I love by those books. I read Sophie’s World when I was in 7th grade. It’s still one of my favorites. Then I got A Solitaire Mystery in college and really liked it.
I love books by Sinclair Lewis, Edna Ferber, Upton Sinclair, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, J.P. Marquand, R.C. Hutchinson. They were very well-regarded in their time and some of them are strangely neglected today.
I nominate Carolyn Parkhurst’s The Dogs of Babel. A woman falls out of a tree and dies. Her widower, a gentle linguistics professor, is shattered. The only witness was the couple’s dog. The professor/narrator is a very logical and analytical person, and he has a very logical and analytical nervous breakdown. He believes if he can teach the dog to talk, she will tell him what happened. That’s the first chapter or so.
Tonia Susko I read the Italian and then got part way through the mysteries of udolpho. Unfortunately, the copy I have had tiny print that I just can’t handle any more so I have to get another copy or kindle it. The first part of the book is a dull travelogue but then it gets exciting as you meet villains. Right now I am reading Uncle Silas by Lefanu, a fabulous gothic thriller!
I loved Mrs. Overtheway’s Remembrances, by Juliana Horatia Ewing, as a child (still do!). Originally published in 1869. My copy dates from 1914 or 1915 and has lovely color illustrations.
The main characters in Tender Is The Night were inspired by Sara and Gerald Murphy….Wealthy expatriates living on the French Riviera in the 1920s who entertained famous authors (Hemingway and Fitzgerald) and artists (such as Picasso)….this book tells the story….its an excellent read….
Two books I’ve loved but seldom hear about or see on lists: Beautiful Joe, by Marshall Saunders was a favorite in my childhood; and Turtle Diary, by Russell Hoban, which was also a wonderful movie.
Dust by E. Haldeman-Julius and Marcet Haldeman-Julius http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/945 … Dust is an overlooked classic that, while published in 1921, remains relevant to the 21st century reader. The essence of the relationship between the main characters, Rose and Martin, is not unlike that of modern couples who seek to fill the emptiness in their relationships by working harder. A melancholy tale, indeed, but this is a story that needs to be told to remind us of our humanity.
Ivanhoe. I loved it as a kid. It used to be fairly common in the high school English curriculum but hardly anyone seems to read it anymore. In the same medieval vein, The Black Arrow. I loved that book too.
I still love to watch old movies….I recently discovered an awesome streaming service owned by Turner Classic Movies….I watch it constantly….http://www.filmstruck.com/…
I have an older volume of James Hilton which includes Random Harvest, Lost Horizon, and Goodbye Mr. Chips in one – it’s one of my most precious books, and I love the movie versions of each. I love to read the books which are made into great films, TCM is my favorite channel 🙂
Robyn Knopf Needel….”Don’t Even Get Me Started”….I subscribe to a streaming service called http://filmstruck.com/…I’m totally addicted, it’s an enormous collection of Turner Classic Movies and The Criterion Collection….
“In Lucia’s Eyes” by Arthur Japin…. the story of Casanova’s first love; and “Heart Mountain” by Gretel Erlich… a story about a Japanese internment camp near a small Montana town during WWII. Both lovely, beautifully written books.
Oh my goodness! I was scrolling thru my feed and your comment threw me back to such a specific time. I found a copy of this book as a child visiting family in India and desperate for something in English. I loved this book!
Falling in the books no one’s heard of category, The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough. It’s been a long time since I read it, but it certainly charmed me enough to read it twice and keep it on my very selective book shelf each time I’ve purged over the years. I decided to share because I looked it up on Goodreads and was surprised by the 1 star reviews. Apparently it’s controversial because many believe it to be plagiarized from L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle which I recently added to my “to read” list from an earlier discussion in this group.
Conrad Richter’s trilogy about the Ohio Frontier: The Awakening Land. The books in it are: The Trees, The Field, The Town…back in the 1970s I think there was a mini series starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Hal Holbrook but I think the film quality wasn’t preserved well so you rarely see if rerun…
I don’t believe I’ve seen Winds of War by Wouk mentioned anywhere as yet. One of my top three fav books of all time! hmmmm, I need to read again, perhaps right now!
I remember watching the “Wind” series on TV. Wouk is one of my favorite authors. He also wrote “The Caine Mutiny” which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction but I only saw the movie for that. The book I really loved was “Marjorie Morningstar” (the movie with Natalie Wood did not do it justice). By the way, Wouk graduated from Columbia University, Class of 1934.
Read Winds of War and War and Remembrance earlier this year. Have also read the Caine Mutiny and Marjorie Morningstar so I guess that officially makes me a Herman Wouk fan.
Everything by Elizabeth Goudge! City of Bells, The Dean’s Watch, Bird in the Tree, The Heart of the Family. There is a beauty in her writing that is truly remarkable.
Keri Stoffel did you know that Pilgrim’s Inn is actually the middle book in the trilogy? The Bird in the Tree and The Heart of the Family are the others. I love the others mentioned as well. The City of Bells has a sequel called These (the?) Blue Hills. … I’m a diehard junky for her!
The Mapp and Lucia series by EF Benson; books by sisters Margaret Drabble and AS Byatt; Anthony Trollope; books by Rumer Godden; Gore Vidal’s historical novels; “Diary of a Nobody,” and so much poetry that deserves to be read wide and far.
Marion Coro me too. But I remember it was a treasured book of my mothers and the first one she trusted me to handle and read. Even though I don’t remember the particulars, I do remember it made me happy ?
@Stephanie How cool is that! That book was a big influence on my life, I was fascinated by efficiency after reading it, and inspired by the love expressed in that family.
