PS. to my post of 2016-03-05 15:17:22:

If Marjorie Boulton's Faktoj kaj Fantazioj should be too difficult for beginners, one route to it is Gerda Malaperis! followed by [url=http://en.lernu.net/biblioteko/rakontoj/vere_aŭ_fantazie/index.php]Vere aŭ Fantazie?[/url] by the same author, and possibly the magazine for younger people Juna Amiko (which has glossaries at the end of the articles).

Karlo is a first-reader book. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/24525

It uses l' in place of la, which is weird, but easily ignored.

Beyond that, project Gutenberg has a few books in Esperanto. Most of them were published in the traditional manner, so I figure to get past editors and publishers, the authors had to have good credentials.

La verda koro (1937) by Julio Baghy is still one of the best books for beginners.

La verda koro (1937) de Julio Baghy ankoraŭ estas unu el la plej bonaj libroj por komencantoj.

Vestitor:Most people know that the real way a person develops their reading skills is by...well reading; and that this is also a way to develop better writing and speaking skills as it provides models.

When reading specifically fiction, as is the experience of most people in whatever languages they read, you don't just get entertained and learn words, you absorb grammar and structure. At the risk of sounding trite: you learn to master your tools.

Since I can't describe myself as an Esperanto expert, I often wonder what are the texts someone more discerning would recommend as providing good models for development? I really think this matters, because reading the Esperanto posts here can be as hit-and-miss as e.g. the good and bad English floating around the internet; whereas reading dependable books and periodicals - like I did when I was a child and a teenager and onward - put down a solid foundation.

Does anyone have recommendations? Not long lists of links to this or that, just a dependable well from which to draw when necessary, rather than a flood.

If you haven’t read Zamenhof’s ‘Fundamenta Krestomatio de la Lingvo Esperanto’, you simply haven’t done your homework.

mkj1887:

If you haven’t read Zamenhof’s ‘Fundamenta Krestomatio de la Lingvo Esperanto’, you simply haven’t done your homework.

I don't think so. There's a lot of material in there unnecessary to simply reading for pleasure. I don't believe in the idea that all Zamenhof's oeuvre has to be digested in order to be a properly learned Esperantist.

Vestitor:I don't believe in the idea that all Zamenhof's oeuvre has to be digested in order to be a properly learned Esperantist.

I agree. Apart this I really dislike to impose on that -isto diving glock about every addiction of conlang loving.

spreecamper:

Vestitor:I don't believe in the idea that all Zamenhof's oeuvre has to be digested in order to be a properly learned Esperantist.

I agree. Apart this I really dislike to impose on that -isto diving glock about every addiction of conlang loving.

You might have an interesting thought there, but it seems like you need a lot of help with your English beforehand, but not by me. I can’t make heads or tails out of what you are trying to say.

mkj1887:You might have an interesting thought there, but it seems like you need a lot of help with your English beforehand....

Is it better to use an I-statement in this situation?

"I-messages are often used with the intent to be assertive without putting the listener on the defensive. They are also used to take ownership for one's feelings rather than implying that they are caused by another person."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-message

A lot of people on this forum (you know who you are) need to learn about I-statements. This was a pre-req for passing kindergarden when I was a kid.

How does one 'pass' kindergarten? I didn't go to such a thing, we just started school at four years old, but from what I've seen (my sister is a Kindergarten teacher) I believe there is a lot of playing with toys, singing songs, learning simple reading, learning to write one's name etc. No lessons in 'I statements'.

Never learned about "I statements" in kindergarten. But fortunately for mkj, he has a perfect I-statement in his post. "I can't make heads or tails out of what you are trying to say".