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Original poster

Should I read the classics? And if so, which ones?

41 replies

justwondering72 · 10/10/2015 16:12

I've always been 'a reader' and had several books on the go. As a young reader I loved fantasy, and continued reading it through into adulthood. I've read lot of contemporary fiction (much of it from recs on here, thank you!). But I'm feeling like there has been s big gap in my reading life where other people read The Classics and I did not.

So no Dickens, no Hardy, no Austen, no Bronte. I remembrer reading billy liar, sunset song and Lord of the flies at school, some Shakespear, some Brecht. Did higher and 6th year English but was in the second set for the former and the latter was a skive, led by a fairly louche Irish woman who had us reading Keats and other poetry most of the time.

I joined a book club a year ago and recently revealed that I'd never read Pride and Prejudice... Shock and horror was the least of it! So despite being highly qualified in my field (science) I feel like maybe I should try to catch up.

Where should I begin? And is it worth it??

OP posts:
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Loula117 · 15/10/2015 13:47

Personally I would go for 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' over 'Wuthering Heights', and 'Northanger Abbey' for an Austen (bearing in mind the heroine is supposed to be a bit daft)

I enjoyed 'Vanity Fair' and second Daphne du Maurier, who is fab. Definitely read 'Rebecca', 'My Cousin Rachel' and 'The House on the Strand'. 'Cold Comfort Farm' by Stella Gibbons is a must too.

I just read Howards End for the first time (despite having a degree in Eng Lit) and absolutely hated it, full of insufferable people doing incomprehensible things, pretentious prose that waffles on and then major (and ludicruous) plot points being dealt with mid-sentence. Obviously I'm missing something!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 15/10/2015 13:47

The Moonstone, also by Wilkie Collins. Great favourite of mine.

South Riding, by Winifred Holtby. Published in the mid 1930s. Possibly my favourite book of all time.

Northumberlandlass · 15/10/2015 13:42

A Woman in White - Wilkie Collins. My all time favourite.

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 15/10/2015 13:37

Oh yes, The Grapes of Wrath, I missed that off my list. One of the best novels ever, I read it at least once a year.

Muskey · 15/10/2015 09:09

That should be wuthering heights but withering heights actually might be a better title

Muskey · 15/10/2015 09:08

Where do I start. Apart from the obvious Austen and Brontes (although I would give withering heights a miss too much dialect which drove me mad) I would recommend to kill a mocking bird, catcher in the rye, catch 22, the grapes of wrath, war of the worlds, the great gatsby, war and peace, Anna karenina, the Lord of the rings, Lord of the flies, cider with Rosie and the mill on the floss.

Anxiousunfortunate · 15/10/2015 09:06

I dont have good concentration levels currently but previously read a lot of classic novels. Many already mentioned but to add

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Little Women a book that influenced me as a child and remains a favourite

LadyShirazz · 15/10/2015 08:56

While I've read most of the classics named here, when it comes to certain wordier ones (Dickens, Hugo etc), I much prefer screen adaptations - makes for great Sunday afternoon viewing!

Cuts out all the "filler" stuff and focuses on the stonking plots instead.

Justify this in my mind as that Dickens books were the soap operas of their times anyway...

Original poster
justwondering72 · 15/10/2015 08:49

Thanks for all the suggestions - I've spent a happy hour downloading all manner of free classics onto my
Kindle.

OP posts:
KatharineClifton · 13/10/2015 22:15

Oh my word, Wolf Larsen is the most repulsive, attractive and compulsive character! I don't currently have a copy of it - heads to Amazon...

maamalady · 13/10/2015 21:26

Oh, Katharine, I'm so glad someone other than me loves the Sea Wolf! No-one ever seems to have heard of it, but I love it so hard (even though my copy has Jack London's appalling illustrations) :)

KatharineClifton · 13/10/2015 20:39

And The Sea-Wolf - not sure if it's counted as a classic though.

KatharineClifton · 13/10/2015 20:34

Vanity Fair is amazing. Read it. Silas Marner also. I found Wuthering Heights brilliant when I read it as a teenager. Not sure if I would now.

Ayala's Angel is very funny and a good way into Trollope.