Wide Sargasso Sea, Sheppard Lee Written by Himself, any Ann Radcliffe, Charles Brockden Brown (Arthur Mervyn and also Edgar Huntley), Washington Irving’s Sketchbook, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Poe
Cold Sassy Tree The Scent of Water Elizabeth Gouge How Green Was my Valley A Tree Grows in Brooklyn A Rose for the Crown Anne Easter Smith The Mark of the Lion Trilogy Francine Rivers House at Riverton Kate Morton
I loved this story as a child and it stays with me even today Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” is a short story in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling about the adventures of a valiant young mongoose. The story has often been anthologized, and has been published more than once as a short book in its own right.
The Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters, All Faulkner, All Wharton, esp. House of Mirth, Stories by Flannery O’Connor, The Dubliner’s (esp. The Dead), by James Joyce, McTeague by Frank Norris, The Clown by Heinrich Boll, anything by Marquerite Duras, esp. The War, & The Lover; The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera…omg, TOO MANY!!!
Native Son, by Richard Wright; Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin; A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines; The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor; every short story by Grace Paley; The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass…I can’t stop,lol!!!!
The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux. (I suggest the audiobook narrated by Simon Vance if you don’t know how to pronounce French words.) Loved it!
Not lost. There is a big event in Red Cloud, NE that celebrates Cather and her novels. It is actually today. Check out this site:https://www.willacather.org/
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray. It’s a Newberry winner about a young minstrel boy who gets separated from his father. It’s charming and a fun read! Also, Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott.
I can quite believe it. I have only ever come across 2 books where the films were better…The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Devil’s Advocate. X
Maybe not a classic, but Men of Company K is a book written by a commanding officer from Company K 84th Infantry. This is the story of the Battle of the Bulge from a boots on the ground view.
In this current political climate, no matter which party you’re affiliated with The Great American Read has brought us together by a common love, BOOKS. We are purposely being divided by religion, region, the 1st and 2nd amendment, race and so many other topics. Let us continue these wonderful conversations as we well know, A House Divided Cannot Stand!
The movie wasn’t terrible but as Disney always does, a wonderful story was made kind of bland. The good thing is that renewed attention has been brought to this amazing book series
Right. So right. Fantastic. Did you see the movie? I couldn’t do it. Already had this treasure cast and costumed and couldn’t stand to have my heart broken.
The movie with Anthony Andrews is so much better than the book, which I just found silly. Mr. Andrews in the tight pants fencing, on the other hand . . .
The first Capote book I read was In Cold Blood when I was a Criminal Justice major in college. When I read a Christmas Memory it was such diversion from the first book I read that I couldn’t believe it was the same writer. Of course I went on to read many of his books and found him to be as complex in his writing as in his life.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Denisovich by Alexander Solzenitzen a dissident writer from Russsia who wrote this small book about a Gulag prision in Russian Siberia.
I read The First Circle. Just an amazing book. About being a political prisoner in one of the “better” Soviet prisons, which he compared to being in Dante’s “First Circle of Hell.”
@Nan my mom loved this author . As a child, she wrote to him and she received a hand written letter from his wife. He had passed , but how beautiful that she wrote back. I have the letter . My mom died in 2014 at 82 years of age. When my daughter was born in 1990, my mom gave her all of the Terhune books. ?♥️
I do not see James Michener being read very much on book sites. I loved The Source by him. It is about an archeological dig. With each new level that is excavated,you are taken to that time period for a story within the story. I think I have read it 3 times
He is my favorite historical author, will definitely read. I read Chesapeake in 2 days minus 3 hours sleep. Had a whopper of a headache. I love books that goes back and forth in time
O. E. Rolvaag, “Giants in the Earth”, “Peder Victorious”, and “Their Father’s God.” An amazing trilogy about Norweigian immigrants to South Dakota (then Dakota Territory) in the 1870’s. Lots of people outside of the Dakotas or Minnesota don’t know about these, but if you are interested in non-sentimental immigrant stories, these are masterpieces.
Yes! I’m not from the upper Midwest originally, but when I moved there I looked for regional writers to help me understand the history and culture. I stumbled onto Giants in the Earth, and just kept going! (Especially when I realized it was set in the same decade as some of the Little House books, especially the ones set in De Smet, South Dakota.)
I know they are not classics but decades ago the savanna quartet and the Georgia trilogy by Eugenia price is what got me hooked on historical fiction. Did anyone else read these books
@Ginny thank you! Seems like most of the books on my list of the ten most influential books in my life were about orphans. I ended up raising my first grandchild after he lost both parents.
“No Name” by Wilkie Collins. A young girl goes to extreme lengths to get her inheritance from her greedy cousin. One of my favorites. An Old Man’s Love” by Anthony Trollope is a wonderful story about an old man who has to deal with his children after his wife dies, and he doesn’t understand the younger set. Sound familiar?
The Haj, by Leon Uris The Rapture of Canaan, by Sherry Reynolds Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathebane Survival at Auschwitz, by Primo Levi Cry of the Peacock, by Gina Nahai
Molly Make-Believe by Eleanor Hallowell Abbot, published in 1910. I still have the 1915 edition of this book. I read it first in 1964 when I was 13. It isn’t a children’s book, despite the title but a sweet romance.
I remember reading Ethan Frome in high school English class. You’re right, it packs a punch. I think I should go back and re-read it now; I’d probably have new perspective since it has been, ahem!, awhile since high school!
Kings Row by Harry Bellaman
Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog!) by Jerome K. Jerome. Really funny.
Just downloaded this one. Thanks!
One of the funniest books I have ever read. Connie Willis did homage in her hilarious novel Bishops Bird Stump
@Eliza Thanks! I just added that one to my list!
@Jamie full title is “to say nothing of the dog, or how I found the bishop’s bird stump at last”
A Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder
Both that and his book Sophie’s World!
@Sandra I loved both books! So good!
