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Any Charles Dickens is highly recommended, and definitely counts as a classic

I suggest you try a lot of Vonnegut, and a few of Steinbeck. Those are popular classical authors, and I recommend "Tortilla Flat", and "Slaughterhouse Five".

mattjo1 wrote:I suggest you try a lot of Vonnegut, and a few of Steinbeck. Those are popular classical authors, and I recommend "Tortilla Flat", and "Slaughterhouse Five".

Totally agree about theses two, but Canery Row by Steinbeck has to be my favourite and Hocus Pocus by Vonnegut.

Jane Austin's books are all worth at least one read. I have read them several times and never get tired of the stories. I just did not get all of her talents with one read. So many books, they are just worth one read and then back to the library, but she is witty and really throws in a bit of sarcasm while maintaining on the surface the high level of decorum dictated by the times!!! Some of her work is outright hilarious, like Mansfield Park. I just wish that she had been able to write more. I guess that is always how it is.

Another writer well worth reading and more than once is F. Scott Fitzgerald. Clearly his life and experiences run through all his works, but not just anyone could write of their turmoil and the times they are living in with such talent. Although I was charged with absorbing every detail and nuance of The Great Gatsby for a paper in college (who wasn't?), it is not at all my favorite. (I am sure that there are literary experts keeling over everywhere and certainly, if were not already deceased, so would be my English professor!!) I really liked best "Tender is the Night." It just seemed to say more to be about their life and who they were. I have read a lot of his work beyond just those of his works that are his "best sellers" and he is one of the great talents.

I also like Dorothy Parker, although she was not the prolific book writer that Fitzgerald was. She was a very unique woman and her stories, and especially her one-liners, show a great deal of talent and imagination. She was humorous and biting, while of course being a very sad and unhappy person.

I really appreciate the classic mysteries as well, but could not find the right section for these classic authors. Might have missed that. Any help to get to the right place appreciated. I really like the great mystery authors of the past. Looking forward to discussions on those as well.

Can we perhaps have a little clarification of the word 'Classic'? i.e before 1800, 1800s, 1900s, genre etc.

Cupids_Psyche wrote:Can we perhaps have a little clarification of the word 'Classic'? i.e before 1800, 1800s, 1900s, genre etc.

Sorry I don't get this - a classic can be from any era. Even this decade. It is a book that is held as a momentous work by literary critics. And can be any genre. such as Si fi - Do Robots dream of electric sheep? by Philip K Dick.

Go for lists given by Harold Bloom in Western Canon and more online, like those given by the Norwegian Book Clubs, Modern Library, etc.

I really enjoy American literature. To Kill a Mocking Bird is the best book. Playwrights such as A Streetcar Named Desire are also brilliant and very entertaining

I have really enjoyed most books by Edgar rice Burroughs. Especially the John Carter series.

i enjoyed crime and punishment too

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it is a classic book

-- 19 Dec 2012, 14:12 --

and i definatley agree it is complex

-- 19 Dec 2012, 14:12 --

but it is also interesting

I didn't see Little Women as one of the classics on this forum!? This has always been one of my absolute favorites. I always keep it in my "to read" pile just in case i need a little fix. I think it just tells a realistic tale about a group of young women, with expressive writing, great editing, and just a good storyline. Definitely a classic!

I just read the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald in school, and it was good.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, No.5) by C.S. Lewis is often named a modern-day classic.

hunchback of notre dame. its so touching

I have so many favourites I could take up pages talking about them! I love the oldie classics like A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Treasure Island and anything by the Brontes or Jane Austin. I also love more recent classics, like To Kill A Mockingbird, and unlike my best friend from school, I've been enthralled by Gone With the Wind since the age of 16.

I see no reason why contemporary writers can be "classic" also - in a hundred years some of them will be on everyone's list! Anything by Graham Greene (I am currently reading The Quiet American) and Kazuo Ishiguro (I've just finished reading Never Let Me Go - which I read three times in one week, to pick up all the nuances I'd missed). Last week I was reading Third Shift - Pact, part of the Wool series by Hugh Howey, another favourite author. And staying with the scifi genre, I must include Day of the Triffids by John Wyndam. I'll read just about anything by Isaac Azimov, or Somerset Maughan, novels or short stories. This is just a very short list of favourites. So many books, so little time!

Just as a postscript, I'd like to give a plug to Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. This is hard science fiction, but with a creepy, mystical feel to it - a whole planet made up of a strange ocean - an ocean that is both alien and sentient.

Bi Bi for now, and happy reading everyone!