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Original poster

OK - I want new things to read. Please can you list two books- one classic, one modern- you think everyone shoulf read.

194 replies

seeker · 22/10/2008 22:45

I'll start. Pride and Prejudice and The Kite Runner, by Khalid Hosseini.

OP posts:
slayerette · 24/10/2008 13:49

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Remains of the Day

lilibet · 24/10/2008 13:47

i thought of two 'linked books yesterday and was convinced that someone would ahve put them on

Tale of Two Cities

A Prayer for Owen Meany

"It's a far, far better thing.............." [sob]

smartiejake · 24/10/2008 13:29

THe Grapes of Wrath

The boy in the striped pyjamas

Blu · 24/10/2008 12:56

The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

and

The Rotters Club and the Closed Circle (they HAVE to be read together, TCC is the sequel, so count as one)

CrushaGrape · 24/10/2008 12:46

Classic - Tolstoy's 'The Death of Ivan Ilych', which is so absorbing (and short!) that you'll get through it in a couple of sittings.

Modern - Zadie Smith's 'On Beauty'. I started re-reading it this week, and had forgotten how brilliant it was.

ChloeandAlfie · 24/10/2008 12:34

By Truman Capote (same guy as 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'). It's a story that follows a true event where a family were killed in Canvas. Capote followed the story avidly, becoming involved with the two men who were eventually charged with the killings. It's horrifying and shocking, but a tale told with great empathy. I was only 17 at the time, but was deeply affected by it. I recommend it to my AS/A2 Literature students now!

Flowertots · 24/10/2008 12:28

never heard of that Chloe, what's it about? Is it like 1984/Animal Farm type?

ChloeandAlfie · 24/10/2008 12:24

Can't praise 'In Cold Blood' enough. It changed my view on life...

ScottishMummy · 24/10/2008 12:20

Classic 1984 as pertinent now as then
Modern white teeth cracking read

Flowertots · 24/10/2008 12:17

Frankenstein, the ultimate Halloween story especially how it was originally told as an off the cuf ghost story....GENIUS!!!

KerryMumchingOnEyeballs · 24/10/2008 12:08

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KerryMumchingOnEyeballs · 24/10/2008 12:07

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Flowertots · 24/10/2008 12:06

Thank you Lilo

DEFIATELY Jude the Obscure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

who cares about a modern when you've got a tremendous classic like Jude!!!

mumof2222222222222222boys · 24/10/2008 09:26

So sorry cyteen!

There really are some brilliant books here - I'll be taking note of a few. In cold blood - Truman CApote is coming in for lots of praise from a friend at the mo...a busy time ahead!

lilolilmanchester · 23/10/2008 23:54

Jude the Obscure;
Prince of Tides (the film was crap, but I couldn't put the book down)

Original poster
seeker · 23/10/2008 23:40

Troube is, all this has just made me want to re-read things - I've read most of the listed books but not for a long time. I'm going on holiday tomorrow and I am now going to take Brideshead Revisited as a re-read and I'm going to read Middlemarch again when I come back. Then start on all the others......!

OP posts:
Beetroot · 23/10/2008 23:06

Shakespeare on Toast -' wonderful and easy and then (if you don't alreadly) you will get it.

DeadTall · 23/10/2008 23:04

A Fine Balance

To Kill a Mockingbird

sleepycatonabroomstick · 23/10/2008 23:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

snarky · 23/10/2008 23:03

The Glass Bead Game - Hermann Hesse

Religion and the Decline of Magic - Keith Thomas

and The Water Babies - Charles Kingsley

PrincessButtercup · 23/10/2008 23:02

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

MadBadandWieldingAnAxe · 23/10/2008 23:00

Madame Bovary

The Great Gatsby (but, if that's too classic to be modern, then Oryx and Crake)

SixSpotBonfire · 23/10/2008 22:53

Hangover Square

The Grass Arena

LackaDAISYcal · 23/10/2008 22:43

The Magus by John Fowles
or
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

What constitutes a classic? ie is anything pre 1900 classic and everything else modern?

what about modern classics?

and thinking about it, there are dozens more I could list

cyteen · 23/10/2008 22:38

Gah mumofmanyboys you just pipped my classic suggestion - I was popping on here being all smug, thinking 'no one will have suggested Les Liaisons Dangereuse yet'. Absolutely brilliant book, repays a second and third reading too.

Modern: The White Boy Shuffle by Paul Beatty. It falls apart a bit towards the end but is a fantastically sustained black comedy up until then. His second novel, Tuff, is also excellent in a completely different way - dreamy and sad and , well, tough.

BTW I love The Little White Horse too.

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