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Classic Books

I remember reading the following in school, none of which i really appreciated at the time, but since then i have developed a certain fondness for :)

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
MacBeth by Shakespeare, also

Probably others, but i cant remember them! :D
 
I was forced to read The Scarlet Letter and hated it. I wonder what I would think of it now?

I didn't have to read Lord of the Flies but read it anyway and loved it.

I think high school literature is wasted on high schoolers. I would get so much more out of it today! LOL
 
When I was at school, as most of the students didn't read obligatory books at all, detailed exams checking knowledge of the plots were common practice. Due to this, we had to learn some events, names of not important characters, or even descriptions of things and places by heart. That pointless learning could change reading even the greatest masterpiece into a nightmare, I can tell you. The thought of upcoming exam made you to think about some insignificant details, leaving no place of simple enjoying the book.

I don't know how it is done in other countries, but in Poland we learn about literary epochs one by one, starting from the ancient times. Therefore, students have to read books, which are representative for their times, even if today they are completely unreadable, boring, bizarre or have no other value apart from being "representative." In my opinion, as a result we have no enough time left to know really interesting books, which would encourage more young people to read. I think that school programmes should be more adjusted to young people interests.
 
The schools I attended never forced the classics (or specific "reading lists"), which was a very good thing for me because I always wanted to decide for myself which fictional works I would read. And my choices never included anything traditionally referred to as "classics." [Occasionally we were assigned certain books to read, but they were always on the contemporary side.]

Nonfiction is another story, of course.
 
I am going to have to think about all that was said in this thread. A lot of books mentioned, and 'what are the classics' issue brought up.
It was very interesting to see something: I became more conscious of the fact that as we grow up, I am not the only one who tries to read/check out classics that were either unintersting or plain forced on us in school. And we discover good things.
I am starting to think more and nore seriously that requiring something 'academically classic' in school isn't a good idea....
 
I enjoy the classics but not sure that many of them are suitable for jr. high, high school, or even college. I think you have to be a bit older to appreciate some of the nuances. But if they don't catch you then, they don't have an opportunity later.

Plus it depends on the teacher. A good teacher will give you the right keys to understanding and appreciating some work that's a little older.

I love Mark Twain and Jane Austen especially.
 
Yeah, I agree with you, Ashley. Both that many books often will not be understood until one is older and more mature, and a good teacher can help appreciate such a book even earlier.
On the other hand, analyzing a book to death and having to read it to study for the tests definitely turns one off the book for some time at least.
When we read "Jane Eyre" in high school, I did not read it. From listening a little in class, I passed the test ('A-', actually) , and didn't want to read the book until after I could forget all the analyzing and just read it for myself. It took a few months, as far as I remember. Then I did read the book - and it immediately became one of my favorites!
I prefer to think myself, not with a class and having to pass the test on it - on whatever the teacher expects me to learn there. There is a good saying, I don't remember who said it:

Wisdom cannot be taught, it can only be learned.

What else can I say...
 
Here are some classics I would reccomend:

Literally anything from the pens of Dostoevsky or Tolstoy. These giants of literature are truly worth the endeavor. The best works are in my opinion:

War and Peace-T
Brothers Karamazov-D
Anna Karenina-T
Tolstoy's treatise on What is Art?

Crime and Punishment as well as The Idiot are a little easier and not as exalted as the previously mentioned but also wonderful explorations of the human mind. Prince Myshkyn and Sonia are some of the most fascinating characters ever created, in my opinion. Everything else written by these two greats is worth the time but pick up those considered to be their finest works for a good first impression.


Other books I really like:

The Count of Monte Cristo-Dumas
All Quiet on the Western Front-Remarque
Uncle Tom's Cabin-Stowe (it is propaganda but interesting)
The Sea Wolf-London
White Fang-London
Call of the Wild-London
Kidnapped-Stevenson
Robinson Crusoe: His Life and Strange Surprising Adventures- Defoe
The Portrait of Dorian Gray-Wilde
The Lost World-Doyle
The Hound of the Baskervilles-Doyle
The Iliad-Homer
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea-Verne
The Mysterious Island-Verne
A Tale of Two Cities-Dickens
The Red Badge of Courage-Crane
The Last of the Mohicans-Cooper
The Shahnameh-Ferdowsi
To Kill a Mockingbird-Lee
 
I am an avid reader of classic novels, which (for the English languaged part) I first discovered about five years ago. Not that I did not know of the authors, but I had not read them. It was not an integrated part of the curriculum in a Danish school girls life. We had our own.

I am particularly fond of British classics. Authors like (in no particular order):

Jane Austen
Charles Dickens
William Thackery
Henry Fielding (Tom Jones was cracking me up!)
Tolkien (of course)
Brontë sisters.

