David Estes Fans and YA Book Lovers Unite! discussion

What classic books and literature are your favorites, and that you'd recommend reading?

Some of my faves:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
A Brave New World
Fahrenheit 451
Lord of the Flies
Gone With the Wind
The Secret Garden
Anne of Green Gables
The "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Great Gatsby
Catcher in the Rye
A Separate Peace
The Iliad
The Odyssey
To Kill A Mockingbird
Little Women
Edgar Allen Poe
The Old Man and the Sea
Of Mice and Men
My Antonia
Walden
East of Eden
Death of a Salesman
Kindred by Octavia Butler

There are probably more, but that's all I can think of at the moment :)

Pride and Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables are two of my all-time favorite classic stories.

Oh and Little Women and Wladen is right behind it.

I really like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale:)

Lord of the Rings and 1984!

In no particular order:

Anne Of Green Gables
Emily Of New Moon
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Little Women
The hobbit (and The Lord Of The Rings, I guess, but I liked The Hobbit better)
A Christmas Carol
Oliver Twist
The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

Mine:
Jane Eyre
Sherlock Holmes(havent read all of them but love the ones I read)
Why dident they ask evans? (agatha christie book)
pollyanna
Does Holes count? Because if it does its defently on my list.
...
Thats about it, I havent read so many and the ones I read I dident like. Planning to read more thought.

Marylene wrote: "Pride and Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables are two of my all-time favorite classic stories."

Right??! :)

Angiie wrote: "I really like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale:)"

I have never read this one, but I need to.

Karen wrote: "Lord of the Rings and 1984!"

2 more I haven't read!

Victoria wrote: "In no particular order:

Anne Of Green Gables
Emily Of New Moon
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Little Women
The hobbit (and The Lord Of The Rings, I guess, but I li..."

Some good ones! I forget about A Little Princess, that's a good one too :) I still need to read Jane Eyre!

1984 , The Call of The Wild & The Hound of Baskervilles...

Call of the Wild, 1984, Little House series, To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lolita, Flowers for Algernon...

Oda wrote: "Mine:
Jane Eyre
Sherlock Holmes(havent read all of them but love the ones I read)
Why dident they ask evans? (agatha christie book)
pollyanna
Does Holes count? Because if it does its defently on my..."

Oh, yeah... I forgot Sherlock Holmes!

Jenny wrote: "Victoria wrote: "In no particular order:

Anne Of Green Gables
Emily Of New Moon
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Little Women
The hobbit (and The Lord Of The Rings, ..."

A Little Princess is the one book that never fails to be listed among my favourites. It's also one of the few where I love the movie as much as the book.

Some classics that I love:

Great Expecations
To Kill a Mockingbird
Frankenstein
The Scarlet Letter
Sherlock Holmes
The Picture of Dorian Gray

I absolutely love The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. It is a classic psychological/supernatural fiction.

Most of Shakespeare's works. Of the ones I've read King Lear and Hamlet are my favorites. Othello and Romeo and Juliet are decent.
The Devil's Dictionary is a collection of hilarious and extremely cynical alternative definitions of words. I believe you can find it online. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by the same author is also quite good.
Of Mice and Men is a highly regarded and relatively popular work of American literature.
Catch-22 is hilarious and intelligent but also quite bitter.
We is really under-appreciated. Everyone talks about 1984 but barely anyone remembers the Russian novel that inspired it.
The Theban tragedies are great and very accessible Greek plays.
The Machine Stops is an incredible short story that predicted online classes, skype, and the internet in the early 1900s.
The Old Man and the Sea.
A Modest Proposal is a great satirical essay.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a classic war drama.
The Story of an Hour is an intense short story and an early work in the feminist movement.
Invisible Man is an eye-opening exploration of racism in America, though some people have had trouble becoming invested in the characters.
The works of Joseph Conrad.
As I Lay Dying is a great family drama and one of Faulkner's more intelligible books, so if you're interested in his work that's a good place to start.
I haven't read all of Virginia Woolf's The Waves but I was impressed by what I saw.
Maya Angelou's autobiography.
Blues for Mister Charlie is exceptionally well-written but it's also a bit difficult to get through.
The Metamorphosis is a great story, though it helps if you know a little about Kafka's life before you read it.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas is a good autobiography.

