Favorite Classic Novels!

I dunno how many times I'd read the Scarlet Pimpernel.
The Mayor of Casterbridge. So true about men failing women, and I loved how Hardy conveyed mood through the weather and the landscape.
Dune.
Animal Farm.
Gone With the Wind.
Watership Down. I don't care it's a children's book.
The Getting of Wisdom.
Of Mice and Men.
The Count of Monte Cristo.
To Sir with Love.
The Chocolate War.

A bunch of Aboriginal legends. Too bad my mother chucked out the book, so I can never remember what the collection was called.

School almost destroyed my love of reading, so books like Jane Eyre, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Catcher in the Rye left me cold.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
Slaughterhouse Five.
Alice in Wonderland.
Time Out of Joint. (Philip K Dick)

Hmmm now that I look at these all in a row I can kind of see why my book turned out so strange

I just feel like mentioning my Dickens' favorite right now:

Nicholas Nickleby.

Just dropping in to put some respect on Journey to the Center of The Earth by my man Jules Verne!

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. One of the greatest openings I've ever read:

“No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.”
― H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

My two favorites are Wuthering Heights and The Red and the Black. Do English speakers not read that anymore? It's a weird book that breaks a lot of rules, but I fell in love with Julien's twisted psychology, and the theme of social mobility, as well as the frank treatment of sex, makes it feel modern. Also, that period of French history involved so many violent changes and reversals; it's messed up and fascinating and makes me feel a little less terrified about living today (see also: Les Misérables).

Also love Kafka's novels and stories, Les Liaisons dangereuses, Crime and Punishment, Notes From the Underground, Madame Bovary, Lost Illusions (Balzac), Caleb Williams (Godwin), Jane Eyre and Villette, and I could go on!

A pretty fascinating one to read from a writer's POV is New Grub Street by George Gissing. In case you thought being a writer was easy in any era.

The Sun Also Rises

I pick it up often, just to read random passages and admire the dialog. A Farewell to Arms is probably a better book, but TSAR is a joy to read. Sometimes I read it to remind myself that a novel doesn't have to have an intricate plot if the characters, dialog and setting are great.

Since I was a child it was Pride and Prejudice, but a few years ago Jane Eyre came out of nowhere one day and took the spot. I'd read both novels for years, but all of a sudden it just moved up. Lol

Still ride or die for PP, though!

Alexandre Dumas' le Comte de Monte Cristo is probably my favourite classic novel.
I do enjoy a bit of Jane Austen so Pride & Prejudice is up there, too, along with HG Wells' stuff and Jules Vernes (mostly 20000 Leagues Under the Sea), but I like going back to the Count... weirdly my favourite character is Haidee... -_-

Prince_Alecksiiz said:

Alexandre Dumas' le Comte de Monte Cristo is probably my favourite classic novel.

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It is simply the best novel.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - pretty much the first book I read where everybody was horrible and flawed and I thought that was fascinating.

The Collector by John Fowles - to this day the most quietly disturbing book I've read.

L'Écume des Jours by Boris Vian - for the way he invented a beautiful and completely absurd world.

Crime and Punishment. I was living a miserable life, struggling to provide for my basic needs. Some weird and uncanny thoughts crossed my mind... Nope, not murder. At least I wouldn't confess it openly on a website. I felt so connected with Raskolnikov. My mother was so worried about me, still is, while I lied to her about my well-being. Raskolnikov's mother. I feel That I can do so much whereas so much is being kept away from me... Anyway. Crime and Punishment all the way.

Elle. said:

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë - pretty much the first book I read where everybody was horrible and flawed and I thought that was fascinating.

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Totally agree. Emily Bronte is a genius. Wuthering Heights is the best there is or ever was or will be. It's such a rich, thick story that feels very real and very moving and it just feels like you time travelled into that world and that world became your reality and you became a part of it.