EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion

Melanie wrote: "I think part of liking a classic is liking the genre too."

Melanie, I could not agree more with you.

On that note: I would recommend the following.

For Fantasy: The Lord of the Rings (The Hobbit is slower and it took me a few tries to get into it), Chronicles of Narnia, and The Neverending Story

For Historical Fiction: Pride and Prejudice, Madame Bovary, Pygmalian (a true Cinderella story off which many works are based), and Gone with the Wind

Adventure: Treasure Island or The Three Musketeers

Sci-Fi: I haven't read any classic Sci-Fi myself so I am unqualified here though I should re-start Hitchhiker's Guide soon.

Worldly classics: Beowulf and Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book are two of my favorites so far and each very quick reads.

For Naturalist: On Walden Pond

For Politics: The Social Contract or Decline and Fall of the West

For children: Misty or Pippi Longstocking

In general: The Christmas Carol, The Gift of the Magi, and/or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

For relaxing: The Tao De Ching is a very meditative read and you do not have to be a Taoist to appreciate it's contents.

Gothic Fiction: The Crucible, Dracula, The Vampire Chronicles

My number one recommendation ( and I think it qualifies as a Modern Classic now) is Harry Potter because those are the books that awakened me to a love of reading.

The catcher in the rye
Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
The Great Gatsby

Melanie wrote: "I think part of liking a classic is liking the genre too. If you hate sci-fi, you will hate Fahrenheight 451 and 1984. If you hate fantasy, you will despise Mistborn. Etc,

A Modest proposal is an..."

I tend to agree, but I love science fiction but couldn't stand Fahrenheit 451 and didn't care about 1984

Taz: What edition of Beowulf did you find a quick read?

And I'm afraid I have the opposite opinion of Tolkien's works. I read The Hobbit 4 times in Jr. High, but 4 decades on I still haven't been able to read LotR.

Jane Eyre and Mary Shelly's Frankenstein 😊

Cheryl wrote: "Taz: What edition of Beowulf did you find a quick read?

And I'm afraid I have the opposite opinion of Tolkien's works. I read The Hobbit 4 times in Jr. High, but 4 decades on I still haven't been ..."
I agree about Lord of the Rings. Throughout my childhood I often read The Hobbit, loved it, but have never finished Lord of the Rings.

Cheryl wrote: "Taz: What edition of Beowulf did you find a quick read?

The Burton Raffel translation by Mentor Classics.

My list would include Anne of Green Gables,, The Little House books, The secret Garden, Rebecca, Mark Twain, Little Women.

Linda wrote: "My list would include Anne of Green Gables,, The Little House books, The secret Garden, Rebecca, Mark Twain, Little Women."

I know YA is a relatively new genre, but those would all fall into that category, and I agree with you. YA is the best way to ease into the classics.

You know I haven't been able to get Of Mice and Men out of my head since it was mentioned earlier. It reminds me of Flowers for Algernon as well (ya know, mice and all).

Anyhoo, what I'm getting at is that if a newbie is into dark lit, this may be a good start for dark classics.

I don't like classics at all... I've tried and tried and even those I haven't DNF'd was just meh with the exception of The Great Gatsby which is one of my favorites!

I very much need to be carried along on a story and I always find that classics are almost impersonal... they describe the characters and settings, but they don't draw you in and allow you to experience it for yourself... maybe it's just the language of the time?

I would dearly love to know what all the fuss is about but Wuthering Heights left me with a bad taste in my mouth and Pride & Prejudice made me feel like I was walking through deep mud. I couldn't finish Dracula because I just completely lost interest after 50%... Maybe I should just give up?

Vernice wrote: "I don't like classics at all... I've tried and tried and even those I haven't DNF'd was just meh with the exception of The Great Gatsby which is one of my favorites!

I very much ne..."

Try some short stories from classical authors- Hemingway, Jack London, Henry James, etc. These might ease you into reading a longer work.

STEPHEN wrote: "Vernice wrote: "I don't like classics at all... I've tried and tried and even those I haven't DNF'd was just meh with the exception of The Great Gatsby which is one of my favorites!
..."
Or maybe novellas: Of Mice and Men...Another good short story is Flannery O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find.

STEPHEN wrote: "Or maybe novellas: Of Mice and Men..."

I actually have read this one and while I kind of enjoyed it, it lacked the immersion effect... if that makes sense. If it had been longer I probably wouldn't have finished it 😣

Vernice wrote: "STEPHEN wrote: "Or maybe novellas: Of Mice and Men..."

I actually have read this one and while I kind of enjoyed it, it lacked the immersion effect... if that makes sense. If it had been longer I ..."

I understand. Well, sometimes "classics" is equated with "old." That doesn't necessarily need to be the case. There are modern classics. If you are looking for immersion, I would suggest Richard Russo's Nobody's Fool or Empire Falls.

Vernice wrote: "I don't like classics at all... I've tried and tried and even those I haven't DNF'd was just meh with the exception of The Great Gatsby which is one of my favorites!

I very much ne..."

