As mentioned on the blog, we're having a summer classics reading challenged centered around the wonderful new book Beowulf on the Beach. There are multiple ways to enter (see the blog for full details), but here on Goodreads, simply answer this question, here in this discussion topic, and be entered!

What one classic, that you haven't read, would you most want to read this summer?

This summer I will read The Count of Monte Cristo. Maybe even on the beach.

Also, I might have entered on Twitter by accident. I RT'd the contest :-) Not trying to cheat!

I am planning on reading The Woman In White.
Laura

I think I'm going to start with Great Expectations. Unfortunately, I live no where near a beach, so I'll have to choose to read it by some other body of water. =)

Hmmm -- I'm not certain I can say I truly wanted to read this as it is more of a case of having felt I am supposed to have wanted to read it -- War and Peace. I will be reading it in the new translation for a group discussion this summer. Now -- does this still qualify for this or do Ineed another that I want to read but which hasn't come to the point of actually on deck to read?

Sorry -- my mind just works that way sometimes.

I actually have a big stack of classics I'd like to tackle. Several I've read before. But one I haven't is Dickens' Bleak House. I loved the miniseries, and I can only assume the book is better.

Virginia Woolf's To the Light House is a book that somehow I have never gotten to and it has been on my to-read list for years. So that one and perhaps Pale Fire by Nabokov. When I used to lead a classics book group when I worked at the store, we had these horrendous arguments - one step from physical violence - about what constitutes a classic. Much of the angst was around how long ago the book had to have been written to be sure it would stand the test of time. Finally decided that the most basic requirement was that the author was dead.

dottie m.

Are we talking about 18th, 19th, or 20th century classics?

One of my favorites is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

and...

Washington Square by Henry James

and

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

and

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I'm in the process of reading The Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust - which will take me well into the summer and beyond. Does that count?
Otherwise, I have A Tale of Two Cities and Vanity Fair on my to read shelf.

Hmmm...that I haven't read? There are so many. I think the one I'd most like to read is The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I read Drood by Dan Simmons earlier this year and it made me interesting in the source.

I think A tale of two cities or Washington Square.

hi all

i'm the author of Beowulf on the Beach, and i'll be here to talk about any of the 50 books i feature and most books in general. a few of you are considering books i'd actually not recommend, namely Count of Monte Christo (overlong and not so deep), Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished and not one of Dickens' best) and Tale of Two Cities (one of his worst, actually -- in my opinion). and to the Proust reader, good luck. it's a great way to spend the summer.

happy reading to all,

jack

Jack,

I'll be interested to see what you recommend, once I get a copy of your book (which I will soon). I have a very hit or miss relationship with Dickens anyway (more hit than miss) but Drood made me interested so I thought I'd give it a look. I have many other classics I need to read anyway. Lots and lots of them.

Heather

I'm going for Anna Karenina and To the Lighthouse.

Jack wrote: "hi all

i'm the author of Beowulf on the Beach, and i'll be here to talk about any of the 50 books i feature and most books in general. a few of you are considering books i'd actually not recommend..."

Your book sounds really interesting; I can't wait to win (oops get) a copy!

thanks. and i promise my book is much more David Sedaris than Harold Bloom...

My classic for the summer is Jane Eyre. Oh, and Emma. Even as an English major, there are so many I have missed along the way...

Bleak House.

Oh, good--a classics David Sedaris! This is going to be fun.

I probably should give Jane Austen another shot.

There are a few I'd like to reread, but that seems kinda like cheating to me. The one I haven't yet read but have been intending to for some time is James' Wings of a Dove.

I'm finally going to read...

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

And looking forward to winning Jack's book! :-)

in my not-so-humble, rereading isn't cheating -- reading a great book only one time is!

I am so excited to have found this group and to read about Beowulf on the Beach (which I just added to my To Read shelf after reading the awesome synopsis).

I have spent the last 4 summers reading classics - on the beach, btw, which is just a mile from home - that were long over-due in my life. Over the past couple summers I've gotten to Jane Eyre, Catcher in the Rye, Wuthering Heights (my new fave), and To Kill a Mockingbird, among others. There are some from high school lit that I trudged through back then, but feel I want to give another shot (Great Gatsby and Little Women, for example).

But ridiculously, I have never read Jane Austen! So this summer will kick off with Pride and Prejudice. And then I seriously might have to hit Beowulf on the Beach! But oh... the list of classics is long and intriguing. If only summer was as long! Happy reading!

