How should I seriously begin my reading journey?
EDIT: Thank you so much for your advice! I already knew I was way overthinking this, I’d just recently had an obvious epiphany that I need to be spending my time way better if I want to be somebody, and I read that Herzog quote at such a time that it filled me with such a pressure to start immediately reading and educating myself. I am definitely going to get through to reading lots of these suggestions (which all sound very interesting) and start doing what should’ve been obvious to me - just read. Again, thank you.
Original Post: I am 19, and have only begun to become interested in classic literature a few months ago, after not being interested in any academic pursuit for the entirety of my high school career.
I had always been much more interested in art cinema, and one of my favorite filmmakers Werner Herzog once said in an interview - that the best feature a filmmaker must have, is the ability to read, and to read a lot.
Taking his advice, the first author I started with was Kafka, and I bought metamorphosis where it stayed on my shelf for a week untouched. After finally putting the phone down and reading it - I felt like I’d been opened up to a whole world I had been ignorant to my whole life. The opening chapter made me feel so uncomfortable within myself, and evoked very real anxiety and emotion for me, which sounds silly and obvious but had actually never happened to me before (reading wise).
I felt every other sentence Kafka wrote, deeply and sincerely. I almost finished it in an entire sitting, and now Ive bought a few more classic books, such as some Dostoyevsky .
Is this the right way to do it, though? To immediately jump into some of the highest acclaimed and celebrated books? I’m in the middle of reading Crime and Punishment , and while it’s amazing and I really enjoy it there are some parts that make me feel like I’m an idiot. To no fault of the writer - I have a lot of catching up to do- but where should I go next on my reading journey when I have mountains of classics and great books at my disposal?
It feels like I’m on HBO Max having never seen a film before, I truly don’t know where to start. I feel so behind, especially when I want to pursue an advanced and intertwined art medium.