Childrens' books:

Five Children and It, A Wrinkle in Time, Alice in Wonderland, To Kill a Mockingbird, Roald Dahl's books, The works of Beatrix Potter, Watership Down, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and My Father's Dragon.

Science fiction/fantasy

The Stars My Destination is cyberpunk decades before the genre became popular and a great adventure to boot.
Starship Troopers is part right-wing pro-military persuasive piece part bildungsroman most of it intelligent or at least convincing. Think of it as a more complex version of Ender's Game, sans the excellent ending.
I prefer Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles to Farenheit 451.
Gormenghast is exceptionally well-written.

Harold wrote: "Most of Shakespeare's works. Of the ones I've read King Lear and Hamlet are my favorites. Othello and Romeo and Juliet are decent.
The Devil's Dictionary is a collection of hilarious and extremely ..."


I completely agree that: Five Children and It, Alice in Wonderland, Roald Dahl's books, The works of Beatrix Potter, Watership Down, and Peter Pan, are excellent reads.

I agree with those too! :)

I'm embarrassed to say I haven't really delved into or read any classics except Little Women and To Kill A Mockingbird and I read those both as a girl. I would really love to read a classic but am unsure where to start.

My list of want to read classics include:

Rose (littlebookowl75) wrote: "I'm embarrassed to say I haven't really delved into or read any classics except Little Women and To Kill A Mockingbird and I read those both as a girl. I would really love to read a classic but am..."

You should start with either Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights. That's my opinion, anyway. I've read both, and really enjoy them. In fact, I've read both several times.

Thanks @Victoria :) I was really leaning towards Jane Eyre first so I think I may do that.

Rose (littlebookowl75) wrote: "Thanks @Victoria :) I was really leaning towards Jane Eyre first so I think I may do that."

Go for it! I look forward to hearing what you think of it.

Pride and Prejudice is also great. :)

Tammie wrote: ""

Love these!

Rose (littlebookowl75) wrote: "Thanks @Victoria :) I was really leaning towards Jane Eyre first so I think I may do that."

I have not read either of those yet, still sitting on my bookshelves!

Harold wrote: "Most of Shakespeare's works. Of the ones I've read King Lear and Hamlet are my favorites. Othello and Romeo and Juliet are decent.
The Devil's Dictionary is a collection of hilarious and extremely ..."

There's a lot on here I haven't read yet! Thanks for the suggestions Harold!

Jenny wrote: "Harold wrote: "Most of Shakespeare's works. Of the ones I've read King Lear and Hamlet are my favorites. Othello and Romeo and Juliet are decent.
The Devil's Dictionary is a collection of hilarious..."

No problem. :)

Rose (littlebookowl75) wrote: "I'm embarrassed to say I haven't really delved into or read any classics except Little Women and To Kill A Mockingbird and I read those both as a girl. I would really love to read a classic but am..."

Rose, I haven't read many classics. I do like the apocalyptic or dystopian ones the best!

But my next ones to read are Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. I have a hard time with those types though. Little Women and Pride and Prejudice weren't really my favorites.

I did love To Kill A Mockingbird though so not sure what makes me love a classic.

Harold wrote: "Most of Shakespeare's works. Of the ones I've read King Lear and Hamlet are my favorites. Othello and Romeo and Juliet are decent.
The Devil's Dictionary is a collection of hilarious and extremely ..."

Ohhhh, I forgot about the sci-fi's!!

@Karen I would love to do a re-read of To Kill A Mockingbird sometime in the future. I'm wanting to buy the collectible To Kill A Mockingbird that B&N has on their site. It's leatherbound and oh so gorgeous! I've been eyeing that and Jane Eyre for a while.

Rose (littlebookowl75) wrote: "@Karen I would love to do a re-read of To Kill A Mockingbird sometime in the future. I'm wanting to buy the collectible To Kill A Mockingbird that B&N has on their site. It's leatherbound and oh ..."

Let me know Rose and I'll reread with you. I have that I want to read right after! ;)

Speaking of classics, is a Kindle Daily Deal for 99 pennies!! I grabbed it! Liked that one!

@Karen First I need to buy a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird first but yes we can buddy read it :)

Yay Rose!! :)

I forgot about which I've read a gazillion times! ;)

I saw it in the classic section at Barnes and Noble this past weekend and told myself not to forget to jump on this thread and add it!