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Alright, I have a question, what are the best classics that are best to start with, those that are entertaining yet not very difficult to read. I have read Austin, Dumas, and some Stevenson and I loved them, but I don't really know where to go from here. I just want to know some good/easy starting points for my journey into classic literature. Any help will be greatly appreciated. I know this is all subjective but I see what you guys say and take it from there.
...Agreed.Quote:
Originally Posted by misterlit
You probably have in school, depending on your age, but have you tried F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Steinbeck has several short novellas. Quite depressing but they are not at all difficult reads. Pretty to the point, in fact
the first three books that popped into my head were huck finn, the prisoner of zenda, and the scarlet pimpernel.
I'll recommend the works of Conrad, Nabokov, Dostoevsky, and potentially Faulkner if you're feeling ready for something new.
Sir Walter Scott?
Hisare historic tales like Dumas, but 40 years earlier from a more sensitive point of view and less pompous as Dumas by moments. Not very historically accurate apparently, but still nice to read...
Hardy?
It is not packed with symblism and one can easily read it without understanding the symbolism in it.
Fathers and Sons - Ivan Turgenev
Great book, and extremely readable, as well as being fairly short.
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
For the same reasons as Fathers and Sons.
Here are some suggestions. These are not too long,and are fairly accessible, depending on your taste in reading material:
Fahrenheit 451, Ray bradbury
The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel
Also, here's a college-bound reading list:
http://als.lib.wi.us/Collegebound.html
Have fun!
Conrad, Dostoevsky, and Faulkner? Great writers... but I'm not certain they are where one would wish to begin when first exploring the classics.
Dumas is a good recommendation. A good deal of 19th century novels in general: Bram Stoker's Dracula, Shelley's Frankenstein, Dicken's A Tale of Two Cities, Austen's Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, Hugo's The Hunchback of Notres Dame (or Notre Dame de Paris), Oscar Wilde's Portrait of Dorian Grey. I agree with the idea of seeking out some of the shorter classics as a place to start: Turgenev's Fathers and Sons, Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. the tales of Edgar A. Poe, Ambrose Bierce, H.G. Wells, Rudyard Kipling, and even Tolstoy. For more contemporary works: The short stories of Hemingway, Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and The Pearl, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio, and Falnnery O'Conner's short stories. Poetry is a separate beast in and of itself and if one has little of no experience of it the best recommendation is probably to choose a good anthology. Good luck.:thumbs_up
I think Mann is a bit heavy for a beginner, stlukesguild. Though Death in Venice is quite short.
I certainly wouldn't recommend any of his novels. I avoided Henry James for the same reason.
Speak for yourself and only yourself, when I was at the start pointing of delving into literature, I wish I had writers with as much scope as Faulkner and Dostoevsky have, hell, even such as Proust. Call me brave or a senile child, but that's the truth of it. And besides, one can more or less take Conrad's Heart of Darkness at face value and still appreciate it's merits, after all it is being taught in high schools along with texts mentioned in this thread, (Fitzgerald, even a bit of Faulkner, etc). I stand by my recommendation.Quote:
Originally Posted by stlukesguild
Hmm, I think Conrad is a bit dense, dunno.
I would go with some of the stuff already mentioned the gothic Victorian texts and perhaps some Verne. I also think Gulliver's Travels and Madame Bovary would be cool too.
I didn't realize how many of those I've read!!Quote:
Originally Posted by qimissung
My reading of the classics started with Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. After that I read Dracula (which was a good read!) and then a few others...I can't remember the order of! But I recommend those along with Fathers and Sons by Turgenev which is really a great story and easier to follow. If you're just starting out, Dostoevsky might be a little much to take in. Conrad is good, but he makes me sleepy (but definitely worth the read). Good luck in your search! Let us know if you decide to pick any up!