Maybe I should pick up that copy of Don Quixote that's been sitting on my shelf for a year.

Maybe Great Expectations would be a better choice. I've been wanting to read it ever since reading Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series.

Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham; and I am currently reading Tolstoy's Hadji Murad. Have been working my way slowly through Proust, as well.

I love Don Quixote! I think I'll read more Sherlock Holmes stories. I've reread the Adventures of . . . and the novels so many times, but I'd like to revisit the other short stories.

I've been wanting to read Wuthering Heights for a while, and it's been more than 20 years since I've read Grapes of Wrath. The Pit is on my current TBR and I'm looking forward to more Frank Norris.

Help, please! The little widget with the titles for the fifty books comes up so small on my screen that I cannot read them. Unfortunately, I have not figured out to enlarge the page, either. Any suggestions?

Make sure pop-up windows are enabled and then click on the display of the widget itself. A pop-up window should appear with the page you clicked on... It will only show one page at a time (there is no forward or scroll function) so you will have to click on each page you want to check out (but you do not have to re-enable pop-up windows.)The first page after the title page is a blank and then I there are 3 pages to the Table of Contents and the whole entry for "The Iliad."

Of the Classics that I haven't read that I would like to tackle, I think "The Decameron" tops the list. I've read excerpts, but not the book in toto.

Tanya, thank you very much for your tip. Enabling pop-up windows did the track.

I think I will have a go at Don Quixote and Pride and Prejudice (again). Let's see if I make it through.

This summer I have tons of classics I will be reading such as MiddleMarch and David Copperfield for sure. Several other that I do not have on hand yet. Most of my bookshelves are full of classics.

There's a widget to a list? Where? I must be asleep at the switch but I don't see any widget anywhere.

Dottie,

The widget is on the Books On the Nightstand homepage. www.booksonthenightstand.com

I'm going to read The Canterbury Tales for the challenge.

I plan on reading The Grapes of Wrath this summer. I also have Blood Meridian on my list. Good luck to everyone.

Chris -- is it in the blog post or the podcast notes -- I'm still not seeing this -- wonder if my IE just isn't showing it for some reason?

It isn't just not opening because it's a pop-up because it would show up as a look at the info bar and click to show pop-up and that is not happening.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is my choice!

Dottie, if you can't see the widget on Books on the Nightstand, you may be able to see it on the Random House page for the book: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/displ...

If you still can't see the widget, it might be a javascript problem in your browser. If that's the case, I'd recommend downloading the Firefox browser and trying that.

Love this thread, everyone, thanks for your participation. And Jack: welcome, and thank you!

I'm planning to jump into James Joyce's Ulysses to kick off my summer reading.

Jody wrote: "I'm planning to jump into James Joyce's Ulysses to kick off my summer reading."

Holy moly! That is ambitious!

I'm planning on reading Middlemarch but I'm already taking part in 9+ reading challenges so am not sure I'll get to it!

I've got three classics sitting on my shelf and begging to be taken along on holiday this summer. Paradise Lost, The Complete Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde and Vanity Fair.

I'm planning on Middlemarch and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I will be reading Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert!
Thanks, Cindi

Cindi wrote: "I will be reading Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert!
Thanks, Cindi"

I love that book! I read it once just because and a second time for a World Lit class in college. I loved it both times.

Add me to the folks reading Bleak House. When I got my Kindle a couple of months ago, one of the first things I purchased was a Complete Works of Charles Dickens. So, finished Tale of Two Cities (again -- sorry, Jack, have to disagree with you about Tale of Two Cities -- I really enjoy it) and have just started Bleak House, which I had not read before. Since it is really long, I may have to break it up with some "lighter" works, too -- so I will get back to it when I finish Cemetery Dance (LOVE Preston/Childs!).

Just listened to the podcast today while running around doing weekend errands, and as soon as I got home I downloaded Beowulf on the Beach to my Kindle. Can't wait to dig into it tonight, and glad to join the challenge! Other Classics I already had on my summer list: Lady Chatterly's Lover and I wanted to read something from Jane Austen (Another first purchase for my Kindle was a Complete Works of Jane Austen!). I haven't read any Jane for years, so I might wait to look at the BOTB tonight, and see which Jane is the most recommended!

What fun!
Shannon

I'm going to read Lolita. I've been wanting to read it since I read Reading Lolita in Tehran A Memoir in Books. Can't wait!

Heather in KS

I'm going to read Don Quixote but being an Aussie it will probably be in front of the fire down at the holiday house instead of on the beach.