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Classics that you need to read before you die
Yeah i have to agree with Gorfo, some of the classics can be very boring, one classic that i have read and liked was Catcher in Rye. As far as a classic that i would like to read i'm thinking it would be the Portrait of Dorian grey, i've read some great reviews about the book and a lot of people said it's really good.
OK here goes:-Dracula - Bram Stoker
Frankenstien - Mary Shelley
Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Great Expectations - Charles Dickins
Christmas Carol - Charles Dickins
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickins
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
I could go lol
(I did a degree in English Lit)
Jessica wrote: "Yeah i have to agree with Gorfo, some of the classics can be very boring, one classic that i have read and liked was Catcher in Rye. As far as a classic that i would like to read i'm thinking it wo..."The Picture of Dorian Grey was a great book! I loved it so much!!! It dragged a little in the middle but the plot was sound and the characters were intresting. Great quotes too!
Hayley wrote: "OK here goes:-Dracula - Bram Stoker
Frankenstien - Mary Shelley
Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Great Expectations - Charles Dickins
Christmas Carol - Charles ..."
Wow I want to read like all of these!!!
I really liked of Mice and Men it's like one of those books you don't expect to be good but it was sooo fantastically written. I didn't even expect what was going to happen.
I think I have to add Gone With the Wind to this list. I'm not sure if that counts as a classic though
Yeah, it counts. I'll go through my list of uni books and add more. You should check out Shakespeare - I'm a big fan and you'll notice alot modern lit has lots of his themes running through them.
Ok this isn't actually a classic to most but to me it's a fav. and kind of a classic. It's Savage by Richard Laymon..very cool book and a hard to put down read.
Not quite a classic in terms of Bronte or Dickens but def a classic in terms of the horror genre.Thought of another one - Kestral for a Knave (Kes for short), its more of a modern classic but is a very good book and really made me cry at the end. I'll keep thinking (I could over run this discussions as I love the classics)
Interesting. I unfortunately haven't rd much horror (in general) but I'll check it out. Shakespeare definately should be on this list.A midsummer night's dream
romeo and juliet
the tempest
the twelft night
hamlet
macbeth
two gentlemen of verona
The only one on that list I've not read is Two Gentlemen of Verona, so that will be on my to-read list.
I really need to get a few Shakespeare books for my library. I used to have a set but misplaced them when I moved out this way from NY.
I hate when that happens. I have like a lot of little shakespeare books but then I got the complete works of shakespeare as a present one day. So now I have everything from his sonnets to his plays. But I'm still working on reading them.
Same! So got any classics u think everyone should rd?
to kill a mockingbird was one of those books i was forced to rd but was glad someone forced me to rd it. I've seen the like black and white movie for jekyll and hyde but i've never actually thought of reading the book (whoops). Have you seen the movie gandhi?
My favorite is Abbott & Costello Meet Dr. Jekle and Mr. Hyde...great flick
The Giver is definitely a classic!!! That book was amazing.
i knew, it's one of those few books you rad and school that really never grows old.Another one is fahrenheit 451
i think i may own farenheit 451. with classics it's like i own them (mostly their passed down to me from some distant relative) and i just don't read them cause i don't remember if i own them or not
lol...i do that too. but i had to read this one in high school, did like it at the time, but looking back i can really see how good it was
Ya sometimes the more I read something the more I like it.I'm not enjoying Sense and Sensibility...does anybody think this book is good???
i haven't read it yet, but i'm wanting to get to it. i've heard it's one of those that takes a while to get into
To Kill a Mocking Bird was good. Another was The Grapes of Wrath.
Gorfo said "I'm not enjoying Sense and Sensibility...does anybody think this book is good???"Sense and Sensability is OK - its not my favourite but i read it and got through to the end without hearling it out of the window.
Ahhh so it's that type of classic. I see. Well I'm being forced to read it for school so I'll just have to see it through.
Gone With the Wind was a great book! I loved it so much! I'm a huge fan of Rhett! Have you read the sequel? It's not by Margaret Mitchell but it's really good. I started to read the Great Gatsby but I was reading a lot of other stuff so I set it aside. I will finish it eventually....
I have a classic that is probably the best and most important thing you all should read before you die...and I hope this works out as a planned death for you...like make sure the insurance companies don't find out though ok. But you all need to read...your last will and testament and make sure everything is in order ya know like cross your I's and dot your T's, make sure all your naked mole rats are in a row, get all your ovaries in the right basket ;o) .. see you are all on the same cut scene as me right...cool :o)
I've read quite a few classics and they were awesome:Bram Stokers Dracula
Mary Shelleys Frankenstein
The Count of monte Cristo
Flowers for Algernon
Roots
The Diary of Anne Frank (i'm not sure if thats a classic)
The Iliad
I really should read Jane Eyre one day and Gone with the Wind, when I was like 13 I would watch that movie like every weekend and it's a long movie!!!!!
Gosh I really want to read Dracula! Frankenstein was good! The Count of Monte Cristo would definately make my favorite list! I've gotten good recommendations about Flowers for Algernon. Isn't Roots a movie? The Diary of Anne Frank was good, and I guess its a classic. Want to read the Iliad too!Jane Eyre is amazing! Gone with the Wind is great but it depends on the person. I loved it but I know people who hated it. The movie is insanely long. I've only watched the whole thing one time!
