Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

Does anyone have a favourite underrated classic they want to share?
A personal favourite of mine that I consider to be underrated is The Scarlet Plague by Jack London

I've never heard of the Scarlet Plague before. I've read one of Jack London's works, but haven't really researched him to find out the other books he had written. I'll definitely add The Scarlet Plague to my reading list.

I am a huge fan of Alexandre Dumas, but have observed that outside of his two famous novels (The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo) that many of his works have fallen into obscurity outside of France. Though, I do have many friends from the French speaking countries that say that they've never heard of a few of Dumas's books.

One of my favourites is The Knight of Maison-Rouge

Tiffany wrote: "I've never heard of the Scarlet Plague before. I've read one of Jack London's works, but haven't really researched him to find out the other books he had written. I'll definitely add The Scarlet Pl..."

Exactly, it is thoroughly profound with famous authors such as Dumas and London that their lesser known works are eclipsed by their more famous works. Often their magnum opus is put on a pedestal while other works are ignored or never heard of that are equally as commendable. It's disappointing, but nevertheless all works written by a particular author help to contribute to their notoriety not just the one or two that we automatically associate to their name.

If you do get the chance to read the scarlet plague I hope you enjoy it and that Dumas book sounds pretty interesting.

If you like Sherlock Holmes stories: A Taste for Honey 63 ratings

Hans Scherfig: The Missing Bureaucrat 300 ratings (What is freedom? And what if you don't want it?)

A Ballad for Georg Henig 693, average 4.65

The Death of Grass 5647 Apocalytic sci-fi. Definitely some take home points in this little book.

Jack London: The Iron Heel 5,845

Exercises in Style 6,259 A rare 5 star from my.

Hard to say if they are classics, but some of the more interesting books I've read this year were:

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien

Stoner by John Williams

The Tin Drum by Günter Grass

Suttree by Cormac McCarthy

Two books I'd nominate as underrated classics:

Lord of the World (1907) - a fascinating early Armageddon/end-of-the-world novel, in which secular humanism has carried the day, religion is an odd habit of a small minority. Written by the son of an Archbishop of Canterbury, so you can guess which side the author is on, but it's beautifully written in that ornate Victorian style and a lot of fun to read. Only 1300 ratings on Goodreads.

A House-Boat on the Styx (1904) - sharp/funny novel about a sort of gentlemen's club for famous dead guys (e.g. Shakespeare, Baron Munchhausen and Noah, among others), which meets in a houseboat on the River Styx. In addition to the typical men's club activites (i.e., playing cards, shooting billiards, smoking, and drinking) they also discuss things like which animals should have been saved from the flood and whether the club should host a Ladies’ Day (the discussion gets heated when it comes down to who should and should not be invited, e.g. Eve, Lucretia Borgia, Delilah, all six of Henry VIII's wives). Only 171 ratings on Goodreads!

I also recently read Three Men in a Boat, which was hilarious. Not underrated (40K ratings on goodreads) but I'd never heard of it :)

J_BlueFlower wrote: "The Death of Grass 5647 Apocalytic sci-fi. Definitely some take home points in this little book.

Jack London: The Iron Heel 5,845"

I love both of those. Very surprised that they have so few ratings here on Goodreads!!

I really enjoyed Parnassus on Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley. They were both a lot of fun to read.

I really enjoyed Victor Hugo's The Man Who Laughs and Matthew Lewis' The Monk.

An underrated classic?
The one, the only Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier
I wrote a review , and beg you : you must absoltutly read this book, at least for its preface !
Here are some excerpts from Gautier’s preface… bad translation by myself, sorry for you, readers, and please forgive me Théophile!

"We scarcely conceive what all these shouting tend to do, what is the use of all this anger and all this barking? Why do some want to become the Don Quixote of morality? It is very singular. This century, whatever they say, is immoral (if that word means something, which we doubt very much). Books follow morals, and morals do not follow books. The little shepherdesses of Boucher (18th century French painter) had make-up and were disheveled, because the little marquises were so. Paintings are based on the models and not models based on paintings. I don’t remember who said and where: literature and arts influence manners. Whoever he is, he is undoubtedly a great fool. It's like saying: Peas make grow spring; peas grow on the contrary because it's spring, and cherries because it's summer. The trees bear the fruit, and it is not the fruit that bears the trees, eternal and invariable law; a century follow another, and each century bears its fruit which is not that of the preceding century; books are the fruits of morals. "

"Is there anything absolutely useful on this earth and in this life where we are? First, it is very useless for us to be on earth and live. (...)
You can live with 25 cents a day; but to prevent oneself from dying is not to live. (...) Nothing that is beautiful is indispensable to life. Flowers would be suppressed, the world would not suffer materially; who would want, however, that there were no more flowers? I would rather give up potatoes than roses. What is the beauty of women? Provided that a woman is medically well trained, able to have children, she will always be good enough for the economists.
What’s the point of music? What’s the point of painting? Who would be foolish enough to prefer the inventor of white mustard to Michelangelo?
Nothing is truly beautiful unless it cannot be used for anything; everything that is useful is ugly because it is the expression of some need, and those of man are ignoble and disgusting, like his poor and infirm nature. The most useful place in a house is the latrine.
I am among those for whom the superfluous is necessary, and I prefer things and people in inverse ratio to the services they render me. I prefer, to a useful vase, a useless Chinese vase, strewn with dragons and Mandarins. That of my talents which I esteem most is not to guess the logogriphes and the charades. I would happily renounce my French and citizen rights to see an authentic painting of Raphael, or a beautiful naked woman: Princess Borghese, for example, when she posed for Canova, or Julia Grisi (1811-1869, Italian opera singer) when she enters her bath. (...) I would sell my pants to have a ring, and my bread to have jams. The most seductive occupation of a good man seems to me to be doing nothing, or smoking analytically his cigar. I also esteem those who play bowling, and also those who do good verses. You see that the fonctional principles are far from mine. Instead of giving a prize for rewarding virtue, I would rather give a heavy bonus to those who invent a new pleasure; for jouissance seems to me the goal of life, and the only useful thing in the world. God wanted it so, He who made women, perfumes, light, beautiful flowers, good wines, frisky horses, greyhound bitches and angora cats; He who didn’t say to his angels: Have virtue, but: Have love, and that gave us a more sensitive mouth than the rest of the skin to kiss women, eyes to see the light, a subtle sense of smell to breathe the soul of the flowers, nervous thighs to tighten the flanks of stallions, and fly as fast as thought without railroad or steam boiler, delicate hands to caress the polished shoulders of unworthy creatures, and who, finally, has granted to us alone this triple and glorious privilege of drinking without thirst, of lighting the lighter, and of making love in all seasons, which distinguish us from the brute much more than the practice of reading newspapers and making laws. "

Gabrielle wrote: "An underrated classic?
The one, the only Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier
I wrote a review , and beg you : you must absoltutly read this book, at least for ..."

Well you've persuaded me to add it to my list :)

Pink wrote: "Gabrielle wrote: "An underrated classic?
The one, the only Mademoiselle de Maupin by Théophile Gautier
I wrote a review , and beg you : you must absoltutly read this b..."
I wish it was me who persuaded you to read Mademoiselle de Maupin, but I guess it's Théophile Gautier's thought! :)

That and your enthusiasm! I love it when someone adores a book and wants to share their enjoyment :)

Quicksand by Nella Larsen. It has a decent number of ratings on here, but the average could be higher.