Classic Literature that you want to read

kaylim

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 21, 2016
Messages
180
Reaction score
20
To me, reading classic novels is like spinning a roulette wheel because oftentimes the age of the writing shows even if the piece is influential in other ways. Good examples of this for is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

But occasionally I'll read older works that I actually enjoy. For example, Robert Louis Stevenson's novels 'Kidnapped' and 'Treasure Island' I think are really good even though they were written a century ago.

With all that said, here are a few classic works of lit that I want to get around to reading:

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky

Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (I read an abridged version when I was a kid and liked it)

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Iron Heel by Jack London
-----------------------------------------------------

That's all I can think of at the top of my head. What are yours?
 

blacbird

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
36,987
Reaction score
6,158
Location
The right earlobe of North America
I read a lot of "classic" lit, and post a new thread here every year mentioning my one promised classic read. This year it was Villette, by Charlotte Brontë. Right now I'm reading The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, by B. Traven. I do like to read things by writers I haven't explored before; some I wind up really enjoying, others not so much, but I am always pleased by the effort.

I do recommend For Whom the Bell Tolls very highly. I think it's Hemingway's best work.

caw
 

s_nov

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 23, 2017
Messages
224
Reaction score
20
It's massive, but I want to get through Les Miserables eventually. I've heard it's gorgeous and well worth the read.
 

oneblindmouse

The new me
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 7, 2007
Messages
15,659
Reaction score
1,458
Location
Spain
I've just read Crome yellow, Aldous Huxley's debut novel, and although I like several of his other books, I was sadly underwhelmed by this one.
 

Tazlima

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 26, 2013
Messages
3,042
Reaction score
1,494
It's massive, but I want to get through Les Miserables eventually. I've heard it's gorgeous and well worth the read.

It's absolutely worth the read. Right up there on my favorites list with "The Count of Monte Cristo."

One caveat, though... make sure you find a good translation. Both of these titles have multiple decent-to-excellent translations, but I'll never forget when I went to re-read "Crime and Punishment," which I had thoroughly enjoyed the first time, only to find myself bogged down in a different translation that was so bad I could barely even follow the story, despite having read it before.
 

Jaymz Connelly

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 2, 2012
Messages
12,797
Reaction score
2,700
Location
under a rock
Dracula by Bram Stoker. I really enjoyed how a lot is left to the reader to imagine. (note- I'm not a fan of vampire stories but this - this was awesome)
 

DanielSTJ

The Wandering Bard
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
Messages
5,410
Reaction score
368
Age
34
Location
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
I want to read as many of the classics as possible. When in doubt, I decide on another one and eventually tack it off my list. Particularly, I want to tackle the works of the Romanticists and read as many classics as I can.

I've read a lot of books so far-- but not nearly enough! :flag: If only I could live another hundred years or so and actually make some progress. LOL.
 
Last edited:

Curlz

cutsie-pie
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 5, 2016
Messages
2,213
Reaction score
382
Location
here
I want to read the Bible but keep losing patience with it ;)
 

blacbird

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
36,987
Reaction score
6,158
Location
The right earlobe of North America
I've just read Crome yellow, Aldous Huxley's debut novel, and although I like several of his other books, I was sadly underwhelmed by this one.

Crome Yellow was Huxley's first published novel. He improved as he went along with others. I particularly liked his last one, Island, which a lot of people did not think so highly of.

caw
 

Cobalt Jade

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 21, 2015
Messages
3,289
Reaction score
1,439
Location
Seattle
I've got a sudden yen to re-read The Sound and the Fury. Anyone want to talk me into it? Or out of it?
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,616
Reaction score
7,291
Location
Wash., D.C. area
I've got a sudden yen to re-read The Sound and the Fury. Anyone want to talk me into it? Or out of it?

Based on the few Faulkners I've read, I would be more likely to talk you out of it.

One classic that should get more attention than it does is Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad. Twain's humor comes through strongly, and he satirizes the genre at times while sticking to it.

I've wanted to read Dumas's Three Musketeers and the following books for years, but I just can't seem to get around to them.
 

blacbird

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
36,987
Reaction score
6,158
Location
The right earlobe of North America
Based on the few Faulkners I've read, I would be more likely to talk you out of it.

I had the privilege, as an undergrad, to take a course in Faulkner from a leading Faulkner scholar at the time. He made a big point about Faulkner being an author you need to read in a certain, somewhat flexible, order, which is not anything near the order of his publication dates. Notably, he considered Sound and Fury and Absalom, Absalom!, two of Faulkner's most highly-regarded works, as probably the two which should be read last in the order. He was especially irritated at literature teachers who routinely tossed S&F at students as the one Faulkner to read.

