Literary Classics

Although I have to admit that Twilight is one of my guilty pleasures, there's a little bit too much of it in here for my taste and not enough of other stuff. How about the big-name classics, like Dickens, Bronte, Mark Twain, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Jane Austen, Camus, Shakespeare, Homer, Virgil, etc.? I haven't read many more since I finished my lit classes in college, but some of my favorites definitely are The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Emma by Jane Austen, The Odyssey by Homer, and Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. I have a lot of favorites, actually. What about you guys? What are some of the literary classics you're reading right now (be it for school or for pleasure) or what are some of your favorites?

I'm glad to see a topic that is discussing something more toward my literary tastes.

I particularly enjoy Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It's an engaging novel that tells about the story of a rough-and-tumble young white boy and a runaway black slave on a series of mishaps and adventures, which ranges from joining a circus to participating in fradulent affairs. Although I have an extremely hard time deciphering the Southern dialect, it's a very good read. If you haven't read it yet, I would recommend that you read it.

The Harry Potter series is excellent, too. I'm not exactly sure why I like it, but there's just a magical appeal to the story. I'm sure you've read it before....right?

And Twilight?

...

It is not a book to be tossed aside lightly; in fact, it should be tossed aside with great force. -.-

In my opinion, I feel that Twilight is a baseless novel. It uses way too many stereotypes and is much too predictable. I mean, seriously. A scared, frightened girl moves into a small town and meets a handsome boy that every girl in his school reveres. The handsome boy immediately falls in love with the new girl. Yay. I don't mean any offense, but I just dislike the book, hands down.

I respect your opinion about Twilight. It's one of those things that gives me mixed feelings (well, more on the negative side than anything ). It's just that...the series is written kind of poorly. What about all these young, impressionable (mostly) female fans? They're being taught these stereotypes that you mentioned and furthermore, I especially don't like Bella's character. The idea that a girl becomes so dependent on a guy and is willing to change all that she is in order to be with him...well, that doesn't sit well with me. I'm all for true love and everything but this is nowhere near true love.

I haven't had the chance to read Huckleberry Finn yet, but I'm sure I've got a copy around here somewhere. Thanks for the recommendation! Haha, yes, I have read Harry Potter. I have all of the books, actually. My favorite is Prisoner of Azkaban. It happens to be the first one I read out of the series too. There is a great appeal to the story and it holds a lot of sentimental value for me.

I'm reading The Count of Monte Cristo right now and it's amazing. I love it.

I have an unhealthy obsession with Shakespeare.

I loved To Kill A Mockingbird, which I read every summer. This summer will be the fourth.

Poe is amazing. Period. I want to finish my book which contains the majority of his works.

This summer I want to read some more Shakespeare, finish Pride and Prejudice, start on Bronte (Jane Eyre) and Bronte (Wuthering Heights), and start some Dickens. That's my goal for this summer. And I'm still deciding between a few other books. I think I can squeeze another in.

Nice, a Dumas book. Love it. I haven't read that one yet, but I've seen the movie and it was awesome. Shakespeare is THE MAN. To Kill a Mockingbird is a great one too. I believe I've only read it twice in my lifetime but you read it every summer, eh? That's pretty cool. Sounds like you have a pretty busy summer on the reading front. Got any in mind for Dickens? I loved A Tale of Two Cities and highly recommend it if you get a chance. It was set during the French Revolution and involved the plight of the peasants against the aristocrats, among other subplots. Very exciting stuff. Great Expectations was good too.

I just found my copies of The Decameron, Dante's Inferno, and The Aeneid. I'm so excited to start reading them!

Nice, a Dumas book. Love it. I haven't read that one yet, but I've seen the movie and it was awesome. Shakespeare is THE MAN. To Kill a Mockingbird is a great one too. I believe I've only read it twice in my lifetime but you read it every summer, eh? That's pretty cool. Sounds like you have a pretty busy summer on the reading front. Got any in mind for Dickens? I loved A Tale of Two Cities and highly recommend it if you get a chance. It was set during the French Revolution and involved the plight of the peasants against the aristocrats, among other subplots. Very exciting stuff. Great Expectations was good too.

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Those were the two I was planning on reading.

Those were the two I was planning on reading.

