I am a terrible reader, so when I tried reading the real Das Kapital, I read about Karl Marx's biography, and gave up on the first chapter half-way.
I was curious about left-wing media, which was apparently a big thing in post-colonial India (Awaara (the most popular movie in the global South in the 1950s), Namak Haram, Kaala Patthar, etc).
Incidentally, I came across 'Manga de Dokuha' by East Press, of which, one book was Das Kapital (the manga). It's a relatively short read, with about nine chapters. Definitely a nice seinen for 30+ folks.
Lmao the manga’s actually pretty good and you wouldn’t even expect it. I even started liking the characters, and was annoyed when volume 2 kinda dropped them. But I mean, you wouldn’t expect Das Kapital to even have any characters.
This is maybe what I need. I got exactly as far as you did with the original before I also gave up.
If you want the next book, I'll recommend you works by Ursula K. Le Guin - pick any of her books, although I'd recommend sci-fi works like 'The Dispossessed'. I'll be completing 'The Book of EarthSea' and moving to one of those sci-fi books of hers, then maybe start with 'Socialism: Utopian and Scientific'.
Quotes from the 'Wizard of Earthsea':
Only in silence the word,
only in dark the light,
only in dying life:
bright the hawk’s flight
on the empty sky.
I'd honestly recommend something like Engles' Wage, Labor, and Capital to start learning some of the stuff that comes in Karl's big old book.
No joke, the first three chapters of Das Kapital are the hardest. Don't feel bad.