Hypothetical situation:
You meet a cute girl that has never read much beyond high school literature but is interested in taking up reading as a hobby. What are the 10 books you would recommend her as some kind of starter pack?
Note I'm not asking about the ten best books ever, but instead about the 10 books that would make a complete amateur to fall in love with literature and not fall asleep while reading them.
The seven Harry Potter books and the three Hungry James books. Bam. Solved.
>>7914729
Did she ask you explicitly to recommend her ten books? If not, don't.
If so, suggest accessible middlebrow classics, so she can feel she understands them and will want to chat with you about them. Don't intimidate her.
Catcher in the Rye
The Great Gatsby
Catch-22
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
Siddharta
The Magic Mountain
The Master and Margarita
Kokoro
The Temple of the Golden Pavillion
For Whom The Bell Tolls
And Dead Souls as an extra - a sort of graduation to proper classics.
>>7914761
It is indeed a hypothetical situation. But good advice nonetheless.
>>7914763
I haven't read the magic mountain, but I've heard it's really long. Is it readable for a rookie?
>>7914729
Plenty of Steinbeck - East of Eden in particular. It's my go-to when friends and acquintances new to literature ask for recommendations, and it has worked like a charm every time.
>>7914763
This seems cool too - although I'd be second-guessing Catch-22. It's kind of polarizing, and in my experience, many new readers give up some 100 pages in. I'd probably switch Dead Souls for Gogol's Petersburg Tales too.
I would recommend her:
>The Trial
>Wuthering Heights
>Roadside Picnic
>The Waves
>Death in Venice
>Kitchen :^)
>Frankenstein
>Sexing the Cherry
>Wise Blood
>The Woman in the Dunes
Bit of a weird question. I wouldn't just give out 10 blanket recommendations. I would find out what she was interested in first then fit my recommendations around that.
Assuming she is kind of the typical 19 year old girl that has only read YA fiction I'd probably pick some Murakami, Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Hunter S Thompson -- kind of fun, short and easy to read stuff.
>>7914837
It is a weird situation. I'm trying to get some kids into reading and it's hard to come up with books they enjoy.
>>7914763
hahahaha holy shit how autistic are you?
>>7914865
autistic enough to bang ur mom xD
If she's so interested in literature as a hobby she'd seek out books on her own and get involved it in because she's truly interested, not as a le cute accessory to get le likes xD
You thirsty cuck.
>>7914763
>The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy
>The Magic Mountain
Either you haven't read either of these or you are a supreme rusemaster.
>>7914729
I'm assuming you also have ulterior motives for this girl, i.e. you wanna bang and you want to make her think the same with your erudite yet appropriate recommendations based on your level. So;
Begin with a Hardy. Not sure why, but women in general absolutely love reading Hardy. Tess, or maybe Far From the Madding Crowd.
Of Love and Other Demons - Marquez. Easy and quick read, kooky, personally my favourite by him. But it also seems intellectual to non-readers (its not.) You might also want to recommend Borges if she's lolsorandom. If she's straight edge and won't "get" it probably not.
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.
Definitely something by Fitzgerald, as again women (in general) like the 20s vibe. Probably the Beautiful and the Damned, not Gatsby, which even the uninitiated can tell is normcore 101.
She'll probably want a woman author in there, to show you don't hate women. Maybe Mrs. Dalloway by Wolfe.
Something classical, but not epic. No Homer, Virgil, Ovid, anything too long or hard. Electra, by Euripides. Or the Sophocles version, which is less juicy.
Some Shakespeare of your choosing. The obvious choices Hamlet / King Lear / probably a comedy. No Macbeth because its much more masculine imo.
Brave New World over 1984. CBA to justify but trust me.
DH Lawrence if you want to get erotic
Some 'romantic' century poetry probs. Byron might be good because she's likely to have heard of him, maybe Blake, Coleridge, or Keats, depending on level.
DO NOT INCLUDE
Angsty teenage boy books such as
Catch 22
Hemingway
Catcher in the Rye
Russian lit in general
Not saying they are bad, but you have to tailor this to your audience.
>>7914886
I hate this guy but he's right
>>7914729
How bout I recommend her my favorite book:Suckin My Dick Bitch
>>7914729
>What are the 10 books you would recommend her as some kind of starter pack?
It would always depend on the woman. When making recommendations you should always try to consider the persons tastes and interests.
>>7916328
You can make a broad sweeping guess when it comes to the modern woman.
>Hunger Games
>F Scott Fitzgerald
>Virginia Wolfe
>Harry Potter
>Any of the top 5 Best Sellers on Amazon's Women's Literature
>Any novel with a picture of an extremely handsome, physically fit man with tattoos who happens to be shirtless(The novel's title including "Romance" helps)
>>7914729
>You meet a cute girl that has never read much beyond high school literature but is interested in taking up reading as a hobby.
