I’ve got plenty, but the latest for me was Tess of the D’Urbervilles. I’d read Return of the Native in high school and hated it, so I’d written Hardy off. Now I’m reading everything he’s written. I love classics and have a long list of ones I still haven’t gotten to and want to know what to prioritize!
by janescissor
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I sign onto this community explicitly to tell people to read War and Peace and Anna Karenina, and if I haven’t scared them away, to go then give Lonesome Dove and those two pigs a shot
**Watership Down** by Richard Adams. I don’t really recommend it to friends because I’m embarrassed of how much I loved this book all about 🐰
I think Jane Eyre is a good starting point for newer classics readers (without knowing anything about their preferences for contemporary books or at least TV/movie genres), or Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. If they want to get into Austen then I’d start with Northanger Abbey. North and South by Gaskell is also very beginner-friendly, as is Far from the Madding Crowd by Hardy.
I haven’t read either of the Hardy books you mentioned.
War of the worlds, an awesome and revolutionary book to ever come out from H.G Wells (the time machine is on par with wotw).
King Lear! I admit, it took me a while to ‚get’ but after reading up on some contextual and analytical materials it really resonated with me – pure magnificent desolation.
I love Tess of the D’Urbervilles! Jude the Obscure, the Mayor of Casterbridge, and Far From the Madding Crowd by Hardy are all great!
I unexpectedly LOVED The Old Man and the Sea. My previous Hemingway exposure had been The Sun Also Rises, which, meh, too much alcohol and violence and man-pain („Männerschmerz“) for me, but The Old Man and the Sea is gorgeous!