Any classic books recommendations please?
Hi, I am an avid reader but unfortunately I have no classic books under my belt. I want to rectify that. Any recommendations please?
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Hi, I am an avid reader but unfortunately I have no classic books under my belt. I want to rectify that. Any recommendations please?
Murder on the orient express- I haven’t read many classics but wanted that to change this year too! This one was a nice easy read
If you come to Istanbul, you can see the ‘Orient Express’ exhibit in the final station. It’s fun!
No way this is a classic. Pop lit at best.
Two of my favourites are Jane Eyre and To Kill a Mockingbird. Whatever you choose, enjoy!!
All of the above, plus Wuthering Heights, Rebecca and Jamaica Inn
Who wrote Jamacia Inn?
Daphne du Maurier
@Zahara I’m reading her biography now and just got to the part where she wrote Jamaica Inn. For some reason I thought her only novel was Rebecca! It’s my all time favorite book 🙂
I’ve got a ten book set by her, but only read the two so far and loved them both
Read Rebecca a month ago – great read.
@Melissa – Rebecca is fantastic! I couldn’t put it down the first time I read it!
@Zahara the ONLY book I’ve reread…at least 1x per year since I was 16 (I’m 50 now!)
Charles Dickens, all in any order
The 39 Steps and Around the World in 80 Days. They are both fairly short and I couldn’t put either of them down. Jane Eyre is my absolute favourite, and I studied To Kill A Mockingbird at school. I would defy anyone to read that book and not be inspired to be a better person.
Jane Eyre and Far from the Madding Crowd
Jane Eyre and anything by Dickens and Mark Twain.
To Kill a Mockingbird, any Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, Dodsworth
Wuthering Heights.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Jane Austen books before Jane Eyre for me any day. However, I ended up having to reread Jane Eyre several years ago so The Eyre Affair (first Thursday Next book. . . which I loved, made more sense) by Jasper Fforde. Agree with To Kill a Mockingbird.
Always start with Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities or Great Expectations.
Oliver Twist!
Sense and Sensibility
My current Read!
Les Miserables, Victor Hugo, one of the best books that I have ever read.
I second this suggestion.
The Great Gatsby.
I’d go with the modern classics and move backwards so the language isn’t too daunting from the outset
Great suggestion!
Love. Taught it at least twenty times and each time admired it more. I do think it requires some preparation and guidance to understand it fully but there are so many guides it’s not a problem. You call email or text me if you like. It’s brilliant. Also
Zelda by Mitford and an autobio of Fitzgerald. Also, Tender is the Night. Sorry l got carried away but they touch my soul.
@Barbara They are all fab. I suggested Gatsby as the language is so much more accesible than Dickens or the Brontes. Zelda rocks!
Jane Austen, Leon Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
I LOVE Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Jane Eyre
All things John Steinbeck
I second that. East of Eden is great.
And Grapes of Wrath.
Love those.
East of Eden is Genesis. Grapes of Wrath was considered a Communist book during the depression. They are wonderful books, brilliant writing, riveting plots, unforgettable characters, and depth of meaning. I guess l really liked them.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Fahrenheit 451.
This would be a great place to start-you’ll be amazed by the similarities to today’s world. A little scary even 🙂
1984 and Brave New World. Scary how current they are.
Pride and Prejudice
The quintessential classic.
The Age of Innocence
A tree grows in Brooklyn, and The good earth. Both great reads
George Orwell-1984. Somerset Maugham, his short stories as well as Of Human Bondage, The Razor’s Edge. Also, Graham Greene, The End of the Affair.
Yes!
Sinclair Lewis. Arrow smith, etc.
I recommend Dracula and Frankenstein, I like the Victorian gothic more than the Victorian day to day books though
All things Willa Cather!
Rebecca and Jane Eyre. Jane Austen, especially Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Wuthering Heights, The Count of Monte Cristo and of course To Kill A Mockingbird. The list is endless but any of these is a great start.
Go onto the BBCs Big Read website, or Time Magazines 100 Best Books of the Century (latter ought to be on Wikipedia).
Three Men In A Boat by JeromeK. Jerome
Bram stokers dracula, wuthering heights, great expectations,Alice in wonderland, through the looking glass, Peterpan
I’d say “The Catcher in the Rye” is a classic!