Styron for Sophie’s
I love by those books. I read Sophie’s World when I was in 7th grade. It’s still one of my favorites. Then I got A Solitaire Mystery in college and really liked it.
I love books by Sinclair Lewis, Edna Ferber, Upton Sinclair, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, J.P. Marquand, R.C. Hutchinson. They were very well-regarded in their time and some of them are strangely neglected today.
I loved So Big by Edna Ferber!
Love these writers!
Glorious Barbara Pym! A ‘dull’ life is never dull at all.
Joy Street Frances Parkinson Keyes
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Upton Sinclair, yes, interesting he is not on the list.
The Far Pavilions by M.M. Kaye!
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. It’s available to read free online.
That one taught me everything as a young girl.
I like that book! I read it as an adult and still enjoy it. ?
The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett – the first in a great series that most people have never heard of…
I adore Dorothy Dunnett’s work. All of it. Such detail!
Me too. And the Lymond series is my favorite.
Anything by Rumer Godden.
Anything by Rumer Godden
One of our book club members chose Tarzan of the Apes and we all were very surprised and liked it a lot.
I haven’t read that since I was a child! I’m adding it to my list! Thanks for the reminder!
I enjoyed it years ago.
I nominate Carolyn Parkhurst’s The Dogs of Babel. A woman falls out of a tree and dies. Her widower, a gentle linguistics professor, is shattered. The only witness was the couple’s dog. The professor/narrator is a very logical and analytical person, and he has a very logical and analytical nervous breakdown. He believes if he can teach the dog to talk, she will tell him what happened. That’s the first chapter or so.
I found that book very disturbing, and I am not easily disturbed.
@Lynn Agree with you. Although this was quite readable it made me very uneasy.
Agreed. The ending was not entirely happy.
Much good lit is disturbing.
Night Circus
Not lost, but definitely under read…
Watership Down
Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Woman in White
I love Watership Down!
Tenant of wildfell Hall is one of my absolute favorites!!
I really liked Woman in White.
All fabulous but Woman in White is spectacular gothic thriller
@Eliza Yes! I agree!
Anyone read Ann Radcliffe?
Tonia Susko I read the Italian and then got part way through the mysteries of udolpho. Unfortunately, the copy I have had tiny print that I just can’t handle any more so I have to get another copy or kindle it. The first part of the book is a dull travelogue but then it gets exciting as you meet villains. Right now I am reading Uncle Silas by Lefanu, a fabulous gothic thriller!
Anne Brontë!!!
@Eliza Loved Renaissance of the Forest. Uncle Silas is on my TBR list. ?
Love the early Gothic and Romances. Gives you a great appreciation of later Gothic novels, such as Daphne DuMaurier.
Tonia I think we are of like tastes. You’ve read The Haunting of Hill House? Scariest book ever written.
Lucy Maude Montgomery’s only adult book: The Blue Castle which WAS free on Project Gutenberg when I read about it
A Long Fatal Love Chase, by Louisa May Alcott (romantic thriller)
Look Homeward Angel, You Can Never Go Home Again, Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,
Absolutely!
I’m glad to see a mention of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Superb.
Life Among the Savages by Shirley Jackson.
Five Smooth Stones by Ann Fairbairn.
Loved that book, I had forgotten about it but will definitely find a copy to reread.
The education of Hyman Kaplan, Leo Rosten.
oh yes!
I loved Mrs. Overtheway’s Remembrances, by Juliana Horatia Ewing, as a child (still do!). Originally published in 1869. My copy dates from 1914 or 1915 and has lovely color illustrations.
The main characters in Tender Is The Night were inspired by Sara and Gerald Murphy….Wealthy expatriates living on the French Riviera in the 1920s who entertained famous authors (Hemingway and Fitzgerald) and artists (such as Picasso)….this book tells the story….its an excellent read….
Another good book….A novel based on the lives of Sara and Gerald Murphy….
The Black Rose by Thomas B. Costain.
Below the Salt by Costain and The Tontine
I loved this book as a girl “From the mixed up files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler
Good one!
I so loved Claudia when I was young!
Read this to my 5th graders every year.
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern and Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
Reading Salt to the Sea now!
Night Circus was amazing.
The Thorn Birds
Til We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
Two books I’ve loved but seldom hear about or see on lists: Beautiful Joe, by Marshall Saunders was a favorite in my childhood; and Turtle Diary, by Russell Hoban, which was also a wonderful movie.
Beautiful Joe <3
An American Tragedy by Dreiser. Read it for extra credit my jr. year of HS. Rarely ever see it mentioned.
Wrote a book report on An American Tragedy in high school. I enjoyed it but found it a little creepy, too.
I just read it this year and enjoyed it. I liked the movie too!
Sister Carrie, by Dreiser.
Mr Owitas Garden
Please add to your list: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra. It is definitely added to my all-time top five.
Love, love loved this book!
A wonderful book! Take a leap and read a book that takes place in Chechnya!
I also love Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Madonnas of Leningrad – Debra Dean
@Anne I loved Shadow of the Wind too!
YES! I loved, loved, LOVED this book.
REQUIEM FOR A PRINCESS by Ruth Arthur. It’s young adult but definitely a lost classic.
Someone else has heard of it! Creepy but very good.
Omg, i loved this book!
Pudd’nhead Wilson.
The German classic Buddenbrooks
Been on my shelf for years but haven’t tackled it yet!
@Sallie Its really good! I just read it this year.
@Pam , okay, I’m moving it up to my next one to read nightstand!
A nod to 1984, “Little Brother” https://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/
I cannot recommend this book enough! Plus it’s free!
Lorna Doone
There is a show on Amazon!
@Alisa I did not know that. Thank you
Giants in the Earth – one of the few required readings in high school that I loved!
