I’ve read 1984 and found it really dull and heavy going, although I found it unique and gave me insight into life under a totalitarian regime, I didn’t enjoy it.
I tried reading Brave New World, but couldn’t get passed the first 40 pages, clumsily written, tedious and convoluted.
I also tried reading “do androids dream of electric sheep”, but I find the writing confusing at times where I don’t know what’s going on.
So I’m looking for beginner fiction books, either classic literature, sci-fi (classic or modern), or modern literature that will potentially stand the test of time and become classics themselves.
Not sure what genre I’d like yet due to my limited reading in the last decade.
I’m interested in understanding human psychology, the human condition, ethics, and society, which my reading list for non fiction consists of.
I’d also like to be well-read and cultured, so, for that, “must-reads” are preferable, but an entry point of enjoyable reads is priority.
I hope you can help me out, thank you.
by anonymon35
5 Comments
You’ll be glad you read Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes.
The Sirens of Titan is a quick read and seems to be in-line with the types of books you’ve been trying , and Kurt Vonnegut’s certainly helped me get real into fiction.
Cat’s Cradle – Kurt Vonnegut
Another Country – James Baldwin
Germinal – Émile Zola
The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
To the Wedding – John Berger
The Dead – James Joyce (Short story)
Orlando – Virginia Woolf
Moby Dick – Herman Melville
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I hope that you find something interesting.
Not too difficult dystopian sci-fi:
*The Giver* by Lois Lowry.
*The Forever War* by Joe Haldeman.
Any of the classic short stories by Murray Leinster. *Pipeline to Pluto* and *A Logic Named Joe* are fab.
And that classic cautionary tale with a sense of wonder, the short story/novella – not the novel version – *Nightfall* by Isaac Asimov. Hopefully it’s not too slow – there’s more talk than action. But it’s fairly short.