<p>OKAY so I have like 10 books sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read, and I really don't know where to start, so any insight would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoevsky
A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess
The Grapes of Wrath/The Pearl- John Steinbeck
Exiles- James Joyce
Gulliver's Travels-Jonathan Swift
Fifth Business- Robertson Davies
The Three Theban Plays- Sophocles
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof- Tennessee Williams
Hamlet-Shakespeare
Sister Carrie- Theodore Dreiser
Walden- Henry David Thoreau</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with Shakespeare, I heard good things about Crime and Punishment, and I loved Grapes of Wrath although there’s mixed feelings about that book.</p>
<p>LOLOLOL WALDEN. The only assigned book in high school that I didn’t read during the school year. Unbearable imo.</p>
<p>read crime and punishment first, it’s easily the most amazing book on that list
then read gulliver’s travels, which is fun and lighthearted- a great read! After that I’d recommend, Shakespeare, dreiser, or sophocles, and the rest I have little interest in.
Walden is written beautifully but at the same time is so convoluted that its not worth the struggle. Grapes of wrath just bored me.</p>
<p>I would highly recommend the count of monte cristo, the decameron, the brothers karamazov, and the magic mountain.</p>
<p>Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - I love me some Tennessee Williams. Hamlet’s also good. If you’re looking for a bigger challenge, try some James Joyce or A Clockwork Orange.</p>
<p>Williams, Shakespeare, Burgess, Steinbeck and Dostoevsky should all be read, and read quickly! Walden should be burned, and burned quickly! If you do read it you should follow it up with Skinner’s Walden II. Its a much better, more provocative piece that you will actually find worth reading.</p>
<p>35 years after reading it in HS, just the words “Sister Carrie” make me cringe. What a horrible, awful book. I wanted to kill people after reading it! The only books I’ve disliked more are Stephen Crane’s “Maggie: A Girl of the Streets,” which I read in the same class and anything by Tom Robbins.</p>
<p>From the rest of your list, I’d start with Hamlet because of the awesome soliloquies. I used to read them out loud in my room in junior year. Then, 'd do Crime and Punishment and after, that I’d close my eyes and pick at random.</p>
<p>Okay so I’m just finishing up A Confederacy of Dunces now, and afterwards I think I’ll start Crime and Punishment (followed by either Hamlet/Grapes of Wrath)! And I’m still kind of shocked at the hatred for Thoreau. SHould I stay away from Ralph Waldo Emerson too?</p>