Reading the Classics?

Saft · **on:** March 09, 2009, 04:06:36 PM

Does anyone else read the Classics?
If so what?

Nick22 · **Reply #1 on:** March 09, 2009, 04:09:10 PM

What do you define as classics? Oliver Twist, Tom Sawyer. The Count of Monte Cristo? Les Miserables?

Saft · **Reply #2 on:** March 09, 2009, 04:41:33 PM

Yes exactly that. I should have been more clear, sorry Nick.

I have read:

Oliver Twist
Pride and Prejuduce (Had to for school)
Dracula
Illiad an Odyseey

and a couple of others.

I've also got (bought last week from a book fair on Saturday): Les Miserables and Moby Dick, so I look forward to reading them.

Nick22 · **Reply #3 on:** March 09, 2009, 04:48:06 PM

"From the heart of hell, I stab at thee!" - Captain Ahab

I've read all of books I've mentioned in my last post,. plus all 3 of Dante's Divine Comedy..

Saft · **Reply #4 on:** March 09, 2009, 05:01:51 PM

Out of curiosity; what is Les Miserables like?

Kor · **Reply #5 on:** March 09, 2009, 05:11:32 PM

I've some as a kid, some I have not.

I've read quite a few, but not all.

h.g. wells, jules verne, Tom sawyer, huckleberry fin, and some others I may have forgotten.

Listened to Dracula on audiobook I had checked out years ago, dont' recall if I ever read it or not.

Mumbling · **Reply #6 on:** March 09, 2009, 05:15:34 PM

I've read oliver twist last summer. Was definitly interesting

Not sure if I have read any other book like that, might have, but I usually forget stuff like that.

Nick22 · **Reply #7 on:** March 09, 2009, 07:24:47 PM

it is outstanding Saft, one of the great workds of literature. it was a huge bestseller in France and in America during the Civil War. it is a story about one man's redemption, from being a convict and outcast, to finding love and family, and peace..

Saft · **Reply #8 on:** March 10, 2009, 12:54:45 PM

Sounds fantastic, I can't wait to begin reading it. Thank you Nick.

Other classics I've read are;

The Jungle Book
The Lost world
Sherlock Holmes (which for some reason are listed as classics...)

Kor · **Reply #9 on:** March 10, 2009, 01:34:54 PM

Rudyard Kipling, I forgot about him. I read some of his books.

Nick22 · **Reply #10 on:** March 10, 2009, 02:13:41 PM

I've read all of the Sherlock holmes books, my favorite is the Case of the Red-Headed League and the Mary Rusell spinoffs are excellent, The BeeKeepers Apprenctice is my favorite.
Other Favorites of mine are
Around the world in 80 days
David Copperfield
A Christmas Carol(naturally)
Anything by JRR Tolkien
Alice in Wonderland
The Merlin trilogy by Mary Stewart

Kor · **Reply #11 on:** March 10, 2009, 02:16:31 PM

Many of the classics you can now download free through project gutenberg since they are public domain, though not all of them.

Malte279 · **Reply #12 on:** March 10, 2009, 04:44:08 PM

I suppose everyone will have an own definition of what a classic is. Mark Twain put it quite nicely:

Quote

"Something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read."

As for books I read which I would label classics and which I did read (apart from all those Shakespeare plays) here are those I can think of right now:

The Little Prince
The Neverending Story
1984
Illiad
Odyssey
A large number of modern language editions of Greek, Roman, North, French, English, Germanic, etc. mythology
Most of the Leatherstockings books (The last of the Mohicans etc.)
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Treasure Island
Ivanhoe
The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings
1001 Night
All quiet on the western front
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Around the World in Eighty Days
The Blockade Runners
Momo
Ben Hur
Dr. Jekill and Mr. Hyde
Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn
The Three Musketeers
Robin Hood
Fahrenheit 451

There are many more books which would be called classics over here, but I doubt many of you would have heard of them as they didn't make the leap into the English speaking cultural consciousness (especially books by Karl May for example).
True to Mark Twain's statement there are really several classics I always meant to read, but never got around to.

crazedwriter · **Reply #13 on:** March 10, 2009, 06:33:25 PM

By classics, it's meant those books that made it on the top 100 novels of all time. For me a classic is what has withstood the test of time and always gives insight to the human condition. OK, some classics I've read from junior high on:

Every major Dickens novel

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Eyre

Silas Marner

Odyssey

Illiad

All Shakespeare's major plays in high school -- and even more in college

To Kill a Mockingbird

Every novel & short story Mark Twain wrote

Lord of the Flies, 1984, Brave New World, Fahernheit 451, Lord of the Rings...

And the list goes on and on... There was lots of classic non-fiction I read from 8th grade all the way through college and grad school, but far too numerous to list here. FWIW I prefer non-fic over fiction, but I'll always read a good book for fun -- if it's good!

Malte279 · **Reply #14 on:** March 10, 2009, 06:47:09 PM

Apart from what we read the question what a classic is is really quite interesting. What makes a book a classic? The quality of the book in which respect? How old does a book have to be to be a classic (e.g. I don't think many would nowadays call any Harry Potter book a classic, but I'm quite sure that some day they will). Is fame of the book or the author required to make a book a classic?
I read some books which may be labeled classics but which seemed so utterly boring, and pointless, and bare of real substance to me that I did not include them on the list above famous authors or not.

Nick22 · **Reply #15 on:** March 10, 2009, 07:04:17 PM

A Classic is something that stands the test of time and becomes ingrained into the culture. This can happen quicly -"instant " or 'New' classic, or it can take a long time. Uncle Tom's Cabin took decades before it was accepted as a true classic, but it showed the inhumanity of slavery and the ceulty of slaveowners..

Serris · **Reply #16 on:** March 10, 2009, 10:54:35 PM

I currently read the Aeneid... in Latin! It's for school but it's still damn cool. And in English.

I have read:

Gulliver's Travels
Midsummer Night's Dream
Christmas Carol
Journey to the Center of the Earth
1984
Animal Farm
Brave New World

Most of the these were for school but I loved them anyways. And to be honest, I started 1984 on my own.

What I did start on my own: Gulliver's Travels, Animal Farm, Don Quixote

Bear in mind I have read much more than what is listed.

Nick22 · **Reply #17 on:** March 10, 2009, 11:52:00 PM

Of Course, and thats true of everyone posting in this thread..Trying to list everything wpould take hours if not days..

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #18 on:** March 11, 2009, 12:10:54 AM

Watchmen made Time Magazine's "Best 100 Novels Since 1920" list. Would that make it a classic? If so, I've read it.

Not counting school,

Taming of the Shrew, Siddartha, Moby Dick, Death of a Salesman, 1984 (read it for school also, but I'd read it previously in 7th grade), Englewood Entropy, and Oedipus trilogy. I'm not counting school assignments or Great Illustrated Classics; both would seriously increase this post length.

Of all these books, I think the overall best book was Siddartha, by Herman Hesse. It's short, but it taught me there can be true redemption through embracing nature. It's a novel for the ages.

Malte279 · **Reply #19 on:** March 11, 2009, 05:34:50 AM

Quote

I currently read the Aeneid... in Latin! It's for school but it's still damn cool. And in English.

Which language? Latin or English?
I had to read it too in Latin at school.
Did a presentation on one of the chapters too, but the presentation was in German (we hardly ever actually spoke Latin it school, it was merely translating all the time).