Hi everyone, I'm new to reading books in these categories and have only read a few so far.
°In fiction just avoid dark romance ones ( I don't mind a good romance book tho).
What are some good classics to start with, I’m a student so time’s kinda tight these days, plz suggest books that will be worth the time:-)
Also tell me ur all time favs
by BlueberryOk4311
3 Comments
I’d start with 18-19th century English literature and work both forward and back in time depending on your interest. So Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Laurence Sterne, Daniel Defoe and the like. For international, definitely some Russian lit (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol, Pushkin•••) is a must, alpng with a few of the euro heavy hitters (Don Quixote, Madame Bovary, Gargantua & Pentagruel), and some American lit as well (Poe, James, Emerson, London, Thoreau…) these are foundational for all modern lit anyway.
Also definitely re-read the Bible (both Testaments) and the Qur’an, paying attention to whose translation(s) you picked up.
Since the novel can comprise all the subjects you are interested in, I think you ll be happy once you get through half of the list even, or at least you’ll find that your interest has become more specific by the end. But still if you are asking for definite names in Philosopy, I’d say either pick an anthology on each subject and expound whichever name you found or check some of the following: Plato (Timeaus, and other shorter dialogues, Gorgias maybe), some Aristotle eventually (a dry read at the beginning but essential nonetheless), Apuleus (The Golden Ass), Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, St Augustine… working your forward in time, some Renaissance, Enlightenment, Colonialism and Industrialism, modern times…
The 20th century would require a whole new list in all subjects and I’d happily write it when the time comes upon request.
Finally Psychology: some obvious ones are Freud, Jung, Adler, Klein, Winnicott etc and less known modern classics like books by Adam Phillips, Gaston Bachelard, Sandor Ferenczi, Malinowski, and Zizek for all of them combined…
There are many many more but I think you ll enjoy starting off with these..
Ok I give in to my desire to give some modern fiction: Italo Calvino (all time favourite of mine), Umberto Eco, Albert Camus, Franz Kafka, Ionesco, Cortazar, Marquez, Nabokov, Burroughs to name a few…
Sorry if I dragged on, I enjoyed writing this, it brings back memories, I hope you’ll enjoy reading them.
*The dawn of everything* by Davids Graeber and Wengrow
Since time is tight you might prefer it as an audiobook so you can “read” while you commute, do household tasks, exercise, whatever.
For a Philosophy first dive and home run novel *Sophie’s World* by Jostein Gaarder. It is a children’s book that became cult favorite for many adults. For a more formal approach but not boring at all, the histories of philosophy by either Bertrand Russell or AC Grayling, both are benchmarks on the history of human thinking. My all time favorite book is *Demonic Males* by Richard Wrangham, it mixes evolutionary biology, psychology, sociology and ethics in a brilliant, mind-blowing, worldview-shattering way.