>>8245369
If you haven't read the canon by age 15 then there's no hope. Why aspire at anything when you've already failed at a literary life? Forget about literature and continue living your pleb life in bliss, you'll only live in misery and suffering if you don't; or just kill your self.

Catcher in the Rye
Old man and the sea
Of Mice and men
For whom the bell tolls

Once you finished those, read Notes from the underground

Then if you so wish to, dive deeper. We will be here waiting for you.

>>8245398
Surprisingly I've read 2 out of the first 4. Thank you for your suggestions.

Shakespeare.

>>8245383
Yeah, unless you've had a your life structured around the Canon since age 3 or so, you should just stick to genre literature.

I'm reading through 1984 for the first time and I got passed the part when a bomb exploded on a street Julia and Winstin were walking on.
Why is this not explained anymore? They kissed on the street you think the police would assume something at that point.

Yeah I do OP. First of all, solid choice with 1984. Essential. My recs:

A Scanner Darkly by Philip K Dick: A bit of a dystopia, or just a decent prediction of the future. Dick's most compelling and emotional work.

The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick: Widely considered his masterpiece. Alternate history where Japan and Germany won the war. Rather dystopian (although not as much you might expect, which is part of the point).

The Deep by John Crowley: You want good world building? Here ya go. In less than 300 pages Crowley builds a world more rich than any Tolkein wannabe fantasy epic.

Labyrinths by Borges: Now were getting into the real shit. You should be about ready for Borges by after reading the above.

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy: Real life can be worse than any imagined dystopia.

There ya go, in five books you'll have massively upped your reading level. You'll be rolling with us patricians at that point.

Lastly, I suggest you watch The Prisoner. It's all on YouTube, and it's quite possibly the most disquieting and most relevant dystopia. Sharp writing too, some of the best dialogue TV has ever had: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_8HYEGxztUC4i3p3vDf4j9Q4--uo80oY

>>8245449
>>8245383
I think there was a bit of a misunderstanding. I think I have an appropriate background in reading but there are several books I think I have missed out on. While I read many books for school, such as The Picture of Dorian Gray and others, picking up books like 1984 made me wish I read them sooner. Being a Biology/Chem major surrounded by friends that are majors in film and lit, it becomes pretty easy feel that I am sub-par

>>8245369
Don't listen to fags like this >>8245383
They're either bait or elitist faggots so don't write shit like this >>8245638
validating them

I'm in a very similar situation as you, im gonna be a senior in college and just started getting into literature with dystopian/utopian being what brought me in.

Fahrenheit 451/1984/We/Brave New World are the most well known and are good reads

Sticking in a sci fi/alternate reality kinda theme you can read
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Man in the High Castle by Philip Dick. His writing style is alright, but his imagination is a thing to marvel at.

Russian Lit is good to pick up if you want to go to dark places and see the human spirit first hand. Take a class on this if you can at your college, best classes ive taken

Other than that, Of Mice and Men, The Time Machine and Animal Farm are quick and easy reads

Good luck, and don't come here too often if you're new to reading, these shits make everything seem bad to be edgy. Only 10-20% of users will actually be of help

>>8246021

I JUST read F451 and it was young-adult tier trash. The story was incredibly lame and stupid, and there were about only 10 pages that were thought provoking. Don't bother OP - 1984 is great however.