I'm a non-reader but want to start reading. Is there a "beginner lit package" that I can use to get started? I want to read because
>I'm retarded and I think reading (and writing?) can help
>Literature is not an art form I have engaged in so I probably should

Thats about it. I did check out the sticky but there are a lot of big lists. Are those the ones I should use? I just think I need a little guidance.

>>24564273 (OP)
Oh, and I just went on the lit wiki and there are so many charts. it made things worse.

>>24564273 (OP)
You should just start reading any book that looks and sounds interesting to you, so you get into the habit. You can follow the lists later.

>>24564283
I was thinking that but I dont know a lot of books, or I get overwhelmed by choice. Novellas are like short stories so I might trying reading a bunch of them.

>>24564314
You don't have to know anything, you have the charts or use google, then read the backs of the books and see, whether it sounds interesting.

>>24564273 (OP)
That depends... You have to forget everything every teacher told you about books because they are NPC's teaching from a teacher's edition, incapable of an original thought

After that, start with The Old Man and The Sea

>>24564273 (OP)
Just start somewhere. Like a trial and error to get to know your taste. After browsing here for like a week one should know which authors are talked about here a lot. But without knowing your preferences it is hard. Do you want focus on nice prose or more focus on ideas. Are you racist and only read white male authors? Horror? Critic on culture? etc

Some easy ones would be stuff like Houellebecq, Kafka, Orwell, Huxley, Nabokov, Camus.
You will probably like Camus at first, but after reading others you will start to dislike him. But at least you are able to make shitposts about him here.

But really just start somewhere, engage in a conversation about them and thus get to know your preferences

>>24564280
There's a beginner's/lit/ chart which is basically high school reading so you'll be able to discuss literature at the level of a teenager who listened in class after those (they're also easy to find high school level notes online about them, if you're too retarded to think about it yourself)
Start with those and work out what you like

>>24564273 (OP)
Don't be afraid to read children's books. Ideally by the age of 18 you should already have read six hundred children's books and three hundred books for adolescents, or whatever it is. You haven't, so you have a lot of catching-up to do.

The trouble is that many of the children's books which would have strengthened your reading ability are now not right for you emotionally. It's a problem but not an overwhelming one. Firstly, many good children's books are OK for adults too. Secondly, there are plenty of good-quality "light" books aimed at adults which will do the strengthening job and still suit you emotionally.

"Good-quality" doesn't correlate much with "difficult". There are good easy books, bad easy books, good difficult books and bad difficult books. You want the good easy books first. Then good difficult books.

SOME CHILDREN'S BOOKS WHICH YOU CAN PROFITABLY READ FOR THE FIRST TIME WHEN YOU ARE OLDER:

Ted Hughes — The Iron Man
Laura Ingalls Wilder — The Little House In The Big Woods, etc
Charles Kingsley — Tales of the Greek Heroes
Roald Dahl — Fantastic Mr Fox, Danny The Champion Of The World
A. A. Milne — Winnie-The-Pooh
Tove Jansson — Finn Family Moomintroll, etc
Robert C. O’Brien — Mrs Frisby And The Rats Of Nimh
C. S. Lewis — The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, etc
Lewis Carroll — Alice In Wonderland
Scott O'Dell — Island Of The Blue Dolphin
Rudyard Kipling — The Jungle Books
Wilson Rawls — Where The Red Fern Grows
Kenneth Grahame — The Wind In The Willows
Mark Twain — Tom Sawyer
Robert Louis Stevenson — Treasure Island
Richard Adams — Watership Down


The basic rule is always: READ THE BEST BOOKS YOU ENJOY.

>>24564273 (OP)
Can't you just grab the first book you see in a bookstore or illegally download the top recent upload in some website? What the fuck?

I’ve been trying to think of a book that a low-IQ might be able to get into and I’m drawing a blank. Maybe one of those choose-your-own adventure books? Try Worm which is a Western web novel and free.

>>24564416
Yah it might be time for the readers on here to create a "So, you are retarded and want to read and become educated" training program. Like a reading list/challenges for the 21st century idiot who is inspired to do better.

Read
>The Picture of Dorian Gray
>Brideshead Revisited
>Death in Venice
>The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
>Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

>>24564484
Oh also you should read A Hero of our Time by Lermontov

>>24564484
>>24564503
Okay. I'll trust this selection because you are the only one who gave me actual books.

>>24564516
Start with A Hero of our Time or The Picture of Dorian Gray first

Btw if you don't know you can just pirate books for free
Don't bother paying for them and don't get fooled into thinking that just because you paid for a physical copy that it means you're definitely going to read it

>>24564516
Kek, anon has given you a very homo heavy list, but it is a good list

>>24564529
fucking hell hahah why i am not surprised

Read Don Quixote. It's long but easy, and instantly makes up for all of your mistakes of not reading the past. Just read it and everything will be OK!

To become book smart very fast you can read Bertrand Russell, Voltaire, and Samuel Johnson (his writings plus Boswell's Life of Johnson.)

Don't bother with anything written after the year 1918!! That is the year they killed Lady Wisdom and hooked her up to artificial life support. (Most of Russell's books came after 1918, but stick with the books from before 1918.)

>>24564546
They are all good books but yeah if you get to the third one and think all literature is gay, just know it's the list

>Stranger - Camus
>Hollywood - Bukowski
>Notes from the underground - Dostoyevsky
>Breakfast at Tiffany's - Capote
>Master and Margarita - Bulgakov

whatever you do, don’t start with the greeks or any other meme list. Stranger by Camus is a good one for beginners, otherwise you could also go for book which had film adaptations you liked
and keep to books under 250 pages

>>24564528
Yah. I just downloaded a reading app and downloaded The Picture of Dorian Gray from Project Gutenberg, which apparently has every book ever.

>>24564273 (OP)
Pretty much what this anon is saying here >>24564397 . If you're a non-reader looking to get into reading your best bet is to start off with short books, and simple prose. Not only will they be a quick read, but it'll build up your confidence and reading skills and you can start to read longer form books from there.

>>24564653
>and keep to books under 250 pages
And always play bowling with the gutters up. And nwver talk to strangers. And always wash your ass before wifey pegs you. And never ever pee with the seat down!?!

>>24564441
Not a bad idea. Literacy rates right now are shit, and it's only getting worse. A list of books to start off with for people who want to start reading could help maybe.

>The sailor who fell from grace with the sea
>catch-22
>notes from underground
Some of the earlier things i read and enjoyed when i broke off from audiobooking fantasy.

Read something you are interested in/have always wanted to read.

Doesn't need to be high literature or anything. I started with some scifi novels I'd always wanted to read and slowly started reading other books, but the key was they sounded interesting.

If you dont want to read the book you start you will either quit reading/fail to make a hobby of it or you will force your way through it and then not read more cause it wasn't a fun experience

is this a remix of that thread about the person wanting to be a writer but not writing? gives the same vibes

>>24564653
No. Start with thr Greeks. I dont want more of you retards shitting up the board