Should I read the classics? And if so, which ones?

[justwondering72]

I've always been 'a reader' and had several books on the go. As a young reader I loved fantasy, and continued reading it through into adulthood. I've read lot of contemporary fiction (much of it from recs on here, thank you!). But I'm feeling like there has been s big gap in my reading life where other people read The Classics and I did not.

So no Dickens, no Hardy, no Austen, no Bronte. I remembrer reading billy liar, sunset song and Lord of the flies at school, some Shakespear, some Brecht. Did higher and 6th year English but was in the second set for the former and the latter was a skive, led by a fairly louche Irish woman who had us reading Keats and other poetry most of the time.

I joined a book club a year ago and recently revealed that I'd never read Pride and Prejudice... Shock and horror was the least of it! So despite being highly qualified in my field (science) I feel like maybe I should try to catch up.

Where should I begin? And is it worth it??

From the authors you've named, I'd go for A Christmas Carol, Far from the Madding Crowd, Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre. You'll probably find the stories familiar,xwhich might help ease you in.
Then...the world is your oyster, have fun.

Read what you want to read.

I am also a prolific reader, and have read very few classics.

Books which are awesome and, in my opinion, everyone should read are:

1984
Fahrenheit 451
Fight Club
Skallagrigg

Pretty much anything from "banned books" lists.

and 'I pooed on my skirt at work today'.

Oh, you meant books.........not Mumsnet Classics.

Daphne du maurier would be worth reading as well.

Modern classics like Catcher In The Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird if you haven't read those.

As my username suggests, I love a bit of Hardy.

But I have recently re-read Madam Bovary which is a nice easy read to get you going.

Personally, I can't abide Dickens.

Northerner Abbey is my favourite Austen. Over dramatic teenage notions of love mixed in with ridiculous Gothic fantasy and a great deal of gossip. Incredible.

I enjoy Hardy's poetry, but Tess of the d'Urbervilles is such a wet flannel and the whole pastoral/ industrial dichotomy makes me want to slap someone.

I read Great Expectations as soon as i saw that the BBC were doing the recent adaptation. Pip wasn't as gorgeous in my head as Douglas Booth, but other than that it was a great read.

Those are my three suggestions for starting with each author. Alternatively, I quite often just choose the first book that they wrote (it's usually different to the book that was published first) and read chronologically. It's fascinating to see how the creative mind and process changed as the writer grew.

I'm currently reading Emma, and loving it. Jane Austen's novels are very accessible, and easy to read. Lovely stories, great writing and a sheer joy from beginning to end.

You might also like to try The Picture of Dorian Gray. Another easyish read, and fab story.

Another one not a Dickens fan :) Wilkie Collins is good, as is Trollope, for a good story.

Rebecca by daphne du Maurier
Brideshead Revisited
The foresyte saga

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/2471130-What-are-your-favourite-classic

The Old Curiosity Shop
Bleak House
Our Mutual Friend, all very good Charles Dickens
I love Daphne Du Maurier, I've read all of hers.
Vanity Fair
North & South and Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Definitely Jane Austen - my favourite is Pride and Prejudice
I'm a big fan of Graham Greene (eg The Power and the Glory) and Virginia Woolf (The Waves and Mrs Dalloway)

Oh you are in for a treat!

Others have made some really good starter suggestions. Agree Jane Austen is super, and an easy read. Start with any (other than Lady Susan or childhood writings). I am a Dickens fan, but would suggest starting with Great Expectations or A Christmas Carol rather than a big tome or one if the more serious ones.

Hardy is a brilliant writer, but so depressing that I would steer away while you find your classics feet!

Early reads should include the Brontes (recommend Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and the tenant of Wildfell Hall). Try also A Passage to India, the Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter.

Given you've liked fantasy until now, have you read favourite classics such as Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 1984, etc? Or Brave New World?

You might really enjoy adventures such as The Count of Monte Cristo.

You will need to experiment for a while - you'd need years and years to delve properly into all the different genres and styles. But, in answer to your question, yes it's worth it!

I love Emma. I read it every year. Also Rebecca.
Second Northanger Abbey and Pride & Prejudice.
Middlemarch is a bit of a struggle in parts but worth the read.
Howard's End.

