Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Here is the list for Classic Fantasy. (If I accidentally put a Science Fiction author in this list PLEASE let me know). It isn't an exhaustive list yet, but a work in progress.


Anderson, Poul (American)
The Broken Sword (1954)
Three Hearts and Three Lions (1953)
Brain Wave (1954)

FLANDRY
Ensign Flandry book 1 (1966)
A Circus of Hells book 2 (1970)
The Rebel Worlds book 3 (1969)
The Day of Their Return book 4 (1973)
Agent of the Terran Empire book 5 (1965)
Flandry of Terra book 6 (1965)
A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows book 7 (1975)
A Stone in Heaven book 8 (1979)
The Game of Empire book 9 (1985)

(Apparently, Flandry goes to Space…?)
We Claim these Stars (1959)
Earthman, Go Home! (1960)
Mayday Orbit (1961)
Guardians of Time (1955)

TIME PATROL SERIES (No clue why there’s no book 3)
Guardians of Time book 1 (1955)
Time Patrolman book 2 (1983)
The Year of the Ransom book 4 (1988)
The Shield of Time book 5 (1990)

Time Patrol Novellas (Time Patrol #1-4 + 6)

FUTURE HISTORY OF THE POLESOTECHNIC LEAGUE
The Trouble Twisters (1966)
The Man Who Counts (1958)
Trader to the Stars (1964)
Satan’s World (1968)
Mirkheim (1977)
The Earth Book of Stormgate 1 (Publishing date not yet found)
The Earth Book of Stormgate 2 (1958)
The Earth Book of Stormgate 3 (1978)
The Earth Book of Stormgate 4 (1978)

B.B. (English)
The Little Grey Men (1942)
The Forest of Boland Light Railway (1955)
The Wizard of Boland (1959)

Beagle, Peter S. (American)
✓ The Last Unicorn (1968)
A Fine and Private Place (1960)

Cabell, James Branch (American)
THE BIOGRAPHY OF MANUEL Series #1-23

Calvino, Italo (Cuban/Italian)
Italian Folktales (1956)

de Troyes, Chretien (French)
Arthurian Romances (1190)
Yvain, or The Knight with the Lion (1170)
Lancelot: The Knight of the Cart (1181)
Perceval, or, The Story of the Grail (1181)
Erec and Enide (1160)

Dunsany, Lord (English)
The Curse of the Wise Women (1933)
The King of Elfland’s Daughter (1924)
Time and the Gods (1906)
The Gods of Pagana (1905)
The Book of Wonder (1912)
Fifty-One Tales (1915)

Eddison, ER (English)
The Worm Ouroboros (1922)

Finney, Charles G. (American)
The Circus of Dr. Lao (1935)
The Unholy City (1937)
The Magician Out of Manchuria (1968)
The Ghosts of Manacle (1939)
Past the End of the Pavement (1939)

Garnett, Richard (English)
The Demon Pope
John Polidori, Author of The Vampyre
The White Dragon (1963)

Gaskell, Jane (English)
ATLAN
The Serpent (Atlan, #1) -1963
The Dragon (Atlan, #1.5) -1963
Atlan (Atlan, #2) -1965
The City (Atlan, #3) 1967
Some Summer Lands (Atlan, #4) -1977

Graves, Robert (English)
Seven Days in New Crete

Hilton, James (English)
Lost Horizon (1933)

Hodgson, William Hope (English)
The House on the Borderland (1908)
Carnacki, the Ghost Finder (1913)
The Night Land (1912)
The Boats of the ‘Glen Carrig’ (1907)
The Ghost Pirates (1909)
The Voice in the Night (1907)

Housman, Clemence (English)
The Were-Wolf (1896)
Life of Aglovale de Galis

Howard, Robert E (American)
CONAN
The People of the Black Circle (The Conan Chronicles, #1)
The Hour of the Dragon (The Conan Chronicles, #2)
The Conquering Sword of Conan (Conan the Cimmerian)

PELLUCIDAR
At the Earth’s Core (Pellucidar, #1) -1922
Pellucidar (Pellucidar, #2) -1915
Tanar of Pellucidar (Pellucidar, #3) -1928
Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (Tarzan, #13/Pellucidar, #4) -1929
Back to the Stone Age (Pellucidar, #5) -1937
Land of Terror (Pellucidar, #6) -1944
Savage Pellucidar (Pellucidar, #7) -1941
Mahars of Pellucidar (1976)

