Classic literature what next

[Enko]

I wondered if some.of you would recommend some more classic literature for me. I've recently read through

Jane Austin & Bronte sisters. Now having finished wuthering Heights. I'm looking for the next book but feeling unsure.

I dont want to go to Dickens or Shakespeare I seem to enjoy female writers a lot but not stuck on that. I loved Sherlock Holmes. Really don't want to go as "heavy" as Virginia Woolf.

Any ideas?

George Eliot. A woman but you probably know that! Try Silas Marner, The Mill on the Floss then, if you like her writing, Middlemarch.

How about American authors, like Willa Cather or Louisa May Alcott’s books for adults?

Elizabeth Gaskell? I loved North and South and Cranford but there are a lot more

Mary Elizabeth Braddon? (her best known one is Lady Audley's Secret)

Anne Radcliffe? (she wrote the Udolpho book mentioned in Northanger Abbey)

Wilkie Collins?

I'm not a fan of Thomas Hardy myself but he is another "classic" one

Daphne du Maurier - start with Rebecca then My Cousin Rachel.

Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady
D H Lawrence, Sons and Lovers
Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd

Try George Gissing (a contemporary of Dickens). I totally love his books.

I'll add Anthony Trollope who is wordy but readable and who genuinely seemed to find women interesting.

Lots of suggestions here.. thank you for all the recommendations.

I'm in my 50th and felt it was time to start with the classics but this thread has made me realise I've already read a lot. So..

I've read (years ago) Louisa May Allcot liked her little women and good wives..

some of George Elliots I dont recall liking Middlemarch but I was in my 20s may be worth a reread. I find some books I read way to early. Like Anna Karena in my teenage years (I think I wanted to be seen as deep)

Daphne du Maurier - Rebecca & My Cousin Rachel. Read both loved them.. may look at others of hers though as really liked both.

Elizabeth Gaskell I North and South and Cranford read those but also worth looking at others May redo N&S as I do love that..

Read Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. Wasn't a fan (I know I'm not meant to admit that)

The others I shall have a dive into though. New job means I am listening to a lot of audio books while driving and classics are brilliant for that.

I agree with Anthony Trollope, especially the Barchester Chronicles. The first one The Warden is my least favourite of the series but worth reading as you have five great ones to follow. Also Elizabeth Gaskell and George Eliot as recommended above.

Arnold Bennett is also really readable. I love The Old Wives' Tale about two sisters, one of whom marries the assistant in their father's drapers shop and lives in the Potteries all her life, whereas the other runs off to France and has amorous adventures. His novels are very accessible and down-to-earth.

And what about The Ladies' Paradise by Zola. Set in a department store in Paris. One of a series of twenty novels including Germinal (but very different) however works perfectly as a stand-alone read.

What about early gothic? Not women writers but largely for a female audience and influencing Bronte etc al. Matthew Lewis The Monk or Horace Walpole The Castle of Otranto.

There was one major woman Gothic writer, Anne Radcliffe— The Mysteries of Udolpho, A Sicilian Romance.

Did you read Charlotte Bronte’s Villette, OP? Much her finest novel, but overshadowed by Jane Eyre.

In your shoes, I’d try Edith Wharton next. Start with either The Age of Innocence or The Custom of the Country.

Woolf isn’t at all heavy, though. Start with Mrs Dalloway. It’s just about a bunch of people bumping into one another on a single day in London in 1923.

Oh, Arnold Bennett - I was thinking Victorian writers but I love his work - The Card, Anna of the Five Towns, Clayhanger, and Riceyman Steps.

@Skirtless. Yes I've read Villette. I liked it but adore Jane Eyre personally..

If you like Arthur Conan Doyle try Wilkie Collins nice and entertaining! Because you enjoyed Jane Austen try Frances Hodgson Burnetts adult novels, Making of a Marchioness.

Seconding Trollope. His stories are beautifully written, I much prefer him to Dickens.

Also Arnold Bennett. The Card is one of my all time favourites, so funny and Denry is a great character. Anna of the Five Towns is good too but sad. Bennett seems largely forgotten now but he was huge in his day (even has an egg dish named after him).

I also recommend Lady Chatterly's Lover. I read it as a teenager and didn't really get it but reading it when older I absolutely adored it.

I think Wives and daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell follows on well from Jane Austen. It also has a small village setting and I like the focus on the older couple's relationship.

I also second Edith Wharton - I intended to read her when I was younger, but I'm glad that I did as I had a real binge on her works a few years ago. I found them very compelling and suspect I that I wouldn't have enjoyed them as much when I was younger.

I also love Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames (the Ladies Paradise), especially the parts that focus on the operation of the shop. There's a very memorable part where all the shop assistants are trailing around after some very rich customers including dragging a chair.

More recently, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth has a similar feel & themes to a Victorian novel (but is very long).

I also really enjoyed reading Anne of Green Gable as an adult as I found it much more amusing now I'm able to see the events of the book from a parent's perspective (which I missed as a child).

William Thackery Vanity Fair.
Becky Sharpe is a tough Cookie

Frankenstein
North and South
middlemarch

I KNOW you said no Dickens BUT David Copperfield is SO good

Jerome and Three Men In A Boat

“A Classic is something no one wants to read but everyone wants to have read.”

I have no idea who said this (sounds like Oscar Wilde).

Agree with Vanity Fair by Thackeray. Great book.

I second David Copperfield even though you said no Dickens ... and Great Expectations and A Tale of Two Cities.

Crossing the channel: Madame Bovary, the Grand Meaulnes.

Another vote for David Copperfield here :)

I’d recommend Great Expectations over David Copperfield for a Dickens hater. It has less of the cartoonishness that often provokes people who are not naturally inclined to Dickens. And it’s short.