hi. like the title says, i am looking to hear about classic books that are worth reading.

there are so many that are either overrated or just not to my taste.
so, tell me about some of your favorites. what makes them good?

i was just conversing about 'the grapes of wrath' by steinbeck. that book totally does not belong on this thread. but, 'of mice and men' does. so i will start off this potentially wildly popular thread [i'm guessing a two week expiration date...]:

title: of mice and men
author: john steinbeck
why it doesn't suck: i never pet a rabbit again without thinking of lenny. this book burned itself into my brain. it was compelling, short (always good), easy to read and very.... well, it sticks with you.

please share your favorites!

Great topic!

The Karamazov Brothers
Dostoevsky
The book is filled with intense, passionate characters that just draws you in. Raises some great questions and discussion on religion, justice and patricide. Long but worth the read.

title: the portrait of doryan gray
author: Oscar Wilde
why it doesnt suck: Wilde is pure wit and very incisive in his criticism of the morals of the society and people around him. Most of his criticisms could be easily applied to our times, which just proves that we are evolving at molasses pace.

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, written in 1902, was a great influence on my moral character, or perhaps lack thereof. See Apocalypse Now if you desire a cooler version/interpretation.

Is anything written by Sylvia Plath considered classic literature?

^ is plath's 'the bell jar' a classic? i guess it is. i read that when i was 15 and thought it was amazing. then again, i was 15 and spent most of my time in self-imposed exile in my bedroom.

great! thanks for the reviews. sarahs, 'the brothers karamazov' has been on my list for a while. must get around to it one of these days. the friend who recommended that to me also suggested 'gravity's rainbow'... but long books always intimidate me a bit. ...

sh. undergrnd, heart of darkness is indeed a great book. i remember it being in two parts. the first part i found kind of tedious, but the second half was amazing. i did see 'apocalypse now' afterward. both are exceptional.

hc, never read much wilde. i read ... uh, ... 'the importance of being earnest.' fine indeed. been meaning to read dorian grey. will put it on the list! i tend to read about five books at the same time (i am fickle and have a short attention span), so shorter books are always more appealing to me.

great, keep them coming!

Sex in Shanghai for Dummins
Author: Lrig Auqa (russian?)
Why it does not suck: actually chapter 4 is on sucking, but overall they cover everything from heavy petting to getting sand out of your vagina. A great resource for all you timid white people considering a fling in Frank's wackshack on Bobo Lu.

Henry_Chinaski wrote:title: the portrait of doryan gray
author: Oscar Wilde
why it doesnt suck: Wilde is pure wit and very incisive in his criticism of the morals of the society and people around him. Most of his criticisms could be easily applied to our times, which just proves that we are evolving at molasses pace.

ask Oscar Wilde to be assistant of detective A.

All of Jane Austen books
All of George Elliot books except Middle March (this book was too long)
Les Mis by Victor Hugo.
Education of Litille Tree (Forrest Carter) - my favorite

I read all of the 100 classic books (included the ones mentioned above) and now I am running out of books to read.

Good threat -- I like to get some recommendations of books I haven't read before.

Great thread, aquagirl!

I am very much into character development so the classics I find worthwhile are those with unforgettable characters.

Madame Bovary by Flaubert
Vanity Fair by Thackeray

These characters go through such drama, much of it self-inflicted, and it's cathartic to read, even if most of them never reach happily ever after.

Classical Chinese Literature that doesn't suck:

Romance of Three Kingdoms

Why it doesn't suck: People get their heads chopped off every 2 pages. Great battle scenes, political intrigue, scheming and other great insights into the asian understanding of "honor". This book is about 600 years old and one of the first novels in China, although it follows an oral tradition much older. Good reading and a great way to better understand the chinese.

Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner

Why it doesn't suck: While I personally like some of Faulkner's work more (such as Absalom Absalom!, and Light in August), some people are understandably turned off by those books' lack of syntax, excessively erudite diction, and convoluted grammatical structure. Intruder in the Dust is a smoother read and it is simultaneously a very nice murder mystery and a vivid (and condemning) account of American postbellum race relations.

Calpeg wrote:... These characters go through such drama, much of it self-inflicted, and it's cathartic to read, even if most of them never reach happily ever after.

Does anyone reach happily ever after in a classic? The best stories are those where everyone (in particluar, the hero or heroine) dies or is killed off.

- Hamlet

- And if you haven't already, calpeg, check out Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. Tragic.

