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Original poster

Had anyone come to a classic late in life ?

80 replies

almondflake · 26/02/2025 15:05

Has anyone come to a classic late in life and been blown away by it ?
I've reached the age of 60 and have never read or seen To Kill a Mockingbird i didn't even know the story . I've been blown away by the story and the writing , i absolutely loved Atticus and Scout , i found Atticus to be such a kind and wise man , a staunch believer in right and wrong ready to pass all he knows onto Scout and Jim .
If you've never read it I heartily recommend reading or listening to it .
I've already downloaded Go Set a Watchman onto kindle to see how Scout grows up .
Please send any recommendations for classics I may love too .

OP posts:
Panticus · 28/02/2025 10:39

What a great thread. I'm pleased to have seen Rebecca mentioned a couple of times!

In Cold Blood, Great Expectations and Gone With the Wind were all a million times more engrossing than I expected - proper page turners.

Thanks to those who recommend The Real Charlotte - looks very interesting.

ItGhoul · 28/02/2025 10:38

I read a lot of classics when I was younger (English degree) but only recently, in my late 40s, read Bleak House and was surprised to find that I absolutely loved it.

Barbadossunset · 28/02/2025 10:27

I had a big Evelyn Waugh phase, with Handful of Dust probably my favourite because of the absolutely nuts ending that no one would have seen coming.

The ending is so brilliant - especially how the people who came to find him were thwarted. What a clever writer Waugh was.
I am also a huge admirer of his contemporary Elizabeth Bowen. She must have been a formidably intelligent woman.

dairydebris · 28/02/2025 10:22

Dappy777 · 26/02/2025 15:37

I am always discovering new classics, and hope to be doing so in my 80s and 90s. There are 3,000 years of literature to explore OP! Take a look at Harold Bloom’s list.

I was in my 40s before I read Pride and Prejudice and Sons and Lovers, and before I read a word of George Eliot, Daniel Defoe, John Ruskin, Walter Pater, or Oscar Wilde.

Since I turned 50, I have discovered Ford Maddox Ford and Geoffrey Hill, and have also read Madame Bovary, The Mayor of Casterbridge and Vanity Fair for the first time.

But my ignorance is limitless. I have never read one word of Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky or Kafka or Hilary Mantel or H G Wells or the Brontes or Chekhov. I have never read Tess of the D’Urbevilles or Bleak House or The Grapes of Wrath or Emma or The Great Gatsby or anything by Tom Stoppard or Pinter or Beckett or William Golding or Dante or countless others.

If you haven't read House Of Mirth I think you'd love it.

Most subtleties would have completely passed me by if I'd have read earlier.

I've now read it twice in the last year. Beautiful book.

beguilingeyes · 28/02/2025 10:18

almondflake · 26/02/2025 15:05

Has anyone come to a classic late in life and been blown away by it ?
I've reached the age of 60 and have never read or seen To Kill a Mockingbird i didn't even know the story . I've been blown away by the story and the writing , i absolutely loved Atticus and Scout , i found Atticus to be such a kind and wise man , a staunch believer in right and wrong ready to pass all he knows onto Scout and Jim .
If you've never read it I heartily recommend reading or listening to it .
I've already downloaded Go Set a Watchman onto kindle to see how Scout grows up .
Please send any recommendations for classics I may love too .

I really recommend the film. It's beautiful and Gregory Peck is the perfect Atticus.

TheProvincialLady · 28/02/2025 10:15

@Scout2016 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is one of my all time favourite books but I seldom hear anyone even mention it. Definitely plenty of bad behaviour there.

Gwenhwyfar · 28/02/2025 10:01

"two of the saddest scenes in the entire history of fiction."

Which are they?
I do think it has a great character in Miss Havisham.

Gwenhwyfar · 28/02/2025 10:00

Funny you mention Wuthering Heights. I've never read it, but have listened to the audio book twice. I think I found it slightly boring first time around, but then listening again recently I actually found it funny just how awful some of the characters are. Probably not the expected reaction.

I liked Pride and Prejudice as a teenager and I think it's probably one of the few that is properly understood by schoolgirls. Many of the other classics require some life experience to really 'get'.

Scout2016 · 28/02/2025 09:48

Toni Morrison's Beloved, if that counts as a classic by now? It should.

I had a big Evelyn Waugh phase, with Handful of Dust probably my favourite because of the absolutely nuts ending that no one would have seen coming.

I am a sucker for people behaving really badly and Tenant of Wildfell Hall would get my vote if I were to reread any.

Nella Larsen's Passing is a short novel that really stayed with me and is thematically very relevant today I think.

Edited to add - my username is down to being a TKAMB fan, although I don’t wear dungarees as often these days.

TheReturnOfFeathersMcGraw · 27/02/2025 19:32

SmithfamilyRobinson · 26/02/2025 20:43

English Lit graduate here. When Kindles first were a thing I read and very much enjoyed
Vanity Fair
The Woman in White
The Moonstone (preferred it to TWIW)
Two other writers which surprised me were Ford Maddox Ford and Dodie Smith (she of 101 Dalmatians), I Capture the Castle.

