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Adult fiction
: Right-I'm sick of Booker shortlist fiction-so help me, post your all time favourite work of classic fiction
(239 messages)
Ann Enright finished me off finally with the dross that is called 'The Gathering' So I decided to start reading some more classic works of fiction. Am currently reading Nana by Zola, it's great [bit suprised]
At least these people seem to be able to write cracking tales (and not just emotional vomit) I think I read most classic works of fiction when I was a teenager -ie Jane Austen, when I was too young to appreciate anything about life.
So post what should i read next, and what you loved about it.I think anything published in last 20 years should not be allowed but exceptions may be permitted.
Vanity Fair - fabby fabby fab. All of Jane Austen too. In fact you can't go wrong with most of the classics - that's why they made it as classics. Dickens not to everyone's taste but I love it too.
I know you've already read Jane Austen, but it might be worth revisiting Pride and Prejudice.
I'm a real Austen fan, have read all 6 books over and over. My dh recently bought me "mr Darcy's Diary", putting his point of view and I enjoyed that as well.
Don't like Dickens, has v. strange ideas about women.
Joseph Conrad's not bad.
You could try the Woman in White or the Moonstone, both by Wilkie Collins.
what about modern classics? Have recently been splurging on C20 American lit. EL Doctorow and Updike are both wonderful. Read Updike's Rabbit series from start to finish and was just blown away - every other line a revelation.
Again think i read Vanity Fair whilst teenager, but can't remember lots of it although I watched a recent film adaption and was at how they had twisted the ending into a happy one. Surely the point of it was Becky Sharpe is a low conniving minx who got her just desserts! That's on my list I do enjoy Dickens , and is quite good ie one chapter a night(might be here till christmas though) DustyS- what is Invisible man about? (aprt from obvious sounding title)
Yes just read The Great Gatsby, v good, I didn't find it as depressing as I thought it was going to be. So could follow on with some Updike perhaps Yes, I think Graham Greene needs to go on the list
what is a 'classic'? I am a reader, so sorry if I sound like an idiot, but I am wondering how a book becomes a classic.
In my mind, classic = boring, but what do I know, I am not sure I have read one[confused].
I do love C.S.Lewis and the Narnia books, and does 'To Kill a Mockingbird' happen to be counted too?
and what about Hucklberry Finn, or Tom Sawyer.....is that book counted....ohh, and the 'Swallow and Amazons' book.
Am now aware that I am mainly quoting books aimed at children, so it may say something to do with my literary levels.
I do however have some Jane Austin somewhere, just not read as yet as I never have the time (mainly because all my fave authors keep releasing new books damn them)!!
Its about a black man in the south of the USA and how he gets an education and comes up North and gets involved with the black civil rights movement. Its a strange book and a bit disturbing but IMO definitely worth reading
psychomum5, yes i worried a bit about the 'classic ' classification, and hopefully someone will illuminate us further. I take it as a book which stands the test of time, in that it 's themes , ie love, revenge, jealously, shine through the cultural scenery of the time. To kill a mocking bird is a classic i reckon.
As you are enjoying Nana I can thoroughly recommend Therese Raquin also by Zola.
Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath (well anything of his really)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) is good and Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)
I second F Scott Fitzgerald too. Tender is the Night is good. He also did a book of short stories (I think it was 'The Diamond as Big as the Ritz') which I loved.
there are still fantastic contemporary writers around tho' - don't give up on modern writers just because of the Booker
I've recently read Sarah Hall, Carol Birch, Janice Galloway ('Clara' is amazing read that read it NOW), A L Kennedy, Peter Hobbs
it's well worth looking for writers who are doing exciting things but don't tick the Booker boxes - dig a bit deeper than the Waterstones 3 for 2s and there is some really good writing going on
I did 'to kill a mockingbird' for my english exams, and my teacher was stunned as I was the only one in the class to have read it voluntarily.......got an A from her for my oral paper about it.
Now have another copy of my own, as the first walked away on it own at one point, or got stolen borrowed by a friend and forgotten to be returned! (altho it was a long time ago, so it may be me losing it??).
Mrs Humphrey Ward: Helbeck of Bannisdale Mrs Gaskell: Ruth Zoe Oldenbourg: The World is Not Enough (Argile et Cendres) Winifred Watson: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day F Tennyson Jesse: A Pin to See the Peepshow Elizabeth Taylor: Angel Pamela Hansford Johnson: The Honours Board
Evelen Waugh, think I might have read one, about beautiful rich young things, so sad, Yes Stenibeck, read The Winter of Discontent, but not The Grapes of Wrath/Of mice and med, so I will put those down. All v good, am excited, now have to trawl the charity shops to find them all
No Psychomum I was replying to Darrell from earlier but you lot type so blimmin fast! .
Mind you, Harry may very well be a modern classic. I am one of about three people on the planet who haven't read him yet but I'm all in favour if he gets children to pick up a big book enthusiastically.
My dd is mad on Rainbow Magic books - I wish she would get into HP - all these darn fairies seem to be the same story to me.
Darell - You passed right over my recommendation for The Idiot. My favorite book of all time. Takes a bit of effort (don't most Russian authors?) but well worth it.
My new year resolution is to read some Dickens - I have been 'bouncing off the surface" since I was a teenager!
I'm currently reading Dombey and Son - cheating really because I recently heard some of it on the radio - but I'm really enjoying it. Much easier, faster reading than I expected.
