Which of the classics to read?

[homedeeth]

I've never read any of the 'classics' because they've never interested me and i don't think i'd get past the first page.
But which one would you recommend as an easy read?

[David90]

Try Thomas Hardy, start with "Mayor of Casterbridge" and persevere while you get used to slightly archaic language. I would also recommend "Madame Bovary" and Joseph Conrad eg "The Secret Agent". Also "Heart of Darkness" which is the basis of the film "Apocalypse Now".

[blackeyed]

i wud definitely recommend u pride and prejudice- one of my favourites!

[David90]

Jane Austen knew how to spell and punctuate.

[homedeeth]

nice little dig there! :)

[rogerr]

Dickens--A Tale of Two Cities and David Copperfield got me hooked on classics.

[craft1948]

Jane Eyre...........

[blackeyed]

David my first language is not english and sorry if i made any error there, but i wudnt mind it as long as can get the point.

[saxy_jag]

-Great Expectations
-David Copperfield
-Nicholas Nickleby
-Jane Eyre
-Pride & Prejudice
-Silas Marner
-To Kill A Mockingbird
-Lord of the Flies
-The Great Gatsby

[fredpuli47]

blackeyed and David90, Jane Austen didn't know how to punctuate (or, at least, had no time for punctuation). What manuscript pages we have of hers are full of long sentences without so much as a comma! Her publisher, John Murray, employed skilled editors to punctuate her text. Mind, I think she wrote 'you' and not 'u' !

'Pride and Prejudice' is a good start, if you can cope with the curious punctuation e.g. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" !

[sophie_1003]

I'm the same as you homedeeth and have never been overly interested in the classics. Did enjoy Pride and Prejudice, at least up until the end when I thought it just trailed off a bit! Have given up on most classics for now as I would prefer to read something I enjoy rather than just read a load of Dickens' (for example) just for the sake of saying that I have! However, would agree that To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies are fantastic! Also, am keen on children's classics like Heidi, What Katie Did, The Railway Children and Little Women!

[tamborine]

As you're a bloke I think Treasure Island or Gullivers Travels

[Buenchico]

To some extent any answer here must depend upon your definition of a 'classic'. Most people seem to have assumed that the question refers to pre-20th century fiction but Saxy-Jag has (wisely in my opinion) included works such as 'Lord of the Flies'.

If you'd like an 'easy read' but still with a book which must surely be regarded as a classic work of English literature, I strongly recommend the funniest book ever written "Three Men in a Boat".

Mark Twain is also worthy of your attention. You can find his principal works, together with those of many other noteworthy authors, in completely unabridged form, here:
http://www.literature.org/authors/

Chris

[sophie_1003]

Ooh Chris, you have just reminded me of one of the few classics I enjoyed, Three Men in a Boat was actually rather good, although do think I forgot to finish it!

[Canary42]

In spite of its rather off-putting title, I would recommend Hard Times for a Dickens starter, it's full of comic characters and some wonderful metaphors.

Incidentally, in her early works, Jane Austen consistently used "freind" for spelling.

[AB Editor]

Canary, I found Hard Times a bit naff - I am pretty sure Dickens' examples of dialect are a little more than offensive.

David90, As for Hardy the only place to be is Jude The Obscure - this is a powerful and weighty work, although often spurned.

What about poetry? Can't go wrong with The Wasteland http://www.bartleby.com/201/1.html - find a good reader of this and you'll be away!

Also, Joyce might be worth a look in; Ulysses is considered "hard work" but I find this to be a bit unfair - it's actually a ripping yarn.

No mention of Wuthering Heights yet either? Excellently pitched Romantic melodrama.

Not a "classic" in the traditional sense, but it is pretty much set up for it (it only needs to get old): The Road by Cormac McCarthy. An extremely harrowing read.

Spare.

[naomi24]

Jane Eyre - without a doubt.

[Count-A-Strong]

Ernest Hemmingway isn't too difficult. For whom the bell tolls is an interesting story centred around an American soldier who sides with the Spanish in the civil war but it's a love story too.

[saxy_jag]

Sophie, you've just reminded me of 'Diary of a Nobody' by George and Weedon Grossmith. Haven't read TMIAB, but I'm always being told that if you like one, then you'll probably enjoy the other. Don't know why, because 'Nobody' has nothing to do with boats, but it's nevertheless an amusing read.

I do agree that you shouldn't read a book just because someone thinks you ought to. My English teachers thought I 'ought' to read 'Great Expectations'. I did, and I hated it. I only discovered it again several years after leaving school and it's become a favourite. That's probably because I read it a time when the subject matter had begun to appeal to me and because I wanted to read it.

If just one person reads and enjoys a book, then it has worth, no matter how many others may think it crass and worthless. That's my excuse for enjoying Dan Brown and I'm sticking to it! ;-)

[tigerlelly]

Although not a classic in the accepted sense of the word 'My Family And Other Animals' by Gerald Durrell was used as a GCSE book in the 70s. It's an easy read and if you enjoy it he wrote lots of others about his expeditions to various continents in search of animals for his zoo.

[123everton]

The Way And It's Power by Lao Tzu