Classic lit

[Baggy]

Varies. Try 'Travels with My Aunt' and 'Our Man in Havana'. Both light hearted stuff but a trifle amoral. I don't think Graham Greene is unnecessarily grim and gritty, just rather realistic unfortunately!

His short stories are well worth a read IMO, I found them much easier to engage with than his novels.

 

[Yellow Fang]

I am not sure about Graham Greene, although I have only read two of his books: Brighton Rock at school and The Comedians.

 

[growingvegetables]

Lewis Grassic Gibbon - Sunset Song (or even all A Scots Quair)
George Mackay Brown - anything
James Hogg - The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner

Hmmm - see a theme developing?

 

[ArDee]

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

Yes to the first two. Both Excellent.

I'd agree that the first and last books are excellent; re-read "Catcher in the Rye" recently (originally read as a teenager) couldn't understand why it was considered a good book first time I read it - and still can't understand why it's considered a good book.

 

[asterix]

For a nostalgic revisit of the Cold War, there's always Len Deighton or the slightly more complex John le Carre. The best Deighton I have read was 'Bomber', about WW2. It has been reported that it's being made into a film - could be good (or really bad!). Avoid Blitzkrieg unless you are really, really interested, particularly in tanks, or an insomniac.

 

[User482]

If you fancy some foreign classic lit, do give Don Quixote a go. It's a wonderful mix of satire, farce and philosophy.

 

[ourmike]

Steinbeck - Cannery Row, a lovely story with some of the best characters.

I agree, I've read these stories lots of times and always enjoy them.

As I Lay Dying, Grapes of Wrath, Brave New World, Tales of the Klondyke, Whiite Fang, Call of the Wild...

Also, try to empy your mind of everything you know about it and read A Christmas Carol with fresh eyes. The version I had (not sure where it's gone) came in a book with The Cricket on the Hearth and The Chimes, and The Chimes is well worth a read.

 

[ASC1951]

If you fancy some foreign classic lit, do give Don Quixote a go. It's a wonderful mix of satire, farce and philosophy.

... or Gargantua and Pantagruel. Almost as long but IMO more suited to modern times.

 

[Ian H]

I'll add The Enormous Room, by EE Cummings. Probably out of print, but findable.

 

[Doseone]

Tales of the Klondyke, Whiite Fang, Call of the Wild...

Jack London is on my to read list.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

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.

It's brilliant.

 

[Monsieur Remings]

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson
Candide by Voltaire
The Iliad by Homer
The Aeneid by Virgil
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Fifty Shades of Shite by H.Yperbole

 

[Yellow Fang]

The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia by Samuel Johnson
Candide by Voltaire
The Iliad by Homer
The Aeneid by Virgil
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
Fifty Shades of s***e by H.Yperbole

Looks like we have a winner.

 

[Kestevan]

How about some cheerful tales of dystopia, madness and ultraviolence.

Gulliver's Travels - Jonathon Swift
1984 - George Orwell
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
American Psycho - Brett Easton Ellis
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

 

[accountantpete]

For George Orwell read We by Yevgeny Zamyatin and the "introduction" by Victor Gallanz for Road To Wigan Pier and then never bother with any of his works again.