I think Mill on the Floss is just SLIGHTLY bettet than Middlemarch.
amazonianwoman - I sgree totally about John Irving. A Prayer for Owen Meany is my favourite too. I liked When We Were Orphans by Ishiguro but tried the most recent one (name escapes me now) but couldn't get into it.
Definitely agree re Vanity Fair. Also love Middlemarch...
I would try trawling through Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh (Brideshead Revisited, perhaps) and Muriel Spark (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, perhaps) - three of my favourites.
Marina, The Honours Board, I remember reading that as a teenager. I think it was quite a racy read for me (although nothing in comparison to Lace/ or Jilly Cooper) I do have a liking for Mrs Gaskell, romantic type of stuff
A prayer for Owen Meany is one of my favourite books of all times. John Irving makes me laugh out loud If i had to compile a top 10 of books that would be the first on it, and then , I don't know how i would ever compile the rest
I mean [grand gesture] I suppose he's a good stylist, a man of his time and witty and mean, but I wouldn't put him in a list with Dostoevsky, Eliot, Hugo and Dickens.
Based on the definition of a classic as over 20 years old and has stood the test of time:
Lynne Reid Banks: the L-Shaped Room (how attitudes of out of wedlock babies have changed!). E.M. Delafield: The Diary of a Provincial Lady Margaret Drabble: Jerusalem the Golden Paul Gallico: The Snow Goose Robert A. Heinlein: The Door into Summer (I know it's SciFi, but it's so good, it's beyond classification) Giorgio Bassani: The Garden of the Finzi-Continis David Grossman: See Under: Love (a wonderful Israeli author) Elizabeth Jane Howard: The Long View Penelope Lively: Moon Tiger (now here's a Booker Prize winner who can write!) Elizabeth von Arnim: The Enchanted April Herman Wouk: Marjorie Morningstar A.B. Yehoshua: The Lover (another brilliant Israeli author)
Thankyou Justagirlfromedgeware. Those type of books are difficult to find because they are never at the front of the bookstore, and not in the hardcore classic section Personal recommendation just the thing
yes, I agree ahundred, and for witticism (does this word exist?) I actually favour wodehouse, who is on my personal list of all time classic. justgirlfromedgware, I love both Bassani and Yehoshua
Q - what is Narnia propagandising? Christianity? or something more sinister?
Hated Middlemarch mtself but love Mill on The Floss, also Eliot. Adam bede also supposed to be good. Can I just put it a good word for a modern book - The Book Thief. Am reading at the mo. It is simply, yet poetically written; totally gripping and devestating. I think this could become a classic (just as long as Richard and J keep their paws off it)
So, so glad to see Middlemarch (Dorothea is actually on our names longlist, but I think Bloke is likely to veto), To Kill a Mockingbird, and A Prayer for Owen Meany on this list, but am surprised that no one has mentioned my personal favourite, Wuthering Heights.
If I could only read one book ever again (and believe me, I go cold at the prospect) it would be Bronte's masterpiece. Heathcliffe was the first literary character I fell in love with. You can keep your Darcys (well, maybe I could borrow him now and again..., give me a man with a bit of passion anyday!
if you are going to carry on with zola you must read germinal. any daphne du maurier is good. doris lessing? ooh how about some gogol, bit oddball but i really loved it.
Agree that a lot of Waugh comes across as more lightweight comedy (although I'd rank his comedy above Wodehouse who seems to just take a theme and repeat ad nauseam)...
But would put Handful of Dust and Brideshead Revisited up there with the classics..who else does guilt with such gusto (except Greene)...
I think they have almost been cheapened though by having TV/film adaptations made of them...takes away from the original book..
Would have to put the Bronte sisters up there with the classic writers too...Jane Eyre? Deep work of art or ultimately a sentimental love story?
Ah, I was just about to post about the Brontes but I see they haven't met universal favour I loved The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Vilette. Also recommend Middlemarch, and nice to see Elizabeth Taylor getting a mention.
MAS - I always find that WH is best read (or rerererererererereread, if you are me) in a darkened room, with the wind howling outside, and a large glass of red (or milk, if you are me at the moment, fighting off the ever present acid indigestion). It's one of those annoying books that has been adapted many times, but that no tv programme or film has ever done justice too, so you can't even cheat!
Amazonian - I LOVE Owen Meany. When I finished it last year I was so disappointed to not have it to read anymore. I think the language is beautiful, and the construction and ending was spectacular. I actually said, 'Ahhh, so that's why...' outloud!
I'm not ignoring anyone. I am trying to tidy my study though.
Zip's recommendations are fab I think. Capp's are well-meant but WRONG.
Oooh I tell you what how about some good non-fiction? Not classic necessarily but absorbing DR?
That Claire Tomlin book on Pepys was bloody good, also I loved that Orlando Figes book on Russia's cultural history. They might be the perfect antidote you're looking for.
Actually, completely and utterly OT, I would recommend Atul Gawande's books of essays really highly to anyone interested in medicine. He's a marvellous writer. Just thought DR might like to know
Am back from folding clothes Enjoyed the Pepys book, yes so the Orlando Figes, russian cultural history thing sounds good (studied Russia History GSCE Tsars to communists) Zippi, wasn't ignoring, what is The Betrothed like? I have never heard of Alessandro Manzoni And i think i should read Jane Eyre again
at how they had twisted the ending into a happy one.
[confused].
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)!! 
too.