He had us start with the short story collection Go Down, Moses, then the novel The Unvanquished; he wanted to do the precursor novel Sartoris first, but it was out of print at the time. So those are the ones I'd recommend for somebody who has never read Faulkner. Followed by, in a general order:

The Wild Palms*
Sanctuary
Light in August*
Intruder in the Dust
The Snopes Trilogy*: The Hamlet, The Town, The Mansion
As I Lay Dying
Absalom, Absalom!
The Sound and the Fury
The Reivers


Personally, I am particularly fond of the first three mentioned, and the ones with * above. The last on the list we did not read in class, just because we didn't have time, but I put it there because it was Faulkner's final work, and reads like it was intended to be that finale. Faulkner died just a few weeks after its publication.

My prof didn't think too highly of any of Faulkner's non-Mississippi books, so we didn't read any, and I never have.

Faulkner is a challenge, but so are many other writers from Melville to Eco. Approached in a sensible way, Faulkner is an extremely rewarding author. There's a reason he won a Nobel Prize.

caw
 
Last edited:

Harlequin

Eat books, not brains!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 21, 2010
Messages
4,584
Reaction score
1,412
Location
The land from whence the shadows fall
Website
www.sunyidean.com
I found As I Lay Dying unbearable, but perhaps I'd not given him enough of a chance. I really struggle with anything that has dialectal dialogue, though (and so skim over things like Joe in Wuthering Heights.)
 

talktidy

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
896
Reaction score
86
Location
Fabulous Sweyn's Eye
Dickens. I really should read Dickens. Particularly, since I am getting long in the tooth and need to crack on before I pop my clogs. Question is where to start.
 

AW Admin

Administrator
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
18,772
Reaction score
6,285
Dickens. I really should read Dickens. Particularly, since I am getting long in the tooth and need to crack on before I pop my clogs. Question is where to start.

Christmas Carol. No, really. Alternatively, I usually suggest new readers start with Great Expectations.
 

blacbird

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
36,987
Reaction score
6,158
Location
The right earlobe of North America
I haven't read a lot of Dickens, but a couple of years ago I decided to give one of his lesser-known big novels a go. I chose Little Dorrit, which concerns debtor's prisons. It has some fascinating characters, and I wound up thoroughly enjoying it.

caw
 

EmilyEmily

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
118
Reaction score
13
I feel as if I SHOULD read more/all of Hemingway. I read The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Sea, and A Moveable Feast, and after Feast I was just so angry and disgusted I found myself unable to start anything else by H. I hate his style, his subjects, the images and aspects of character he chooses to emphasize, and that horrible misogynistic machismo element; the cruelty and glorification of blood sport is off-putting as well. I know I would hate the author himself, if we should ever meet. (Yes, I try to separate my idea of the author as individual from his/her work, but in Hemingway's case, I just can't do it). Zelda was right about H.

But I think I need to read For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms, at the very least. Just to provide further fuel for debate, or, if for nothing else, because I know it is good for me to (force myself to) read stripped-down, minimalist prose.
 

DanielSTJ

The Wandering Bard
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 3, 2017
Messages
5,410
Reaction score
368
Age
34
Location
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
I really want to get into reading more German literature. I want to read all the important works the big names first: Goethe, Schiller, Rilke, Hegel, Schopenhauer etc.
 

altoid967

Registered
Joined
Nov 9, 2017
Messages
35
Reaction score
5
Location
Maine
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigges by Rilke is beautiful, even in English.
 

Dallas

Registered
Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
12
Reaction score
1
I just read "To Kill a Mockingbird" and it was much better than I had hoped, but then I read Kafka's "Metamorphosis" and I've lost hope again. It's really a hit and miss. I'm gearing up to read 1984 and hoping for the best.
 

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,616
Reaction score
7,291
Location
Wash., D.C. area
I just started Wuthering Heights. I know very little of the story, so I'm looking forward to it. I've been reading recent books lately, so getting into the older style of story telling is taking some willingness and patience.

To Kill A Mockingbird was great, and I read it for the first time just in the past couple years. 1984 was quite good. One quote I use a lot is "If you kept the small rules, you could break the big ones."
 
Last edited:

Kjbartolotta

Potentially has/is dog
Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 15, 2014
Messages
4,197
Reaction score
1,049
Location
Los Angeles
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigges by Rilke is beautiful, even in English.

I could spend my life lost in Rilke. Rediscovering the Duino Elegies & Sonnets to Orpheus recently.

Manuscript Found in Sargossa by Jan Potocki is a real treat, I don't think I have the ability to describe it properly. Think if Umberto Eco and Gabriel Garcia Marquez got together to write an 18th Century adventure novel, framed in the style of Arabian Nights and full of antic humor and melodrama.
 
Last edited:

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 4, 2009
Messages
22,616
Reaction score
7,291
Location
Wash., D.C. area
I love it that 20th books are now being listed among the classics! I have Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here on my list. I've so far only read Main Street by him, and I thought it was as enjoyable and more accessible than F. Scott Fitzgerald.