Recommendations of Classic Books
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I've read some of that (200 or so pages). It's very well done.PhotonicGuy wrote:Anna Karenina, by Lev Tolstoy is also a great classical book. I like its style very much , because Tolstoy made a realistic picture of Russia in that era. This book together with all books written by Dostoevsky are the representative classical books for me.
Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo. Don't be daunted by its length. This book is one of the greatest I have ever read. Some books can be compared to sapphires, some garnets, some costume jewelry knock-offs. This one is a gem among gems. This is about The Miserable Ones. It is an awesome book, one that was worth all of my time. (I very strongly recommend you read the unabridged version. It is 1467 pages long (Penguin Books), but so much better.)
Les Miserables tells the story of Jean Valjean, a peasant imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread. He tries to escape four times, and his sentence of five is extended to nineteen years. He is released, and after he becomes Mayor of Montreil-sur-mer, a town whose economy he helped revitalize, he meets the prostitute Fantine, who is sacrificing everything she possesses to support her child, Cosette, who is in the care of the Thenardiers, the man a bandit and robber in disguise, the woman no better. Both abuse and enslave Cosette, until Jean, who promises Fantine upon her death bed that he will take care of Cosette, rescues her. In the words of my mother, "There the story picks up."
This book has pierced me through and through, with grief, and misery, yet it has lifted my mind to the high accolades of the Sierra mountains, and shown me the wonders and glories of God. This book I give my entire and wholehearted recommendation. If you do not read it, you are missing out on one of life's treasures.
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Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger: : I might've been the only teenager that didn't like it.
Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess: I thought about this book for months afterwards. Hardcore violence.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller: Funniest book ever. My favorite character: Major Major Major Major.
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens: Read in London if possible. I would marry David Copperfield.
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In an attempt to retain/recover my motivation for reading and writitng, I bought a book for 50 cents, no questions asked, and no looking back now.
Has anyone read, The World According To Garp? By John Irving.... Premitively it feels wordy yet interesting heavy but perhaps worth the labor. I am expecting some solid 1970's circa social commentary.
Any future classical reading suggestions or comments on my half a dollar investment are welcome. I will post my own review when I am finished. In the meantime I have some reading and reconnecting to do.
- Shadowpapoose
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Also, the best edition I have seen is the Arion Press edition. Although it generally sells for $10,000, fortunately for the rest of us the University of California reissued it in hardcover & an affordable trade paperback. Excellent edition & now I wouldn't read it otherwise. Barry Moser illus. & specially designed typeface.
Scott Givens
Browsers' Bookstore
Albany & Corvallis, Oregon
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- StephenKingman
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- Mairin
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I still haven't read Lord of the Flies! I had best get on that.StephenKingman wrote:I recently finished Lord of the Flies and would rate it 8.5 out of 10, it took a bit of getting used to as i dont often read old or classic books but am aiming to read some more in the New Year.
- StephenKingman
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- Mairin
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Well if its short I'll give it a try next weekend.StephenKingman wrote:^ Its not that long a book Mairin, and the chapters are well spread so its doable over a weekend. I thought it was a very good book but not sure about being worthy of the nobel prize!
- Fran
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