Definitely an overlooked classic.
@Anne I forgot about it until I read this post!
Love, love, love that book.
The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
“With” by Donald Harington.
Great Read
Long Man by Amy Greene, News of the World by Paulette Jiles, The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald
Long Man and also Bloodroot. I just love Amy Greene. ?
Awakening by kate Chopin
Yes! I though I was the only one who had read it.
Another cautionary tale where a woman finds herself and then isn’t allowed to be happy. Tired of those stories!!
I read it in college, but remember nothing about it. I keep thinking I need to re-read that one!
Yes!! This book spoke to me. Love, love love this book! And her short stories!
@Amy yes read it again
Girl of the Limberlost
Anything by James Fenimore Cooper
A Canticle for Leibowitz.
Another yes! I LOVE this GAR!
A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks.
Loved Awakening. Love Chopin.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.
I love wilkie Collins and am always recommending him
Dust by E. Haldeman-Julius and Marcet Haldeman-Julius http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/945 … Dust is an overlooked classic that, while published in 1921, remains relevant to the 21st century reader. The essence of the relationship between the main characters, Rose and Martin, is not unlike that of modern couples who seek to fill the emptiness in their relationships by working harder. A melancholy tale, indeed, but this is a story that needs to be told to remind us of our humanity.
Ivanhoe. I loved it as a kid. It used to be fairly common in the high school English curriculum but hardly anyone seems to read it anymore. In the same medieval vein, The Black Arrow. I loved that book too.
Novels by George Eliot.
Dials Marner…one of my favors from my high school years in the early 1960s!
@Virginia Silas…sorry…Get autocorrect!
Middlemarch, The Mill on the Floss by Mary Anne Evans aka George Eliot
All of them!!!!
Daniel Deronda, Adam Bede!!! She was a great writer!!!!!
I loved Lost Horizon by James Hilton (1933) when I read it years ago, about finding Shangri-La in Tibet.
And also his Good-bye, Mr Chips!
I loved the old movie with Ronald Colman….saw a revival at the movies when I was a kid….I need to see that again….
@Michael Grew up with all those B&W films!
I still love to watch old movies….I recently discovered an awesome streaming service owned by Turner Classic Movies….I watch it constantly….http://www.filmstruck.com/…
I have an older volume of James Hilton which includes Random Harvest, Lost Horizon, and Goodbye Mr. Chips in one – it’s one of my most precious books, and I love the movie versions of each. I love to read the books which are made into great films, TCM is my favorite channel 🙂
You should check out FilmStruck….it has an enormous library of old films and seems to complement the TCM channel on TV….
I’ve thought about it, it sounds wonderful. We have recently discovered many Criterion films, they are really interesting.
Robyn Knopf Needel….”Don’t Even Get Me Started”….I subscribe to a streaming service called http://filmstruck.com/…I’m totally addicted, it’s an enormous collection of Turner Classic Movies and The Criterion Collection….
Sorry that I repeated myself….I thought I was responding to another thread….
no problem – I’m a movie fanatic too, I understand
Katherine by Anya Seton
“The Romance of Alexander.” (Originally written in 1440 and translated to English in 1926).
Margaret Atwood’s Cat Eye; Murukami’s Norwegian Wood; Samuel Johnson’s The History of Rasselas, Abyssinian Prince.
I loved Norwegian Wood.
“ Red Badge of Courage” by Stephen Crane
Yes!
“A Sense of Values” by Sloan Wilson and “Winter” by Len
Deighton.
“In Lucia’s Eyes” by Arthur Japin…. the story of Casanova’s first love; and “Heart Mountain” by Gretel Erlich… a story about a Japanese internment camp near a small Montana town during WWII. Both lovely, beautifully written books.
Enchanted April by Elizabeth von arnim
The Castle Of Otranto.
Oh my goodness! I was scrolling thru my feed and your comment threw me back to such a specific time. I found a copy of this book as a child visiting family in India and desperate for something in English. I loved this book!
All of brilliant Irish writer Molly Keane,
“Random Harvest.” Not sure if it is considered a classic but it is a great read (and a movie.)
Read it twice. Can’t remember what happened to my copy. Probably not a class I but I agree a great read.
The Ronald Colman/Greer Garson movie is wonderful too
@Robyn
Oh, that is great news. Does it follow the wonderful book.
@Judy It is exactly like the book 🙂
“The Awakening Land” by Conrad Richter (The Trees, the Field and the Town) and as someone else mentioned “Katherine” by Anya Seton.
I loved that trilogy. And The Light on the Forest. Read them in 7th grade. Need to reread. Seem to have lost The Fields.
The Plague. It gives you history as well as an understanding of the horror of the times, through the eyes of someone living it.
So Big by Edna Ferber and A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich.
I loved A Lantern in Her Hand!!!
It was a favorite of my mothers. I’ve read it several times in my life and get something different out of it each time.
The Foxes of Harrow by Frank Yerby
Also I love authors Anya Seton and Gene Stratton Porter and I’m glad to see them mentioned here.
Anthony Adverse
My mom gave this to me when I was in junior high school, it became a favorite
Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Follow
Precious Bane by Mary Webb
Read it decades ago. Liked!
Falling in the books no one’s heard of category, The Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough. It’s been a long time since I read it, but it certainly charmed me enough to read it twice and keep it on my very selective book shelf each time I’ve purged over the years. I decided to share because I looked it up on Goodreads and was surprised by the 1 star reviews. Apparently it’s controversial because many believe it to be plagiarized from L.M. Montgomery’s The Blue Castle which I recently added to my “to read” list from an earlier discussion in this group.
I really liked that book.
