Recommendations of Classic Books

[Levi]

Hello!
I'm new to this site and new to forum etiquette, so please forgive me for any mistakes.

Although it will make a controversial entry because it is, I confess, not just boring but Old Testament Bible boring in some of its chapters, "Moby Dick" is a behemoth of a book I would recommend to everyone. I read it about two summers ago in the span of a week: the immersion was like nothing I had ever experienced. Nevermind the analysis that students make of it in university; when we consider the details, "Moby Dick" is a combination of two popular genres: the revenge epic and the modern-day monster blockbuster: Hamlet harpooning Godzilla.

Yes, it is long. Read slowly. Melville's prose is tight and learned, but it breathes with a beautiful rhythm, and I would not be mistaken in saying that much of "Moby Dick's" delight is in its poetry. The speeches of Captain Ahab are a combination between Shakespeare and pre-Nietzschean Nietzsche and they make for an terrifying, exhilarating experience.

If you do not understand why Melville devotes twenty chapters on the application of whale blubber, that is okay. But do not skip these chapters. Read them diligently. They are the breath marks to slow down the action: to hazard a bad example, they are like the slow movements in a symphony, and you will have an incomplete experience if you ignore them.

I hope I have been thorough enough. As I have stated, this is an absolute beast of a book, but one that will truly leave you changed. It is no small wonder that William Faulkner wrote that he wished he had written the thing: it is nothing short of transcendental.

I am going to read it soon. I tried once and failed, but loved the first part with the interaction between Ishmael and the harpooneer. It seemed to be ahead of its time, as the harpooneer was a "heathen."

-- 12 Jul 2015, 01:01 --

All the classics are classic, and this book may not apply, but A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin was a fantastic book.

[norina]

I recommend the reading or in some cases the re-reading of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Even in today's society of wonton sex and supposedly decided sexual freedom on the part of both men and women, I think there is a lesson to be learned in this book, because the double standard still exists in this world.

In Tess' world, a woman was treated with disdain, and shunned by family and friends if she was "ruined" by a man, whether by her own will or if even she was raped against her will. She was forced out of her community, lived apart, afraid of coming across those who knew her past, and lived in disgrace for the rest of her life for a crime that was forced upon her. When she thought she could love again, her past came back to haunt her, and destroyed her yet again.

While this is not true today, a reputation does indeed follow a woman (not a man) throughout her life due to the double-standard which still exists today in our 21st century; a woman is still a hump, still a whore, if she puts out, or does what any man might normally do and get away with. She still gets a reputation, and he does not. It still has an impact on these young woman and follows them into adulthood; I've heard the stories by men that I know personally.

I recommend this book to every young man and woman, but probably to every young man who could learn how to treat a young woman to learn how she could feel upon feeling violated, and to know how it could impact her life under any circumstance.

[Melissa Coffield]

Supposedly when Lucy Maude Montgomery died she handed off a last book in the Anne of Green Gables series. Supposedly they were going to publish it recently. Has anyone heard about this?

[norina]

Not I. However, it's probably something than can be researched on line, either under Lucy Maude Montgomery, or Anne of Green Gables.

[teacher33]

I just finished reading Madame Bovary by Flaubert. Although as first glance it may seem like it is more a book for wormen, do not be fooled. Upon the conclusion of this book, I felt it was also a story of Emma Bovary's husband Charles as well. She is a naive romantic who longs for life to be extravagant and romantic. This book reaches deep into the scandalous life of Emma and how one's decisions effect more than oneself but everyone around them.

[aarchul2]

I absolutely love The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain. I first read it when I was in elementary school and read it about once a year. It is short enough and written in a way that is suitable for children, but is also intelligent enough that adults can enjoy it as well. Some of the humor may be lost on children (and even adults) if they do not know some of the old English wording, such as ofal. Every time I read it I pick up on something I had not noticed the last time.

