Classic Literature, suggestions needed

MoochNNoodles

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So I've been making a list of the Classics that I'd like to read. I know we have some good readers on here, so I figured I'd ask for suggestions!

So can anyone suggest some good Classic books to read?

I'll post my list so far (not in any order and subject to change at the moment):
A Christmas Carol
Pride & Prejudice
War & Peace
Anna Karenina
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Catcher In the Rye
Beowulf
The Great Gatsby
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
The Grapes of Wrath
The Old Man and the Sea
Of Mice and Men
The Secret Garden
East of Eden
The Iliad
The Odyssey
The Sun Also Rises
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Gone with the Wind
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Common Sense
Wuthering Heights
Moby Dick
Don Quixote
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
A Little Princess
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Count of Monte Cristo
Jane Eyre
Great Expectations
Rikki Tikki Tavi
Sense and Sensibility
Heidi
Little Women
North and South
Doctor Zhivago
The Pilgrim's Progress
A Tale of Two Cities
Hamlet
The Scarlet Letter
Madame Bovary

Some of these I have read before, but would like to again somtime. A few I know I read in school, but I think I'll appreciate them more now!
 

theimp98

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i would add lord of the rings
lol the zombie survival guide- hey its what i am reaing now.,
 

butzie

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Pride and Prejudice. My Mom's favorite, my favorite, my daughter's favorite. It has a happy ending, too.
 

valanhb

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You've got a lot of really good ones on there already.


I would suggest that if you're going to read North and South, add the other two in the series - Love and War; and Heaven and Hell. It's not only a great read, but it's also a decent history of the Civil War.

I would also suggest some Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe. While Poe didn't do novels, it's still worth reading, and can give you a break from the full on novels.
 

green bunny

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1984
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Slaughterhouse-Five
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (to go with Huckleberry Finn)
Fahrenheit 451
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Macbeth
A Midsummer's Night's Dream
The Haunting of Hill House
In Cold Blood

My sister is a big fan of Roots, but I haven't read it.

Have fun!

Tricia
 
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MoochNNoodles

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Originally Posted by butzie

Pride and Prejudice. My Mom's favorite, my favorite, my daughter's favorite. It has a happy ending, too.
That is my best friend's favorite book too. She reads it about 3-4 times a year at least.

Originally Posted by Green Bunny

1984
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Slaughterhouse-Five
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (to go with Huckleberry Finn)
Fahrenheit 451
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Macbeth
A Midsummer's Night's Dream
The Haunting of Hill House
In Cold Blood

My sister is a big fan of Roots, but I haven't read it.

Have fun!

Tricia
Ooo! Good suggestions!
Originally Posted by valanhb

You've got a lot of really good ones on there already.


I would suggest that if you're going to read North and South, add the other two in the series - Love and War; and Heaven and Hell. It's not only a great read, but it's also a decent history of the Civil War.

I would also suggest some Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe. While Poe didn't do novels, it's still worth reading, and can give you a break from the full on novels.
I'll have to look at the other two to go with North and South. I like reading a series though.

I've never been a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe. But I might add him in for some flavor.
He wrote "The Pit and the Pendulum" right? We watched a video of that in high school and it was too freaky to me!
Originally Posted by theimp98

i would add lord of the rings
lol the zombie survival guide- hey its what i am reaing now.,
Hmm....we do already have the Lord of the Rings books. DH got them a while back, but they are more his style. Oh and zombies, very classic. Yes indeed.
 

felineorc

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You need to add a little classic Science-Fiction to your list


Start with -Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
They Walked Like Men - Clifford D Simak
Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Catseye - Andre Norton

and then go on from there.
 

marie-p

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How about some French classics? They probably loose something in translation, but should still be worth it.

