Must-read classic novels

I just read Heart of Darkness. Enchanting little tale.

 

A fair point, but I mean, stick to the story. There were chapters where Melville was blabbering about god knows what that had nothing to do with the story. Put that shit in a dime novel or something.

That complaint aside, it's still one of my favorites (having read it once, now I know the parts I can skim past).

 

I like Melville's novella about copy editors.

 

Lots of great books mentioned on here, but why no love yet for Stephen King's "The Stand"?

 

Some personal favourites that I've read more than once:
- War and Peace
- Les Miserables
- The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
- The Corrections
- Pride and Prejudice
- The World According to Garp

 

I studied French literature so I'm going to throw out these two

"Le Grand Meaulnes" by Alain-Fournier is one of the great early 20th century French novels, comparable to "The Great Gatsby"

I've read it in the original French and in an English translation (The Wanderer) and its description of lost love is unforgettable.

If he hadn't been killed in WW1 Alain-Fournier would have probably been one of the great French novelists of the last 100 years.

I'd also recommend Stendahl's "Le Rouge et Le Noir" (Red and Black), published in 1830.It explores the conflict between a religious life (Le Rouge) and politics (Le Noir)

And of course there's "Madame Bovary" Almost a perfect novel

And on the British/American/Canadian side:

Anything by Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters.

Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle"

Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath"

Robertson Davies "Deptford Trilogy" --"Fifth Business", "The Manticore", "World of Wonders" Can be best described as Gothic Ontario.

Margaret Atwood--almost anything--but "Alias Grace" is probably my favourite.

 

Agreed. There is a wonderful novel in there. Too bad he shoved so much other crap in around it.

 

Read "The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann a few years ago, and it was astonishing.

"Ulysses", as difficult as it was, especially during stretches that were essentially like reading the phone book, was ultimately rewarding to me. More than once, I thought, "an insane person wrote this." I found myself not so much reading it as surrendering and immersing myself in it. I guess you could say it was almost hallucinogenic. It got a "wow" out of me when I was done.

Also making a strong impression were "The Sea of Fertility" tetralogy and "The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea" by Yukio Mishima.

Had a high school teacher who was big into Faulkner, and he still holds plenty of appeal to me.

 

I have read at least 19 books on the classics list. There are some that I think I read but I am not sure of it. Some I remember in detail, and others, particularly by Hemingway, I can't really remember that much about. That could be because it was more than 30 years ago.

Some choices were puzzling. I have read at least five Philip Roth books which were better than Portony's Complaint. Ethan Frome wasn't on the list, although a couple of other titles were.

 

I'll take the snob bullet, because people already think that about me here:

Stephen King's "The Stand," or anything else by Stephen King, has no place on a list like this. It would be like putting the Stones on a list of classical composers. Now, I love the Stones more than I love most of my relatives. But, well, come on now.

 

Be interesting to see how King is remembered and thought of 100 years from now, if at all.

 

Two King-related items that will stand the test of time:

"On Writing"
Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining"