Classics for Beginners discussion
Your Personal Classics
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Nicolle's Classics
Just finished Lady Chatterley's Lover and really enjoyed it. Lady Chatterley is slightly irritating at times but I love 'the keeper'.
Currently reading Rebecca, it's amazing so far. I have a feeling this is going to become a favourite of mine...
Nicolle wrote: "Currently reading Rebecca, it's amazing so far. I have a feeling this is going to become a favourite of mine..."I read it for the first time this year and WOW...it is good.
Good, I am sooo glad I went to the library this week and spotted it!
Mod
Finished Rebecca and it is now one of my all time favourite books. It is amazing and I reccomend it to everyone!
Isn't it great Nicolle? Have you read anything else by her? I haven't yet but plan to someday....when my tbr pile is down a little bit!
No I haven't but also plan to. Which of her's is your next venture?
Nicolle wrote: "Read The Secret Gardenand rated it 5 stars."Agreed Nicolle this was definitely a great book... I see you've got 'Dorian Gray' on your list and it's also the July read, I can assure you that you'll totally enjoy that!
You have some great to-reads Nicolle, some of them my favorites! Animal Farm, Dracula, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest!I somewhat started Dorian Gray, but put it on hold until the group read.
Nicolle wrote: "Good because I have ordered it."Enjoy!!
So glad you loved Rebecca, Nicolle. It's one of my favorites, too. I love her books. Jamaica Inn is another good one of hers. I read it recently.
Mod
Definitely, I watched one of the movie versions when I was about half way through reading (wierdly it was on TV at the time) and I thought they have really condensed the plot in each film. There is just so much going on in the book that I think the directors just pick one aspect of it and make the movies out of that.
Nicolle wrote: "Just started reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles and suprisingly I am enjoying it very much!"I didn't like that Nicolle. Not because its not good..its beautifully written, a great story and it deserves its place as one of the greats. I didn't like it because it left me emotionally drained and with a hated for some of the charactors so much I was frustrated I couldn't get inside the book and hit them lol . I guess that shows its an excellent book
mmmmm...well now I am intrigued as to what makes you want to do this! I already have a dislike for Tess' father, though I'm not far in yet...just at the bit where her mum has gone to get her dad then her brother then herself goes.
Your list is extensive as well! I like your 'to read' list :D I still have to make mine.
Mine is by no means finished! I hope one day my read list is as big as my to-read list! :D
You'd probably enjoy reading Little Lord Fauntleroy looking at that list. And Wind in the Willows.
Ah, Hamlet, now that's one I like to go against the grain when discussing... that's my favorite Shakespeare Play.
Jonathan wrote: "You'd probably enjoy reading Little Lord Fauntleroy looking at that list. And Wind in the Willows."Thankyou for the recommendations :)
Hugh The Curmudgeon wrote: "Ah, Hamlet, now that's one I like to go against the grain when discussing... that's my favorite Shakespeare Play."
Mine too, though I can't say I've read many of his works. Have you seen it at a theatre?
Melissa wrote: "Nicolle wrote: "Finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles"
How did you like it?"
Loved it, even through the utterly depressing and miserable parts (which is most of the book), I don't know how but Hardy seems to captivate me!
Hugh The Curmudgeon wrote: "Ah, Hamlet, now that's one I like to go against the grain when discussing... that's my favorite Shakespeare Play."Same followed by Merchant of Venice. Gotta read the rest though.
Should suggest Great Expectations to you also.
I think I would shy away from reading Shakespeare independently (without my classmates), maybe we could read one together at some point this year as a group read or a buddy read.
Nicolle wrote: "Loved it, even through the utterly depressing and miserable parts (which is most of the book), I don't know how but Hardy seems to captivate me!"
That's good to know! I was a little reluctant to read it since it sounded depressing from everything I've heard. If it's also captivating, I'll have to give it a try. :)
I'm in for reading more Shakespeare. I've been able to find a way to read it on my own which surprised me as in the past I was completely unable.
Looks like you are really getting into the classics. :D
Did you enjoy Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead?
My teacher was talking about Rosencrantz and Guildenstertn are Dead the other day, apparently it is one of his favorite books. He also loves Shakespeare. Do you think it would be helpful or better to read Hamlet before reading Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead?