1972 Pulitzer winner The Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
Quo Vadis
I have never met another person who read Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon. I read it in the early 1990’s and read it every few years. It’s magical. It really makes you feel like a kid again and tackles everything from river monsters, Nazi guards, and a mysterious murder. I really recommend it to anyone. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/boys-life-robert-r-mccammon/1100181389/2694171924937?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Core+Catch-All%2C+Low_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP79700&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3djkkNmw2wIVjoCfCh1EWQHBEAkYASABEgITJPD_BwE
My best friend just gave me her copy of Boy’s Life. It’s on my TBR stack. Her opinion is it’s McCammon’s best.
@Carolyn I agree. I was scared, I laughed, and it is one of the few books that actually made me cry.
I really liked it.
Stranger in a Strange Land –
Conrad Richter’s trilogy about the Ohio Frontier: The Awakening Land. The books in it are: The Trees, The Field, The Town…back in the 1970s I think there was a mini series starring Elizabeth Montgomery and Hal Holbrook but I think the film quality wasn’t preserved well so you rarely see if rerun…
Scavengers Daughter’s series by Kay Bratt and Bregdan Chronicles series by Ginny Dye
The Yellow Wallpaper, The Hangman’s Daughter, and Lady Chatterly’s Lover all come to mind.
The Yellow Wallpaper- truly terrifying
@Eliza agreed- and not a real far cry from how we treat people today
Do you mean The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter by Sharyn McCrumb? It’s fantastic
A Single Light by Maia Wojciechowska.
I don’t believe I’ve seen Winds of War by Wouk mentioned anywhere as yet. One of my top three fav books of all time! hmmmm, I need to read again, perhaps right now!
I remember watching the “Wind” series on TV. Wouk is one of my favorite authors. He also wrote “The Caine Mutiny” which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction but I only saw the movie for that. The book I really loved was “Marjorie Morningstar” (the movie with Natalie Wood did not do it justice). By the way, Wouk graduated from Columbia University, Class of 1934.
Today is his birthday btw. I believe he is 106!
Read Winds of War and War and Remembrance earlier this year. Have also read the Caine Mutiny and Marjorie Morningstar so I guess that officially makes me a Herman Wouk fan.
Giants in the Earth by Rolvag
so many great titles!
Thanks for sharing☺
ikr? I’ve been sneaking peeks during work (don’t tell my supervisor) and scribbling down titles as fast as I can.
Carl Sandburg’s Remembrance Rock
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson and The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless by Eliza Haywood
Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge. I found it in an antique store and have read it multiple times. Such wonderful writing!
Everything by Elizabeth Goudge! City of Bells, The Dean’s Watch, Bird in the Tree, The Heart of the Family. There is a beauty in her writing that is truly remarkable.
Elizabeth is my “comfort read” every time. The Damrosehay trilogy is my favorite.
And The Scent of Water
@Nan that’s a great description. When I need to relax or have been feeling stressed it’s perfect!
@Susan I will have to try some of her others.
Keri Stoffel did you know that Pilgrim’s Inn is actually the middle book in the trilogy? The Bird in the Tree and The Heart of the Family are the others. I love the others mentioned as well. The City of Bells has a sequel called These (the?) Blue Hills. … I’m a diehard junky for her!
The Pavilion of Women by Pearl S. Buck
The Mapp and Lucia series by EF Benson; books by sisters Margaret Drabble and AS Byatt; Anthony Trollope; books by Rumer Godden; Gore Vidal’s historical novels; “Diary of a Nobody,” and so much poetry that deserves to be read wide and far.
I love the Mapp and Lucia books! Georgie is so much fun!
I love the Mapp and Lucia books! And Rumee Godden, her books are lovely!
Raintree County, Ross Lockridge, Jr.
Miss Read’s books. So sweet and lovely. Also Elizabeth Jane Howard’s books, especially The Cazalet Chronicles.
The five little peppers and how they grew
I had totally forgotten that one.
My father used to read that book to my brother and me!
I remember the title FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS but not much else.
Marion Coro me too. But I remember it was a treasured book of my mothers and the first one she trusted me to handle and read. Even though I don’t remember the particulars, I do remember it made me happy ?
The Bobsey Twins
Was a huge fan. Always hoped for twins!
I was in a used book store yesterday and they had almost the whole run!
Out Steeling Horses!!!!
Not a classic but has anyone read it??? Beautiful book!!
Street of Sparrows by Rumer Godden.
Following!
Cheaper By The Dozen by Frank Gilbreth and Earnestine Gilbreth Carey
My family knew the Gilbreths growing up! Great book!
@Stephanie How cool is that! That book was a big influence on my life, I was fascinated by efficiency after reading it, and inspired by the love expressed in that family.
Loved that book, and the idea that they were the first efficiency experts
The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy
The little Book by Selden Edward’s my book club read it and we all loved it@
The Story of Edgar Sawtell . Fantastic
Do. Not. Mention Edgar Sawtell!! Loved that doorstop but the ending!!!! Oh !still to this day am not over the ending….!
The Boys in the @Boat
Nobody’s Girl by Hector Malot. It’s out of print, but I read it one summer in my early teens and loved it.
Hardy Boy mysteries. I was obsessed!
As I was with Nancy Drew!
Wide Sargasso Sea, Sheppard Lee Written by Himself, any Ann Radcliffe, Charles Brockden Brown (Arthur Mervyn and also Edgar Huntley), Washington Irving’s Sketchbook, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Poe
Waverly by Walter Scott, Lenora Sansay’s novels, Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson …
Papa’s Wife by Thyra Ferre Bjorn I love this question
Cold Sassy Tree
The Scent of Water Elizabeth Gouge
How Green Was my Valley
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
A Rose for the Crown Anne Easter Smith
The Mark of the Lion Trilogy Francine Rivers
House at Riverton Kate Morton
I read How Green Was My Valley in high school. So sad! I didn’t think I would ever get over it.
