Never really got into reading, bought these based on recommendations

Hey man, everyone starts our somewhere right

Youre probably right though maybe i shouldn't have bought 2 new books

The

alright yes that sarcasm was a bit snappy, but with good intention
if you really want to get into this whole "reading" thing, i'd recommend you can't go wrong with your county library
that way, if you pick something up and you aren't gelling with it, you can just put it right back, no harm, no foul, no pressure
hell i even join the "reading clubs" at my library, which really just amounts to reading 1000/2500/5000 minutes (whatever, which I would have done anyway) and then getting coupons, water bottles, stickers, t-shirts etc.
reading is fun is the moral here

Very solid advice, unfortunately the local library here has a yearly fee for everyone above 21+, I could buy 8 different books with that money AND actually keep them so the decision was pretty easy.

Although i SHOULD have just bought second-hand books instead of totally new ones

Murakami is a kind of grey zone
whilst his novels were originally highly praised both by the general public and in literature circles, it came to pass that many of his works shared too many similarities and simply blend together. There's also been a noticeable decline in his work as of a few years ago. He isn't exactly high art but he's passable. A large percentage of his fanbase are college age women. If you do get any works of his, go for The Wind Up Bird Chronicle (considered his best) and since you're a pleb 1Q84 (the third act is kind a let down but if you're just getting into reading you should develop a taste for long books)

The Road by Mccarthy is pretty good, though most people here will praise The Crossing (part of the Border Trilogy), Suttree, and Blood Meridian much higher. I'd recommend most of his work.

Genre fiction is a pretty big no-no amongst the general populace here (though there is a sci-fi/fantasy containment thread). Douglas Adams is a little too "zany" and lowbrow to be taken seriously against the likes of classic sci-fi authors like PKD, Stanislaw Lem, Bradbury, Poe, and Lovecraft (weird fiction vaguely qualifies as Sci-fi). A playful author that I think is respected here is of course the fantasy author Terry Pratchett. There's a strong Tolkien fanbase worth prying into (if you haven't actually read LOTR you should, its almost nothing like the film) who enjoy many of his lesser known works like the Silmarillion and Children of Hurin, and even a folklore/mythology following of sorts too (there's frequent threads on norse mythology and charts for recommended reading in the area) if that's one of the reasons you like fantasy.

read The Road

That's a great write up

Now that you mention it, Murakami does seem highly praised by mostly college age women, which makes me feel rather silly for buying it. I'll still give it a fair chance though

I'll definitely start out with The Road, I feel like thats the one book that'll keep me interested the most, just hope it isn't TOO much like the movie

Thank you

I've only ever read that book by Murakami and I thought it was alright. I suppose you could start with it. It's short enough and not too difficult

>the local library here has a yearly fee for everyone above 21+
where do you live?

The Netherlands (hence the dreadful english)

80 euro's a year for library subscriptions

the road

it's a super quick read and will get you into the groove
then murakami, but u shoulda got kafka on the shore or 1q84

what languages are you fluent/proficient in?
Huizinga and Mulisch are some pretty renowned dutch authors (the former being a historian however) who would be decent reading
McCarthy's The Road is probably mostly readable for you but some of his other works (especially Suttree) might use old american/spanish terms you aren't familiar with
if you know german or french I'd recommend authors in those languages probably before I'd even recommend english authors

Greeks

Hitchhiker's Guide is seriously underrated on here. There are a few shitty parts, but it's a 90% enjoyable read and takes like 3 hours. It's tiny.

Ja jammer dat het zo duur is. Als ik je nog een tip mag geven: voordat je een boek koopt via bol.com, kijk ook eens op bookdepository.com, de boeken zijn daar vaak veel goedkoper. Ik heb zelf een excel gemaakt van alle boeken die ik nog wil kopen, en de prijzen op respectievelijk bol, amazon, en bookdepository (ga reregeld naar USA, amazon kan een uitkomst zijn voor zeldzamere boeken, en daar zijn de boeken ook vrij goedkoop, daarnaast zit je meestal ook nog eens rond de 8% belasting in plaats van 21%).

Hoe goed is je Engels? Als je normaal gesproken nooit leest kan het heel vervelend zijn om direct door een moeilijk boek heen te moeten ploeteren, en op die manier geef je het lezen misschien wel weer heel snel op.

I absolutely prefer reading in english over dutch so it's not an issue, my writing and speaking just aren't up to par.

You've go me curious about Mulisch though ill look him up

Super tip over bookdepository, how is the shipping?

Ik denk dat m'n Engels wel redelijk is als het om lezen gaat, ik heb "Thus spoke Zarathustra" gelezen, en ik moest wel hier en daar wat woorden googlen maar over het algemeen ging het wel vloeiend

>being recommended the least readable Murakami novel
get better recommendations

yeah I don't get all the hate
I listened to the radio drama at work multiple times.

Never go full reddit, OP.

This

>McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses
>Banks, The Wasp Factory
>Krasznahorkai, The Melancholy of Resistance
>Banville, The Book of Evidence
>Banville, The Sea

Which first?

Wasp Factory

Wow. It almost looks like this is fucking bait. You really are at a starting level, aren't you, fag?

Since everyone is refusing to give you a straight answer, start with Hitchhiker or The Road, then move onto Hard Boiled Wonderland.

I've never heard of the last one.

the last wish was a fun read, just classical children tales with the witcher added to them and some nice humor and drama, i thought the witcher series got progressively worse as it stopped being short tales and started being some kind of big story with too many chapter revolving around the kid girl

haven't read the rest, sorry

I could understand all of that and I only know English and German. Is Dutch the retarded cousin of these two?

Best post.

Yup, totally am

It's amazing how the bookseries becomes worse and worse as it goes on. The last book in the series is the worst book that I have ever read.