My favorites:
Victor Hugo - Les Miserables (or anything else by Victor Hugo)
Albert Camus - The Stranger (I think that's the right title. In French it's "L'etranger")

Or in non-French literature:
George Orwell - Animal Farm (I'd also suggest 1984, but someone else beat me to it)

"The God of Small Things" Can't remember the name of the author and it's not really a classic because it's very recent, but it's so beautifully written.
 

lookingglass

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If you are going to read 1984 I'd also suggest reading The Handmade's Tale by Margret Atwood. It's not a traditional "classic", but it's amazing none the less.

Wind in the Willows
The Hobbit
Watership Down
Anne of Green Gables (this is also a series, some people don't know that)
Dante's Inferno
Crime and Punishment

Some plays:
Waiting for Godot
Anything by Shakespeare
Anything by Arther Miller

I have more in my head, but I haven't had enough coffee yet.
 

pushylady

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How about Gabriel Garcia Marquez - One hundred Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera? You know, you'll feel like some light reading after War and Peace!
 

katiemae1277

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Since you have The Count of Monte Cristo, you have to read Three Musketeers also, both are just excellent


I used to have a huge collection of classic books, but when I moved back home my cat at the time was not happy and peed all over everything
I can't think of any others right now, but I'll get back to ya!
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by felineorc

You need to add a little classic Science-Fiction to your list


Start with -Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
They Walked Like Men - Clifford D Simak
Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Catseye - Andre Norton

and then go on from there.
i'd add Madeleine L'Engel's A Wrinkle In Time to that list...
oh, & Stranger is not my favorite Heinlein. i prefer Friday or Job: A Comedy of Justice... altho neither of those would be considered classic, i guess.
classic mystery - Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories & [an unusual combo] P. N. Elrod's vampire mysteries.
 

kaete

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The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Some of my favourites
 
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MoochNNoodles

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Wow! You all are giving me enought suggestions to last me a looooong time!


I'm starting with A Christmas Carol, since it's the season, and really what started me on this idea anway.
 

zissou'smom

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If you're going to read Hemingway, read some of his less commercial stuff like 'The Garden of Eden'... a whole different Hemingway complete with his hair fetish (and I do mean fetish). And though Great Gatsby is one of my favorites of all time, Fitzgerald's short stories are his real masterpieces. Try "the Ice Palace" and "Diamond as big as the Ritz" (or just buy the collection edited by Bruccoli). And may I add John Cheever's short stories, while I'm at it.

And, William Faulkner "The Sound and the Fury". We spent our entire semester on it in Lit Crit and still didn't exhaust that thing.

And for Beowulf, I strongly recommend Seamus Heaney's translation-- he tried to preserve the actual feel of the original, rather than just translate it; he's done it with the Book of Job as well, and he's a fantastic writer on his own.

Oh, and the Lais of Marie De France, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and the Canterbury Tales. I've a translation somewhere of the Tale of the Wife of Bath I did a couple years ago I could dig up.
 

twstychik

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I'm so adding this to my bookmarks!

Everyone has already suggested anything I might have except maybe some Stephen King but I'm not sure how "classic" his writing is. In particular I was thinking of The Stand.

Also, in your original list... did you mean The Little Prince? (Le petit prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry) I've never heard of the little princess!
 

sohni

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I would definitely second Les Miserables. That has got to be the best book I ever read. In college I had to read The Red and the Black, a translation of Stendahl's and I remember loving it.

I'm not sure if anyone has recommended Frankenstein, or Tess of the D'urbervilles.

For current stuff I'd recommend The Birth House, and Snowflower and the Secret Fan.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by twstychik

I'm so adding this to my bookmarks!

Everyone has already suggested anything I might have except maybe some Stephen King but I'm not sure how "classic" his writing is. In particular I was thinking of The Stand.

Also, in your original list... did you mean The Little Prince? (Le petit prince by Antoine de Saint-ExupÃ[emoji]169[/emoji]ry) I've never heard of the little princess!
A Little Princess is by Francis Hodgson Burnett - i really like it!
i really like most of Stephen King's stuff. besides The Stand, [be sure you get the unabridged version, btw] i also like Insomnia.
 
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