The Good Earth was excellent. Also, consider YA books like Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, Esperanza Rising, The Cricket of Times Square, The Secret Garden, etc.
The count of Monte cristo
This may help:
http://www.listchallenges.com/barnes-and-noble-classics
I have been trying to read more classics the last couple of years. Faves are: Lord of the Rings (of course, hang in there with them), all Jane Austen, The Old Man and the Sea, Charlotte’s Web, Lord of the Flies, The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, and (extra fave) is The Picture of Dorian Gray. Most of these are very short reads.
Online, there are lots of chronological lists of classics from the Iliad on up. If you’re thinking of classic novels, there are lists of those too. Tom Jones is fairly funny and early, pre-realism. And you can look at syllabi for courses on the history of the novel. And you can’t go wrong with Shakespeare or a bit with a dog.
Good idea.
I have lists socked away. Happy to share, but afraid to inflict on the SBC. PM if interested.
Edith Wharton
I don’t know if it is considered a classic but I loved Rebecca
Not a classic. Popular chick lit.
One person’s “popular chic lit” is another person’s classic. All of the classics started out as popular books, otherwise they would never past the test of time.
My daughter had to read it in a literature class in high school. With all the moaning and groaning I was hearing I thought I’d check it out and was captivated. I never read anything in Lit that caught my interest like that other than Jane Austen
“Chick lit” my foot! A classic for sure!
I’m so old, l don’t know when classics start. About what year would you begin?
I’m old too! They start with things like the Iliad and Odyssey or Gilgamesh. The Tanakh (Old Testament). Hindu scripture. Confucius. The old rule was that something had to be around and still read for 100 years. Hence the terms “modern classic” and “instant classic” for those in a hurry. 😉
@Mari Thanks. Books that were new to me are now classics, which is fine but another thing that makes me feel old when inside l’m about 27, but more aware.
I feel 27 inside too, all sleek and glossy. One gift of true classics is that every new generation finds them, and we can watch them arrive at the party.?
Nice??
Nice??
Anything by John Steinbeck. Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth, Stoker’s Dracula, Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and anything Mark Twain.
I ? Steinbeck ?
I think East of Eden is my fave.
What type of genre or story do you fancy reading (within the classic bracket)? Easier to recommend for you 🙂
Dracula by bram stoker
Isn’t it great? If you like Stoker, have a go at Kostova’s The Historian.
Ok
Im not too much for classics. But Dracula i absolutely love
Kostova is quite recent and a fan of Stoker, wink-wink.
Ok
Mari Sisson fantastic book. But vampires do not make a book a classic. Wink, wink.
Any Jane Austin,Pride and Prejudice is my favorite
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Read Emily Bronte.
A tale of two cities, the count of monte Cristo, the three musketeers.
The Woman in White by Wilke Collins. Then his The Moonstone.
I was transferred to a school in 7th grade and was supposed to read The Woman in White, but the class was over half way through it and I was totally lost. However, I kept the book and finally got around to reading it after I graduated. Absolutely loved it.
Easy to find lists and lists of classics. Use the log google.
There are some wonderful children’s classics that can feel less daunting as a starting place. A few I adore:
• Little Women
• Anne of Green Gables
• Secret Garden
• Peter Pan
• Wizard of Oz
That’s my list.. ?
Tale of two cities
Anything Poe. The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico. Anything Ray Bradbury.
Anything Pearl S. Buck.
Anything Ernest Hemingway
Anything Kahlil Gibran
For starters?
I love Edith Wharton.
Especially “Ethan Fromme” for me…
The House of Mirth is my fav so far.
I hope to read The Age of Innocence this year.
Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Grey has always been one of my favorites!
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley.
F. Scott Fitzgerald and/or John Steinbeck (although the Grapes of Wrath is beautiful…it is a tedious read…I’d do Cannery Row or Of Mice and Men to start with)
Steinbecks’s “East of Eden” is also a great book.
“The Count of Monte Cristo” (abridged version, and avoid the movie), any Jane Austen but start with Pride and Prejudice,
Yes, Jane Austen! Also, Edith Whaton, Age of Innocence and The Buccaneers
It’s really hard to say what you might like, and if you’re willing to get through something even if it’s not thrilling you just so you can have a foundation of knowledge about a work that is often referenced in some way or another (other books, movies, comments made in conversation, like someone referring to wearing a scarlet letter, etc).
