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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:
valder · 26/02/2025 15:53

I read Wuthering Heights later in life. I knew the basics of it, but it was just something else entirely to read it. Amazing.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles is another one I took up later than most. What a great read. So tragic. When her child died, and the scene in the turnip field have stayed with me forever.

Whether considered a classic or not, I don't know, but I enjoyed reading Love in the time of Cholera recently.

There are many more, far too many that I still have on my "to read" list.

Original poster
almondflake · 26/02/2025 15:43

Wow @Dappy777 i must I've not read a lot of what's on your list but have a long standing love of the Bronte' s particularly Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre i also loved Austin's Pride and Prejudice .

OP posts:
Original poster
almondflake · 26/02/2025 15:38

@NooNakedJacuzziness can you tell me why you thought that , what spoiled it for you ?

Thanks for the recommendation, I'll add it to my list 😁

OP posts:
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.

NooNakedJacuzziness · 26/02/2025 15:06

My recommendation is not to bother with Go Set a Watchman, it spoils TKAMB a bit!

I loved East of Eden