Recommend Classic Literature

[FusionKnight]

I like Dumas; I particularly enjoyed The Three Musketeers; the definition of "swashbuckling"!

 

[Thaklaar]

I like Dumas, too. But I've never made it through Musketeers. Too episodic for my tastes, I think. I've also been gnawing on Moby Dick for five years now.

 

[mikal]

First: sorry if my english is not so good

Now I'm reading Island from Aldous Huxley, which is good as much as Brave new world, and dealing with great things, such as best political system, decadence of society..
In high school I adored J.D.Sallinger, Herman Hesse and Mikhail Lermontov(A hero of our time). Recommend The stranger by Camus, Herzog by S. Bellow, Henry Miller, John Fante and few books by Bukowski. Of course, there is much, much more..

 

[Kidege]

I like Dumas, too. But I've never made it through Musketeers. Too episodic for my tastes, I think. I've also been gnawing on Moby Dick for five years now.

Which is why Twenty years later (the continuation) is better.

And speaking of swashbuckling, I recommend practically anything by Emilio Salgari. Unfortunately it has been scarcely translated into English. Oh, you poor deprived people.

 

[Thaklaar]

Well, I'd been waiting to move on to Twenty Years Later until I'd finished Musketeers. Maybe I'll skip ahead now. Thanks.

 

[juturna]

My favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut. Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five were just, masterpieces. Galapagos is another good one as well.

 

[Anling]

I just finished reading Slaughterhouse Five. It enjoyed it. Vonnegut has an interesting imagination.

 

[Madoness]

Well... I somewhat grew up with Jules Verne... Dick Sand, A Captain at Fifteen, In Search of the Castaways and so on. But I have not read some of them again, so maybe some are best to read at certain times growing up. But I loved his adventerous style with proper facts written in them.

 

[FusionKnight]

I just ordered The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner on audiobook from the library. The next couple weeks or so of commutes should be more interesting. I'm not sure what to expect...

 

[Anthile]

Everything by Hermann Hesse. Especially Siddharta which is so much more than just a book for me.

 

[Kidege]

I recommend Rudin, by Turgenev. Lessons for INXX abound. And it's also melancholic and well narrated.

 

[Concojones]

Everything by Hermann Hesse. Especially Siddharta which is so much more than just a book for me.

Hesse is fantastic indeed. A whole different league. His stories are at the same time joyful and melancholic. To be read and re-read.

I haven't read much fiction though the last few years (rather non-fiction business books etc.). But seeing Hesse's name really gives me an itch.

 

[brain enclosed in flesh]

All kinds of good stuff mentioned. I would like to add E.M. Forster, especially Howard's End. Truly great book. Also Divine Comedy by Dante, especially The Inferno. I find it fascinating. I've probably read it ten times. Same with Paradise Lost by Milton.

Kafka, too. I think we're just talking classic literature here, but if not, Orhan Pamuk, J.M. Coetzee (esp. Elizabeth Costello), and Tahar Ben Jelloun (he writes in French) are great writers.

oh! The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski
Albert Camus

A Confederacy of Dunces is one of the best books ever.