I want to read classic or important books

[PointOfTipping]

I would really like to start reading important books- not sure how much time I'm going to have to do it so think realistically I want to compile a list of 10 and aim to do them this year. I'd be happy to be honest if I manage at least five.

The only one I have on my list so far is War and Peace. I love literature yet feel like I don't know anything about significant books - would anyone like to nominate any titles?

Crime and Punishment.

Anna Karenina.

Roots.

I still have my reading list Cambridge sent me before I started my Eng Lit degree 25 years ago, which is basically "here are all the important books you should have read before you start this course." I still haven't read everything on it, possibly because it starts with The Odyssey.
I'll try to find it but in the meantime, the first that come to mind are Bleak House, Midnight's Children, Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice.

1984

Catch 22

Brave New World

Lord of the Rings

Oh and Howard's End, I love that book.

And Mrs Dalloway. OK I'll stop now.

Thank you this is all great - I don't know if anyone would be up for reading one a month along with me?

To kill a mocking bird
The satanic verses

The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime, that’s a quick read but excellent

I would also say the Bible, regardless of if you have any faith even if an atheist because it will help you with cultural references in lots of old classics.

What do you generally like reading (or watching)? I'd build from that.

Though, I have never managed to wade through War and Peace and can't imagine trying, so possibly not the best person to ask!

If you're up for reading recent stuff, I really loved 'Girl, Woman, Other' off the Booker Prize list.

I'd probably go for Jane Austen if you want to read some classics quickly - they're not long, and if you enjoy romances or family stories, you'd probably like them.

Sorry probably should have said in the OP, I've already read a fair bit of Austen and Shakespeare, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird - most as part of studying. The rest are all brilliant suggestions. I don't think I'll start with W&P it might put me off!

the woman in white

Yesss, up for joining you for one a month @PointOfTipping - I’m on mat leave and desperate to get my head around something more challenging than social media...

I think the most referenced novel I’ve seen recently is 1984, so start with that. I’d do Brave New World as a companion.

War and Peace would kill the project before it started I reckon.

Definitely 1984.
Also recommend Wild Swans which is very interesting to read just after 1984. I found the parallels spooky

@Goostacean yay! What do you think of starting with 1984 as recommended by a PP? Could read it through March?

I'd be up for reading one a month with you @PointOfTipping

I'd be really interested in that list if you can find it @ImportantWater

I lost in a move a few years ago a book that was called something 'like how to be well read in a year' which had a really interesting mixture of the classic classics and genre stuff I'd never consider looking at eg 'this is the most classic sci fi book' etc and annoyingly i've never been able to track it down since.

A Dance to the Music of Time - all 4 volumes. A great read!

Lord of the flies
Slaughterhouse 5
I capture the castle
A confederacy of dunces
The unbearable lightness of being

I loved War and Peace but will admit I skim read some of the boring war bits.

This link has 30 books that I would consider classics. I was sent it recently and was happy to find I had read a fair few on the list.

www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/30-books-that-everyone-should-read-least-once-their-lives.html

I'd join in with a read-along!

The Handmaid's Tale
Wuthering Heights
A prayer for Owen Meany

Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights (though it's not the most accessible book on the planet, I doubt I'd have ever finished it if we hadn't been studying it for 'A' level...)
North and South (Gaskell)
Middlemarch; The Mill on the Floss
Oscar Wilde
The Prince (Machiavelli)
Earth Abides

And I'm a huge fan of science fiction, so I'd also suggest some Ray Bradbury, H.G. Wells, some of Robert Louis Stevenson

There are some great suggestions over at goodreads - be warned, though, this list has 100,000 entries: www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/classics

And also authors whose works aren't quite regarded as classics yet but aren't far off:

Agatha Christie
Dorothy L. Sayers

Then there are modern authors like Stephen King (if you can get past his sometimes very odd endings). Just don't read The Stand at the moment, I'd suggest....

To Kill A Mockingbird
Roots by Alex Haley
Beloved by Toni Morrison
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
The Power & The Glory by Graham Greene
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Diary of Anne Frank
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Crime & Punishment by Dostoyevsky

Lolita
Handmaid's Tale
Midwich Cuckoos
Jane Eyre

There's loads more that others have suggested too.

Do you know, I wouldn't be put off by war and peace. Yes, it's long, but I found it fantastic and have read it twice now. I found it an easier read than Les Miserables