Wow didn’t know there was such love for this book. It has been on my TBR forever, but for 2019 I’m planning to make a specific list of what i want to read, some of which will be classics, so these comments have put Dr. Z on my 2019 book list.
There’s a Facebook group called Literary Classics Book Club that posts a selection each month and then has a discussion. They have a pinned post with a long list of classics.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, Utopia by Sir Thomas More, any short stories by Anton Chekov. I would go on, but I can’t see my bookshelves from here.
Yes, I have. I listen to each book on audio, many are free on Librivox, but others I order via Audible. I find it makes the book so much more interesting to know the background to it and a bit about why it was written. You could just sign up for the free newsletter first to see what you think, or just buy one individually, you can do that too. Listening to the classics read to me has really allowed me to appreciate them – somehow I get a better understanding of the work than when I read it in print.
Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson isn’t on that list (am reading it currently), nor is Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson, or Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
My goal for the new year too. This year I hardly read any and I am reading quite disappointed by that. I will begin by re-reading a few so that I can get going and then just pick on a whim ?
Anything by Jane Austen (Persuasion is my favorite), Dickens is good but wordy if you’re in a hurry, Jane Eyre is another favorite, Frankenstein would be good for October (scary but not too scary), Picture of Dorian Gray (made me want to read more by Wilde), Little Women & Charlotte’s Web are also favorites from my childhood (still enjoyable as adult), and if you like Jane Austen, try Elizabeth Gaskell (North & South and Wives & Daughters are 2 of my faves)
@Christine I’m a bit hit or miss with the Brontes…love Jane Eyre, hate Wuthering Heights…liked Tenant of Wildfell Hall, still need to read Villette & Agnes Grey
My book, not a classic yet but soon to be 😉 Seriously though, I read House of Seven Gables recently, very very good book! It’s like a snapshot of time from Salem MA just a few years after the Witch Trials took place. And if you go to Salem, you can actually tour the house.
Watership Down. Lost Horizon (very comforting in stressful times). I did read Moby DIck one year as a New Years Resolution. It works if one reads it as if one is on a ship with long stretches of time and nothing to do. I also did a combo resolution one year: Read Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and watch Apacolypse Now (which was based on that, kind of). I’m sure someone has made a list of top 100 classics to read. You could pick off of that. The good thing? They’re probably all in the library for free.
Edith Wharton’s The age of Innocence and The House of Mirth are my favorites. I see many other excellent authors/books have already been mentioned. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a great read too.
East of Eden and Rebecca for sure!
Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
Gone with the wind
Animal farm
1984
Rebecca
@Amanda is Rebecca scary
@June Appelhanz, no, I wouldn’t say it’s scary, but it’s a good read ?
My Cousin Rachel
Have not heard of this one.
@Flo, it’s by the author of Rebecca.
Hm. Thank you.
@Elizabeth love this book ?
Jane Eyre
The Glass Bead Game
Lady Audley’s Secret; I’m not sure if it is counted as a classic but it was written in 1862-1864
Anne of Green Gables and Great Expectations
How to kill a Mockingbird
@Hayley I read this one annually. ❤️
A Farewell to Arms
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Native Son
The Godfather
@Scott Earnest ???
I definitely wanted to recommend nothing but Hemingway! The Garden of Eden is my favorite but it’s not for everyone.
Farenheit 451, 1984 a scary how close things are getting to how the world is portrayed in them.
Anna Karenina is my favorite.
Following
Following
I really liked Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky.
Good one!
Gatsby
I enjoyed Phantom of the Opera
Dr zhivago, Grapes of wrath
@Deborah I’ve had Dr Zhivago on my TBR list for a few years. Is it good??
@Donlee it’s exceptional. I even named one of my show dogs after the book. The language is magnificent, elegant, a fantastic read.
@Deborah thanks, I’ll have to move it up my list
@Donlee Yes!
@Deborah No one I know understands my love for Doctor Zhivago lol
Wow didn’t know there was such love for this book. It has been on my TBR forever, but for 2019 I’m planning to make a specific list of what i want to read, some of which will be classics, so these comments have put Dr. Z on my 2019 book list.
Little Women, Wuthering Heights, Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies, Pride and Prejudice, Les Miserables, Tess of the d’Urbervilles
@Stephanie excellent suggestions!
@Summer thank you
There’s a Facebook group called Literary Classics Book Club that posts a selection each month and then has a discussion. They have a pinned post with a long list of classics.
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
@Baleigh i just read this ?
Frankenstein
Also, The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Nay Merrill, Frankenstein is one of my favourite novels!
Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel and Anna Karenina. Persuasion is my favourite book!
The Portrait of Dorian Grey
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, Utopia by Sir Thomas More, any short stories by Anton Chekov. I would go on, but I can’t see my bookshelves from here.
IF you do read any Anton Chekov, I suggest “The Wager.”
The Name of the Wind.
H. G. Wells is pretty awesome if you like sci-fi. I’m particularly fond of The Island of Dr. Moreau.
I have one of his which I’ve tried to read, it sounds really interesting, it’s called the “Food of the Gods.”
Dracula ?♂️ was a good read too.
JANE AUSTEN
Jane Eyre?
Jane Eyre ❤️❤️❤️
Dracula. I wasn’t disappointed!!!
