To ask for classic book recommendations?

[firesong]

I was just reading the thread about the poster whose dh didn't like her fancy books on display, and it got me thinking... I love reading and used to get through loads of books each month. Since having children I have really slowed down, and would like to get back in to reading again. Can you recommend some classics for me to try? I haven't read any classics, apart from the odd Thomas Hardy in school.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte.

For a modern classic try Flowers for Algernon.

Brides head revisited is an all time favourite plus Jane Eyre.

Vanity Fair, by Thackeray

Brilliant book" and it's going to be televised this autumn.

North and South, Elizabeth Gaskell. I love this book.

Anything by Dickens - they’re so much more accessible and enjoyable than you would think. A Tale of Two Cities is the quickest and easiest read but not the best. Great Expectations is wonderful, and my favourite is Bleak House.

For a more modern classic I recommend The Poisonwood Bible, my favourite book of all time.

Bleak House, as Twotails suggested.

Failing that, Conan Doyle or Kipling. Superb!

Sorry, Twotailed!

Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith
Both very funny and well written.
The Card by Arnold Bennett. Bennett was a bestselling author in the Edwardian period but fell out of fashion. The Card is my favourite book after Jane Eyre and The Count of Monte Cristo.

Oooooh, I have read The Poisonwood Bible! I didn't know that it was a classic. Would have displayed it more prominently...

Agree about Dickens. My favourite is Our Mutual Friend.
Not really a classic (yet) but I've just finished A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles which I absolutely loved.

I love Silas Marner, by George Eliot.
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins is a good read - it's essentially the first 'country house mystery' story.
Jane Eyre will always be brilliant.

I second The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Wilkie Collins can be a lot of fun - I'd recommend The Moonstone or No Name (with the caveat that the ending of the latter hasn't aged well).

Jane Austen is a nice easy intro to classics imo. Other than that, Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, Brideshead Revisited, most Dickens (I've tried and failed to enjoy A Tale of Two Cities but got on fine with most others), 1984, Bronte sisters...

Dune

So many of the above!

For me:

Pride and Prejudice
Emma
Wuthering Heights
Great Expectations
Jane Eyre (see also Wide Sargasso Sea - interesting to read that afterwards)
The Waves
Frankenstein

Some of the American classics too:

The Great Gatsby
The Catcher in the Rye
Go Tell It On The Mountain
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Grapes of Wrath
The Sound And The Fury

Some publishers are re-releasing not exactly classics, but books by well-known authors that have been out print for a while, so Dodie Smith (101 Dalmatians), E Nesbitt etc. Those are well worth a read.

For more modern classics, I like:

Rebecca
1984
A Clockwork Orange
Catch 22
American Psycho

Anything by Jane Austen. They are all great reads but Persuasion is my favourite.

I agree with those people saying Dickens. I would personally recommend Bleak House and Little Dorrit; they're both doorstops but definitely worth the effort.

And I would also suggest Anthony Trollope. The Barsetshire novels are arguably the best ones to start with.

Three men in a boat by Jerome K Jerome.

Another vote for Tenant of Wildfell Hall, it's a cracking read and very much ahead of its time

Wives and Daughters (Elizabeth Gaskell) - love the characters and storytelling

Three Men in a Boat (Jerome K Jerome) - still very fresh and funny today

In terms of Austen I'd recommend Emma and Persuasion.

Gone with the Wind! I'm not a fan of the classics, but I LOVE this book.

Great list by Mintylicious includes lots I would suggest (and a couple I’ve not read but will do now!)

On the modern list I would add Jamaica Inn.

Might not be to everyone's taste but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Dracula. Worth a go!

Oh and if we're doing American classics too then The Colour Purple (does that count as a classic?)

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton. Manages to be frothy and wryly hilarious while punching you hard in the feelings.

Modern writers, if you like historical fiction, Iain Pears 'An Instance of the Fingerpost' and others. Also CJ Sansom's Shardlake novels.

My favourites are;

American:

The Great Gatsby
Catcher in the Rye
The Bell Jar
The Old Man and the Sea

English:

Sense & Sensibility
Jane Eyre
Agnes Grey
Wuthering Heights
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall