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Original poster

Right-I'm sick of Booker shortlist fiction-so help me, post your all time favourite work of classic fiction

238 replies

DarrellRivers · 09/01/2008 13:36

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.

OP posts:
wilbur · 09/01/2008 14:32

Oh yes, Raj Quartet, mrs Bumblebee - fab. And Alexandria Quartet - Laurence Durrell.

ZippiBabesBeenAnAwfulBadGirl · 09/01/2008 14:31

The Betrothed Alessandro Manzoni

I was going to suggest Crime and Punishment too

Original poster
DarrellRivers · 09/01/2008 14:31

100x, i agree, good but not a classic work of fiction

OP posts:
wilbur · 09/01/2008 14:30

The World According to Garp and other John Irving novels, esp Cider House Rules and A Widow for One year.

The Corrections - Johnathan Frantzen

I am Charlotte Simmonds - Tom Wolfe

You may notice I am a fan of American writers / themes...

ahundredtimes · 09/01/2008 14:30

I get the impression that the OP wants some meat, some sweeping grand epic. Is that right? Because she's suffered with The Gathering.

(I thought The Gathering was well-written actually, very well-written)

psychomum5 · 09/01/2008 14:30

darrellrivers.....and too.

and you bein named after one of her faves of mine too!!!!

Original poster
DarrellRivers · 09/01/2008 14:30

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

OP posts:
KrippledKerryMum · 09/01/2008 14:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ahundredtimes · 09/01/2008 14:28

Yes, I like him - I especially liked The Loved One I remember, but I wouldn't vote for him in an all time favourite work of classic fiction.

MrsBumblebee · 09/01/2008 14:28

How about the Raj quartet by Paul Scott? Historical interest but also devastating love story and great chracter assassinations of the Brits in India.

Also 100 Years of Solitude (ok not that old, but still a classic). And All Quiet on the Western Front.

Original poster
DarrellRivers · 09/01/2008 14:28

Is he comparable to Nancy Mitford, or would she come below EW?

OP posts:
psychomum5 · 09/01/2008 14:28

seeker......seriously (the Narnia comment)???

oooh......never realise that......well, will have to re-re-re-re-read yet again.

oooh, the hardship

justagirlfromedgware · 09/01/2008 14:27

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)

Original poster
DarrellRivers · 09/01/2008 14:27

Detention for you Seeker and Psychomum5 , EnidBlyton is definitely not allowed on the list

OP posts:
ahundredtimes · 09/01/2008 14:27

I just think its surprising.

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.

Original poster
DarrellRivers · 09/01/2008 14:26

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

OP posts:
francagoestohollywood · 09/01/2008 14:26

You don't like EW, ahundred? I remember loving Scoop, recommending it to one of my best friend and he hated it!

ahundredtimes · 09/01/2008 14:25

There's romance in Middlemarch, and oh so much more.

[dogged]

seeker · 09/01/2008 14:25

Loved Narnia until I realized at the age of about 15 that it was concealed propaganda. And anti-woman. Never forgave CS Lewis.

hattyyellow · 09/01/2008 14:25

Why oh why shouldn't there be so many votes for Waugh?

...

Original poster
DarrellRivers · 09/01/2008 14:24

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

OP posts:
ahundredtimes · 09/01/2008 14:24

Why oh why are there SO many votes for Evelyn Waugh?

ahundredtimes · 09/01/2008 14:23

[frowns at Seeker, shakes head]

hattyyellow · 09/01/2008 14:23

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.

suiledonn · 09/01/2008 14:23

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.