You might enjoy The Count of Monte Cristo. It was written as a serial, so each chapter is designed to draw you in. It reads more like a modern novel than most classics, I think. Jack London is another good suggestion. When I have read his stories, I am half way in before I realize I just got immersed. Also, have you tried Mark Twain? I think he is good at immersing you into the story.

Read Capote Truman, Tennessee Williams, Carson McCullers or a host of other great southern writers if you want character immersion.

Tom wrote: "Read Capote Truman, Tennessee Williams, Carson McCullers or a host of other great southern writers if you want character immersion."

I second Carson McCullers. The Heart is a Lonely Hunters is one of my favorite books, along with the novella The Ballad of the Sad Café.

I would definitely recommend A Tale of Two Cities because it's exciting and filled with action. The language that it's written in does take some time to get used to. However, it was one of the books I actually enjoyed reading for school.

Taz wrote: "On that note: I would recommend the following..."

Ah! New favorite post!!

For scifi I would recommend Anne McCaffrey's Pern world which does in fact contain dragons, but is more scifi.

And for the Naturalists, I recommend adding John Muir's self-reflections. Amazing.

Kaseadillla wrote: "your Big Lebowski reference tho...
"

You're out of your element!

Tessie wrote: "The Importance of Being Earnest. It really isn't a novel (its a play), but it is so funny and a quick read.

I also suggest Rebecca. Maybe I'm alone in this, but this i..."

I absolutely LOVED Rebecca! Read it last year. So creepy and brilliant, although the narrator was a bit annoying and pathetic.

I loved The Three Musketeers far more than The Count of Monte Cristo, which I read last year. IMO, Count could be 300 pages shorter and not lose anything.

Read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea recently and sadly cannot recommend it. Also much longer than necessary, and too much about the classification of sea creatures- coming from a conservation biologist! Nemo is a fascinating character, though.

I very much enjoyed Lolita, BUT I listened to the audio book read by Jeremy Irons, who played Humbert Humbert in the movie, and I imagine it was an entirely different experience than if I had read it myself.

Frankenstein was good, but Dr. F SO frustrating.

Loved I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.

Remember loving Huck Finn.

Remember liking Of Mice and Men.

Remember liking My Antonia quite a lot, enough to reread someday.

I was actually going to recommend My Antonia as well for those of you who have been mentioning needing to be exported. Willa Cather does a great job of using the setting as a character and describes the community well too.
I too love Lolita, and I did read it myself for a Banned Books class. So I did have some discussion throughout the book, and from a professor that I could clearly picture as Humbert lol.

Jennifer, I adore I Capture the Castle, but never thought if it as a classic. If it is, I can definitely recommend that one. Smith draws you in with the perfect opening line!

I agree with whoever said that it's tough to say what to recommend because there are so many genres within classics. That being said, I'm partial (being that its my favorite book) to say One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. It's a quick read, fast paced, and I think most people can find it something in it to relate to. I'd also say, even though I did not really love the book, Brave New World could be a good start, as it's pretty timeless. That book could have been written yesterday instead of the 1930s and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

In talking with a couple friends who love reading but hate classics I feel like a nice middle ground could be "The Giver". I am preparing to read it next but it is a middle ground that isn't too classicy.....not a word but I hope it makes sense.

Brady, that totally makes sense. GREAT BOOK though! The movie does it justice!

The ones I would recommend:

The Little Prince
Animal Farm
Pride & Prejudice
Of Mice and Men

For Gothic genre:

Rebecca
Frankenstein
The Picture of Dorian Gray

As for short stories, I think Anton Chekhov's works are relatable by many people. They are also written in a simple and easily accessible way.

While 1984 is one of my favorites, I've heard some people say it's more like an essay of criticism than a novel. So Animal Farm would be a better choice of Orwell's works for starters in my opinion.

1984 and A Streetcar Named Desire

As a little girl, I read more classics than I do now as an adult. My favorites were A Little Princess, Eight Cousins, The Secret Garden and all of Shel Silverstein's books.

But really, it all depends on the person. My sister, for example, hates reading. The only book she religiously read as a child was The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, and as an adult the only classic she has ever loved is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. So really, there's no one classic.

I used to love classics growing up, but interestingly enough my enjoyment gradually decreased as I reached adulthood. Still, two of my favorite books are Fahrenheit 451 and Jane Eyre. I feel like these are both timeless, intriguing stories with somewhat gothic, disturbing elements. Never boring, even if the premise seems somewhat dull.

Melanie wrote: "I think part of liking a classic is liking the genre too. If you hate sci-fi, you will hate Fahrenheight 451 and 1984. If you hate fantasy, you will despise Mistborn. Etc,

A Modest proposal is an..."

Ok, but I love sci-fi and I didn't like Fahrenheit 451 at all. But, I do like 1984.
Both do qualify as "science fiction" but neither are the type that immediately come to mind for most people when they hear the term sci-fi.

Daniela wrote: "As a little girl, I read more classics than I do now as an adult. My favorites were A Little Princess, Eight Cousins, The Secret Garden and all of Shel ..."