Aquagirl stole my favourite. I think "The Grapes of Wrath" is one of the finest books ever written. Some more:

title: Count of Monte Cristo
author: Dumas
why it doesn't suck: Just a great story, plenty of hollywood action by a great writer.

title: To Kill a Mockingbird
author: Harper Lee
why it doesn't suck: While some people don't like this book it has some of the best characters in any book ever.

title: Catcher in the Rye
author: Salinger
why it doesn't suck: Actually this book sucks badly. Definately worth burning.

I hate Catcher in the Rye. Such a waste of paper. It is interesting that the percentage of americans that like this book is very high though. There must be something on it that makes it likeable...

Madame Bovary is also a pretty good book. I liked it.

Henry_Chinaski wrote:I hate Catcher in the Rye...

Because you see too much of yourself in the Catcher, perhaps.

I hate Cather in the Rye too...soo overrated. I even read it twice just to make sure it really sucked.

Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar is a way better coming of age book.

Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas is one of my all time favorites!

The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett is a charming story.

Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith

2 classics from Virginia Woolf:

Mrs. Dalloway and A Room of One's Own

You break my heart rxg...
I agree ALL the books by George Elliot and ESPECIALLY Middle March - it's my all time favourite. Yes it's long but there are such an array of well defined characters in the book, it's worth investing the time in reading it. The love story of Dorothy and Will, and of Mary and Fred, are just so romantic.

Also Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Why it doesn't suck: it's very funny in a brutal way and the absurdities of wars highlighted by the book makes it still relevant today.

Great thread!

Sorry Jacaranda -- I have that book in SH, if you want to read it again, I will give it to you as a present for breaking your heart

My favorite by her is The Mill on the Floss.

Great thread!

Title - 100 Years Of Solitude
Author - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

why it doesn't suck: A deceptively easy book to get in to and devour, it covers the lives of successive generations of a family, through depressions, wars and economy booms. It constantly straddles the line between fantasy and realism, and packs in stunning descriptive passages, alongside beautifully drawn characters. It starts slowly and with each new generation builds in pace until you find yourself racing along to the final words, and suddenly bereft without more to read.

Quite possibly my favourite book of all time,

Love in the Age of Cholera -- also by Marquez (Agree with The_meanderer)

Daughter of Fortune
Portrait in Sepia

These are good books, but not sure if they are considered "classic"

I didn't like a 100 years of solitude, it seemed too disjointed to me, like Faulkner's the Sound and the Fury is Love in the Age of Cholera any easier to digest?

100 Years Of Solitude

hate it

^ Your reasoning is irrefutable

Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe, .
A classic read. Such an intospective book. Many movies and shows made about this
but none comes close to reading the novel

4_n_r wrote:Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe, .
A classic read. Such an intospective book. Many movies and shows made about this
but none comes close to reading the novel

One of my all time favorite books. A complete different dimension between when you read it as a child and when you read it as an adult.

Grapes of Wrath
and oddly Fountainhead and I am also very conflicted about Atlas Shrugged. Some time I like it, some time I think its crap

ugh! the fountainhead!! you know, i really liked it until about half way through. then everything started falling apart. i can really see why people hated ayn rand. i wish i remembered better why i was disappointed by the end. the characters were so great at the beginning.... and then it was as if the seams started to pull on the driving philosophy of the book.

sorry, but i will never understand the atraction of 'the grapes of wrath'. or faulkner's 'as i lay dying.' i hated that book. i hated it so much i refused to read his other books, which are probably far better.

'to kill a mockingbird' is one of the finest books i have ever read. one of the very few books that i literally could not put down. so incredibly well written and a great story. fantastic characters. and the movie was superb as well. is there a more perfect man than gregory peck?

book: 'all quiet on the western front'
why it doesn't suck: a fantastic war book, but told in such a personal way, from the 'bad guy' side. so although that sounds trite, 'oh, look we can feel pity for the other side too' it's not like that. incredibly well written. truly a must read. i forget the author. erich.. maria... something. anyone read it?

mags - i loved burnett's 'princess'! i think that was my favorite growing up. i wonder how it would read now...

"To Kill A Mockingbird" is excellent. Definitely of the "if i was on a desert island" caliber.

Read "A Little Princess" about three or four years ago, aqua... it was simplistic at this age but still a classic story that inspires hope, at the very least. Very different from the film versions.

"All Quiet on the Western Front"... my appreciation of that book was shot when the ex needed a 10 page report that involved it back at university (for some strange class)... he ran short of time and called me at 5:00pm... a 90 minute drive and an allnighter for the report, after reading the book again really ruined it for me. Perhaps I should give it another go.

"The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck is another timeless book. The other two weren't as compelling, but they were still quite readable. Her "Mandala" is also noteworthy.