bordering on literature are Ballard (albeit very different looks depending which novel you choose), short stories by Robert Aickman or Borges, or even Kafka. McCarthy is great. I've read a lot of one-offs otherwise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91gT68xeDMM

>>24520957 (OP)
The Elric novels are pretty quick reads

>>24523963
Quick, and undemanding.

>>24523963
Is there a recommended edition, there seem to be several collections that all have major to minor differences.

>>24525215
well this is the edition that I'm reading. I'm pretty sure it is definitive