TARZAN
Tarzan of the Apes (Tarzan, #1) -1912
The Return of Tarzan (Tarzan, #2) -1913
The Beasts of Tarzan (Tarzan, #3) -1914
The Son of Tarzan (Tarzan, #4) -1916
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (Tarzan, #5) -1916
Jungle Tales of Tarzan (Tarzan, #6) -1919
Tarzan the Untamed (Tarzan, #7) -1919
Tarzan the Terrible (Tarzan, #8) -1921
Tarzan and the Golden Lion (Tarzan, #9) -1923
Tarzan and the Ant Men (Tarzan, #10) -1924
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (Tarzan, #11) -1927
Tarzan and the Lost Empire (Tarzan, #12) -1928
Tarzan at the Earth’s Core (Tarzan, #13/Pellucidar, #4)
Tarzan the Invincible (Tarzan, #14) -1930
Tarzan Triumphant (Tarzan, #15) -1931
Tarzan and the City of Gold (Tarzan, #16) -1932
Tarzan and the Lion Man (Tarzan, #17) -1934
Tarzan and the Leopard Men (Tarzan, #18) -1935
Tarzan’s Quest (Tarzan, #19) -1935
Tarzan and the Forbidden City (Tarzan, #20) -1938
Tarzan the Magnificent (Tarzan, #21) -1939
Tarzan and the Foreign Legion (Tarzan, #22) -1947
The Tarzan Twins (Tarzan, #23) -1927
Tarzan and the Madman (Tarzan, #24) -1964
Tarzan and the Castaways (Tarzan, #24) -1941

Knatchbull-Hugessen, EH
Friends and Foes from Fairy Land (1886)
Whispers from Fairyland
The Magic Oak Tree and Prince Filderkin

Lieber, Fritz
Conjure Wife (1943)
The Wanderer (1964)
The Big Time (1958)
Gather, Darkness! (1943)
A Spectre is Haunting Texas (1966)
The Night of the Long Knives (1960)
A Pail of Air (1956)
Night’s Black Agents (1947)
Gonna Roll the Bones (1967)
The Green Millennium (1953)

Swords and Deviltry (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, #1) -1968
Swords Against Death (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, #2) -1968
Swords in the Mist (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, #3) -1968
Swords Against Wizardry (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, #4) -1968
The Swords of Lankhmar (Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, #5) -1968

Lowther, George
The Adventures of Superman (1942)

MacDonald, George
Phantastes (1858)
Lilith (1895)

Machen, Authur
The Great God Pan (1894)
The Hill of Dreams (1907)
The Secret Glory (1922)

Malory, Thomas
Le Morte d’Arthur (1485)

Mirrlees, Hope
✓ Lud-in-the-Mist

Moorcock, Michael
THE HISTORY OF THE RUNESTAFF
The Jewel in the Skull (The History of the Runestaff, #1) -1967
The Mad God’s Amulet (The History of the Runestaff, #2) -1968
The Sword of the Dawn (The History of Runestaff, #3) -1968
The Runestaff (The History of the Runestaff, #4) -1969

Morris, Kenneth
Book of the Three Dragons (1930)
The Chalchiuhite Dragon

Morris, William
The Wood Beyond the World (1894)
News from Nowhere (1890)
The Well at the World’s End (1896)
The House of the Wolfings (1888)
The Water of the Wondrous Isles (1897)
The Glittering Plain (1890)
The Sundering Flood (1897)
The Roots of the Mountains (1890)
The Hollow Land (1856)

Myers, John Myers
Silverlock (1949)
The Moon’s Fire-Eating Daughter (2012) Sequal to Silverlock

Norton, Andre
WITCH WORLD SERIES 1: ESTCARP CYCLE
Witch World (Witch World Series 1: Estcarp Cycle, #1) -1963
Web of the Witch World (Witch World Series 1: Estcarp Cycle, #2) -1964
Three Against the Witch World (Witch World Series 1: Estcarp Cycle, #3) -1965
Warlock of the Witch World (Witch World Series 1: Estcarp Cycle, #4) -1967
Sorceress of the Witch World (Witch World Series 1: Estcarp Cycle, #5) -1968
Trey of Swords (Witch World Series 1: Estcarp Cycle, #6) -1977
Ware Hawk (Witch World Series 1: Estcarp Cycle, #7) -1983
The Gate of the Cat (Witch World Series 1: Estcarp Cycle, #8) -1987
Ciara’s Song: A Chronicle of Witch World (Witch World Series 1: Estcarp Cycle, #9) -1998
The Duke’s Ballad (2005)

