Which classic next?

[ParisOnWheels]

I think I want to get my teeth into a classic soon.
I’ve read everything by Austen except Emma, a decent chunk of the Bröntes, several Dickens, a couple by George Elliot and I’d say several other classics too.

What am I missing?

Vanity Fair is a proper good read.

As is Buddenbrooks.

And The Brothers Karamazov.

The War of the Worlds or The Time Machine

Not so old - and very different - but just as classic, Brave New World or I, Claudius.

All books I almost wish I hadn't read so that I could have the pleasure of reading them for the first time.

I had a Steinbeck moment a few years ago. So a modern classic I suppose.

How about Hardy? Reading Tess of the Durbervilles will make you feel like life is a piece of cake!

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. It's brilliant.

Thomas Hardy. Far From The Madding Crowd and Tess of the D'Urbervilles

@JaneJeffer

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. It's brilliant.

Clicked this thread to say the same. Love that book.

Little Women?

Yeah, another vote for Elizabeth Gaskell. Also (obviously from my username) Wilkie Collins, he writes wonderful complex interesting female characters. For something much lighter and into the 20th century Stella Gibbon (Cold Comfort Farm) or Nancy Mitford are wonderfully witty. And Orlando by Virginia Woolf for being so unique.

Anna Karennina

Vanity Fair is very readable and entertaining.

If you want to go dark Germinal by Zola is harrowing. All of Hardy is harrowing.

Wilkie Collins for riveting yarns.

Kipling is not much read now but I got a lot out of Kim. Surprisingly hard to read given it’s often thought of as a children’s book but it is engaging and intriguing. There’s a fab audiobook - narration by Sam Dastor - which made it more manageable.

Elizabeth Gaskell is enjoyable.
Oh and I totally love Alexandre Dumas, the count of Monte Cristo.

If you want to go dark Germinal by Zola is harrowing. All of Hardy is harrowing.

Most of Zola too tbh. I haven’t got to Germinal yet but I loved ‘L’Assomoir’ I think sometime called The Dram Shop but for some reason mine has the French title.

I’m just finishing Catcher in the Rye and really enjoyed it. Funny but also quite difficult at times. I think it gets a tough ride as ‘rich boy moaning’.

My ultimate though is Rebecca which I read recently and am overdramatically bereft that I’ll never get my first time again.

And Monte Christo is perfection, even if it’s in translation.

@MercedesDeMonteChristo I've been listening to the Zola dramatisation on radio 4. I then read up and learned that there are twenty odd novels and that the characters are are connected. I wouldn't know where to start!

WinWinnie for years I've fancied reading the whole Rougon Macquart series by Zola but when will there ever be time? I've read only two random volumes so far. Germinal is excellent but - as PPs have said - very grim. The Ladies' Paradise however (book 11 in the series) is completely different. Set in a department store in Paris, it's a great read.

Yy to Mrs Gaskell and I'd strongly recommend Arnold Bennett, especially The Old Wives' Tale. The story of two sisters who grow up above a shop in the Potteries and go on to have very different lives. It's very readable.

I'm also a Trollope fan and at the moment I'm on book four of the Barsetshire Chronicles. The first one, The Warden, is fine but not his best, however I've really enjoyed the subsequent books. Recommended.

Anna Karenina seconded.

The great thing about Zola is that they are all readable separately. I’ve done L’Assomoir and Therese Raquin which was all levels of crazy. I also harbour dreams of reading them all but as @highlandcoo says when I’ll there be time.

I read War and Peace this year and I really enjoyed it in a way I really didn’t expect to. I loved some of the War parts, particularly Borodino.

I came across a blog where the reader reads W&P one chapter at a time (there are 361) across a year. I’m planning to do this with Anna karenina next year (271).

I think Zola’s works lend themselves quite nicely to reading this way too though I can’t recall how long the chapters are. Tolstoy’s are short.

I read Anna Karenina at university.
I wasn't keen as it looked hard going, but I devoured it. I might reread actually as I can now remember very little other than a brief synopsis of the plot. Same goes for Madame Bovary.

It ill be a reread for me next year but I’ve seen so many adaptations that I’m no longer sure what was in the book and what wasn’t. I’m also not really sure I got it at the time really or whether I just sort of read the words and got the overall gist. I’ve since studied quite a bit of Russian history so I’m thinking I might get something different this time.

I do love Madame Bovary though. I read it as a new mother with some marital difficulties at the time (we are very happily still together) so I know she is read as spoilt and brattish but a lot of her boredom and yearning for another life was similar to where I was - though not quite like Emma.

Just an update to say that I started George Moore's Esther Waters today.

Have you listened to the podcast, Backlisted? It is free and comes out every two weeks. Recent books they have discussed are Zola’s Therese Raquin, George Gissing’s the Odd Women, Shusaku Endo’s Silence. Next week it’s Beowulf. It has been going for several years and back issues will introduce you to a big range of good reads.

Love Backlisted. It’s been my lockdown companion.

I've never listened to Backlisted but must seek it out.

I love the podcast A Good Read with Harriet Gilbert. Usually a mixture of recent and older books.

I love a Good Read too. Hate it when Mariella does her book programme. Harriet is so much better. If you like a Good Read you’ll like Backlisted I think.

Anthony Trollope.

What about Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier? I've also heard that My Cousin Rachel, by the same author, is a great book too