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books in English that MUST be read

N

nkit

New Member
Hello,

I'm not a "native" English speaker, although I've been studying it for about fifteen years.

After all that time learning I can comunicate in English quite fluently and read at an acceptable speed.

I also consider myself a "good" reader (mainly in spanish, my mother tongue) and for the last couple of years I have also started reading quite a lot of books in English (and I mean "real" books, not the kind of small, truncated things that you get when you're learning the language).

What I experience now is that I don't have a literary culture in English, so it's difficult for me to find good books because I just don't know many authors (modern or classical) and can't find people near me who can share their experiencies in this particular subject.

So the question is... could you help me start building my literary culture in English? What classical authors would you recommend to me? and what about modern?

Thanks for reading this, any help will be most welcome.
 
What about George Orwell; fairly easy to read and to comprehend and not to long.
Oh, and welcome to the forum and the English language:)
 
Thanks!

I have already read "1984" by George Orwell, what other books by him do you recomend?

By the way, this is one of my favourite books (except for the "manifesto" in the middle that I found long and boring).

Thanks again!
 
Hi

I am also not an English "native", but I grew up in the language to a large extent.

Now I can't help you much with the classics, I have only read Dickens - Great Expectations, a few Shakespeare plays, and Homer's -the Odyssey. Great works, but the language in these are somewhat difficult to read.

I would suggest reading Tom Robbins, he is a great author, I can suggest his -Still Live with Woodpecker.

Another great modern classic is Margeret Atwood's -Handmaid's tale.

My preferred personal taste is in the lines of fantasy and Sci-Fi books, and if you like these genre's I can suggest tons, but on the top of my list:
Fantasy:
David Gemmel (a remarkable writer, his characters are almost never purely good or evil but some shade of grey in-between, his books are also very readable) I can suggest his: -Legend, -the Rigante series, -Midnight warriors
Terry Pratchet (You will love him or hate him, he is a comedy writer but with great stories) -Any of his early novels
Sci -Fi
Ann-McCaffrey - Any of her books
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game (Wow)

Hope this helps.

Good hunting!
 
You might like to give Graham Greene a go at some point.

And Philip Larkin's two novels.:)
 
Hugin said:
Homer's -the Odyssey.
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Er, that's Greek. ;)


David Gemmel (a remarkable writer, his characters are almost never purely good or evil but some shade of grey in-between, his books are also very readable) I can suggest his: -Legend, -the Rigante series, -Midnight warriors
Terry Pratchet (You will love him or hate him, he is a comedy writer but with great stories) -Any of his early novels
Sci -Fi
Ann-McCaffrey - Any of her books
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game (Wow)
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I think having these, especially Terry Pratchett, in an "English books that must be read" thread is an insult to the language.
 
Stewart said:
Er, that's Greek. ;)



I think having these, especially Terry Pratchett, in an "English books that must be read" thread is an insult to the language.
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But sweetheart, you'll notice nobody has yet mentioned that low-life whose intials are D.M...we're TRYING to spare your feelings;)
 
Thanks to everyone again...

I have read quite a lot of fantasy and Sci-Fi (incidentally, I have... er, read ALL the books in the Diskworld series by Terry Pratchet :rolleyes: ). By the way, I would also recommend George RR Martin's books if you haven't read them.

On the other hand...

Stewart,

Stewart said:
I think having these, especially Terry Pratchett, in an "English books that must be read" thread is an insult to the language.
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Well, as you can see I don't agree with that being an "insult to the language", but I'm certainly trying to move onto (how to say this...) non-Sci Fi?, classical books? generally meaning that I intend to broaden my reading horizons, so any suggestions from you will probably be in the right direction.

Finally:

CDA said:
You might like to give Graham Greene a go at some point.

And Philip Larkin's two novels.
Click to expand...

I must confess my ignorance in this two authors, I have heard about Graham Greene's but I'm affraid I can't say much about him. Philip Larkin is an even greater mistery to me... I'm going to INVESTIGATE

THANKS EVERYONE
 
abecedarian said:
But sweetheart, you'll notice nobody has yet mentioned that low-life whose intials are D.M...we're TRYING to spare your feelings;)
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DM?


nkit, may I suggest Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day (1989) which is fantastic read.
 
Myself I'd stay away from most fantasy if you're looking for english literary culture. There are of course fantasy writers who are good with the language but if that is your goal you're better to look elsewhere. Like Dickens. Not exactly modern english language but Dickens was very much a master of the language. Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Joyce were massively influential in english literature as well.
 
Stewart said:
DM?


D.M.= Dan Brown:p


I would suggest an English translation of the Bible. I was going to mention George R.R. Martin too since I just read A Game of Thrones and loved it.
Some other ideas are The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I also like Alice Hoffman, Margaret Atwood, James Alexander Thom, and Neil Gaiman. I recently read a great seafaring/horror/sci-fi novel that I highly reccomend, called Hunters of the Dark Sea by Mel Odom.
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I also recommend Margaret Atwood, and To Kill a Mockingbird. You might also like to try Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and Watership Down by Richard Adams.

Another Orwell that you might like to try is Animal Farm. It's a great book.
 
I'm also a English learner...
I'm not good like you in this language but i can recommend you one Book I LOVED :

I am a legend - Richard Matheson.

OMG HOWW GOOOD IT WAAAS TO READ THIS
TROP TROP TROP TROP BIEN :)

(edit: it's science fiction style)
 
I also recommend Pearl Buck's The Good Earth. It was an excellent read.

Other books would be...
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy (there's several sequels to satisfy further needs!)
Like Water for Chocolate
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Cane River by Lalita Tademy
 
What I experience now is that I don't have a literary culture in English, so it's difficult for me to find good books because I just don't know many authors (modern or classical)
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I would advise you to visit your local library. The classics are all there (although not in English, unless it is a big library), so you can check authors, style, etc. before you buy them in English. As for modern books, in quite a few countries - I don't know where do you live - they don't keep books like DB's and similar in libraries, so you get quite a bit of the threshing done as well.
 
Vanity Fair, by William M. Thackeray. I must have read it at least a dozen times. Love it! I would also recommend Music for Chameleons, by Truman Capote, and The Book of Illusions, by Paul Auster.

Fantasy Moon said:
Like Water for Chocolate
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This one was originally written in Spanish, which I think is nkit's first language ;)
 
nkit said:
So the question is... could you help me start building my literary culture in English? What classical authors would you recommend to me? and what about modern?
Click to expand...
For modern, here is a very good starting point for you:

Modern Library 100 Best Novels

There are actually two lists; the library board list and a readers' list. They include many 'classics' of modern literature (particularly the board's list).
 
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