Classic lit

[Yellow Fang]

Ian McEwan on the Late Review show just now, challenged to name the perfect novel, said Anna Karenina. (I've never read it, but I pass it on FWIW.)

I remember one of my friends from college say he was enjoying reading it, which was quite surprising for a nineteen-year-old studing an HND in software engineering.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

Recently read The Time Machine, HG Wells. Brief but likeable. War of the Worlds next.
A lifetime of watching the movies it's nice to see where it came from.

Moby Dick? Now that's and idea. I'm off to Amazon

 

[Trembler49]

May I recommend The Count of Monte Cristo by Alex Dumas. One of the best stories ever.

Dullest book ever written!

 

[beastie]

Ooohhhhh. Love, duty, honour, murder, conspiracy and revenge. Not boring.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

Huckleberry Finn is remarkable.

 

[asterix]

I'm a Graham Greene fan. e.g. The Power and the Glory, The Third Man, Brighton Rock, Quiet American, Travels with my Aunt, The Comedians, Human Factor, to name but a few.

 

[Andrew_Culture]

I'm a Graham Greene fan. e.g. The Power and the Glory, The Third Man, Brighton Rock, Quiet American, Travels with my Aunt, The Comedians, Human Factor, to name but a few.

Ooh, I've collected several Graham Greene books from second hand shops, I've not read them yet as they seem a bit grim and gritty for my tastes. How cheerless are they?

 

[swee'pea99]

Ooh, I've collected several Graham Greene books from second hand shops, I've not read them yet as they seem a bit grim and gritty for my tastes. How cheerless are they?

'Cheerful' certainly wouldn't be the first adjective that springs to mind, but they do vary. Travels with my Aunt is not without its humour...but I wouldn't personally recommend it. Brighton Rock is relentlessly cheerless, but brilliant with it. The Quiet American is also excellent - but not exactly a laff riot.

 

[Profpointy]

1984 is on the list. I read three-quarters of it when I was fifteen or sixteen but then gave up.
Did Animal Farm at school.
I may read Keep the Aspidistra Flying and The Clergyman's Daughter some time.
I'm sure I've read some of Arthur Conan-Doyle but I don't really want to read any more.

Not sure I'd go for the above novels next; go for the semi-factual ones : Wigan Pier, Homage to Catalonia, Down & Out in London & Paris for starters along with various essay collections. And do give 1984 another go - I read it some 30 years ago. after a few pages I thought a bit weak, but after a few pages more was hooked and finished it, emotionally drained but wide awake at about 3am!
The greatest novel of the 20th century by its greatest writer ? (discuss....)

Other Modern classics: Catch 22, or for a very different theme, Mervin Peake's Titus Groan.
Apparently Heller was asked by a journalist if he minded critics saying he'd never written anything else as good as Catch 22 - he replied that he didn't mind, "after all, who has?" As Mohammed Ali use to say, "it ain't braggin', if you can back it up"

 

[TonyEnjoyD]

The world according to Garp
50 Shades of Grey
The road to gandolfo

 

[Sandra6]

Have you read To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye or The Picture of Dorian Grey?

 

[oldfatfool]

Famous Five and The Secret Seven.

 

[Dayvo]

Something to distort/confuse your view of mundanity and existence.
Albert Camus' The Stranger.

A journey of self-discovery and eventual enlightenment.
Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha

A lonely and aimless journey through Norway and life itself.
Knut Hamsun's The Wanderer

Plus all the Rupert Bear annuals and Tintin books!

 

[02GF74]

Jude the wotsit - T. Hardy (the wotsit will come to me)

Paradise Lost - Milton, if you fancy a challenge - the only book I have never completed as an adult - unintelligeable nonsense.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Jude the wotsit - T. Hardy (the wotsit will come to me)

The Obscure, me thinks.