Good books for beginners?

Hey, Lain. Are there any good books for a beginner reader? I want to increase my attention span. Epubs are appreciated. Thanks.

>>7957 Well what what are you interested in and what kind of stuff do you want to read?

>>7957 I'd really need to know more about what you're into. A Game of Thrones is good fantasy fiction, that's what I'm reading right now. If your purpose is to increase your attention span, you can't just do that by reading. Start meditating and uninstall social media. https://yewtu.be/watch?v=vlFqgrg3OeU https://yewtu.be/watch?v=ET2__BGIZMM https://yewtu.be/watch?v=AhL1sEOLwZ8

>>7957 I started reading with self help books, they're typically short and are satisfying to finish Try; 'Im ok - youre ok' by Thomas A. Harris and 'the myth of nine to five' by ted scott and phil harker

>>7957 >Are there any good books for a beginner reader? I recommend 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451, if you haven't read these already. If you are interested in philosophy, I recommend starting with Plato's works as they don't contain technical jargon (I think Republic is a good place to start.) or Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. If you are interested in religion, I think Bhagavad Gita As It Is (https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/) is a good read. You can find plenty of books at libgen or project gutenberg. There is also the sacred texts site (https://www.sacred-texts.com/) but it can be a hit and miss sometimes. >>7959 >Start meditating There is also archive of this thread: https://archive.fo/lQE5j

>>7964 >I recommend 1984, Animal Farm, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451, if you haven't read these already Funny, those were about the first books I ever read as a teen after Harry Potter. I'm not OP btw.

confederacy of dunces is a new orleans classic, and it's funny too.

>>7957 Paul Auster's "In The Country of Last Things", "House of Glass". Hannu Rajaniemi's "The Quantum Thief". Jack Vance's "Tschai". Asimov's "Foundation" Trilogy ("psychohistory" = Babylonian astrology).

>>7957 Other than the things already recommended in this thread, assuming you want to read things that are actually fun to read as well as good: Earthsea The Sprawl Trilogy Snowcrash Children of Time and Children of Ruin The L.A. Quartet The Big Sleep Everything Robert E.Howard ever wrote H.P. Lovecraft's main works, some of his lesser known stuff is a bit crap though. Who goes there? The King in Yellow Everything Phillip K.Dick ever wrote Dracula and Carmilla Frankenstein The Decameron and the Canterbury Tales (Both might be hard to get through if you struggle with archaic writing though) The Faerie Queen Discworld Dragon's Egg The Flashman series Epubs and PDF's of all of these can be easily found on libgen

If epubs and pdfs aren't your thing (like me), then you can always find plenty of used books on these websites: https://www.biblio.com/ https://www.ebay.com/ I've gotten a lot of books here for cheap, like Neuromancer and Dune, and some college textbooks too!

Short stories my dude >Raymond Carver >John Cheever >Flannery O'Connor >Grace Pelley >Alan Sillitoe >David Foster Wallace >Donald Barthelme

>>7998 you forgot to put Margret Atwood on that list desu

If you are here you should like sci-fi, try to read something from Asimov or HG Wells. Jules Verne is a lot more sci than fi, but you may also like his work.

>>8017 And of course: Neuromancer.

Watership Down. It was originally a story told by the author to his daughters on a long car ride, but then later turned into a children's novel. Despite that status, however, it is entirely intelligent in its themes, and masterful in constructing its world. I personally feel that it's one of the most astounding pieces of contemporary fiction, while remaining accessible by almost anyone. Synopsis from Goodreads: "Set in England's Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage and survival follows a band of very special creatures on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of friends, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society."

>>8019 Yeah it often gets categorized as a children's book because of the talking animals but it isn't. It has some of the most crushing emotional scenes I've ever read. It sounds like a silly thing to say but you will never look at a rabbit in a field the same way afterwards.

>>7957 Shakespeare's Plays -- Maybe difficult if you are ESL or actually just fried attention span-wise, but most can be read in a sitting and everyone is a bit better off having read Shakespeare. If you want some books that are more than genre fiction (nothing wrong with it/just some stuff that strays a bit closer to a categorization as 'literary fiction'): Dubliners by Joyce; The Man Who Was Thursday by Chesterton; The Power and the Glory by Greene; Mrs. Dalloway by Woolf; Jude the Obscure by Hardy; Bleak House by Dickens

>>8019 I would also like to recommend All Quiet On The Western Front. It is the cautionary tale of a young German soldier, Paul Bäumer, as he trudges through later years of the first World War. It was written by an actual German veteran of World War I (Erich Maria Remarque), just a decade after it ended. It stands as one of the greatest anti-war pieces conceived, and it permanently changed my view on not just war, but violence in general. Synopsis from Goodreads: "In 1914 a room full of German schoolboys, fresh-faced and idealistic, are goaded by their schoolmaster to troop off to the ‘glorious war’. With the fire and patriotism of youth they sign up. What follows is the moving story of a young ‘unknown soldier’ experiencing the horror and disillusionment of life in the trenches." >>8020 Absolutely. It is palatable to children, sure, but that does not necessarily make it a children's book. It is a profound work that, like you said, commands your emotions. The latter half of Part II had me pulled in, page by page, line by line, beat by beat. You really don't ever look at a rabbit in a field the same way, or any animal, for that matter. >>8021 I agree wholeheartedly. Much of modern English comes from Shakespeare's creativity, and his work has had a great influence on the English-speaking world over the many centuries since his time. Further, his plays are just outwardly enjoyable, and they are short enough that you really can finish them in a single sitting.

>>8022 >I would also like to recommend All Quiet On The Western Front. And read "Storm of Steel" to balance it. Also >spends between ~1 month at the front >has the pretention to write about the War with a big W >clearly disliked "honest" work, having been a librarian, businessman, journalist and editor before his success as writer >goes to America and has countless affairs and liaisons with actresses Basically, he's just WW2 propaganda fuel, even if his books aren't completely worthless, to be honest.

>>7957 >The Old Man and the Sea >Moby Dick My two favorites

>>8041 I'm sure a mere 1 month on the western front of WW1 was an easy, perhaps even pleasant experience that definitely wouldn't have the ability to traumatize someone for life and its merely the author being a limp wristed pansy who hates honest work and his country and blah blah blah You also neglected to mention that he spent a month at the front because at the end of the month he was hit by shrapnel that nearly tore his throat out and he spent the rest of the war in a hospital You have some weird political problems with anti war books don't you? The attempted character assassination and the recommendation of Junger's book is a dead giveaway

>>8019 Are you still here, Lainon? I'm not the author of this thread, but I finished Watership Down and want more recommendations on books on talking annimals engaging in human dillemas.

>>8152 Tailchaser's Song <<< STRONG reg Tales from Watership Down Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH The Redwall series (if you can find the unabridged audiobooks narrated by Brian Jacques with a full cast of voices, they're excellent) (not exactly as profound/compelling in that way, but excellent escape literature)

Not OP, but i have low reading compression when it comes to fiction, reading a lot of text online or reading non fiction, i face little trouble compared to fiction. Any help? i read the book "the yellow wallpaper".