What classic literature book did you find enjoyable to read! To be clear, I mean those books (or books by those authors) that you would most likely have studied in school.
Since English is not my native language, we never spent too much time on English authors but recently I had to read Pride and Prejudice and Hard Times and I couldn’t put them down, it barely felt like schoolwork. (I also had to read Jane Eyre and it was a drag for me haha).
What other works do you think may be a very enjoyable read? Outside of poetry, feel free to recommend anything!
by Avversariocasuale
11 Comments
Gone with the wind
H.G. Wells’ The Island Of Dr. Moreau is one of my all time favorites, closely followed by The Time Machine. He was so ahead of his time and I feel like was one of the first weird fiction/sci fi horror authors.
Popul vuh – it’s the ancient Maya origin story. I loved it
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
“The Legend if Sleepy Hollow” by Irving Washington
East of Eden
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. No matter how much time goes by, I still love this book.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, or House of Seven Gables. Both books are excellent examples of early American novels.
The Old Man and the Sea or A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. These novels are different because they are from different times in his life, but both still excellent examples of his writing style which was revolutionary for his time.
Persuasion is my favorite Jane Austin novel, and if you liked Pride and Prejudice, you might like it also. It’s much shorter, but the story is poignant.
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I was assigned this at university. It’s been made into a movie a couple of times. It’s a great example of a modern gothic novel.
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I would call this author Charles Dickens light. She’s a Victorian author who writes about social issues, but she’s not as heavy handed, and writes women much better than Dickens does.
We Have Always Lived In the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Shirley Jackson is the queen of modern gothic. I spent a semester studying her. Any of her books and short stories (her short story The Lottery is usually mandatory reading in high school the US, although it’s also sometimes banned in some school districts) are on my list of recommendations.
The Count of Monte Cristo was fun, better than any of the movie adaptations. I wish we read it in school.
Wilkie Collins: the Woman in White
Daniel Defoe: Journal of the Plague Year
Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities
Mrs Gaskell: North and South
Oscar Wilde: the Picture of Dorian Gray
H G Wells: the War of the Worlds
Most of them to be honest. Classics are classics for a reason. To name a few that I really love…..
A Tale of Two Cities
Wuthering Heights
All Quiet on the Western Front
Rebecca
The Sound and the Fury
A Farewell to Arms
The Age of Innocence
Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.