I love Wilkie Collins!

Original poster
almondflake · 27/02/2025 19:29

@AppropriateAdult That's really interesting , I didn't know , I'd read that Go set a watchman was a"lost book " possibly never intended for publication .

OP posts:
Barbadossunset · 27/02/2025 19:27

That’s one of my favourite novels — incredibly, I was teaching it last academic year, and it wasn’t in print anywhere! It’s right up in contention for ‘greatest Irish novel’ for me. Charlotte is a memorably brilliant villain

Yes! Her final revenge at the end of the book just before Norrey comes with the news is masterful.
Of all the books I’ve ever read that is the one for which I most wanted a sequel.
What happens to Roddy Lambert? And Hawkins?
Once the Troubles started 25 or so years later, Charlotte may have got her comeuppance.

HamSpray · 27/02/2025 19:20

Barbadossunset · 27/02/2025 19:14

I recommend The Real Charlotte by Somerville & Ross.

That’s one of my favourite novels — incredibly, I was teaching it last academic year, and it wasn’t in print anywhere! It’s right up in contention for ‘greatest Irish novel’ for me. Charlotte is a memorably brilliant villain.

MiserableMrsMopp · 27/02/2025 19:18

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Blew me away when I read it at 30.

Brave New World. Aldous Huxley.

Barbadossunset · 27/02/2025 19:14

I recommend The Real Charlotte by Somerville & Ross.

TonTonMacoute · 27/02/2025 16:28

Gremlinsateit · 27/02/2025 04:37

I only read Kim last year and was surprised by how much I liked it. I thought it was going to be unbearably imperialist but it was so much more interesting and had a much more generous spirit than I had expected.

I’ve always loved Kipling, he is so misunderstood, mainly by people who have never read any of his work.

Kim is wonderful, I once caused a stir by recommending it for my book club, and was pleased to get some converts.

Kipling is actually brilliant writing about very ordinary people, some of whom just happened to live in India at the time of empire. He’s even good at writing from an animals point of view and has written some very strong female characters. His short stories are well worth reading

alldaysleeper · 27/02/2025 07:19

So, so many! I think reading many of them later in life for enjoyment rather than feeling they must be read has given me a better insight and appreciation of them.

Gremlinsateit · 27/02/2025 04:37

I only read Kim last year and was surprised by how much I liked it. I thought it was going to be unbearably imperialist but it was so much more interesting and had a much more generous spirit than I had expected.

Nevernotrenovating · 27/02/2025 04:30

Villette
Felix Hoult The Radical
The Woman in White
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
The Grapes of Wrath
Of Mice And Men
The Aspern Papers
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Mothership4two · 27/02/2025 01:59

I read The Lord of the Flies as a teenager and hated it, but reread it last year and thought it was powerful although upsetting. I also put off reading The Handmaid's Tale (not an Atwood fan) until after the TV series and thought that was amazing as well.

Second don't bother reading Go Set a Watchman as it's not a good book (IMO) especially if you liked TKAM which is a firm favourite of mine. There is some (significant) doubt that Harper Lee ever wanted it published.

NoraLuka · 26/02/2025 22:24

I’m in the middle of David Copperfield, having never read any Dickens before because I thought it would be too difficult. It’s actually fine and I quite like it. I wish I didn’t know how Dickens treated his wife, that kind of spoils it a bit for me.

TennisLady · 26/02/2025 21:40

Just recently read Rebecca, enjoyed it much more than I thought I would!

merryhouse · 26/02/2025 21:38

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh @almondflake GSAW is a really good book and I'm glad I read it

but

well, I would actively discourage a teenager from reading it, and anyone who loves the characters the way you say you do should probably leave it a few years.

The meat of the story is Jean-Louise's inner journey and the maturing of her view of her father. Which is fine.

It's just the outer mechanics of that journey that make it a hard read.

(I did like the scenes in church though, very close to home Grin)

HamSpray · 26/02/2025 21:25

SmithfamilyRobinson · 26/02/2025 20:43

English Lit graduate here. When Kindles first were a thing I read and very much enjoyed
Vanity Fair
The Woman in White
The Moonstone (preferred it to TWIW)
Two other writers which surprised me were Ford Maddox Ford and Dodie Smith (she of 101 Dalmatians), I Capture the Castle.

I only read I Capture the Castle as an adult and was totally charmed.

HamSpray · 26/02/2025 21:24

Devilsmommy · 26/02/2025 18:19

You should definitely try Dostoyevsky but The Great Gatsby is crap, wouldn't waste your time😁

Show quote history

I read The Great Gatsby in my 20s and loathed it. Then I reread it in my 40s and decided it was brilliant. It also took me till my 40s to appreciate Dickens other than A Tale of Two Cities and Bleak House — I suddenly realised that Great Expectations is a perfect novel, and contains two of the saddest scenes in the entire history of fiction. I still find David Copperfield almost unreadable, though.