What classic books would you recommend to people to read?

Question

What classic books would you recommend to people to read?

Answer 1

This is my reading list:



Bleak House by Charles Dickens (good)

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (v. good)

A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (v. good)

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackerey (ok)

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (ok)

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky (quite good, although russian classic books are notoriously hardest to read- even when translated)

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (v. sad ending)

Animal Farm by George Orwell (essential read for aspiring politicians)

1984 by George Orwell (essential read for anyone)

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (fab)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (good)

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (totally fab fab)

The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh (satire about Hollywood)

The Trial by Franz Kafka (bizarre)

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka (v. bizarre)

The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald (you have to read this- v. tragic and romantic!)

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov (a controversial book about a man who falls for a 12 year old girl. Intense and amazing)





I've read more than that but I've picked out the good ones.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is very over-rated: some love it but if they measured it up against some of these books it wouldn't stand a chance...some of these books are the acme of literature and are essential reads.

Answer 2

I would say the books by Virginia Woolf. A lot of people make it through their education without fully reading a text by her. They know the name of course - but not familiar with any of her books. I was shocked to find even college students where unfamiliar with the things that she has written.



Her and Toni Morrison for contemporary classics. She's quite good.

Answer 3

I, myself, have only read a few. But I'd recommend To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

Answer 4

I'm a big fan of The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells. His other work is also really good.



The White Company by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is kind of exciting, if you can stand the ridiculous speaches. Better for kids, but unbelievably long, so someone might have to read it to them.

Answer 5

Nicholas Nickleby (Charles Dickens), David Copperfield (also by Charles Dickens) and The Prisoner of Zenda (by Anthony Hope, I think). Best of all is if you could get hold of the close-to-the-original versions, I think Oxford Press publishes them. Long and requires great effort, yes, but trust me, once you started, you'll love the trip.

Answer 6

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)

Slouching Towards Gomorrah (Robert Bork)

The Road to Serfdom (Friedrich von Hayek)

The Purpose Driven Life (Rick Warren)

Seeds of Greatness (Denis Waitley)

Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)



Of course, you can look in your local library for any of these. If you want to own a book, you can often find used or retired copies at great prices at http://www.abebooks.com/ or http://www.biblio.com/



A lover of great literary works

Debra, Chief Analyst

http://www.durabletoys.com/

Answer 7

http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/grtother.html#great

Lots of lists, but I especially like the Harvard Classics list - all the books that I should have read, but (mostly) never did.



Jim, http://www.life-after-harry-potter.com

Answer 8

YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER THE AGE GROUP, FOR ME,

Profiles in Courage

John F. Kennedy (1956)

NO ONE KNOWS HOW GREAT THIS MAN MAY HAVE BEEN.