Trying to get into reading

Like the title says I'd like to get into reading. The last time I read something that was even the tiniest bit interesting was "The Catcher in the Rye" in highschool (graduated now). I have have little to no idea about what I'd find an "interesting read" so feel free to tell me some books or genres you like.

>>6890 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya It's one of the light novels who contributed the most to making that medium popular. Kyon is a pretty fun first-person narrator. Watch the anime by KyoAni as well, it's a decent adaptation except for Endless Eight. Catch-22 It's a fairly entertaining novel set during World War 2, exploring the absurdities of war and of the human condition in general. The movie is not very good. Anything by Ryunosuke Akutagawa He wrote mainly short stories. "Rashomon" and "In a Grove" are among his most famous ones, and they have been combined and adapted in the movie Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa. I mainly read non-fiction anyway so I can't recommend you much else if you're specifically looking for fiction. I would advise to read history and philosophy books (especially history, with a sprinkle of philosophy) since those turn out to be a lot more interesting than fiction oftentimes. Besides general history, books about the history of science and mathematics are also interesting and helps you put science and math in a better perspective. To get started on history in general, try reading "Heroes of History" by Will Durant. He wrote a lot of long books on history, and this is one of his shortest ones so it's a good intro.

A Clockwork Orange The Idiot Les Miserables Crime and Punishment War and Peace The Bible (KJV) >>6891 Catch 22 is like kicking dead whales down the beach, the author's writing style seems clever for the first couple of chapters and then it becomes unbearably repetitive. Reading philosophy also is like kicking dead whales down the beach, Kant poisoned the well and everyone who came after him (with the possible exception of Kierkegaard and maybe Wittgenstein) is corrupted because of it.

hi it's me the lainon who tells everyone to read The Little Prince. You should read The Little Prince. I also second The Idiot and Catch-22. For sci-fi books specifically, A Fire Upon the Deep is probably the best sci fi book I've read recently. I could go in to some of my favorite authors if you like that genre.

>>6890 You should re-read Catcher in the Rye with your new perspective (read: You are older). Some other authors you may enjoy: >Ray Bradbury Personally, Fahrenheit 451 was his worst novel. That doesn't mean its bad, just check out: Something Wicked This Way Comes or Gravyard for Lunatics. He has a LOT of works. >Issac Asimov The foundation series influenced a lot. That's a good starting point, but peruse his other works. >Edgar Allan Poe Classic. He doesn't just do poetry. Other than that, there is not much to say. >Lovecraft Again. Classic. Although, I find a lot of people who enjoy his influences, don't really enjoy his styles. >Lord Dunsany >Kafka >Charles Dickens >Einhard >James Joyce >Goethe >Tolkien >Samuel Beckett I don't read much fiction anymore, I find it boring. I just read Traditionalist philosophy (Rene Guenon, Julius Evola, Charles Upton), philosophy covering the "rightist" worldview (Dugin, Gottfried, Mosley, Spengler, Rockwell, Yockey), celtic "paganism" and mythos, the self-sufficiency topic (Think DIY booze and growing your own food, clothes, and medicine), and books about mathematics, specifically cryptology.

The Catcher in the Rye is in my top 9 so you already have great taste. You obviously like Lain so maybe check out some cyberpunk books like Neuromancer or Snow Crash? If you liked Blade Runner (just assuming you like all things cyberpunk) then you should check out Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick. It's honestly going to depend on the genres you like so I'll name a few I've enjoyed as well my favorites. Sci-fi and Fantasy despite the stigma can often offer a lot of depth. If you don't mind being more focused for children some fantastic reads are The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum. More "adult" literature in the fantasy genre would be stuff like J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings & Robert E. Howards Conan the Barbarian. Speaking of Howard if you like pulpy stuff then check out the following authors H.P. Lovecraft (Beyond the Wall of Sleep & Dagon are two of my favorites.), Michael Moorcock (Try his short story Dreaming City), Manly Wade Wellman (Short Story: Straggler from Atlantis), and Fritz Leiber (Short Story: Jewels in the Forest). Mythology can also be fun and I'd recommend Seamus Heaney's Beowulf, Robert Fagles The Iliad & The Odyssey and his translation of The Aenied, and unironically the KJV of The Bible. Honorable mythology mention due to the movie Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a fantastic entry point into Arthurian Lore. If you liked mythology then Fairy Tales might also be something you'd enjoy. Outside of Grims Fairy tales there is Andrew Lang's Rainbow Fairy Books, and Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. For Sci-fi I'd recommend Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy, George Orwell's 1984 (Honestly more relevant then ever.), Robert A Heinlein's Starship Troopers, and Frank Herbert's Dune. Victorian Sci-fi is also really cool and if you haven't you should check out Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas and Journey to the Center of the Earth. For literature more grounded in reality I've enjoyed Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities and his book Great Expectations, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Herman Melville's Moby Dick. I'm also partial to some Russian literature so a good entry point for that would be Crime and Punishment. Non-fiction makes up a majority of bookshelf but I'll try to keep in concise. There are a series of essays about the concept of open source software by Eric S. Raymond who is one of the major founders of the open source movement (I'd put him along side Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman) and they are published in his book The Cathedral & The Bazaar. Economics is a hobby of mine and some good entry level books I'd recommend is Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson (I'd say start here and you can even get a free copy from the Mises Institute), Steven Levitt's / Stephen Dubner's Freakonomics, Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics, Burton Folsom Jr.'s The Myth of the Robber Barons, and F.A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom. I am also fairly into American politics / founding history so if you wanted to know more I'd recommend the Signet Classics editions of The Federalist Papers & The Anti-Federalist Papers, John Locke's The Second Treatise of Government & A letter Concerning Toleration, Thomas Pain's Common Sense & The American Crisis, and David McCullough's 1776 & John Adams (Although if you like history anything by him is a treat.). Some last ones that don't fit in any category are Marcus Aurelius's Meditations, Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, Daron Acemoglu's / James Robinson's Why Nations Fail, and for meme points Theodore Kaczynski's manifesto. That's probably more then you wanted but I figured I'd recommend a lot in different genres so you could pick a genre and then have several options to pick from in those genres. Just don't forget life is short so spend it reading stuff you enjoy and don't be afraid to drop a book you aren't feeling. You'd never be able to read them all so so no matter what you're "missing out" and that point it's not worth worrying about. Also I know these were all "basic bitch" normal person books but I feel that's the best place to start or at least it was for me. As for my personal favorites above all else I'd recommend the books Beowulf, Alice's Adventure in Wonderland, The Lord of the Rings, The Divine Comedy, The Adventures, of Huckleberry Finn, The Feyman Lectures on Physics, and Foundation.

I would suggest starting with something like Ivanhoe by Walter Scott. Easy to read, fun, not some dense philosophical tome but still a recognized classic.

>>6894 A clockwork orange is what got me into reading. Real short and comfy

What other sorts of entertainment do you like? I always liked watching history documentaries, so I started by reading stuff like Gibbon's Fall and Decay of the Roman Empire, Augustine's Confessions, and Aurelius' Meditations, and then moved onto other genres.