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OK - I want new things to read. Please can you list two books- one classic, one modern- you think everyone shoulf read.

194 replies

seeker · 22/10/2008 22:45

I'll start. Pride and Prejudice and The Kite Runner, by Khalid Hosseini.

OP posts:
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motherinferior · 23/10/2008 11:54

Marge Piercy's Braided Lives also very, very good indeed (her subsequent books aren't, are they)

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Dioriffic · 23/10/2008 11:54

Message withdrawn

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Dioriffic · 23/10/2008 11:55

Message withdrawn

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Eniddo · 23/10/2008 11:55

this morning I have been reading
WAtchmen (modern graphic novel)
and
Wish for a pony, monica edwards (classic)

hows that for eclectic

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FlameThrowersKillZombies · 23/10/2008 11:56

Grapes of Wrath

His Dark Materials

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francagoestohollywood · 23/10/2008 12:00

Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse n.5. Is it a classic or modern?

Which reminds me that Chaim Potok Davita's harp is fab.

Classic: any PG Wodehouse.

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Cremolatorium · 23/10/2008 12:02

classic:

The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

modern:

"The History Of Love", by Nicole Krauss -
(because i have just read it and it was wonderful.)

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jumpingbeans · 23/10/2008 12:02

Wuthering Heights and A Thousand Suns by Khalid Hosseini.

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Eniddo · 23/10/2008 12:04
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bundle · 23/10/2008 12:04

modern: Engleby by Sebastian Faulks

classic: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

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BroccoliSpearedThroughTheHead · 23/10/2008 12:05

Decline & Fall by Evelyn Waugh because it's so bloody funnt.

Or The Picture of Dorian Gray, if only for the description of the garden at the start. The whole story is brilliant.

And modern - I loved Making History by Stephen Fry. Very clever.

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MyEye · 23/10/2008 12:06

Madame Bovary
The Line of Beauty

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jumpingbeans · 23/10/2008 12:07

I did not like Kite Runner, but Loved 1000 Suns, give it ago

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bundle · 23/10/2008 12:08

ooh good choices myeye!

would love to have the time/energy/commitment to read the Dance To The Music of Time series by Anthony Powell

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wotulookinat · 23/10/2008 12:10

Dr Faustus (does that count?) and Closely Observed Trains. And The Picture of Dorian Gray.

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CaptainKarvol · 23/10/2008 12:16

to kill a mockingbird
women on the edge of time (delighted that this has already got a mention)

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OrmIrian · 23/10/2008 12:16

Talking of Robert Graves. Anyone read (and become temporarily obsessed with) The White Goddess? Fascinating book.Read it at college many years ago. But it seems noew that much of it was actually written by his girlfriend

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oceana · 23/10/2008 12:21

1984 (changed my view of the world)

The Blind Assassin (Perfection...IMHO!)

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poissonfou · 23/10/2008 12:23

candide
atonement
though alot easier to think of many classics not so for contempory

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LittlePeanut · 23/10/2008 12:35

Was going to say The Kite Runner as well.

OK then, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and Jane Eyre.

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ChloeandAlfie · 23/10/2008 12:52

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks

Awesome (in the real sense of the word)....

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MKGisHavingaGirl · 23/10/2008 13:06

Les Miserables -Victor Hugo
The House of Spirits- Isabel Allende

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lilibet · 23/10/2008 13:52

Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

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Lilymaid · 23/10/2008 14:01

Pride and Prejudice and To Kill a Mockingbird (unless that counts as a classic too).

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buttercreamfrosting · 23/10/2008 14:21

The first one that popped into my head was A Town Like Alice but arguably it could be classic and modern?
Whatever it is, I always loved it.

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