Classics for Beginners discussion

Here's my list. I'm sure it will be a work in progress. :)

Classics Read
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Frankenstein by Mary Wollstencraft Shelley
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Sons by Pearl S. Buck
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
A Study In Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
1984 by George Orwell
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
A Brave New World by Aldoux Huxley
Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger (finished 2nd time 7/16/12)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding (finished 2nd time 1/14/12)
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Huck Finn by Mark Twain
The Stranger by Albert Camus (re-read finished 4/24/13)
Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz by L. Frank Baum
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Of Mice And Men by John Steinbeck
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
The Castle by Franz Kafka
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne
Journey To The Center Of The Earth by Jules Verne
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (finished 1/14/12)
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith (finished 1/27/12)
Web by John Wyndham (finished 4/04/12)
King Lear by William Shakespeare (finished 2/03/13)
Siddartha by Herman Hesse (finished 5/11/13)
Anthem by Ayn Rand (finished 6/2/13)

Classics Currently Reading
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Classics To Read
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Return Of The King by J.R.R. Tolkien
A House Divided by Pearl S. Buck
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Lady Susan by Jane Austen
The Last Man by Mary Wolstencraft Shelley
Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting
The Wizard of Oz series by L. Frank Baum
Rebecca by Daphne Dumaurier
Alice Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
Anna Karenina by Leo Toystoy
Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Uncle Silas by Joseph Sheradan Le Fanu
The Monk by Matthew Lewis
Jewel Of Seven Stars by Bram Stoker
The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker
The Lady Of the Shroud by Bram Stoker

Edited 11/10/13

WOW!!! Awesome list, Kathy!!

Thanks, Martha. There's still so many to read, though! :)

Are you going to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn with us in January?

Absolutely! I've wanted to read that for ages! I can't wait! :)

Me either, I haven't yet read the sypnosis on it so don't know what it is even about...

Finished:
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Lord Of The Flies by William Golding

Currently Reading:
A Gree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith
Middlemarch by George Eliot

Ok, I need to get back on this. I haven't read a classic in awhile. I'm definitely due! :)

Sometimes you do need a break from the classics though.

This is true. I also had surgery and was laid up for a few months. Classics tend to (in alot of cases) need more focus than contemporary books. But I'm definitely due! :)

I'm hoping to read at least 10 classics this year. This, so far, is my working list (I'll mark them off my original list above as I've completed them):

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
2. Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell (re-re-read)
3. The Sign of the Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
4. King Kong by Delos Lovelace
5. The Monk by Matthew Lewis
6. The Mother by Pearl S. Buck
7. A House Divided by Pear. S. Buck
8. Through the Magic Door by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
9. The Black Spider by Jeremias Gotthelf
10. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse
11. The Stranger by Albert Camus
12. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
13. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
14. Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
14. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
15. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
16. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
17. The Crucible by Arthur Miller

I've also got King Kong and the remaining Sherlock Holmes books (save the first one and Hound of the Baskervilles) down to read and have read books 1, 12, 14 and 17. The rest are all to reads at some point. Great list!

Thanks, Jonathan. I've only read the first Holmes and Hound of the Baskervilles, myself. They were my father's favorites and definitely mean to read them all. I have had King Kong on my shelves for ages! I found it at a garage sale so long ago, I can't even remember. It was written way back in the 1930's and I'm anxious to see how it compares!

I do think I read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes a while back but I've forgotten most of what happened. I bought myself a large omnibus of all the books and plan to finish that this year.

The interesting thing about the King Kong novel is that I believe it's one of the rare classics which are based on a movie rather than the other way around. But it's definitely a classic.

Yes, I did hear that it's a novelization of the original movie. But I have read some really good novelizations that took the story a bit further and was more indepth. Some are such a waste of time, though, because it is simply the movie and doesn't add anything more. I'm hoping it will be good. :)

Kathy wrote: "Yes, I did hear that it's a novelization of the original movie. But I have read some really good novelizations that took the story a bit further and was more indepth. Some are such a waste of tim..."

I've never really read an excellent novelization. But if it's a classic it has to be good I figure!

One that I thought was an excellent novelization was League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I'm not sure if you know the premise of the movie/book, but it joins several famous literary characters together to battle evil. The characters are Mina Harker (Dracula), Alan Quartermaine (King Solomon's Mines), The Invisible Man, Tom Sawyer, Dorian Grey, Camptain Nemo (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), and Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hide. What the novelization does is combine the original graphic novel, and each character's original novel and history. It makes this novelization so much more than the norm.

Kathy wrote: "One that I thought was an excellent novelization was League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. I'm not sure if you know the premise of the movie/book, but it joins several famous literary characters toge..."

That sounds interesting! I might check it out.

Added to "Read" List:

King Lear by William Shakespeare (finished 2/03/13)

I totally lost sight of my classics goal. I forgot to add these book read this year:

The Stranger by Albert Camus (re-read finished 4/24/13)
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (finished 5/11/13)
Anthem by Ayn Rand (finished 6/2/13)

Currently reading:
Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell (re-read)