I love The Secret Garden too.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a go-to for me when I need to laugh.

Andi wrote: "I used to love classics growing up, but interestingly enough my enjoyment gradually decreased as I reached adulthood. Still, two of my favorite books are Fahrenheit 451 and Jane..."

I just can't get in to the Brontë sisters, at all.

I would recommend:
Dracula
The Call of the Wild
White Fang
Little Women
The Fall of the House of Usher
North and South
Frankenstein
The Three Musketeers

This book I read at least 20times... It is funny, "light", happy ending and clever written. Jane Austen is one of my favorite writers and this book made me an avid reader ever since I was 16.

Witch Hammer
Wuthering Heights
The Hobbit
The Great Gatsby

Number 1 for me is absolutely To Kill a Mockingbird

Then,
2. Jane Eyre
3. The Count of Monte Cristo

These are off the top of my head. I am sure there are more I am forgetting, and there are more that I love but that aren’t generally loved by those who avoid classics. A lot depends on the readers’ level of empathy for fictional characters, their tolerance for complexity, and their appreciation of prose that shows rather than tells.

Blasphemy, perhaps, but sometimes it's easier to entice reluctant readers with classics that are available in lots of formats (e.g: 'The Great Gatsby' has a few film versions. My friend watched a Shakespeare production with me because Benedict Cumberbatch was in it. She "now completely gets" the Bard, and has read several plays).
That said, great suggestions on this thread. Perhaps a spin-off discussion would be: "Classics we love, but WOULDN'T instantly recommend due to the richness of their prose/ complexity of their ideas" (I thinking Joyce, Chaucer, Fenimore Cooper, et al here). But apologies, I'm going off-topic...

My friend watched a Shakespeare production with me because Benedict Cumberbatch was in it. She "now completely gets" the Bard, and has read several plays
As much as I enjoy reading theatre plays (and I do) I always felt that the proper way to experience them is to just watch theatre production instead of reading them...
But also in theatre there are easier works to be introduced... I wouldn't start ANYONE with Coriolanus or Richard II (I have withnessed a couple of 13yo girls trying their first shakespeare experience with Coriolanus at one NTL screening and despite there being Tom Hiddleston in it... they just couldn't stand it... And I can completely see why) but maybe Macbeth or Much Ado About Nothing can be great first Shakespeare experiences

Anyway back to topic easiest classics to start:
The Great Gatsby
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Breakfast at Tiffany's
The Secret Garden
1984
Sorelle Materassi
Il visconte dimezzato

@Electricalice: Yep, agreed - you lose a lot of the experience by simply reading a play. Shakespeare's comedies are a great starting point, although most people instinctively think of 'Hamlet', 'Romeo & Juliet', and 'Macbeth' whenever the Bard is mentioned...
Having said that, I remember 'A Comedy of Errors' giving a younger version of me a distinct headache!
Probably committing career suicide on here, but I'll confess 'The Secret Garden' is one book that's got away from me... Another one for the 'To Read' list...

Even though I really like Alexandre Dumas, I don't suggest anyone to start with his books. Because his books have intresting story line. You just wonder what the heck is going on 50% of his books.
I suggest Jane Eyre, The Happy Prince and Animal Farm.

Cat's Cradle, easy to read and a very deep novel at the same time, can be as deep as you want to. Both funny and tragic, clever and simple.

The Great Gatsby

Great Expectations

Pride and Prejudice

I just want to recommend books, so here I go!
The Secret Garden
The Count of Monte Cristo

Woah. The Count of Monte Cristo!? I actually loved this book but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to someone who doesn't read classics! So if it is bone dry.

The Great Gatsby
The Hobbit

Debbie wrote: "Woah. The Count of Monte Cristo!? I actually loved this book but I definitely wouldn't recommend it to someone who doesn't read classics! So if it is bone dry."

I find it a good classic, and I don't read much classics because most dull. But I found the Count of Monte having a good plot and a page-turner, so I find it good enough to recommend and not dry at all.

It actually took me took attempts to finish the book. And I read loads of classics.I love the story but some of the book definitely sucked the fun out for me. That's amazing that you found it easy to read, I might have to try it again and see how I get on.

I agree on Fahrenheit 451. Easy as enjoyable read. The message is powerful. It’s insanely creative. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book like it.

French classics:
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
The Fall, The Stranger, The Plague by Albert Camus
all plays by Molière
Fables by Jean de La Fontaine
Madame Bovary, Sentimental Education by Flaubert
The Red and the Black by Stendhal
Passing Time by Michel Butor

American Classics:
all books by Jack London, especially Martin Eden
Leaves of Grass by Whitman
The Red Badge of Courage by Stepehen Crane
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Short Cuts: Selected Stories by Raymond Carver
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

British - Irish classics:
all plays by Shakespeare
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
all books by Neil Gaiman
Lord Jim, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
Lord of the Flies by Golding
Sophie's Choice by William Styron
1984 George Orwell
Brave New World by Huxley
Angela's Ashes by Frank MacCourt

Here are only those I'm thinking about!