I loved the Francine Rivers trilogy Mark of the Lion and several of her others too
I thought Cold Sassy Tree was hilarious!
Sheryl Oldham I picked the name Bronwen out of it as one I would name a daughter if I ever had one. 20 years later I started seeing it everywhere.
How Green Was My Valley. Read for lit class. Then read it again later. It haunts me.
“The Good Earth” by Pearl S Buck. I have read this book 3 times since 7th grade.
What a great book.
I loved that book, reread it last summer. I actually like all of her books.
@Janie
Me too, Bucks’s books take you you on a journey!
Georgette Heyer books
I have 3 of them that I bought at my local book shop, waiting to be read. Never read her. ?
She has wrote mysteries which I didn’t know bought one last Christmas!
Sigrid Unset’s series…Kristin Lavrensdatter
The Wind in the Willows…and anything by Ruyard Kipling…
I loved this story as a child and it stays with me even today Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” is a short story in The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling about the adventures of a valiant young mongoose. The story has often been anthologized, and has been published more than once as a short book in its own right.
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikki-Tikki-Tavi.
Love them….everythin by Kipling!!!!!
Love them
All Kate Morton books are great.
Trail of the Lonesome Pine.
Runner for the King by Rowena Bastin Bennett – sparked my interest in archeology long before Indiana Jones
Loved this book from my elementary days!
Germinal – EmilZola’s masterpiece
The velvet room
Johnny tremain. Voices in the night.
Love Johnny Tremain!
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls.
Harvest Home by Thomas Tryon
One of my favorites.
Oh, I LOVED his book, “The Other”!!!
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald (or anything else by him)
Daddy long legs. Hated the movie, even with wonderful stars, but the book is a gem.
I don’t know if it’s a classic, but Imperial Woman by Pearl S. Buck.
The Green Glass Sea
Wide Sargasso Sea is a favorite of mine, but I bet people have heard of it.
James Michner – lots to choose from
Hawaii is the BEST Michener book
Heidi. The Scottish Chiefs.
“Aransas” by Stephen Harrington
Farewell to Manzinar.
The Man of Property (The Forsyte Chronicles, #1) by John
Galsworthy
“A Summons to Memphis” Peter Taylor
Chicken Every Sunday by Rosemary Taylor. My copy was published in 1943. Made me love to read!
The Poisoned Chocolates Case, Berkeley
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Moss back Amelia
Mrs. Mike
Totally loved Mrs. Mike. I read it as a “young reader” and again in my 50s. I think there might be a sequel.
It was absolutely my favoritr book when I was about 15
Clue for Treason, Geoffrey Trease. Published 1940, out of print and I loved it as a child! Very well written. I got a “copy” off of Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Captain-Kings-Taylor-Caldwell/dp/B001EUBIBK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1527802784&sr=8-3&keywords=captains+and+the+kings
So. Be. It. read it. It is wonderful.
Anything by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Mirror
Yes! This one stuck with me from when I was a teen and I re-read it a few years ago.
Omgosh I loved that book, read it twice. No one else, besides my aunt who first lent it to me, has ever heard of it!
Swiss Family Robinson, The Secret Garden , Christy, anything by John Jakes or James Michner
Ah, The Secret Garden.
The Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters, All Faulkner, All Wharton, esp. House of Mirth, Stories by Flannery O’Connor, The Dubliner’s (esp. The Dead), by James Joyce, McTeague by Frank Norris, The Clown by Heinrich Boll, anything by Marquerite Duras, esp. The War, & The Lover; The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera…omg, TOO MANY!!!
We share many loves!
There are SO many to share, & love!♡♡♡
Treasure Island
The book that invented pirates!
Deborah Kemp: so many good ones on your list!
Thank you!!
Native Son, by Richard Wright; Giovanni’s Room, by James Baldwin; A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines; The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor; every short story by Grace Paley; The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass…I can’t stop,lol!!!!
I have the Gunter Grass novel, but feel a little intimidated. Any suggestions before jumping on?
Just be ready for serious & unusual; lot’s of fodder for thought…
The Mystery of the Yellow Room by Gaston Leroux. (I suggest the audiobook narrated by Simon Vance if you don’t know how to pronounce French words.) Loved it!
My Antonia by Willa Cather
Not lost. There is a big event in Red Cloud, NE that celebrates Cather and her novels. It is actually today. Check out this site:https://www.willacather.org/
This is my absolute favorite book. I read it every summer and have for years. Cather is my favorite author.
Great book.
Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Saffron Foer
The White Hotel, by D.M. Thomas
Agree.
House of Mirth is one of my favorites as is Spoon River Anthology
One of my cats is named Lily Bart! The other one is Esme’, from the J.D. Salinger story…
A woman of Independent means
Everything by J.D.Salinger…
The Prophet, On Waldens Pond, The Leaves if Grass
The Chosen and My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
Chaim Potok was a wonderful writer. I loved The Chosen.
Alex Bledsoe’s Tufa series.
A.J. Cronin: The Silver Chalice. Upton Sinclair: The Jungle.
Books by Edna Ferber
One of my favorite books is memoirs found in a bathtub
The Silver Nutmeg and Beyond the PawPaw Trees (children’s books)
The Woman in White and Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.
Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray. It’s a Newberry winner about a young minstrel boy who gets separated from his father. It’s charming and a fun read! Also, Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott.
I’m surprised Sylvia Plath’s “The Bell Jar” isn’t mentioned much here in the book club.
A book that changed my life as a teen, & I still read it decades later♡
read it and loved it- stayed with me for years- but dont think that I could reread it-
Here is a wonderful novel I found at a used book sale: The Enchanted Life of Adam Hope, by Rhonda Riley.