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Nice! Wow, makes me wanna find those books at the library and read them again for old time's sake. Someday, I'd love to have a room in my home with shelves full of these classics. I've already begun collecting. I should make a summer reading list like you did...that's a very good idea.

I'm a big fan of Anne of Green Gables, Around the World in Eighty Days, and A Christmas Carol. In Anne of Green Gables, it is so sad when Matthew Cuthbert dies!

You'll hear it again and again, and it sounds cliche, but Wuthering Heights really is a fantastic book. If you can persevere to cope with the language to begin with, you get used to it and it becomes fabulous. Emotional, heartbreaking, superb <3

Harry Potter is awesome (see my avvie? hehe) I'm still reading Little Women [:

Harry Potter is awesome (see my avvie? hehe) I'm still reading Little Women [:

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I'm reading Little Women too. It's pretty good.

And I loved Anne of Green Gables. <33

Oh and the Secret Garden! <333

Harry Potter<333

I read a book called A Painted House...I don't know whether you would count that as a classic, but it was really good.

We read Twelfth Night in English, and I liked reading a more obscure play of his, it was really good, although a bit confusing at first.

And this topic reminded me that I need to finish reading Oliver Twist. I love it so far~

I'm reading Little Women too. It's pretty good.
And I loved Anne of Green Gables. <33

Oh and the Secret Garden! <333

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Yeah, I loved all three of those books. I also liked Lord of the Flies that we read in school this year.

^ Oh, that reminds me! -DUH-

LORD OF THE RINGS!

Best series on the face of this Earth. I swear it. :'D

I just finished reading The Catcher in the Rye last night. It was...Alright, I guess. I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style, but...IDK, there was something about it that I liked.

I just finished To Kill A Mockingbird. It. Was. AMAZING. I loved it.

I have to read The Great Gatsby [sp?] for summer reading. I'm pretty pumped now.

I think I'll try Withering Heights, too. Just because just about everyone likes it. Haha.

Lord of the Flies was terrible. Haha. But that's just my opinion...

@Tamagotchi-Ashu: Wow, Anne of Green Gables seems to be a popular read. I've gotta check that one out sometime. I've never read the book, but I've seen Around the World in 80 Days and I liked it.

@KERFUFFLE: I've never had the chance to get into Bronte much, but I'll be sure to try out Wuthering Heights.

@the.end: I'm a huge Harry Potter fan as well. Every year (usually during the summer), I find some time to re-read the whole series. Kind of silly, maybe, but doing so brings back a lot of fond memories for me. I haven't read Little Women yet. I'll have to try that one out as well.

@`Krystal: I'm so glad you mentioned The Secret Garden because I have it and it's one of my favorites. Lord of the Rings is also definitely one of my favorites, along with The Hobbit. I'm so glad I read all of them (not exactly the most easy thing to do because of the small print and not-so-modern language) before the movies came out...helped me understand them better.

@.tee.hee...x: Yeah, a lot of the Shakespeare can be confusing at times. That's why I like the Penguin series in particular because they have the handy footnotes right down at the bottom for easy interpretation.

@paislypuppy: Lord of the Flies was so epic. I loved the allegorical relationships in that one.

@Heil Grammatik: It's been a while since I've read Catcher in the Rye, but I agree with you on the writing style. Otherwise, I really like how the protagonist is portrayed as the antihero, and how he captures the essence of teen rebellion, angst, and all that good stuff.

@B e t h y

I'm currently reading Lolita and Dracula.

I attempted to read Great Expectations a few years ago, but just couldn't get into it. I might attempt to read it again if I can find it. >.<

The only other one I've read is Anne of Green Gables. I own the entire series, but I've only read the first.

I got halfway through And Then There Were None before stopping for some reason. :| I'll have to read it again some time.

I also read on of Christie's collections of short stories. Can't remember what it was called.

Had to read Animal Farm and The Outsiders in school. Hated the latter, liked the former.

As to what I own and haven't read...

I own all of the LOtR books including The Hobbit except for Two Towers.

Little Women, A Clockwork Orange, 1984, Gulliver's Travels, another collection of Christie's short stories.

I also have this app. on my iPod where you can download books in the open domain for free. I have a ton for there, so not going to bother listing them.

@Fayiirah: I'm curious. What iPod app do you use? I have an iPod touch as well and would really love to find a good ebook app.