Literatures for the beginners

Hi,

I have not read many novels before. One of the reason is English is not my native language. Now I want to start reading novels. But the sheer number of books available really overwhelms me. Besides The first two novels that I read was "To Kill a Mocking Bird" and "The Lord of The Flies". But honestly I feel like those are the kind of books that I should have read the last. The first book was ok but sometimes many sentences seem to be impenetrable. And for the last one, I had really a hard time reading the book. So I think I should begin with relatively easier books. I imagine that even the grade school students of english speaking children are some what in my situation and there must be a chronological order of the books that are used in the instructions at those schools. Say, some thing like first Shakespeare then Stevenson etc. or whatever. So I am requesting the english speakers to suggest a reading list according to the order of the books they read in their schools.

Thanks in advance.

 If you're not comfortable with your current level of vocabulary and believe you should start from the easier ones in order to increase your vocabulary, I would suggest different kinds of detective books. Agatha Christie has wrote many and many wonderful books which aren't too hard to understand. Sherlock Holmes by Doyle, too, are relatively easy to approach. Longman Fiction has made many compilation books originally written by Christie. What is good about these books, is the fact that one can choose your 'language level' from lower intermediate to advanced full text. Moreover, the book I've had five years or so had even an extra book which contained all the hard or rare words with their explanations in it. At least, this is how I started reading. Then I slowly started ascending to harder and harder books. But remember to read a good variety of styles. Concentrating merely on one style inhibits you from getting a more diverse base of vocabulary.

 

This is more or less the way how I was taught and encouraged to do. 

 E.B. White wrote one of the great 20th century children's classics: Charlotte's Web; also The Trumpet of the Swan and Stuart Little.

 His writing is quite beautiful.

 

Don't dismiss "children's books". There are some great writers out there. Margaret Mahy for one is totally exceptional. 

"Memory" about an unhappy 19-year old boy who becomes the sole support of an old woman with Alzheimers.

"The Tricksters" - a family is permanently changed by three incomers.

 "The Haunting"  - a boy is haunted.

 

These are three of her books for older readers - I believe they have a lot for an adult reader. "Memory" in particular haunted me for ages.

 

Google her for more titles. 

 A fast reader could read it in no more than three hours.