When I was a teenager at a school that rarely assigned any reading material (I guess it was down to cost in a poor state), I assigned myself classics that other people often got assigned at schools (this was long ago, lol). I read a lot that I didn’t like, and a lot I did. I think it was still worthwhile reading the classics that I didn’t much like, at least most of them. If I had to do it over, I wouldn’t pick up Moby Dick or War and Peace again.
Some classics that are worth the time and that I really enjoyed: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (my favorite book), One Hundred Years of Solitude, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice (for a start).
Some classics that aren’t as thrilling a read (to me, at least) but good to have in your well of knowledge: Hamlet, Macbeth, A Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlet Letter, 1984. Loads more on both counts, but I’ll stop there, lol.
Michelle Carson. You are a treasure. Wish there were more like you.
I’m not sure why, but I’ll take it! Thank you!
I enjoyed The Scarlett Letter, Wuthering Heights, Call of the Wild and Great Expectations and of course To Kill a Mockingbird. I tried to start reading classics last year as well.
Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad.
@Michelle you have explained why it’s important to read the classics even if the experience isn’t especially enjoyable. It seems obvious but I haven’t seen it put into words before, in posts or comments here, at any rate. I’m glad I was assigned to read as many of them as I was because I doubt I could make myself read them now. When thinking about classics, don’t forget 20th century plays like Death of a Salesman and The Glass Menagerie.
Ah, I see! Yes, some books/plays it is important to read even if they don’t do much for you. For instance, I’m not a huge fan of Shakespeare, but quotes from his works pop up all the time. It’s just good to have a foundation in a few things in literature. I did read Death of a Salesman Years ago, never hit The Glass Menagerie. Will have to add that to my list!
https://www.denverpost.com/2010/02/11/the-10-most-important-american-plays/
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
Leaves of grass, great gatsby, little women
I adore Walt Whitman.
The old man and the sea
The Professor by Charlotte Bronte…..
The Enormous Room by E.E. Cummings
The Scarlett Letter. Tells how being on the margins sometimes liberates you.
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck was very good.
Try Norman Mailer, The Naked and the Dead?
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Any Faulkner book rocks!??
East of Eden.
I’m trying to read some classics too. Don’t normally like them. The only book I read twice in my entire life was To Kill a Mockingbird. Read it back in 1980 and again in 2015
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird
East of Eden. The best!!
Not sure if it qualifies as a classic but certainly a modern classic: Old man and the sea. It’s a short and easy read, wonderful character study.
Definitely agree!
If you haven’t read To Kill a Mockingbird, read it asap
many of these are available as audiobooks – you might find them easier to listen to than to read, especially if the language is “antique”
Many classical books books are available for free or .99¢ Downloads great way to explore classic books without spending a lot of money. Also library good for classics.a
Jane Austen, The Brontes, Thomas Hardy, Upton Sinclair (The Jungle), Hemingway, mark twain. I guess I’m in the minority, but I do not care for Fitzgerald.
Agreed re Fitzgerald— and, sorry, I just don’t like Papa H, either.
I only liked The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway, but he I a true American storyteller of his time
I don’t like Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Edith Wharton. Maybe it’s just that time period with me.
@Barbara could be!
Little Woman
Pollyanna
Scarlet Letter isn’t a romance. It’s about,sin,hypocrisy,bravery,truth,etc. But romance is just to sell it.
Saw this today, it fits the bill: “25 classics that are not remotely boring”
https://modernmrsdarcy.com/classics/
Thanks
I liked anything by the Bröntes
Country of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett
The Anne of Green Gables series
This Good Earth by Pearl Buck
The Count of Monte Christ Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
The Time Machine – H. G. Wells
East of Eden – John Steinbeck
The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle
My Antonia – Willa Cather
Sons and Lovers – D. H. LawrenceLawrence
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Washington Irving
Rip Van Winkle – Washington Irving
Watership Down – Richard Adams
The Forsyth Saga – John Galsworthy
The Country of The Pointed Firs! Be still my heart??
Jane Austen’s novels — Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abby, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park.
Check out Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35031085