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Original poster

What's a good classic for my first read of the year?

46 replies

Spieluhr · 30/12/2018 12:20

I started 2018 with Great Expectations which I adored so I'd like to start 2019 with another classic, but which one?

I'm considering another Dickens as I love his books, but I'm open to other suggestions, though preferably not quite so long as War and Peace and not too depressing.

TIA for any suggestions.

OP posts:
MrsArabin · 30/12/2018 13:59

Not that I'm biased or anything Xmas Smile but how about some Trollope? The Warden and/or Barchester Towers are excellent.

I know some people struggle with The Warden and suggest reading the two together but I really like it and it is very short for a Victorian novel.

LauralovesLuke · 30/12/2018 14:00

Great Gatsby

bellinisurge · 30/12/2018 14:15

Rebecca. Does that count?

rightreckoner · 30/12/2018 14:17

Woman in White ? Vanity Fair ?

Timeandtideandbutteredeggs · 30/12/2018 14:46

The American by Henry James

Welshwabbit · 30/12/2018 14:52

Bleak House is hands down my favourite Dickens. If you're looking for something a little more modern, how about Edith Wharton? The Age of Innocence is a good one.

SergeantPfeffer · 30/12/2018 20:59

Another vote for Age of Innocence, I love Edith Wharton.

taleforthetimebeing · 30/12/2018 21:02

South Riding - Winifred Holtby

SallyWD · 30/12/2018 21:06

Wuthering Heights

PawneeParksDept · 30/12/2018 21:08

If you're going with Dickens, David Copperfield

If not Anne Bronte's underread underrated Tenant Of Wildfell Hall

Fabulouslyfatatfifty · 30/12/2018 21:09

Rebecca

LEMtheoriginal · 30/12/2018 21:12

I walked past bleak house today - they serve cream teas dont ya know? Seems a little inappropriate tbh.

My favourite book is crime and punishment. Its not at all heavy. I am a slow reader and finished this in a werk

Callmecordelia · 30/12/2018 21:13

Bleak house is my favourite Dickens too. Wilkie Collins, The Moonstone or The Woman in White, are both fantastically good reads.

If you fancy something a bit longer, how about George Eliot - Middlemarch? Or Vanity Fair?

BikeRunSki · 30/12/2018 21:15

Rebecca

MacavityTheDentistsCat · 30/12/2018 21:17

The Moonstone (Wilkie Collins)

billybagpuss · 30/12/2018 21:17

Count of Monte Cristo.

partystress · 30/12/2018 21:19

Tess of the Durbervilles or Jude the Obscure. Tissues vital though.

parrotonmyshoulder · 30/12/2018 21:22

I’m feeling inspired by you to do this too, as a break from the fantasy I’m addicted to on my kindle.

For you, I suggest The Count of Monte Cristo, if you haven’t already read it.

I think I will take the suggestion of Barchester Towers.

itsboiledeggsagain · 30/12/2018 21:24

A room with a view - I read it today

DangoDays · 30/12/2018 21:24

Tale of two cities

Bloomcounty · 30/12/2018 21:25

The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy.

AndromedaPerseus · 30/12/2018 21:27

Persuasion the most mature Austen

MawkishTwaddle · 30/12/2018 21:27

Jekyll and Hyde. Brilliant.

MacavityTheDentistsCat · 30/12/2018 21:27

If you fancy something with an international flavour then perhaps Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe) or One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch (Alezandr Solzhenitsyn). Or perhaps a play? Maybe Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman or Ibbsen's Hedda Gabler?

pfwow · 30/12/2018 21:28

Read the OP and I was coming on to say the tenant of Wildfell hall too, I see it's already been mentioned, but another vote for that!

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