Peake, Mervyn
✓ Titus Groan (Gormenghast, #1) -1946
✓ Gormenghast (Gormenghast, #2) -1950
Boy in Darkness (Gormenghast, #2.5) -1956
✓ Titus Alone (Gormenghast, #3) -1959
Titus Awakes: The Lost Book of Gormenghast (Gormenghast, #4) 1972

Pene du Bois, William
The Twenty-One Balloons (1947)

Pratt, Fletcher
The Blue Star (1952)
The Well of the Unicorn (1948)
Invaders from Rigel (1960)
Alien Planet (1932)
The City of the Living Dead (1930)

Sprague de Camp, L.
THE INCOMPLEAT ENCHANTER SERIES
The Incompleat Enchanter book 1 (1940)
The Castle of Iron (1941)
The Enchanter Completed book 3 (1953)
The Enchanter Reborn book 4 (1992)
The Exotic Enchanter book 5 (1995)

Lest Darkness Fall (1941)

Stevens, Francis
The Citadel of Fear (1918)
The Heads of Cerberus (1952)
Claimed (1920)
Island of Nightmares
Serapion (1920)

Stockton, Frank R.
The Bee-Man of Orn (1887)
The Griffin and the Minor Canon (1963)
A Tale of Negative Gravity (1886)
Old Pipes and the Dryad

Tieck, Ludwig
Wake Not the Dead
The Elves (1812)
The Bride of the Grave
The Old Man of the Mountain
The Lovecharm
Pietro of Abano

Tolkien, J.R.R.
✓ The Hobbit (1937)
✓ The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) -1954
✓ The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, #2) -1954
✓ The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3) -1955
✓ Farmer Giles of Ham (1949)
✓ The Silmarillion (1970)
Smith of Wootton Major (1969)
The Tolkien Reader (1966)
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962)
Tree and Leaf (1964)
The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun (1945)

Twain, Mark
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889)

Unknown/Anonymous
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (1350)

Walton, Evangeline
Island of the Mighty (1936)

White, T.H.
The Sword in the Stone (The Once and Future King, #1) -1938
The Witch in the Wood (The Once and Future King, #2) -1939
The Ill-Made Knight (The Once and Future King, #3) -1940
The Candle in the Wind (The Once and Future King, #4) -1940

Wright, Austin Tappan
Islandia (1942)

Wyke-Smith, E.A.
The Marvellous Land of Snergs (1927)

I think if we stick to prose works in this area, it should be easier to manage. Voltaire did write some fantasy works,but Candide wasn't one of them.

Great list, Patrick!

Thanks! I'll make the corrections.

Italo Calvino wrote "14 Criteria for What Makes a Classic." It's an interesting read!
https://www.brainpickings.org/2012/07...

Thanks for that, Patrick.
I wonder how many books that are called instant "classics"today will stand the test of time?

Yes we do use part of his thought process for us as well. We have actually talked about him in:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Wow, my favorite book in the world, The Last Unicorn, is now a classic by age. I read it for the first time in 1968. #AmOld

Janice wrote: "Wow, my favorite book in the world, The Last Unicorn, is now a classic by age. I read it for the first time in 1968. #AmOld"
You're not old: you're classic!

Well I fall into that category as well Janice...Thanks Doris for the 50 years or older!

Please read me for the way I was intended at the time of my story! Haha! :>)

Were all of the Tarzan books written by Edgar rice Burroughs?

The first 24, yes. I believe there are a few written by other authors.

Yes, the first 25 Tarzan books are written by Burroughs. I saw a few of them at a used bookstore and should have bought them lol.

Ive done that too! After Ive gotten home regret not getting the book!

I once saw a unique copy of the Brothers Grimm at my local Salvation Army store. I almost bought it, but I concluded that logically there’s no sense in buying a book written in German, a language I will probably never learn. The next day I wished I bought it anyway, because how cool would it have been to own the tales in their original language?

That would have been the gem of your library!

Exactly! It was gone by the next day I was there, of course. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was sent for recycling instead of a German language book sitting on the shelf forever. Lessons we need to remember- buy that book when you see it!

Oh that would be horrible.

Yes agree!! Buy it!

With the mention of Tarzan, I feel obligated to mention that there is a beautiful Word Cloud Classics edition published by Canterbury Classics.

http://canterburyclassicsbooks.com/se...

Thanks Samantha for the suggestion. They might be a great way to introduce others into the Classics.

Samantha wrote: "I once saw a unique copy of the Brothers Grimm at my local Salvation Army store. I almost bought it, but I concluded that logically there’s no sense in buying a book written in German, a language I..."

In my high school German class we read some of the more obscure stories from Grimm in German. I recall a story explaining why beans have a seam in their side.