These author have been mentioned by most of the other contributors to this thread. But I was pleased to see, that some of you have mentioned German books and Russian books as well.

Personally I read Peace and War by Tolstoy a couple of years back, and I enjoyed (why it has been characterized as boring, I don't know.)

I have also read German authors like Günter Grass, Thomas Mann, Heinrich Mann, and French author likes Marcel Pagnol and Gustave Flaubert.

Every country has it's own classic novels. I am Danish, and our language is one of the "smallest" in the world (spoken only by appr. 5 mio. people). Except for a few, our classic novels have not reached much outside our own borders. But I will mention authors like:

Johannes V. Jensen
Tom Kristensen
Karen Blixen
H.C. Andersen
Henrik Pontoppidan
Tove Ditlevsen
Leif Panduro
Martin A. Hansen
Klaus Rifbjerg (contemporary, but a classic non the less)
Hans Kirk

These are examples of authors that we were forced to read in school.


Anyway, this was quite a long song of the classic novel. I just wanted to throw my five cents worth into it.

Hobitten :)
 
My personal favourite is the secret garden there is something magical about the story and its characters that' s very appealling to me.I also love Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice infact i finished reading it(again) this morning(anything by Jane Austen really).
 
nick452 said:
My personal favourite is the secret garden there is something magical about the story and its characters that' s very appealling to me.I also love Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice infact i finished reading it(again) this morning(anything by Jane Austen really).
Click to expand...

I always thought The Secret Garden was a neat story, though I've not read it for many many years.



My favorite classics would include Pride & Prejudice and Wuthering Heights. There are others I enjoy, but those two are my favorites.
 
You may want to add "The Trial" by Franz Kafka to your list, Stephen; a true classic. Kafka didn't write much, only three novels in total, but what he did write was good enough for him to have an adjective named after him (ie Kafkaesque).
 
I have read, from your list, 1984 and Of Mice and Men, both were excellent. I also heard that Money from Martin Amis is very godd, as are all his books. Another classic that cannot be missed is The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde.

msm
 
The worst 'classic' I have ever read, and hated with a passion, was Hard Times by Dickens. Makes my blood boil just thinking about being forced to read that terrble terrible book and analyse it over and over and over and over ARRRGGGHHHH!! That said, I'm confident that part of my anger stems from being made to read it (at a set pace! Can you believe I once got yelled at in English for reading ahead of the class??!) for examination purposes. We also had to read To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth.. don't seem to be able to remember the rest.

Does anyone consider Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier a classic? I suppose I would, but I'm not sure what my definition of 'classic' is :)
 
There's a Barbara Michaels book where the narrator absolutely loathes Hard Times. I must say it made me want to avoid it. Same book also introduced me to Edna St Vincent Millay, oddly enough. Be Buried in the Rain is the name of it - had to look it up.
 
I loved Hard Times, I thought it was one of the more interesting books we read. Then again, I pretty much loved the books everyone else hated and hated the books everyone else loved. Typical. My husband, however, tended to enjoy the same books that I enjoyed. I guess I know how we ended up together.
 
Faran said:
Here are some classics I would reccomend:

Literally anything from the pens of Dostoevsky or Tolstoy. These giants of literature are truly worth the endeavor. The best works are in my opinion:

War and Peace-T
Brothers Karamazov-D
Anna Karenina-T
Tolstoy's treatise on What is Art?
Click to expand...

Finally a compratriot!! :) Was immediately discouraged by the amount of people that don't seem to have the appreciate of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy as I think they deserve. I completely agree with the first list with the short story The Death of Ivan Ilych also being a must. In addition I believe that Oscar Wilde's wit in bringing out human absurdities and truths is invaluable!
Also, Voltaire as well as Rosseau and Foucault have some Philosophy that will open your eyes. Remarque and Hesse are must reads, and my rare suggestions for up and coming authors include Solzenitsen, and Achebe.
 
True@1stLight said:
Finally a compratriot!! :) Was immediately discouraged by the amount of people that don't seem to have the appreciate of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy as I think they deserve.
Click to expand...

The language in Crime and Punishment is infectious... I wandered around for days while reading it wanting to exclaim 'the devil take him/her/them'!!

Certainly rivals Pride and Prejudice for producing one of those deep happy sighs when closing on the last page. :)

ThursdayNext
 
I absolutely love the classics! My favourite authors are Austen, Brontes, Collins, Dickens, Eliot, Hardy, Gaskell, Thackeray, Trollope. I recently finished Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy, for the first time, and when I am done with my reread of Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, I plan to do a reread of Madame Bovary to compare to Anna K. I also have tons of Sir Walter Scott to read, but not sure which one to start with. Any suggestions? :)
 
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