A friend of mine has recently been expressing an interest in literature and I offered to let him borrow one of my books...

A friend of mine has recently been expressing an interest in literature and I offered to let him borrow one of my books. He agreed, and told me to give him whatever I thought he would enjoy. He doesn't have much experience in literature, but he's very intelligent so I think he'll be fine even with moderately advanced stuff. What should I lend him? Pic is what I'm leaning towards.

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Gravity's Rainbow

You should pick something short, page turning, interesting, and not overly complicated in order to lure him in without having to fight too much over the fact that he could be doing literally anything else and it would be more fun. SH5 is a decent choice, if he understand the humor behind it. Otherwise it's a boring book by a stupid old man that has aliens. Other people may post in the thread that I'm dumbing down literature and that people should have the fortitude to get through a dull book to appreciate what it stands for, but that's fuckin' hogwash. People rarely read what you lend them, no matter how much you love the book yourself. You'll never get people to do anything, but giving the correctly planned opportunity is best way to push the chances in your favor that he might go on to shitpost with the rest of us one day.

The Bible

Make him think he is a smart person

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Any specific ideas? The other two things I thought of were a collection of DFW's essays as an intro to him and The Sound and the Fury

I would actually start him off with Breakfast of Champions or maybe something by Mark Twain

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, it can be hammered out in a sitting if you're dedicated

Dr. Carl is waaaay too complex to start with. Too many references to schizoanalysis, game theory and the relationship between the Imperial Free Cities and modern day unicorn startups like Uber

But you can still enjoy the surface narrative

Some robinson crusoe or some shit nigga i am not a librarian

The Flemming Bond novels are pretty thrilling to read if you're not looking for any serious content.

Sirens of Titan is a better choice

>Foundation
>Slaughterhouse 5
>Consider the Lobster
>The Hobbit
>Pet Cemetery
>Hitchhikers Guide
>American Psycho
>Catch 22
>House of Leaves

I haven't read that one yet, I just remember Breakfast being really easy to get into

I enjoyed breakfast of champions the most.

Pic related is good and simple but also full of literary devices and has that sub conscious relatability one can usually easily enjoy.

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Make sure whatever you give him will not just make him understand the importance of the written medium, but give him an author that utilizes their medium in a way that shows how important novels are. Don Quixote is not only a classic, but is written in a tongue that's an absolute joy to read. House of Leaves is a marvelous horror story, but the innovative storytelling could only be told in book form. Flowers for Algernon is a depressing, cynical slog, but the first person narrative is unique to it alone, and enforces its themes of morality and reflection. Give him something that's actually fun and exciting, not just something you think he will appreciate on an intellectual level.

The stranger

Mom kicked the bucket. Can't recall when, precisely

Breakfast of Champions is fun, but unfulfilling. Even Vonnegaut thought it was mediocre.

Right, but that's why I'd use it as a starter. Then you can hit him with Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle

Breakfast of champions has cynicism that is relatable for the Yea Forums type, not that that's necessarily ops friend.

Cat's Cradle first

Cat's Cradle is vonnegut at his best. Start with SH5 or BOC, then you are ready to enjoy Cats

Seconding Foundation, adding Stoner as it has exceptionally easy to read prose

I would agree but it requires a bit of setup. Cat's Cradle in isolation makes Vonnegut seem like just another doomer but he's more complicated than that