I think they made Roots into a t.v. series a long time ago, I've never watched it, but honestly I just loved the book, it's a pretty big book too, so is the count of monte cristo, but I read them pretty fast.
Gorfo wrote: "Gone With the Wind was a great book! I loved it so much! I'm a huge fan of Rhett! Have you read the sequel? It's not by Margaret Mitchell but it's really good. I started to read the Great Gatsby bu..."I've heard of the sequel. I didn't want to read it as it's by a different author; shall give it a try if you recommend it so, though ;)
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Gorfo wrote: "Gone With the Wind was a great book! I loved it so much! I'm a huge fan of Rhett! Have you read the sequel? It's not by Margaret Mitchell but it's really good. I started to read the Great Gatsby bu..."yeah, what is the sequel called??
Cici wrote: "Gorfo wrote: "Gone With the Wind was a great book! I loved it so much! I'm a huge fan of Rhett! Have you read the sequel? It's not by Margaret Mitchell but it's really good. I started to read the G..."The sequel is called Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley
I've read some Shakespeare, but i want to read Wuthering Heights, Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jane Eyre. Adding to my to-read list!
A Jane Austen novel, specifically Pride and Prejudice. Yup I'm one of the few that hasn't read her novels, so so so ashamed.
Elese wrote: "I've read some Shakespeare, but i want to read Wuthering Heights, Dracula, Frankenstein, and Jane Eyre. Adding to my to-read list!"Shakespeare is great, I'm actually reading The Taming of the Shrew right now, it's hilarious. I startd to read Wuthering Heights but lost my copy but I was great as far as I got into it. Frankenstein was cool. I absolutely LOVE Jane Eyre!
Mila wrote: "A Jane Austen novel, specifically Pride and Prejudice. Yup I'm one of the few that hasn't read her novels, so so so ashamed."Don't worry the only Jane Austen novel I've rd is Sense and Sensibility which I was forced to read in school recently
So I recently read Wuthering Heights which I realize is already on this list! Anybody have any comments on it? That book is enough to make me start a very long rant!
If I ever have to read about them calling to each other again I'll throw up! I got an English degree years ago, but had read that book numerous times before high school. Now I realize what a juvenile work it was...written by a woman who knew nothing about men and how they really think or act. I felt sorry for my one son when he had to read it in an AP English hs class. I also hated the Gone With the Wind movie, so I haven't read the book. My favorite classics are either Shakespeare's plays or Greek mythology. I also love Shaw's plays and anything by Sartre. Bradbury rules, since he "wrote the book" on good sci-fi that studies human relationships then twists them around. Arthur Miller's plays as well as those of Eugene O'Neil are classics as well, all dealing with the human interaction. I find Jane Austen too "precious" for words, and don't care for regencies of any kinds, since that's what I consider her books to be. And I'm probably one of the only English teachers you will ever meet who despise Hemingway...boring, short choppy sentences as if he figures men don't have the intelligence to read any sentence longer than 5 words...females are only cardboard characters at best, or foils to show how manly his male characters are.
Well said! Fiona! Could you please explain what a foil is? I'm writing a paper right now and I'm not quite sure what a foil is! Help!I don't remember them calling to each other in Wuthering Heights...are you sure you aren't referring to Jane Eyre?
Although I like most of the stuff you don't like I see where you're coming from! Definitely a big Shakespeare fan! I could read Shakespeare for the rest of my life and be completely happy! I've never read Hemingway but I will keep that in mind when I embark on the Hemingway ship.
Jane Austen...Not quite sure what you're saying about her. So far all I've read is Sense and Sensibility. And I intensely disliked that, but mostly because I hate being forced to read things.
So if you dislike Hemingway because of his short sentences...do you like Dickens/Faulkner?
One of the scenes most made fun of in WH is when they are running towards each other across the moors: "Cathy!" "Heathcliff!" (snore)A foil is a character whose sole purpose is to either point out something about another character, ie, a slutty female friend to show how virtuous the heroine is, or a character the hero/heroine "play" off of to demonstrate something about themselves. Hemingway's women are foils because they almost always betray his heroes in some way, thus proving that a man should never trust a woman, since they will betray you with the next man they see.
Jane Austen's books are also about the Regency time period, when "men were men and women knew their place, under the boot of their husband." Gag. I write contemporary romance because I write alpha females, not ones who have to sneak around manipulating men to get what they want.
I like Dickens, mostly for his detailed characterizations that showed how well he understood human nature. Faulkner is a master of AM. Lit.
Ok cool! Thanks Fiona! You've really saved my essay! Ya I dislike that about Jane Austen novels! But she was just writing the time period. It's amazing that her books could even be published (albeit under a the name "by a woman")
Ok...adding Faulkner too Dickens is my man!
Just out of curiosity, what level are you writing at? High school? College? From what you are being assigned to read, it could be either. But you are well-read, or you wouldn't be here on GR. Kudos to you for that!
High School! Thanks! My school is very strong in academics so most of our texts are college level (in fact those who skip courses go straight to Princeton University which is in our area!)
Book freaks
Books mentioned in this topic
The Lorax (other topics)A Separate Peace (other topics)
The Picture of Dorian Gray (other topics)
The Canterville Ghost (other topics)
Around the World in Eighty Days (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
William Shakespeare (other topics)Jane Austen (other topics)
Alexandra Ripley (other topics)
Here's my list
1. Jane Eyre....well that's all I got