Girl of the Limberlost
One of my favorites!
Mine too!
“The Virgin Suicides” by Jeff Eugenides
Oh, I watched that years ago ?
The book is much better than the movie!
I can quite believe it. I have only ever come across 2 books where the films were better…The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Devil’s Advocate. X
@Callie as always!
THE PAINTER by peter heller…visual prose…wonderful writing style which appeals to all readers…made me want to paint!
Nostromo by Joseph Conrad and Persuasion by Jane Austen come immediately to my mind. Great question! I bet I can think of more
The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall.
Hard Times by Dickens.
I read that as a freshman English major.
Dickens is my absolute fave! Nothing beats Great Expectations for me, but most people have heard of that one if they’ve heard of Dickens himself. ?
Stuff I loved when I was younger…. “From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler” by EL Konigsburg and the “Great Brain” books!
The Wanderer by Alain-Fournier!
https://neglectedbooks.com/?page_id=68
Maybe not a classic, but Men of Company K is a book written by a commanding officer from Company K 84th Infantry. This is the story of the Battle of the Bulge from a boots on the ground view.
In this current political climate, no matter which party you’re affiliated with The Great American Read has brought us together by a common love, BOOKS. We are purposely being divided by religion, region, the 1st and 2nd amendment, race and so many other topics. Let us continue these wonderful conversations as we well know, A House Divided Cannot Stand!
Well stated!!!
Great points.
Lovely sentiment & I totally agree
The copper sun
https://smile.amazon.com/Cairo-Trilogy-Palace-Everymans-Library/dp/0375413316/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527811820&sr=8-1&keywords=cairo+trilogy
Children’s book ,Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey from 1946
Forgotten about this title, thanks Gerald, for reminding me.
Children’s books…Mrs. Piggle Wiggle series.
Never got this read.
A wrinkle in time
There was just a movie made from this.
The movie wasn’t terrible but as Disney always does, a wonderful story was made kind of bland. The good thing is that renewed attention has been brought to this amazing book series
Now we have a movie, I don’t think it can be classified as ‘forgotten’.
Right. So right. Fantastic. Did you see the movie? I couldn’t do it. Already had this treasure cast and costumed and couldn’t stand to have my heart broken.
I liked the movie and I even have the graphics novel about wrinkle in time
Friendly Persuasion by Jessamyn West, Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt, From The Terrace by John O’Hara
Random Harvest — fantastic book which is, unfortunately, out of print!
Fabulous movie, too!
Elsie Dinsmore series
Far from the maddening crowd by Thomas Hardy
I read this for a masters class many years ago and was riveted.
I always surprised how many people think The Scarlet Pimpernel was just a movie. They need “to seek him here, seek him there, seek him everywhere.”
The movie with Anthony Andrews is so much better than the book, which I just found silly. Mr. Andrews in the tight pants fencing, on the other hand . . .
This is the book where I learned the word “fop”.
I have to lock my eyeballs in place whenever someone, when discussing a movie comments “oh, that’s a book, too?” ?
A Thanksgiving Memory by Truman Capote
Love his writing
The first Capote book I read was In Cold Blood when I was a Criminal Justice major in college. When I read a Christmas Memory it was such diversion from the first book I read that I couldn’t believe it was the same writer. Of course I went on to read many of his books and found him to be as complex in his writing as in his life.
A Christmas in Wales.
Yes! By Dylan Thomas!
Yes.
Tess from Thomas Hardy
Loved it, but wow, Tess could NOT catch a break!! Also, Jude the Obsure.
Hardy is amazing.
The American by Henry James
Also, Washington Square, by Henry James
Henry James, elegant writer.
And, Portrait of a Lady.
I read Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore last year.
I cannot remember any title but I read some wonderful books by Maurice shadbolt. Took place in New Zealand and Australia. Have never seen them since
Strumpet City by James Plunkett. I love, love, love this one. Set in Dublin shortly before WWI.
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Denisovich by Alexander Solzenitzen a dissident writer from Russsia who wrote this small book about a Gulag prision in Russian Siberia.
Read that in high school. It was good
Have you read any of his other books?
@Rita no. Russian literature is not my favorite but I did like Anna karenina
Legit classic- also read it in HS!
I read The First Circle. Just an amazing book. About being a political prisoner in one of the “better” Soviet prisons, which he compared to being in Dante’s “First Circle of Hell.”
These are so well written that even though the subject matter is complicated they are easy to read
@Jean i loved anna karenia
I read Cancer Ward when I was in high school. Of all his books, this one had the most impact for me.
I agree it was powerful. No wonder Russia regarded him as an enrmy of the state. He told the truth.
Albert Payson Terhune , Lad A Dog.
And Bruce. Love A.P. Terhune and all the Sunnybank stories!
@Nan my mom loved this author . As a child, she wrote to him and she received a hand written letter from his wife. He had passed , but how beautiful that she wrote back. I have the letter . My mom died in 2014 at 82 years of age. When my daughter was born in 1990, my mom gave her all of the Terhune books. ?♥️
I read Lad A Dog as a child. I was so involved in that book that when I finished, I went through terrible withdrawal.
The Forsyth Saga-Galsworthy
I do not see James Michener being read very much on book sites. I loved The Source by him. It is about an archeological dig. With each new level that is excavated,you are taken to that time period for a story within the story. I think I have read it 3 times
Love Michener! Plan on rereading The Source this summer.
My all time favorite!
Centennial
I had to read the source for a history class in college and fell in love with Michener- the Drifters is one of my favorite books!
Glad to meet fellow Michener fans!
He is my favorite historical author, will definitely read. I read Chesapeake in 2 days minus 3 hours sleep. Had a whopper of a headache. I love books that goes back and forth in time
I loved Chesapeake because it followed our history exactly
The Source is in my top 3. It’s like a short history of the world!
