Classic Recommendations

[Wren]

I'm only taking one class this summer so I have time for some fun reading. I don't usually read classics, but I'd like to read at least a couple classics over the summer. I have read 1984 recently for a class, but other than that title I'm wide open to suggestions.

What classics do you recommend and why?

 

[Thunder Peel]

I don't know if you've read any of these, but I like them quite a bit:

King Solomon's Mines by H. Ryder Haggard
Hound of the Baskervilles and The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Anything by Jules Verne, especially Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, and Around the World in 80 Days

I tend to lean toward more mystery/adventure type stuff but if you like that type of thing those are a good way to escape reality for awhile.

EDIT:

I completely forgot The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. They're amazing!

 

[Memento Mori]

Favorite classics I've read:

Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
The Red Pony (John Steinbeck)

There are so many other great classic authors. Bradbury, Vonnegut, Thoreau (though I didn't really care for Walden), Lewis (check out Till We Have Faces), Baldwin...

Whatever you end up reading, enjoy!

 

[KingCrimson250]

The Catcher in the Rye is a great one to read, if only because it's probably going to be one of the ones that comes up in conversation the most. I also think it's a great book, though I don't think the message is what a lot of people get from it

 

[Wren]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've read the Hobbit (loved it). I'm not sure why I've never read the whole LOTR series, although I did read the first book and half of the second--a few years ago.

 

[keith99]

For somewhat martial books try:

'Ivanhoe' and 'The Three Musketeers'. Both have been made into films and one major differeence if that in the books the characters are more multifaceted. 'Bad' Guys who refuse actions that would mane they are breaking their word for example. Richelieu and even more so his men are not clowns in the book.

On the other side I kept getting lost in "The Man in hte Iron Mask". I think part of it was that Dumas would switch between the name and title of characters and this made things confusing. That was not somethign he did in "The Three Musketeers", though there is one phrase where a character is contrasted, something is too much for him, but to little for his title.

 

[SSior.27]

Agatha Christie novels have always been a favourite of mine, whether featuring Hercule Poirot in such titles as 'Cards on the Table' or 'Murder on the Orient Express' or one-offs such as 'And Then There Were None'.

Other options include:
Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'
'Lord of the Flies'
'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' series (Douglas Adams!)

Sadly, those are the only ones coming to mind, and not even sure all are classics!

 

[aussieprincess]

Anything by Austen or the Bronte sisters.

Shakespeare's plays are fantastic reading but you have to allow yourself time to get into the language and pace, so don't give up on them too soon.

Anna Karenina - Tolstoy. I also liked War and Peace but be prepared to draw character maps if you read it, there are sooooo many characters and many of the names are similar so it can get a little confusing.

The Secret Garden

The Wizard of Oz

Le Morte d'Arthur - The Arthurian legends collection

 

[crishmael]

One of my favorite authors is Charles Dickens. I'd definitely recommend David Copperfield, Great Expectations, or Oliver Twist. His characters might not be the deepest, but I always enjoy their individual idiosyncrasies and beyond that, he just tells good stories.

I would second the recommendation of Tolstoy. I really enjoyed War and Peace, but he wrote plenty of shorter fiction that are enjoyable to read.

James Joyce's short story collection Dubliners or his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are some of my favorite books. I really enjoy his writing style.

I'll post any more if I think of them.

 

[BjorkIsCool]

Lord of the Rings
Catch22
Great Expectations; A Christmas Carol; A Tale Of Two Cities; Bleak House; David Copperfield
To Kill a Mockingbird
Heart of Darkness
Odysseus
Farenheight 451
Clockwork Orange
Dracula
The Mayor of Casterbridge;Jude the Obscure;Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Midnights Children
War and Peace; Anna Karenina
Ulysses
The Grapes of Wrath
Brave New World
Lord of the Flies
Watership Down
Crime and Punishment; Notes from Underground; The Idiot
Dune
Moby Dick
Master and the Margarita
The Stranger/Outsider
A Prayer for Owen Meany
One Hundred Years of Solitude

I'm pretty sure all these books are considered classics; though Midnights Children, The Alchemist and Prayer for Owen Meany are more recent, but they are kind of considered classics already.

 

[Nathan Poe]

Any classics list has to include Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- arguably the greatest American novel of all time.

 

[Trashionista]

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens.
Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Sorrows Of Young Werther - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

 

[Memento Mori]

Any classics list has to include Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- arguably the greatest American novel of all time.

Sorry, but I hated that book!

 

[battermyheart]

I'd suggest the "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. It isn't that old, but I saw that you had read 1984, and this book fits in really well with that theme of dystopia. I've spent a year studying this book for my A Level and I can honestly say I love it. It's a little bit graphic in places, but it's used for a gritty affect rather than just being it for the sake of being it.

 

[BjorkIsCool]

I'd suggest the "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. It isn't that old, but I saw that you had read 1984, and this book fits in really well with that theme of dystopia. I've spent a year studying this book for my A Level and I can honestly say I love it. It's a little bit graphic in places, but it's used for a gritty affect rather than just being it for the sake of being it.

Yikes; i didn't like that book at all, only made it to about page 100.

 

[Speculative]

The House of Mirth
Ethan Frome
The Age of Innocence all by Edith Wharton

The Source
Mexico
Alaska by James Michener

& this might not be your thing, but the best book ever written is The Lords of Discipline (do not allow the movie to dissuade you) by Pat Conroy. You might also want to check out The Great Santini by the same author.

 

[xoxmarie]

how about Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) ? It's a romatic classic, I enjoyed reading it for school this summer

 

[wrpEM]

I agree with a lot of the recommendations made above, especially anything by Bronte (either one), Dickens, Hardy. Most of these though are a little 'heavier' reading. If you want to mix in some slightly lighter (but no less classical) fare, I'd suggest: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain and if you like plays, Cyrano de Bergerac