Favorite "Classic"

Well duh Edith Wharton. I never shut up about that woman. A bit of Henry James never goes amiss, it is not, as one of my modernist-loving lecturers said, 'thirty pages of someone dropped a hanky'
Emile Zola, I think Nana is my favourite book, but this is subject to change. Edgar Allan Poe!
I could go on all day about this. But I won't.

a christams carol. i'm a sappy loser.

"are there no prisons! are there no workhouses!"

I dig a lot of the Classics, but at the moment my heart is once again pining for Dante's _Divine Comedy_ and Milton's _Paradise Lost_. I love both of those epic poems/cycles to no end and never tire of hearing what new readers think about them and their themes.

[QUOTE=Jill's Bleeding Ulcer]I dig a lot of the Classics, but at the moment my heart is once again pining for Dante's _Divine Comedy_ and Milton's _Paradise Lost_. I love both of those epic poems/cycles to no end and never tire of hearing what new readers think about them and their themes.[/QUOTE]
Oh yeah, I loved the Odyssey and certain parts of the Aeneid.

[QUOTE=Jill's Bleeding Ulcer]I dig a lot of the Classics, but at the moment my heart is once again pining for Dante's _Divine Comedy_ and Milton's _Paradise Lost_. I love both of those epic poems/cycles to no end and never tire of hearing what new readers think about them and their themes.[/QUOTE]
This post just really made me want to pick up Paradise Lost. To make the leap to another thread, this is another book that's been on my list for a long time.

I can't remember when it was published exactly, but I'm fond of "Catch-22", as I posted in another thread. I'm also fond of Steinbeck's "The Crysanthemums," even though that's a short story.

One of my all time favourite books is Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.

Forget all that "little munchins running around big giant faces" crap - this is one of the most savage and penetrating satires that takes just about every aspect of human folly and mercilessly shows it for what it is.

In fact, I'd say that in terms of biting social satire, Swift has old Chucky beat hands down!

[QUOTE]Vendetta: Well duh Edith Wharton. [/QUOTE]

Now that you mention it, The Age of Innocence is a tremendous book. I haven't read it for years, but there were some great lines in it and that Madame Olenska is a sultry little minx. I seem to remember this quote being in it:

"Good liars give details, but the best do not."

Am I right? I always thought it was, and I love that line.

I'm not sure about that quote but I love the Wharton! She couldn't construct a clumsy sentence if she tried. If you liked The Age of Innocence you [I]must[/I] read House of Mirth and the short stories are just fantastic!

You can get some of her stuff here, only pre-1923 though I think.
[url]http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/wharton/works.htm[/url]

Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Precious nonsense. A favourite since I was old enough to read.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgeson Burnett, there was another book, I think it's by the Secret Garden woman, about a brother and a sister...I remember her describing how they put their lunches to go out somewhere in their pencil boxes...I don't know.

Hemingway's [I]The Sun Also Rises[/I]

[QUOTE=Rents]Who or what is your favorite classic author or book? And no, "modern classics" don't count. We're talking things written at least prior to when you were born, if not before your parents or grandparents were born. I'm not exactly the person to be starting this thread since I can rarely stand anything written before 1970, but I'm trying to expand my horizons and want to see where you peeps are coming from. I've got a bit of soft spot for Hemingway and a major crush on Steinbeck. Although I think all of Steinbeck's stuff is great, I'd have to say Of Mice and Men is my favorite. Good, quality literature.

P.S.
Forgive me if I'm doubling up on a thread, but seriously, live with it.[/QUOTE]
[I]The Sound and the Fury[/I]
[I]The Grapes of Wrath[/I]

[QUOTE=Vendetta]I'm not sure about that quote but I love the Wharton! She couldn't construct a clumsy sentence if she tried. If you liked The Age of Innocence you [I]must[/I] read House of Mirth and the short stories are just fantastic!

You can get some of her stuff here, only pre-1923 though I think.
[url]http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/wharton/works.htm[/url][/QUOTE]

I just dredged out my old, yellowed copy with highlights over some of the best bits. The actual quote is:

"...clever liars give details, but the cleverest do not"

and another that I remember:

"There was no use in trying to emancipate a wife who had not the dimmest notion that she was not free"

Might have to add a coupla Whartons to the ever growing to-read pile.

'Les misérables', Victor Hugo
"Les liaisons dangereuses", Choderlos de Laclos

Mr Predictable!

Richmal Crompton's my favourite.
[img]http://www.antelope-ebooks.com/childrens/CHILD/JW/pix/JW01-2.gif[/img]

[I]Don Quixote [/I]

[QUOTE=Proton][I]Don Quixote [/I][/QUOTE]

Jay's thread got me interested in that. I want to buy it.

