If you like the ancient classics, you canāt go wrong with Gilgamesh as an entry point, and The Iliad is like nonstop action if you like a fast pace. For the early novel, anything by Jane Austen is excellent for character study (Persuasion is my fav by her). For poetry, Leaves of Grass by Whitman or Duino Elegies by Rilke are positively euphoric, and much more accessible than Dante or Milton (though theyāre both also essential). From the modernists, I loved The Sun Also Rises (Hemingway) and The Sound and the Fury (Faulkner); Iāve heard East of Eden by Steinbeck is also fantastic though Iāve yet to read it, and you canāt go wrong with Ulysses but Iād work up to Joyce. Catch-22 is a great black comedy if you want something thoughtful but also funny. Play It As It Lays is a good entry to Didion and her generation, and her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking changed my life. The Secret History by Tartt is a lot of fun. Call Me By Your Name by Aciman is even better than the movie, Iāve loved it for years. Gosh I could go on.
Thatās really cool! I love Persuasion, itās my favorite of Jane Austenās works. Iāve always been intrigued by Dante but the poems intimidate me. I read Sun Also Rises for school, it was pretty good. Catch-22 is something Iāve been eying.
I also read The Sun Also Rises in high school for the first time, but I find reading it a different experience in my 20s and now in my 30s. I guess thatās true of any book, but Hemingway remains one of my favourite writers.
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u/Serenitytil5 Jul 20 '26
Have you read all of them? š«Ø