Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
What we're reading

Find your new favourite book or recommend one on our Book forum.

Original poster

Your recommendations for classics

35 replies

bookwormbeagle · 17/10/2014 11:56

I've just finished reading the book North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (sp), and really enjoyed it.

I've got the following lined up on my kindle, for after I finish The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.

Dracula
Great Expectations
Far From The Madding Crowd
Sense and Sensibility
Pride and Prejudice
Silas Marner

What Classic would you recommend as a must-read?

OP posts:
CoteDAzur · 17/10/2014 15:56

Anna Karenina

Dracula audiobook that syncs with the Kindle copy is free atm. It is really well done.

LittleBairn · 17/10/2014 15:54

The age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
Bleak house by Charles Dickens

Bolshybookworm · 17/10/2014 15:49

I absolutely love East of Eden, Zaraw, it's one of my favourite books.

I'd also add The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton and Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys (it's a prequel to Jane eyre and I think I like it even more than the original).

ZaraW · 17/10/2014 15:44

East of Eden is one of my favourites. Grapes of Wrath is also an excellent read but more difficult to read due to the dialect.

ShanghaiDiva · 17/10/2014 15:44

Emma - it's fab.

Original poster
bookwormbeagle · 17/10/2014 14:28

Great. I've now ordered: Persuasion, Cranford, Wuthering Heights, Moby Dick and Sherlock!

Can't wait to get started Smile

OP posts:
DuchessofMalfi · 17/10/2014 14:18

I loved Persuasion by Jane Austen. It's my favourite of her novels. How could you not love Captain Wentworth? Smile

ConkerTime · 17/10/2014 14:14

I enjoyed Cranford by Gaskell.

Original poster
bookwormbeagle · 17/10/2014 14:02

I'm using the term looselyWink as I'm not sure myself really!

There was an offer on amazon a few weeks back (when they were promoting their whispersync service) and I downloaded lots of freebies with the audio companion version for pennies. I've read some Austen books previously and enjoyed them, so wanted to extend my collection really. Like the one from Elizabeth Gaskell - prior to that offer I wouldn't have even thought of searching for her works but I really enjoyed it.

OP posts:
LornaGoon · 17/10/2014 12:40

I love a good book list!

Not sure what your definition of 'classic' would be (pre World War II? Before 1900?) but a few that might fit with your list are:

Frankenstein
Wurthering Heights
Jane Eyre
A Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Sherlock Holmes
Grimms Fairy Tales
Huckleberry Finn
Collection of Tales from Edgar Allan Poe
Madame Bovery
Vanity Fair
Moby Dick

Then you've got more contemporary classics like 1984, The Grapes of Wrath, The Great Gatsby, The Color Purple, To The Lighthouse, The Bell Jar, Play It As It Lays.

I could go on and on.

I'm not saying I passionately love all these books, or that they're all utterly brilliant works of fiction, but they have given me insight into the times they were written in and have been influential.