I give her some GRRM and push my chode down her throat.
>>7914729
Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Critique of Pure Reason by Kant
The Ego and His Own by Stirner
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
100 Years of Solitude by Marquez
Demons by Dostoevsky
Being and Time by Heidegger
The Recognitions by Gaddis
Summa Theologica (in the original latin, of course) by Aquinas
>>7916524
I've read one Woolf* You struck out on all the others.
But knowing me, somewhat, what would you recommend me on a second try?
>>7916579
you're not a woman, you're an aberrant creation of the internet like the rest of us
>>7916579
You're not the "normal" girl,don't take offense to that, I was not attempting to appeal to you but a general audience. If you take what the general audience of women read then my recommendations are solid.
>>7916582
I read book though.
And once again I offend the mighty wall of goo by making too much sense.
Maybe this anonymity is warping or dulling your abilities in interpersonal activities.
>Oh shit! Shut it down! She knows! Assume Great-Wall mode
Get better, guys.
>>7914886
>You have to tailor this to your audience
Fuck that, women understand and enjoy all types of literature, it doesn't have to be about/ be written about women, it just has to have an interesting plot/ interesting themes
Does nobody on 4chan ever understand women?
>>7916703
"Oh shit I got called anonymous! I didn't get called a normal girl! They know! Assume high ground quickly! Better call them a wall of goo! I-interpersonal activites! G-get better guys, ha..haha" That was pretty funny.
>>7916703
>Maybe this anonymity is warping or dulling your abilities in interpersonal activities.
There is no 'maybe' about this conjecture.
>>7916703
go to bed
>>7916744
I'm not offended. I just wanted to play and got shut out. I started out on 4chan very anonymous. I just see the flaws of it more these days.
>High ground
I can't believe you're all social rejects, (like myself) just some portion. The "get better" was sincere.
>>7916716
>interesting plot
Womemes confirmed for plebs
>>7916761
Name the flaws of being Anonymous on an anonymous literature board. You're also making claims of people being social rejects when you can't ascertain that fact from what we have gathered so far yet you admit yourself to being a social reject, I reject your social claim that anyone but you at the moment is a social reject.
>>7914763
>Entry level
>Tristram Shandy
wew lad
>>7916328
Is there more of this image?
>>7916777
>Name the flaws of being Anonymous
Spelling it out again: 1) Tooling around asking for book recommendations when you have little to nothing to go on.
>>7916794
Hark a Vagrant
>>7916814
You can, in fact, make broad generalizations when it comes to things like books. You are taking your own ego into account. You must remove the ego and use generalizations. Infer that because OP's girlfriend hasn't read past a high school level she isn't advanced in literature thus you can suggest lower level books such as the ones mentioned here. >>7916524
You aren't spelling anything out, you are attempting to centralize my idea around you, when you are not even considered a part of the equation.
>>7916826
Since I am somewhat known here, you can hazard a guess as to what I might like (If you cared to)
On the other hand I cannot guess what it is you like, though we may have talked several times in the past. You could even give me a list of books you like (And what about those threads where the guy asks for something like LotR?) but my answer would be no more informed than a Netflix algorithm.
Talking Epicurus in the other thread. Boy, friends are a good thing to have. Hope you have some good one.
>>7916856
I only have good friends and that is the way it should be.
>>7916856
On 4chan though what you're proposing is retarded. This website is filled with anonymous posters, that's kind of the idea. You're just going to sidetrack threads by adopting a name. On some other website, yes, having names is useful and people can remember each other and develop relationships or whatever.
>>7916885
>4chan is a place to deposit memes get trolled
I know this already. Enjoy your /b/ board.
>>7914729
Catch 22
Crying of Lot 49
Dubliners
The Death of Ivan Ilych
Brave New World
The Metamorphosis
The Call of Cthulhu
The Nose
The Duel
The Wisdom of Life
Catch 22 is very easy and very funny. It is a great way to get into lit. Other than that I tried to have variety and to keep them all short.
Long books will put people off more than if the if it is challenging. Every person is different and you someone might instantly like something you never expected.
>>7916856
i hate tripfaggots
>>7916897
That is your perception.
>>7916897
>>7916897
Gotta disagree with you on this one butterfly. The beauty of this board is anonymity. It's speaking with the faceless essence of humanity, and at the same time it's death by a million cuts.
4chan isn't for friends, it's for the collective. friends have inside jokes, but they don't have memes. memes are unique because they're the inside joke that requires no 'inside'.
>>7916937
>but they don't have memes
Nonsense. Half the anons don't even know what a meme is.
I work in a bookstore and have run into this before.