Pride and Prejudice, like all Austen is appalling. Not a popular view I know, but the correct one ;)

Tbh, most of the classics I've 'read' have been listened to on audiobooks or on Radio 4.

And 'The Classics' is mostly just a list of male authors. Why would you limit yourself to them? Read what you like.

bookbook · 13/10/2015 09:16

Agree with almost everyone about Jane Austen and the Brontes. Personally I find Dickens incredibly boring (sorry!) but I did enjoy
The Barchester Chronicles by Anthony Trollope
Anna Karenina / War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell

atrociouscook · 13/10/2015 08:54

I think no one has mentioned Arnold Bennett, whose books are an absolute joy. Reading The Grand Babylon Hotel at the moment, but there's The Card and many, many more, and I've never been disappointed.

Ballysbabe · 13/10/2015 08:15

I would definitely recommend most of the above but The best start is Lady Chatterleys Lover! You will not be able to put it down! ;-)

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 12/10/2015 19:51

You'll find your own favourites soon, there are so many to choose from.

I'm a huge Hardy fan and have read all his novels at least 6 times. I can't bear Austin - although I have studied her at degree level and made several attempts since to like her work.

A random selection from my favourite classics.

Great Expectations
Far From the Madding Crowd
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
The Woodlanders
Anna Karenin
Silas Marner
The Mill on the Floss
Mary Barton
Wuthering Heights

nebulae · 12/10/2015 00:00

Wuthering Heights
Jamaica Inn
Rebecca
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Great Expectations
Pride and Prejudice

I almost feel envious, I wish I could read them for the first time again. They're like old friends those books.

NotCitrus · 11/10/2015 14:26

Classics are free to download to phones or Kindle etc from Project Gutenberg, so get a few and see.

Jules Verne is great and inspired so much SF and fantasy - 20,000 leagues under the sea, Round the World in 80 days.
Wyndham great though many short stories depressing.
Brave New World and 1984 great for understanding modern cultural references

Jane Eyre is interesting. Austen is all about the bitchy gossip and sly humour - once you get that, they're really good, but 15 years ago it went over my head.
Hardy is beautiful writing but except for my favourite Mayor of Casterbridge, you just want to kill all the characters! His poetry is better.
Dickens' social commentary is great but the plots make Eastenders look uncontrived and are horribly predictable. David Copperfield is good for the first and last 200 pages and dire in the middle.

Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels are worth looking at. Also Kipling Just So stories.

AnneElliott · 11/10/2015 14:11

Hardy wrote Jude the Obscure. Ignore my typo

AnneElliott · 11/10/2015 14:10

Well obviously I'd recommend Jane Austen, particularly Persuasion! All of hers are great. I also love Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. Harts is also a good read- I love Jude the Obscure, but it's a sad one.
Also George Eliot and the Brontes. Fav Bronte is The tenant of Wildfell Hall, quite a feminist novel for its time.

BondJayneBond · 11/10/2015 14:06

If you like fantasy, have you read classic fantasy / sci-fi novels?

I thoroughly enjoyed Bram Stoker's Dracula and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Jekyll and Hyde, on the other hand, was a big disappointment.

maamalady · 11/10/2015 13:59

If you like fantasy/sci-fi, then you could try some of the classics along those lines - John Wyndham is great (The Day of the Triffids is a superb book), as is HG Wells. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a classic too.

Otherwise, I love Jane Austen (except Emma, which I find tedious), and the Brontës - Wuthering Heights is a bit of a Marmite book, but I'm definitely of the "love" camp.

Classics are really very varied in subject and style, so your best bet is to go to your local bookshop or library and read the backs of books until one grabs your interest :)

DuchessofMalfi · 11/10/2015 13:43

Forster has already been mentioned, just adding that his novels are very accessible and enjoyable. Where Angels Fear to Tread is a lovely story and a quick read at around 200 pages. My favourite, so far is Maurice, which is also a quite short.

I also tried Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf earlier this year and was surprised at how much I liked that too. Not at all difficult :)

WiIdfire · 11/10/2015 13:01

Be careful with Dickens (or dont bother). I had to read Hard Times at school and my god was it tedious. I didnt finish it, and I never leave books unfinished.

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