Ok these are the first books I've bought in years. Basically I haven't read anything since school related assignments years back, and I stare at my computer screen too much and I'm getting bored.
Did I get memed or is this good? They seemed like something I'd enjoy.
>>8289646
You picked alright. Nothing tooo hard, but you'll have to adjust to Notes from the Underground being set in mid 1800s Russia and muh roubles and all that.
Pick up some Kafka too
>>8289659
Yeah I didn't wanna start with some fuckhuge books with themes and subjects that will definitely go over my head. Starting with something "light" and I'll see how it goes.
I've heard the titles Metamorphosis and The Trial from Kafka, but those words are about all I know about him.
Notes from Underground is the only one I have read in that list but it is one of my favorite novels, you picked right and at the right time too, it's never too late to stop being a bitch and start reading.
>>8289659
underground is completely relevant today though.
>>8289690
try The Stranger, No longer Human, and Siddartha all pretty short but still heavy in terms of content and quality.
>>8289720
It's relevant but that doesnt change the fact that things like what was normal and expected in that society is way different. I mean, doesnt the Underground Man have a maid despite being pretty poor?
PS read the Old Man and the Sea
>>8289690
There are loadddds of comps that have Kafka's collected short stories—there's a Barnes and Nobles one called "The Metamorphosis and Other Stories" that is great. Trust NO translation that uses anything besides "vermin" in the first line
>>8289720
>try The Stranger, No longer Human, and Siddartha
These all sound very interesting, thank you.
>>8289734
>Trust NO translation that uses anything besides "vermin" in the first line
Yeah I was wondering about that, how do you choose translations and publications when it comes to books? Are there specific retailers and translation groups(?) that are universally considered good, or should I go through Amazon reviews of different versions to see if the reviewers mention anything? Are the best translations usually the top result on Amazon?
Notes From Underground is a good read, but I would have picked Crime and Punishment or Brothers Karamazov as an introduction to Dostoevsky. If you find that you don't like Notes From Underground, read something else by Dostoevsky and then go back to it.
Hemingway is kind of a mixed bag, lots of people on /lit/ will try to act superior by hating on him but it would be weirder if you considered yourself well read yet unfamiliar with Hemingway than if you were. Old Man and the Sea isn't a large or dense book so it's not the end of the world if you don't like it, but if you do I'd suggest A Farewell to Arms next. The Sun Also Rises is also considered standard Hemingway fare, and I have a soft spot for For Whom the Bell Tolls (but I might be biased as I've always been fascinated with the Spanish Civil War).
I kind of get the feeling that you picked the books that you did because of length (I haven't read Child of God but I looked up the page numbers). I don't know if it's a cost thing or an attention span thing, but just because a book is short doesn't mean it's light.
>>8289754
You can usually trust an Oxford world's classics translation. What's been said about Kafka is right, and you should also avoid any translations of The Trial that spell Josef as Joseph and suggest anything other than him being completely innocent. For ancient and medieval stuff you should probably avoid stuff that claims to "modernise" the text
>>8289754
Translations are a tricky thing. Publishers i've found to be quality are:
New York Review Book
Oxford World Classics
Norton Critical Edition
Older Penguin Classics (yellow and black borders on covers)
Do a bit of research into the books you snag
>>8289807
>I don't know if it's a cost thing or an attention span thing, but just because a book is short doesn't mean it's light.
Mainly an attention span thing. I'm so used to constantly looking and clicking at different things on the computer and I'm worried they'll just collect dust, so I just want to get my first "win", so to speak.
I mean light as in I don't need to know much before reading it. I can just read it and "get it" as a self contained work. Maybe I'm talking out of my ass here, but I'd think getting into something like philosophy would require more "work" than some novels.
You did fine, OP.
Definitely read The Stranger after those three.
>>8289865
You did alright, OP. Just don't let yourself be intimidated from committing yourself to longer books. The internet is brutal on attention spans though, and sometimes I have the same problem.
>ctrl+f "greek"
>Phrase not found
Standards droppingStart with the Greeks, OP.
>>8289646
These kind of threads are pretty common, and for once OP actually picked well. Good on you, man.
Hope literature takes you somewhere.
>Child of God
>Hemingway
Pick one or the other. They're both short stories with fifty pages more than necessary. Best Hem is Sun Also Rises and Farewell
Best McCarthy is Blood Meridean though I started with No Country which read like a script but was oddly satisfying for Anton Sigur alone.
Agree with whoever said Kafka might be a good addition. The Collected Stories would feed your desire for a quick read while supplying you with juicy content. Borges might be worth a shot as well but from this collection I get the vibe you are looking for more straight-forward, easily digestible fiction with Borges aint about.