Get her something fun and easy. A sort of "gateway" book back into reading like Murakami... or something kind of sad like Ishiguro. To start find colorful covers (stupid but this is how animals court in nature too) Maybe get her some lady authors like Woolf, Amelie Nothomb, or Silvina Ocampo. Get her some short story author too like Lydia Davis or Lucia Berlin.
If she is interested in classics maybe throw some Flannery O'Connor at her or Dorothy Parker. Broads like reading about broads.
>>7914760
/thread
>>7916973
This troll isnt funny
>>7914729
de sade, joyce, dfw. then id make her drink a pint of my snot
>>7914782
It is quite long, yes. I read it and loved it and I'd consider myself just above rookie tier.
>>7914729
Any books by Julius Evola. She will learn to become a aristocrat of the soul soon enough.
>>7916778
Literally the only difficult part about it is the lack of linear narrative.
>>7914886
I love that you think these are good suggestions for getting laid.
Some girl says to you, "I want to get into reading lel, sometimes I find a little boring though. What do you recommend?"
Hmm, how about Mrs. Dalloway, some Shakespeare and some Euripides? They're perfectly accessible and enjoyable works that you'll want to read for fun in your spare time -- given you aren't really into reading.
DH Lawrence, Hardy? Are you out of your fucking mind? This is why teenagers hate English Literature at school. It must be people like you in charge with 0 social awareness.
East of Eden
White Teeth
Wind Up Bird
Cannery Row
The Sun also Rises
Dracula
Goodbye to Berlin
Great Gatsby
The Castle
Portrait of a Lady
If you want to lay a girl you won't be talking books with her, and in the small chance that she is intelligent which means you're probably at a college, then you can already talk books on an even level with her and better have read some decent things.
Most just read YA though and the popular classics you can look at book tubers and all over goodreads.
If you're dating a girl though, people either GET lit or don't after some time, can't force people to get into it.
whats the james patterson book about the girl with wings
>>7916925
>>7919230
now we're meming
>>7914729
Tell her to start with the Greeks
I guess.
>>7914729
The Shadow of the Wind (Zafon)
Lolita (Nabakov)
The Happy Turning (H.G. Wells)
The Last Battle (Cornelius Ryan)
The Haunted Mesa (Louis L'amour)
Catch 22 (Heller)
Do androids dream of electric sheep? (Dick)
Brave New World (Huxley)
1984 (Orwell)
Taipei (Lin)
>>7919251
>Do androids dream of electric sheep? (Dick)
No.
>>7914886
Quality reply, though I don't agree you about the russian lit. I'd recommend her C&P (at least for the last one of the 10). It seems intellectual to non-readers and it actually is. For me it was like the first glance at the literature with capital L, so it had just the exact effect you'd like to reach with the girl.
I'd also add Dorian Gray. It's easy read, yet not light. Back in high school, I overheard some girls in my class talking about how much they liked the book.
>>7916716
>nobody on 4chan ever understand women
like anyone anywhere ever understood women
>>7916596
>>7916328we have rules here. tits or GTFO, otherwise you're just a little virgin boy like the rest of us
>>7919269
Yes
>>7919477
>we have rules here. tits or GTFO
don't be so #rude to aunt butters jeez
>>7914760
I went to the Yale University bookstore and bought and read a copy of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." I suffered a great deal in the process. The writing was dreadful; the book was terrible. As I read, I noticed that every time a character went for a walk, the author wrote instead that the character "stretched his legs." I began marking on the back of an envelope every time that phrase was repeated. I stopped only after I had marked the envelope several dozen times. I was incredulous. Rowling's mind is so governed by cliches and dead metaphors that she has no other style of writing.
But when I wrote that in a newspaper, I was denounced. I was told that children would now read only J.K. Rowling, and I was asked whether that wasn't, after all, better than reading nothing at all? If Rowling was what it took to make them pick up a book, wasn't that a good thing?
It is not. "Harry Potter" will not lead our children on to Kipling's "Just So Stories" or his "Jungle Book." It will not lead them to Thurber's "Thirteen Clocks" or Kenneth Grahame's "Wind in the Willows" or Lewis Carroll's "Alice."
Later I read a lavish, loving review of Harry Potter by the same Stephen King. He wrote something to the effect of, "If these kids are reading Harry Potter at 11 or 12, then when they get older they will go on to read Stephen King." And he was quite right. He was not being ironic. When you read "Harry Potter" you are, in fact, trained to read Stephen King.
>>7914729
OP wants to bang an underaged girl via books
Picture of Dorian Gray
The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings
Pride and Prejudice
Catch 22
Anna Karenina
Great Expectations
Jane Eyre
The Stranger
Notes From Underground
>>7914729
Shit, dude. This is my gf. We've made her a book list, but I wanted to start her off slow:
Childhood's end
The caves of steel
A Game of Thrones
Gates of Fire
Catch-22
Heart of Darkness
1984
Dracula
On the Road
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