Jonathan wrote: "Did you enjoy Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead?"I thought it was quite funny and witty on the part of Stoppard. It is challenging to read but also to analyse (as is my english lang/lit text for exam). We are going to watch the film version of the play in the next week, so it would be good to see that as a lot of the humour is conveyed through the stage directions and the movements and actions of Ros and Guil.
Janice wrote: "My teacher was talking about Rosencrantz and Guildenstertn are Dead the other day, apparently it is one of his favorite books. He also loves Shakespeare. Do you think it would be helpful or better ..."
Yes, the writer Tom Stoppard assumes you know the play of Hamlet. I would say it is a hard play to simply read, as there is no real plot and it is highly satirical. Also some of Hamlet is copied into the play verbatim, though the meaning of these is generally changed by Stoppard through the stage directions, often turning a serious scene from Hamlet into a comical one.
Melissa wrote: "Looks like you are really getting into the classics. :D"Slowly but surely!
Thank you :) I might read both the, Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, someday. They sound interesting.
Yes, I unexpectedly enjoyed both plays very much, though they are so different.
Nicolle wrote: "Finished The Pilgrims Progress."What did you think of it?
Melissa wrote: "Nicolle wrote: "Finished The Pilgrims Progress."What did you think of it?"
It was slow going to be honest but the general gist of the book was good. Don't think I'll read it again though.
Classics for Beginners
Books mentioned in this topic
Ballet Shoes (other topics)The Grapes of Wrath (other topics)
Cider with Rosie (other topics)
Wuthering Heights (other topics)
Nostromo (other topics)
More...
Read
1.Frankenstein (own)
2.Jane Eyre (own)
3.Pride and Prejudice (own)
4.The Catcher in the Rye
5.To Kill a Mockingbird
6.Emma
7.An Inspector Calls
8.A Clockwork Orange
9.Murder on the Orient Express (own)
10.Little Women (own)
11.Lady Chatterley's Lover(own)
12.The Secret Garden
13.Wide Sargasso Sea(Own)
14.Rebecca
15.Dracula
16.Lucky Jim
17.The Hobbit
18.Pinocchio(OWN)
19.A Christmas Carol
20.The Color Purple(own)
21.Hamlet(OWN)
22.Tess of the D'Urbervilles(Own)
23.Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead(OWN)
24. The Pilgrim's Progress
25. Fahrenheit 451
26. Alice in Wonderland
27. The Handmaid's Tale
28. The Beast in the Jungle (Own)
29. David Copperfield (own)
30. Anne of Green Gables (Own)
31. Peter Pan (Own)
32. Wuthering Heights (Own)
Currently Reading
Own To-Read
1. Black Beauty
2. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
3. The Wind in the Willows
4. The Three Musketeers
5. The House of Mirth
6. The Scarlet Pimpernel
7. The Lost World
8. The Great Gatsby
9. Watership Down
10. Cider With Rosie
11. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
12. Treasure Island & Kidnapped
13. Gulliver's Travels
14. The Rainbow
15. Nostromo
16. Bedknob And Broomstick
17. Ballet Shoes
18. Persuasion
19. The Grapes of Wrath
20. The Lord of the Rings
21. The Borrowers
22. The Indian in the Cupboard
23. Little House on the Prairie
24. A Room with a View
25. The Portrait of a Lady
26. The Coral Island
27. Babylon Revisited and Other Stories28.Dubliners
29. Bonjour tristesse
30. 1984 (Group read)
31. Catch-22
To Read
1. Oliver Twist(Started)
2. A Tale of Two Cities (Started)
3. Heart of Darkness
4. Atonement
5. The Princess Bride
6. Animal Farm
7. The Picture of Dorian Gray(Group read)
8. Cranford
9. Great Expectations
10. The Woman in White
11. The Divine Comedy
12. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
13. The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
14. Where the Sidewalk Ends
15. Sense and Sensibility
16. Gone With the Wind
17. War and Peace
18. Crime and Punishment
19. Slaughterhouse-Five (Group read)
20. A Wrinkle in Time
21. Nine Stories
22. A Passage to India
23. Jamaica Inn
24. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
25. Deathworld Trilogy
26. Madame Bovary
27. A Streetcar Named Desire
28. Middlemarch : a study of provincial life
29. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
30. Lady Audley's Secret
31. Mary Barton
32. Little Lord Fauntleroy
33. North and South
34. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
35. The Mayor of Casterbridge
36. Little Dorrit
37. The Plague