For The L♥ve of Reading discussion

My fave classics have to be: The Count of Monte Cristo, V1, Pride and Prejudice, and The Catcher in the Rye (is that too recent to be considered a classic?).
Ones I hated: Wuthering Heights and anything by Steinbeck. I understand why his stories are so great and so appreciated, I just have trouble getting through them. I remember an entire chapter in The Grapes of Wrath that was devoted to a turtle crossing the road. A TURTLE CROSSING THE ROAD! I understand the symbolism, but still.

I love Steinbeck. (But yes, the turtle chapter was long).

I absolutely LOVE Jane Eyre. It was so much better than Wuthering Heights. Read The Great Gatsby in high school and again after graduating from college, like it but not as much as Jane Eyre. The Three Musketeers was pretty good, but everyone was so slutty that it was a little off-putting. Couldn't even finish The Hunchback of Notre Dame. as for modern classics, love The Princess Bride

i didn't like jane eyre that much the idea of a young woman falling in love with a man in his forties..i didn't really like it..
idk maybe it has something to do with me still being 14..so i wouldn't get that kind of romance

I've read a lot of classics - my mother was an English major, then I became one myself...so I'd read lots of the children's classics before they were assigned - Little Women and sequels, Anne of Green Gables series, The Secret Garden, etc. To Kill a Mockingbird is still one of my favorites. I don't really care for the Steinbeck I've read, I think that my copy of Moby Dick must have had sleeping powder ground into it, I could NOT make my way through that one. Read Moll Flanders amd Gulliver's Travels which were interesting. I've read most of Shakespeare's plays and The Canterbury Tales. I didn't care for any of the Jane Austin I picked up. But, I don't really like romantic novels in a general sense either.

I think a solid background in fairy tales is important too. There are tons of kids books, but I still love the old fairy tales and think that they are worth perpetuating.

I'm so excited! I got the 14 disc set of The Count of Monte Cristo in the mail today. I can't wait to start in on it.

14 discs! You'll be listing into April :) Whoa, I hope you enjoy the story.

Karli, wow you defiantly have classics under under your belt. Now.... Which one is your favorite one? Which one would you recommend to someone who has never picked up a classic?

Okay, you have all piqued my curiosity. I have The Count of Monte Cristo from the library, waiting to be read.

One of my very favorite books of all time is To Kill a Mockingbird, so for sure that one. I re-read the Anne of Green Gables series this summer before loaning to a friend's daughter, and they are still very charming books. What I recommend depends on the person's tastes, but some of the older books are harder to read, just because if the differences in texts and writing styles. I'm reading the Great Gatsby now, and had forgotten how differently books were written in the early 1900's. And that style is nothing compared to those of the medieval authors! :)D

I loved the Great Gatsby, Jane Eyre and most of Shakespeare's plays I would have to agree that Moby Dick was one of the worst books that I have tried reading. It was one of the few books that I could never make myself finish. I also really liked the Three Musketeers. Somehow, I never read To Kill a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye.

I really like The Catcher in the Rye too. I still think Holden Caulfield is just an awesome name.

I'm glad someone else agrees with me on Moby Dick. I always felt like I was failing not getting through it.

I really should read some Charles Dickens. I haven't read his works.

im 14 can i read the catcher in the rye?

Sure, why not Myosh? It's a really short, fast read.

Moby Dick made me want to claw my own eyes out with an ice pick. I tried and tried and tried to read it. Gah... it was torture.

I think I was 16 when I was assigned The Catcher in the Rye in school - I agree, it'd be fine for you Myosh...and probably more fun to pick up and read yourself than have it as an assignment.

thanks Amber and Karli..im gonna add it to my to-read list

I'm about to finish The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I totally love it. Ohter than that, Th. Mann's "The Magic Mountain" and Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" are my all-time favourites.

i love that book.oscar wilde is...interesting