Trolling through my bookshelf today, I realized it is overflowing with fantasy, fiction, and young adult novels. I would like to broaden my literature background and steer away from what I usually read. The only actual classic I've read is Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence, and I absolutely loved it. It ranks as one of my favorites to this day, but what other classic novels do you all recommend and which ones to hold off on for now? Thank you.
Whuthering Heights! Its one of my favorite books and I absolutely love it! Also, as weird as this sounds, Frankenstein. It's well written and the story behind how the author came up with it is fascinating. The Great Gatsby Lord of the Flies (Awesome, although a little creepy!) Drat... that's all I can come up with right now. If I think of anymore later, i will let you know
I've been wanting to read Whurthering Heights for a long while now, but I just didn't because it only become recently popular (again) because of all the mentioning of in it Twilight, and that just ticked me off a lot. Actually, I hate to say it but Frankenstein would actually give me nightmares I think. I know that's really pathetic (stop looking at me like that).
I definitely second Wuthering Heights as well! Also, Monk by Matthew Lewis, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and The Vagabond by Colette.
Twilight is NOTHING compared to Wuthering Heights. It's such a joke that they even attempt to market it that way.
I forgot that it was mentioned in Twilight..... and yeah, nothing compared. Wuthering Heights is amazing and very well written, where Twilight is just a fad (sorry, but true....)
The only classic I can think that I have actually read is To Kill A Mockingbird. Wait is that a classic? Hell I am not even sure what defines a classic! But either way its a great read.
Personally don't like Wuthering Heights, anyway here are the ones I love. Plutarch Paralell Lives Aphra Behn Oronoko Louisa May Alcott Little Women, Good Wives, Little Men, and Jo's Boys Olive Schrivner Tales of an African Farm Wilkie Collins Antonina, The Moonstone Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice Catherine Maria Sedgwick Hope Leslie Maria Edgworth Castle Rackrent Walter Scott Heart of Midlothian Lewis Grassic Gibbon Sunset Song Anne Bronte Agnes Grey Charlotte Bronte Jane Eyre, Villette George Orwell Animal Farm George Bernard Shaw Saint Joan Chaucer Canterbury Tales Shakespeare Henry IV (much easier to read than most Shakespeare plays and so funny in places) Henry James The Ambassadors Agatha Christie Nemesis and Hound of Death CS Lewis Screwtape Letter, Perelandra Thomas Hughes Tom Brown's Schooldays Charles Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit Thomas Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles (this one is car crash though - its his usual depressing fair but so depressing I needed to know the end) Anthony Trollope Barchester Towers Arthur Conan Doyle Hound of the Baskervilles Victor Hugo Les Miserables Daphne Du Maurier Rebecca Mark Twain Tom Sawyer, Prince and the Pauper I could go on lol
I have to suggest Lovecraft's stories because they are worth reading at least one. And Robert E. Howard, the original creator of Conan the Barbarian. His Conan is much more charismatic, intelligent, and cunning than the movie version. A very good anti-hero.
Ayn Rand. Fountainhead. She writes amazing descriptions, even though the story can be a bit Mills and Boon. Herman Melville. Moby Dick. Don't laugh it's truly a classic and great writing. Jack Kerouac. On the Road. A watershed book, that changed the way people thought a book should be written. Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Crime and Punishment. Can be really hard going, but incredibly descriptive. The Russian classics have a way of really putting you in the scene. Mark Twain Roughing It, and The Innocents Abroad. I love the humor of Twain in these travel books. Those are a few that come to mind, and with the others listed I think you have enough to keep you busy for a while.
Ernest Hemingway, For Whom The Bell Tolls Hemingway's collected short stories John Steinbeck, East of Eden and Of Mice And Men Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness and his short stories Rudyard Kipling, Kim and The Jungle Books
The Great Gatsby, a classic and my all-time favorite book. To Kill a Mockingbird, the great American novel, bar none. Dracula lol, is pretty fun. And as for Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice and The Twelfth Night are fun to read.
I might be repeating a couple so if I am I'm sorry about that Little Women-Louisa May Alcott, it's been one of my favorites for years Pride and Prejudice-Jane Austen, another favorite of mine The Great Gatsby-F. Scott Fitzgerald, sad but really good The Catcher in the Rye-J. D. Salinger Cry the Beloved Country-Alan Paton, the writing style for this one is really weird, but once you get into it the story is really interesting and good The Scarlet Letter-Nathaniel Hawthore, a dark but very captivating read Their Eyes Were Watching God-Zora Neale Hurston, this one I read this summer and it was absolutely fantastic. oh and anything by Shakespear really. Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Nights Dream are all very good. That's all I can think of for now...
Glanced through and I didn't see any suggestions for these... Just about anything Charles Dickens. "Our Mutual Friend" is quite good, as is "Oliver Twist", "Great Expectations" (that one I did see a recommendation for), "Little Dorrit", and "Bleak House". If you're in the mood for Romance, some of Jane Austen's stuff is enjoyable. "Sense and Sensibility" and "Persuasion" being the main two to stand out there. "Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkein. "The Hobbit" is enjoyable also. Most of "The Narnia Chronicles" by C.S. Lewis are a pleasant read also. ~JM
Anna Karenina, a Hero for our Time, Midnight's Children, 100 years of Solitude, Sirens of Titan, Vanity Fair.
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde -- Robert Louis Stevenson The War of the Worlds -- H.G. Wells A Clockwork Orange -- Anthony Burgess The Stand -- Stephen King The Godfather -- Mario Puzo The Legend of Hell House -- Richard Matheson
I fell absolutely in love with To Kill a Mockingbird. Harper Lee is brilliant. Also, Little Women is a very easy book to read, and Alcott writes very simply but beautifully. Although hard to read and LONG, Orwell's 1984 is such a good book if you push through till the end. I think that the Chronicles of Narnia were my favorite childhood books, and I still catch myself picking up one of the 7 books every once and awhile. C.S. Lewis is so captivating, he is truly amazing and one of my favorite authors. You haven't lived until you have experienced Gone With the Wind. Those are my fave's, but another interesting book is Of Mice and Men, although tragic, it makes you think, which is always good. Hope I helped!
