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I actually really loved this book. That and the giver were two pieces of mandatory reading I really enjoyed, unlike Catcher in the Rye and Lord of The Flies, to name a few. The book Fahrenheit 451 really hit home for me on a few issues. I just found a copy and I'm going to reread it.
Have you read the book? Did you like it? What "classics" have you read that you enjoyed, and which didn't you?
yes, yes, the outsiders, what's a classic really
I went through a classics book list to pick out what I'd read and I was super surprised to see I've read more than I thought from the list. Granted, many of these were in school or when I was very young. I don't think I disliked any of them (except maybe A Little Princess, I never particularly understood why it was so revered), but I'll bold the ones I particularly liked.
A Little Princess
Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass
Black Beauty
Dracula
Frankenstein
Les Miserables (tattered and torn, pages falling out and cover missing from re-reading)
Moby Dick
Oliver Twist
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Call of the Wild
The Jungle Book
The Picture of Dorian Grey
The Princess and the Goblin (still have my suuuuuper old copy - the front of the cover is missing)
The Secret Garden
The Wizard of Oz
Treasure Island
White Fang (still have my suuuuuper old copy of this one as well)
In the middle of reading 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I started reading those a million years ago and probably have to start over now. I have copies of the Count of Monte Cristo, A Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlet Letter and Don Quixote that I've acquired and never read. :(
I remember required reading of a book called Sarah Bishop. Couldn't tell you one thing about it other then I smurfing despised it.
The first required reading I really enjoyed was probably Call of the Wild. I still love that book for some reason.
Fahrenheit 451 is excellent, though. I had to read it for a freshmen seminar class in college (that's supposed to just be a class to help transition people into college life I guess, but always ends up just being a class about whatever the professor you had would normally teach). The class was terrible, but that book made it worthwhile to me.
Frankenstein is excellent, I think. I'm going to be reading Dracula soon, which everyone I've talked to has loved.
Farenheit 451
1984
Animal Farm
Alice In Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass
Wizard of Oz
Chronicles of Narnia (yes, I consider them classics)
Island of the Blue Dolphins - I really liked this book
I absolutely cannot get through any of the old school classics. Like "Anne of Green Gables" and Wuthering Heights. Omg. Soooo boring.
A lot of classics are free on my kindle, so I am determined to read them all. Get back to me in a year. xD
I love Fahrenheit 451. It's one of my favourite books of all time. Using the USA list Sarah provided:
Litte Women (probably my number one favourite book of all time, if I had to choose)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Jane Eyre (Also in my top ten favourite books)
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Alices Adventures in Wonderlan
Through the Looking-Glass
The Scarlet Letter
The Odyssey
The Phantom of the OPera
Hamlet
Romeo and Juliet
The Taming of the Shrew
Frankenstein
Some modern "classics" I've read:
1984
Animal Farm
Fahrenheit 451
Cat's Cradle
Lolita
Several classics are on my to-read list:
Les Miserables
The Portrait of Dorian Gray
Remembrance of Things Past
Pride and Prejudice
The Age of Innocence
A Tale of Two Cities
taken from the same list as Sam:
(SPOILER)The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking-Glass - Lewis Carroll
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
The Odyssey - Homer
The Call of the Wild - Jack London
Hamlet - William Shakespeare
Macbeth - William Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night's Dream - William Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Dracula - Bram Stoker
13 out of a list of 100. And I really only enjoyed like 6 or 7 of those that I did read. "Classics" just ain't my style. I've read a bunch of more modern classics, like Fahrenheit 451, 1984, Brave New World (can you sense a theme here) and I really enjoyed those. Catch-22 may be my favorite book of all time (go read it it's really good)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Secret Garden ~ Mandatory for school
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Through the Looking-Glass
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas is my favorite author
The Man in the Iron Mask
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
The Call of the Wild~ Mandatory for school
White Fang
Moby Dick
Black Beauty
Romeo and Juliet~ Mandatory for school
Frankenstein
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Kidnapped
Dracula
War and Peace
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ~Mandatory for school
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer~ Mandatory for school
The Time Machine
The Three Musketeers
Treasure Island
Gulliver's Travels~ I read the first few chapters and was so horribly bored I threw it and never read it again.
Farenheit 451
1984
Brave New World
I want a more complete list. Where is The Last Unicorn, James and the Giant Peach, Peter Pan, The Princess Bride, or Never-ending Story? I've read them all. I may have read some of the others on that list at school and just not remembered their names.
How did you read Moby Dick when you were young? That must have been tough. Did you like when he spent several chapters defining several suborders of cetacea?Quote:
Originally Posted by Shorty
I'm reading 1984 now. Of course, I read about a zillion books as an English major.
I read Les Mis at age twelve! That's damn harder than Moby Dick.
I've only read about thirty books on each list, but I think I enjoy the US version of the list better. My favourite books as a kid were Robinson Crusoe, Heidi, and Black Beauty.
This is an interesting article I was reading today about book lists. I don't think I'll ever read any Austen or Bronte. Here is a list of books that I am considering working through, as I have not read a very geographically diverse range of authors. One of my goals for the next six months is to double my reading, and read more widely. I just culled my beautiful book collection, and I have a lot of credit at multiple secondhand book stores, and I work at a library, so I'm good to go.
I'll go down the list Shorty provided and see how many hits I get. I ready constantly as a kid, up through high school.
UK Version:
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
Alice's Adventures In Wonderland
Through The Looking Glass
Last of The Mohicans
Robinson Crusoe
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
A Christmas Carol
Great Expectations
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Three Musketeers
Silas Marner
The Scarlet Letter
The Call of the Wild
White Fang
Moby Dick
Rob Roy
Black Beauty
Hamlet
Julius Caesar
Macbeth
Othello
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
US Version: (not already on UK list.)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Red Badge of Courage
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Why isn't Catch-22 on these lists? Too modern?
Why not?Quote:
Originally Posted by Calliope
It's definitely considered a modern classic. I couldn't help but thinking it was one of the best books written in the English language.Quote:
Originally Posted by sharkythesharkdogg