North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
Gatsby ??
Following
Anything by george orwell, I’d start with either animal farm or 1984… must read !!
Little Women.
Little women,Gone With The Wind,The Great Gatsby, A tree grows in Brooklyn, pride and prejudice.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas.
Lol I was literally just about to ask this same thing! 😀 thanks everyone for your suggestions, and Suzanne for posing the question!
To kill a mockingbird
Emma or Pride and Prejudice definitely
Susannah Fullerton produces a readers guide to the classics – one each month. I think they are fabulous and they’ve helped me learn to love the classics. https://susannahfullerton.com.au/come-with-me-on-a-literary-journey/
@Cheryl this looks amazing. Have you done this??? The $$ is a bit steep to go into with no personal review.
Yes, I have. I listen to each book on audio, many are free on Librivox, but others I order via Audible. I find it makes the book so much more interesting to know the background to it and a bit about why it was written. You could just sign up for the free newsletter first to see what you think, or just buy one individually, you can do that too. Listening to the classics read to me has really allowed me to appreciate them – somehow I get a better understanding of the work than when I read it in print.
Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson isn’t on that list (am reading it currently), nor is Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson, or Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Depends on your taste. Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Lolita, Crime and Punishment, A Tale of Two Cities, Rebecca, Catch-22, Anna Karenina.
Jane Eyre is a wonderful read
The great Gatsby
Especially as we’re about to enter the roaring 20s again at the end of 2019 old sport!
How gorgeous…
Narnia
Jane Eyre!
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. It’s also very short if you have a month when you are a bit pushed.
I should try to re-read this. I read it about ten years ago and thought it was an agonizing read. Some people love it.
Magic mountain (Th Mann)
Lady Jane and John Thomas by D H Lawrence. Its a terrific read.
The Secret Garden ❤️
My 3 favorites are:
“Moll Flanders,” by Daniel Defoe.
“Little Women,” by Louisa May Alcott.
“The Woman in White,” by Wilkie Collins.
My goal for the new year too. This year I hardly read any and I am reading quite disappointed by that. I will begin by re-reading a few so that I can get going and then just pick on a whim ?
When I wanted to do this I started with Jane Eyre and what a treat!!!! Then I sailed through Jane Austen.
I’d suggest anything by John Steinbeck or The Good Earth by Pearl Buck.
Dickens, especially Great Expectations.
Not sure if it’s considered a “classic” but Watership Down is one that I love.
I don’t know if Fahrenheit 451 is a classic but I loved it
My Antonia
It’s the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. My book club is reading it in October.
I finally finished 1984 a few weeks ago and it was a great, quick read! I also agree with everyone here that Jane Eyre is an excellent choice.
Brave New World
Anything by Jane Austen (Persuasion is my favorite), Dickens is good but wordy if you’re in a hurry, Jane Eyre is another favorite, Frankenstein would be good for October (scary but not too scary), Picture of Dorian Gray (made me want to read more by Wilde), Little Women & Charlotte’s Web are also favorites from my childhood (still enjoyable as adult), and if you like Jane Austen, try Elizabeth Gaskell (North & South and Wives & Daughters are 2 of my faves)
@Jenny don’t skip anything from the Brönte sisters … Emily, Charlotte & Anne. Fantastic storytellers…?
@Christine I’m a bit hit or miss with the Brontes…love Jane Eyre, hate Wuthering Heights…liked Tenant of Wildfell Hall, still need to read Villette & Agnes Grey
Best Dickens, to me: A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and Oliver Twist
Silas Mariner
My daughter and I read Grapes of Wrath together….we both really enjoyed it
My book, not a classic yet but soon to be 😉
Seriously though, I read House of Seven Gables recently, very very good book! It’s like a snapshot of time from Salem MA just a few years after the Witch Trials took place. And if you go to Salem, you can actually tour the house.
The Crucible
Return of the Native
hey jean! Didn’t know you were here ❤️
@Patty suggested it.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Mark Twain also deserve a mention.
Watership Down. Lost Horizon (very comforting in stressful times). I did read Moby DIck one year as a New Years Resolution. It works if one reads it as if one is on a ship with long stretches of time and nothing to do. I also did a combo resolution one year: Read Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and watch Apacolypse Now (which was based on that, kind of). I’m sure someone has made a list of top 100 classics to read. You could pick off of that. The good thing? They’re probably all in the library for free.
I am glad to see someone mention Lost Horizon!
Read the Arthur Ransome Swallows and Amazon’s series. They are brilliant.
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes to Swallows and Amazons…. and then read some Elizabeth Gaskell…Cranford and North and South to start with.
Matilda! 😀 never too old…
Alchemy&Ink is doing a reading challenge of 1 jane Austen book a month!
Penguin books has a classics read along
https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2019/jan/your-classic-books-reading-challenge-for-2019/
Tale of Two Cities
Jane eyre
Any of Ernest Hemingway’s books
Little Women.
Edith Wharton’s The age of Innocence and The House of Mirth are my favorites. I see many other excellent authors/books have already been mentioned.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a great read too.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James – beautiful!
The Star of the Sea
Try Russian. There are plenty of solid Russian novels. “War and Peace “or “Anna Karenina”.
Moll Flanders
Charles Dickens !