Sometimes a Great Notion, by Ken Kesey, is another of my favorites.
I loved this book!
Everything James Herriot wrote.
Anything by Wendell Berry but particularly Hannah Coulter. I loved that book.
Alas Babylon by Pat Frank. Anything by Sue Townsend or David Lodge. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House by Eric Hodgins.
Yes, Lad a Dog was wonderful!
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
Adela Cathcart by George MacDonald
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
Main Street left me feeling unsettled. Good book when you remember this many years later.
And Ladies of the Club by Helen Hooven Santmyer
The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
I LOVE that book!!
Laura Arlt Gerold Me too, but I don’t know many people that have heard of it. Anne and Emily get all of the attention! lol
They do. I loved it as a teen, but just reread it a couple of years ago and feel in love again.
What a fantastic book!
The History of Mister Polly by H. G. Wells.
The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy
Love her!
I love Chestry Oak! Kate Seredy is the best!
Have you read Brand New Uncle?
Following
Half Magic, by Edward Eager. Truly wonderful!
Me, too. Loved this book. I read it from DC Northeast Library.
O. E. Rolvaag, “Giants in the Earth”, “Peder Victorious”, and “Their Father’s God.” An amazing trilogy about Norweigian immigrants to South Dakota (then Dakota Territory) in the 1870’s. Lots of people outside of the Dakotas or Minnesota don’t know about these, but if you are interested in non-sentimental immigrant stories, these are masterpieces.
Giants in the Earth…sooo good!
Yes! I’m not from the upper Midwest originally, but when I moved there I looked for regional writers to help me understand the history and culture. I stumbled onto Giants in the Earth, and just kept going! (Especially when I realized it was set in the same decade as some of the Little House books, especially the ones set in De Smet, South Dakota.)
Margaret Drabble, especially “The Millstone” and “The Radiant Way.”
Ellen Gilchrist, “Victory Over Japan” and “A Dangerous Age.” Also Reynolds Price, “Kate Vaiden,” and Eudora Welty, “Delta Wedding.”
Have read Kate Vaiden 3 times
“Cousin Bette” by Balzac. Brilliant, hilarious, and touching.
Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat.
I know they are not classics but decades ago the savanna quartet and the Georgia trilogy by Eugenia price is what got me hooked on historical fiction. Did anyone else read these books
Yes and loved them but the funny thing is that I had all but forgotten Eugenia Price. Thanks for reminding me about these wonderful books.
I’ll check them out!
A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich.
My all time fav from when I was a kid!
LOVED that book!
My Life as a Dog, by Reider Jonsson; Ellen Foster, by Kaye Gibbons
Ellen Foster one of my all time favorites too!
Also Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price
@Melinda, a White Bird Flying, the sequel, is equally good and Song of Years. I get tears just thinking of them.
Jeneane Sorensen, I loved Song of Years, too. Also Miss Bishop. Will look for A White Bird Flying… ?
@Melinda , please do. ???
My mother introduced me to the novels of Bess Streeter Aldrich–Miss Bishop, A White Bird Flying, A Lantern in Her Hand. I loved them!
@Cheryl, she was a treasure.
The Garden of Allah series by Martin Turnbull! So much fun!
Freckles. Don’t remember the author.
I remember enjoying Freckles! Gene Stratton-Porter was the author.
@Ginny thank you! Seems like most of the books on my list of the ten most influential books in my life were about orphans. I ended up raising my first grandchild after he lost both parents.
I loved Freckles
“No Name” by Wilkie Collins. A young girl goes to extreme lengths to get her inheritance from her greedy cousin. One of my favorites. An Old Man’s Love” by Anthony Trollope is a wonderful story about an old man who has to deal with his children after his wife dies, and he doesn’t understand the younger set. Sound familiar?
I have not read that one but I completely and thouroughly enjoyed “The Woman in White” by him.
East Lynne by Mrs. Humphrey Ward made me sob, and I haven’t done that since Little Women in Junior High!!
I’ve read it (I think – read a lot of the “forgotten classics.”
@Judith I LOVE the 1800’s books. So many good ones. So hard to find. I always say my favorite authors have been dead for over 100 years. ???
“Three Men in a Boat” by Jerome K. Jerome. Any short story by Saki!
Illustrated Man, Ray Bradbury
I think he was/is my favorite Sci Fi Order – and I don’t care for dystopian fiction or TV shows, with a few exceptions.
The Haj, by Leon Uris
The Rapture of Canaan, by Sherry Reynolds
Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathebane
Survival at Auschwitz, by Primo Levi
Cry of the Peacock, by Gina Nahai
Read The Haj.. timely for now
.
Molly Make-Believe by Eleanor Hallowell Abbot, published in 1910. I still have the 1915 edition of this book. I read it first in 1964 when I was 13. It isn’t a children’s book, despite the title but a sweet romance.
The Mystery in the Yellow Room, by Gaston Leroux (I suggest the audiobook narrated by Simon Vance.)
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton — short but powerful! Also The Pearl by Steinbeck. And The Good Earth
Just read it this month – again.
I remember reading Ethan Frome in high school English class. You’re right, it packs a punch. I think I should go back and re-read it now; I’d probably have new perspective since it has been, ahem!, awhile since high school!
Read The Pearl and The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck when I wss in school
If you like Wharton, House of Mirth is SO much better than Ethan Frome, imo…
I read almost all of Edith Wharton – Great American Female author!
@Deborah Really? I have never read it. Will add to my growing list! Thank you!
Abraham Verghese: Cutting for Stone
I’m not sure how popular they are these days, but The Brothers K and The River Why by David James Duncan are phenomenal!
Brothers K sound like Dostoevsky’s The Brother’s Karamazov!