what are some really good, classic books? I just finished catcher in the rye and I am absoloutely in LOVE with it, I read to kill a mockingbird and did not like it at all.
oh i really liked to kill a mockinbird, but each to their own another classic is '1984' (im not actually sure what defines a classic but ill say that is it) i also quite enjoyed 'the great gatsby'
i hated the cacther in the rye and loved to kill a mockingbird. but a really good book is hearts in atlantis by stephen king its 672 pages but its worth it
Definately 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'.....damn, I haven't read any good books for a looooong time.
I liked "To Kill A Mockingbird" but didn't like "The Catcher in the Rye." But I loved "The Great Gatsby", Fitzgerald is awesome. "Brave New World" bu Huxley, "Siddartha" by Hesse, and any Steinbeck.
Don't worry I like it Not sure about other 'classic' books. I just read whatever takes my fancy. These are on my book shelf... Pride & Prejudice (Austen) Had to read for college, hated it Breakfast at Tiffany's (Capote) Siddhartha (Hesse) Deep, and a bit hard going sometimes. On the road (Kerouac) The Dharma Bums (Kerouac) One flew over the cuckoo's nest (Kesey) Haven't finished it though. Animal Farm (Orwell) Nine Stories (Salinger)
I respect Salinger for putting out a book so controversial and that showed the darker side (and very real side) of American youth in a time of conformity, but for some reason when I was reading the book I just didn't like it. This could have been due to the fact that I was forced to read it (through school) but I think it's more then that. I felt that Salinger was trying to make Holden look too much like a "bad-ass." 'Goddamit' and 'sonuvabitch' were used IMO way too much, and were but in places, it seemed, just because. I didn't really like the plot either. But anyway I don't totally dislike the book, there were somethings that I enjoyed. Like how Holden saw through the superficiality of American fifties life and his need to escape such a world and live in the woods. Because, hey, there's a little Holden in all of us.
Fav classics: Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (I still had to check the spelling) ugh..Russians. Everything by the Bard. Everything by Hesse. Everything by Hemmingway and Stienbeck Pearl S Buck. Those are the ones that came to mind. In that order.
I adore classics, a few favorite ones off the top of my head are: ~Lord of The Flies ~The Great Gatsby ~Wuthering Heights ~Great Expectations
Hated Great Expectations (fine, I only read about 30 pages in high school) and I didn't like Lord of the Flies, either. Wuthering Heights is good, though, and so is To Kill A Mocking Bird.
Jane Eyre was really good. I like The Outsiders as well. Generally, my mum makes me read these books and I eventually really enjoy them...
Brave New World - Donald Huxley Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand (very old but really great, early 1600s) Starship Troopers - Robert Hienlien Old Man in the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
I'm reading Ivanhoe at the moment which is really, really good, and probably now one of my favourite books of all time. It was a bit heavy going at first, but got better and better.
The majority of what i read could be considered classics, so that's a long list... the shortened version would be as follows: The Lord of the Rings --J.R.R. Tolkien Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon epic poem) The Saga of the Volsungs (an Icelandic piece from the 1200s) The Crucible --Arthur Miller Othello --William Shakespeare The Canterbury Tales --Geoffrey Chaucer Brave New World --Aldous Huxley Johnny Got His Gun --Dalton Trumbo another favorite is A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, but it's too new (late 1980s) to be considered a classic.
Pride and Prejudice Wuthering Heights Catcher in the Rye The Bell Jar Romeo and Juliet Animal Farm Lord of the Flies Oliver Twist The Turn of the Screw
