Diners Forever! discussion

Since I joined this group earlier this month, I've been posting some of the books I've read to our "read" shelf --I usually do this in groups I belong to, if I liked the books and have actually reviewed them. (Of course, I haven't reviewed most of the 670 books on my own "read" shelf; I think of it as a long-term hobby. :-) ). But I have a question: what qualifies a book to be a "classic," relevant to this group?

Personally, I think of a classic as a book that has appealed to a lot of people over a significant amount of time, and has some recognizable quality or qualities in it that justify that appeal. My own classics shelf has 125 books on it; I use it for any well-known book I liked that was written before around 1918, but I also include some later books that have been popular for decades and have gotten critical and academic attention. But some of the books I include are from genres many of the critics would feel they were slumming if they read: science fiction, fantasy, supernatural fiction (I like that term better than "horror"), and sometimes mysteries. What do you all think about what makes a "classic?" (If I posted Dracula to our "read" shelf, would any of you say "There goes the neighborhood?") :-)

Here at Factory #1, we are creating the items needed for Joint #2, opening on July 1.

Now that we have opened Joint #2, we will work on improvements for both joints.

Such as better cookware, comfier seats, and, although it is already the best, better service!

I'm sorry, but we are now closed.

Well, they tell me that the rule of thumb in law is that "silence is consent." So, since nobody replied to my earlier posting, I've gone ahead and added some titles to our "read" shelf that have been around for quite awhile, and which continue to be popular with lots of readers (myself included). If the group consensus is that they're too "low-brow," we can always delete them! :-)

I dunno. I've slogged through "classics" that were numbingly bad reads and always wonder why genre fiction is automatically excluded from this hallowed distinction. I recently reread "Dune", for example, and it remains a classic in my world.

I've never been able to get into the world of the 19th century British gentry, so that whole class of classic novels eludes me.

Don't get me wrong, I likewise have a few bookshelves of classics - Faulkner, Tolstoy and Dickens are faves - but what is and isn't a classic is elusive.

Order up, we're open again!