[Keith80]

Why not some of the real classics?
Homer wrote a couple of beauties, namely, 'The Iliad' and 'The Odyssey'. I prefer the translations by Robert Fagles, but there are are many, many others to choose from.
Any good translation of the Greek Myths is worthwhile, my much-read volumes are by Robert Graves.
Virgil's 'Aeneid' tells the story of Aeneas after he escaped from the fall of Troy to Odysseus and the Greeks.
Everyone should try 'The Histories' by Herodotus, this is history that reads like a novel.
More up-to-date suggestions are:-
Charles Dickens: just about anything that he wrote. Superb story telling with brilliant descriptions.
H. Rider Haggard: 'Allan Quartermain', 'King Solomon's Mines', 'She' and 'Ayesha,The Return of She','Nada The Lily' and more. These are all splendid adventure stories which I loved as a boy, and have re-read with pleasure as an adult.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Famous for all the Sherlock Holmes stories, but also for 'Sir Nigel' and 'The White Company'.
Edgar Rice Burroughs: His 'Mars' series with John Carter as the hero, and Deja Thoris as the heroine, 'A Princess of Mars', 'Warlord of Mars', 'Thuvia, Maid of Mars', 'Gods of Mars' etc., also his many 'Tarzan' books. Many people perhaps would not consider the 'Tarzan' books as literature, but they are certainly entertaining.
Rudyard Kipling certainly wrote literature. He even won a Nobel prize for it. Some of his classic works which I like are 'Kim', 'Soldiers Three', 'Barrack Room Ballads', 'The Jungle Books 1 & 2', 'Under The Deodars' and many more.
These are some suggestions of Classic books which I happen to like. I could have included much more recent authors such as C,S. Forester, G.M.M. Martin, Alistair MaClean, Isaac Asimov, J.R.R. Tolkien, Neal Stephenson, L.E. Modesitt, Andy Weir, and still only begun to scratch the surface of this fascinating topic.

[Lauramclainsmith]

Yup crime and punishment is definitely my favourite book of all time! I have to say that I'm becoming more interested in the 'modern' classic- I love 100 years of solitude and midnights children

[tigerlily141]

If you haven't read "Slaughterhouse 5 or the Children's Crusade" it is a must. The story is so unique while still remaining an easy read. I recommend it based on the writing style alone; you will not read another book like this one.

[B3cca 3ll3r]

I recently stumbled onto an author named Jacob Abbott. Since about a month ago I have read 4 of his books, I am enchanted! Abbott's writing style is very close in tone to "Little Women" with very similar cultural leanings although Abbott is writing non-fiction instead of fiction and his focus is on the past. He has a series called Makers of History that includes many of the greats from long ago. On a funny side note he has more mean things to say about Henry VIII then I have ever heard.

[TrisNook]

I read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad in high school and I really enjoyed it, If you like darker books than this is the one for you.

[Liv4Life]

One classic novel I recommend reading is the Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

The Count of Monte Cristo follows Edmund Dantes, a young French sailor who is fortunate of marrying his beautiful Catalan fiancee Mercedes, and promoted as captain of Le Pharaon (The Pharaoh). Seething with jealously towards Edmund's success, Gaspard Caderousse, Monsieur Danglars and Fernand Mondego write a fake letter in hopes of taking revenge against Edmund. Edmund Dantes is then thrown into prison at the Chateau d'If where he meets an Italian priest, Abbe Faria, who teaches him many things from art, Italian, history, math, geography and philosophy. Abbe Faria informs Edmund that the island of Monte Cristo is full of fortune. It is when Edmund is at his darkest times does he escape recieves a mass fortune from the Monte Cristo. This is a story how Edmund becoming the Count of Monte Cristo and seeking his revenge on those who took away all that he loved.

[Victoria_99]

I would recommend Atlant Shruggled

[rssllue]

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan is a classic that would be good for all to read. A really great book!

[sarah0688]

Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground is a psychological exposing of the author's true emotional feelings like getting into his mind.