I'm aiming for the old Greek classics this year. Although I'm currently reading The Good Girl at bedtime and Inequality and the 1% (non fiction) in the daytime.

Oh and try Fitzgerald. He was my favourite author at 17.

I love Hardy too; I second Far From The Madding Crowd.

Austen is my first love - Northanger Abbey is certainly brilliant and hilarious. I also like Mansfield Park and Sense and Sensibility. I might suggest the latter if you wanted an overlap with something you might have seen; Ang Lee's film is awesome and sticks well to the story, although they dealt with one event in the book with a couple of sentences of explanation, and the book leaves you a bit more satisfied.

I also love Dickens after having never done. The 'meaty tomes' take surprisingly little time to get through, but agree perhaps Christmas Carol, Tale of Two Cities might be more manageable starters. I set off with Martin Chuzzlewit and thought it was great.

I enjoyed The Woman in White and love Sheidan Le Fanu's 'In a Glass Darkly' short stories.

Oliver Twist is a relatively 'easy' Dickens. By which I mean not too much faffing around with the comic characters. I like Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend and A Tale of Two Cities.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is creepy and not very long.
Jane Austen is definitely worth having a go at.

Be careful with Dickens (or dont bother). I had to read Hard Times at school and my god was it tedious. I didnt finish it, and I never leave books unfinished.

Forster has already been mentioned, just adding that his novels are very accessible and enjoyable. Where Angels Fear to Tread is a lovely story and a quick read at around 200 pages. My favourite, so far is Maurice, which is also a quite short.

I also tried Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf earlier this year and was surprised at how much I liked that too. Not at all difficult :)

If you like fantasy/sci-fi, then you could try some of the classics along those lines - John Wyndham is great (The Day of the Triffids is a superb book), as is HG Wells. Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a classic too.

Otherwise, I love Jane Austen (except Emma, which I find tedious), and the Brontës - Wuthering Heights is a bit of a Marmite book, but I'm definitely of the "love" camp.

Classics are really very varied in subject and style, so your best bet is to go to your local bookshop or library and read the backs of books until one grabs your interest :)

If you like fantasy, have you read classic fantasy / sci-fi novels?

I thoroughly enjoyed Bram Stoker's Dracula and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

Jekyll and Hyde, on the other hand, was a big disappointment.

Well obviously I'd recommend Jane Austen, particularly Persuasion! All of hers are great. I also love Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. Harts is also a good read- I love Jude the Obscure, but it's a sad one.
Also George Eliot and the Brontes. Fav Bronte is The tenant of Wildfell Hall, quite a feminist novel for its time.

Hardy wrote Jude the Obscure. Ignore my typo

Classics are free to download to phones or Kindle etc from Project Gutenberg, so get a few and see.

Jules Verne is great and inspired so much SF and fantasy - 20,000 leagues under the sea, Round the World in 80 days.
Wyndham great though many short stories depressing.
Brave New World and 1984 great for understanding modern cultural references

Jane Eyre is interesting. Austen is all about the bitchy gossip and sly humour - once you get that, they're really good, but 15 years ago it went over my head.
Hardy is beautiful writing but except for my favourite Mayor of Casterbridge, you just want to kill all the characters! His poetry is better.
Dickens' social commentary is great but the plots make Eastenders look uncontrived and are horribly predictable. David Copperfield is good for the first and last 200 pages and dire in the middle.

Sherlock Holmes short stories and novels are worth looking at. Also Kipling Just So stories.

Wuthering Heights
Jamaica Inn
Rebecca
The Mayor of Casterbridge
Great Expectations
Pride and Prejudice

I almost feel envious, I wish I could read them for the first time again. They're like old friends those books.

You'll find your own favourites soon, there are so many to choose from.

I'm a huge Hardy fan and have read all his novels at least 6 times. I can't bear Austin - although I have studied her at degree level and made several attempts since to like her work.

A random selection from my favourite classics.

Great Expectations
Far From the Madding Crowd
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
The Woodlanders
Anna Karenin
Silas Marner
The Mill on the Floss
Mary Barton
Wuthering Heights