just brainstorming…
I have Latin readers but have a hard time getting into them. I want to read the real thing.
Where to start?
Something interesting but not too difficult… I know most beginners start with Caesar… I would need to get my hands on a copy for that. Any other good suggestions? I was browsing through the latin texts at the University the other day but there are literally thousands… where should I start? 
I have found Nepos agreeable. His syntax isn’t as trickified as Cicero’s, the material is more varied than Caesar, and there were lots of editions for schoolboys you can now find in the usual collections of scanned books.
good to know… I’ll check it out. I think I need to commit myself to one text and just DO it. I tend to do bits and pieces here and there, without getting very far… hence my “beginner” status after all this time!
80 results for Nepos at the UofA, lol. I’ve requested one that claims to have vocab, notes, and exercises in it…
Vergil’s Aeneid. For many colleges introduces 200-level course work. Tons of free and useful commentaries available onine.
Hi Klewlis. If you intend putting off De Bello Gallico until later, Ritchie’s Fabulae Faciles is a great preparation. Also Aesop’s Fables is a traditional starter.
Si in mentem habes De Bello Gallico legere, opus tibi est hoc opus (!!) Fabulae Faciles http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8997
Etiam Fabulae Aesopi. Vide, exempli gratia, http://www.archive.org/details/fabulaeaesopisel00clariala
A simple text and a great way to get into the historical matters and all the major grammatical points is to start with Res Gestae Divi Augusti. Catullus is actually simple for poetry, but simpler than Vergil, who, after you learn to ignore the notes that Pharr presents, transforms into something else altogether. Caesar is, of course, standard.