[QUOTE=JustinHolt]Hemingway's [I]The Sun Also Rises[/I][/QUOTE]

Yes yes yes. I love The Lost Generation en totale. And I know you're sick of hearing it, Rents, but seriously. Pride and Prejudice. Read it, for God's sake.

I am a big fan of russian literature. Nabokov is good, however my favorite is Fyodor Dostoevsky especially [I]Notes from the Underground [/I] and [I]The Brothers Karamazov[/I].

Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
Dostoevsky's Dream of a Ridiculous Man
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

[QUOTE=Jeebus]I am a big fan of russian literature. Nabokov is good, however my favorite is Fyodor Dostoevsky especially [I]Notes from the Underground [/I] and [I]The Brothers Karamazov[/I].[/QUOTE]

How'd you like Karamazov? My friends read it for an AP lit class during my senior year in high school and told me it was good, or they'd think it would be good once they get their hands on more literature and are more aware of what kind of writing is out there.

[QUOTE=karbunkle]Mary Shelly's Frankenstein
Dostoevsky's Dream of a Ridiculous Man
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales[/QUOTE]

Are you talking the common english version of Chaucer, or the olde english version? I took a Chaucer class and the book we used was the olde english version. That was a pain in the ass to read.

The correct answer is: [I]Gravity's Rainbow[/I].

Thank you all for playing, your parting gift is in the Tristero mail consortium.

[QUOTE=Undertow]How'd you like Karamazov? My friends read it for an AP lit class during my senior year in high school and told me it was good, or they'd think it would be good once they get their hands on more literature and are more aware of what kind of writing is out there.[/QUOTE]

This is definately my favorite novel of Dostoevsky's. In no other book I've read of his has there been such provocative material. Yeah, Crime and Punishment, but Karamazov is broader, more grand, and tackles the full equation of sin, redemption, and universal truth —overall it isn't the same. I found the religious debates quit intriguing, such as smerdyakov's example of a person denying Jesus under the threat of death and Ivan's story of the Grand Inquisitor. And yet with all of the side stories and philosophy, the book does not cease to have an incredible plot to go along with them.

And I believe Nietzsche pronounced him the only psychologist from whom he learned anything from.

[QUOTE=Undertow]How'd you like Karamazov? My friends read it for an AP lit class during my senior year in high school and told me it was good, or they'd think it would be good once they get their hands on more literature and are more aware of what kind of writing is out there.

Are you talking the common english version of Chaucer, or the olde english version? I took a Chaucer class and the book we used was the olde english version. That was a pain in the ass to read.[/QUOTE]
it was the common english translation
one of the few books that i have actually laughed out loud at

[QUOTE=Jeebus]This is definately my favorite novel of Dostoevsky's. In no other book I've read of his has there been such provocative material. Yeah, Crime and Punishment, but Karamazov is broader, more grand, and tackles the full equation of sin, redemption, and universal truth —overall it isn't the same. I found the religious debates quit intriguing, such as smerdyakov's example of a person denying Jesus under the threat of death and Ivan's story of the Grand Inquisitor. And yet with all of the side stories and philosophy, the book does not cease to have an incredible plot to go along with them.

And I believe Nietzsche pronounced him the only psychologist from whom he learned anything from.[/QUOTE]
have you read "The Gambler" yet ? I think thats his next work im going to tackle
crime and punishment and karamozov just seem too imposing right now
anyway, i'm reading Kafka's The Trial so I'll probably be in the depressed and moody and ready to kill myself frame of mind by this weekend anyways

OK
Sorry to be going off topic here. But, where is everybody getting the candy avatars?

[QUOTE=karbunkle]have you read "The Gambler" yet ? I think thats his next work im going to tackle
crime and punishment and karamozov just seem too imposing right now
anyway, i'm reading Kafka's The Trial so I'll probably be in the depressed and moody and ready to kill myself frame of mind by this weekend anyways[/QUOTE]

I haven't unfortunately. Technically, I haven't, but I have read the first chapter but never really continued to pursue it. That reason I don't have an answer to. Eventually though I will undoubetly pick it up again. It sounded like a roller coaster emotion story to me what I got out of it back then, and I think you'll enjoy it.

The Trial. Wow. I read that this summer and it was so fragmented it was hard to understand, although every reader can find some theme to focus on, some character to sympathize with, or some passage to capture the imagination, I think. You can't nail down The Trial to any element and say "This is what it is," though. I think that's what makes that book unique.

[QUOTE=PGoutis01]OK
Sorry to be going off topic here. But, where is everybody getting the candy avatars?[/QUOTE]
too late, you've missed your chance.