Coffee & Books discussion

I don't think we talk about classics enough!

Do you have favorites? What is your least favorite classic(s)?

I think Classics are so fun to talk about because classics grow with us. I read a lot in high school and college, but now, re-reading some of the classics I feel like I have a better appreciation for them and their timelessness.

my alltime favorite is To Kill a Mockingbird- its the one that I have read the most.

My least favorite is anything with Shakespeare. Ugh, I just can't handle it lol

There is SO many that I haven't read- I actually joined a Classics group here on GR to help "force' me to read classics that I otherwise would have never read, and I have found some authors that I just love- Steinbeck, du Maurier- but I still have a long way to go ;-)

Alissa wrote: "my alltime favorite is To Kill a Mockingbird- its the one that I have read the most.

My least favorite is anything with Shakespeare. Ugh, I just can't handle it lol

There is SO many t..."

I really want to re-read that one. I read it so long ago that I need to re-read it.

I agree. I seriously want to read more classics. I am trying to add one classic a month to my list (audio/book).

I just read Jane Eyre for the very first time last month and thought it was great!

Im trying to read more Edgar Allan Poe this year. I bought The Complete Tales and Poems at a used bookstore and i really need to start it

I have that one! I dabble in it. So good!!

I started using Serial Reader which is an app that gives you a chapter or part of a chapter a day. It's free, so most of the books are classics, due to copyright. It's really to to break down daunting books such as Bleak House and Anna Karenina by reading a little a day.

My all-time favorite classic is Pride and Prejudice, although To Kill a Mockingbird comes in a close second.

Lately I haven't read a whole lot of classics, although I'm hoping to change that. I just joined a book group that does classics (pre-1970) and modern classics (post-1970), so I'm hoping it'll chop down my classic TBR considerably.

Classics are worthy reads and I wish I got to more of them. I try for at least a couple per year. Recent faves are Pride & Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, Rebecca & Little Women. I also loved A Tree Grows In Brooklyn and hoping to get to Great Expectations yet this year.

I do find if the language isn't working for me I don't like the book very much.

I usually use the "published over 100 years ago" rule to identify a classic. So ... while it is my favorite book of all time, and I can see that younger audiences consider it a classic, To Kill a Mockingbird doesn't make the list for me... especially since it was a "new" book when I first read it! (STILL a very worthy read! ... I've read it about 20 times... so far)

My favorite classics are probably:
Crime and Punishment
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
The House of Mirth
Sense and Sensibility (I do love P&P, but THIS is my favorite Austen)

Joy wrote: "I started using Serial Reader which is an app that gives you a chapter or part of a chapter a day. It's free, so most of the books are classics, due to copyright. It's really to to break down daunt..."

Wow! I am so going to look into this. How cool! Thanks for sharing Joy!

Scott wrote: "I'm not sure if the group considers Frankenstein a classic, but I read it for the first time last year. I was astounded by what a great read it was, and the depth of the storyline."

it absolutely is! And it is a great one. I read it a while back, but I want to pick it back up again. Shelley is miraculous

Lisa wrote: "My all-time favorite classic is Pride and Prejudice, although To Kill a Mockingbird comes in a close second.

Lately I haven't read a whole lot of classics, although I'm hop..."

Excellent! Please share your findings here! I definitely am trying to jump into more of them!

Colleen wrote: "Classics are worthy reads and I wish I got to more of them. I try for at least a couple per year. Recent faves are Pride & Prejudice, A Tale of Two Cities, Rebecca & Little Women. I also loved A Tr..."


I am hoping Great Expectations is a hit in the polls soon! I want to read that one as well!

Book Concierge wrote: "I usually use the "published over 100 years ago" rule to identify a classic. So ... while it is my favorite book of all time, and I can see that younger audiences consider it a classic, [book:To Ki..."

My friend got me an Austen anthology (SO BEAUTIFUL). Wanna jump in soon! I will have to put S&S on the top!

I love classics! Not only because they are very well-written sometimes, but also because it's so interesting to see what attracted people so much that a book became a classic. From the classics I've read, I love The Great Gatsby the most, because it doesn't feel like you are just watching the story happen, you really get to live in it.

I adored my classic literature courses in college! My all-time favorites are:
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Great Expectations (all of Dickens, actually!)
Rebecca, and
Jane Eyre
I definitely have a preference for Victorian literature.

Lisa wrote: "My all-time favorite classic is Pride and Prejudice, although To Kill a Mockingbird comes in a close second..."


Me too!

What group did you join?

I would like to raise the question of what makes a book a classic. Book Concierge brought up a good point as she does not consider TKAMB a classic!

What are your 'parameters?'

Good morning!

I'm a member of several classics groups here on Goodreads, including Never Too Late to Read Classics (NTLTRC), which considers any book at least 50 years old (i.e., published before 1968) to be a classic; Catching Up On Classics (and Lots More!); and Old Books, New Readers (OBNR).

A classic, in my humble opinion, is a book that has stood the test of time; i.e., one that people can enjoy over the years or that has been important in expressing (or flaunting) cultural norms or influencing thought. Many classics, at the time they were written, did not enjoy critical acclaim. For example, Wuthering Heights (from 1847), Emily Brontë's (1818-48) only novel (which I am currently reading as a buddy read in another GR group), was excoriated by critics of the day as "coarse". Jerome David (J.D.) Salinger's (1919-2010) The Catcher in the Rye, and David Henry (D.H.) Lawrence's (1885-1930) Lady Chatterley's Lover were considered obscene and still appear on many "banned books" lists.

I've decided to read, in my fifties, several classics which I didn't read in school but probably should have. To that end, over the past two years I have read, to name a few:

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (1802-70), my favorite.
City of God by Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton (1903-88), set in South Africa.
The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Moby-Dick (1851) by Herman Melville (1819-91)
The Great Gatsby (1922) by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), who was actually named Francis Scott Key, after the writer of the USA's national anthem.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910).

I hope I haven't bored you with this ramble.

Jim

Excellent “ramble”, Jim :D


I need to check your groups out. I was strictly a classic reader back in my teenage years. Now I’ve read anything but and I really miss them. Being part of more classic groups could really help me there.

lol - not at all Jim. Your ramble is about books after all.

Especially in this fast-paced, fast-paced society, a "classic" which endures is going to become a rarer thing. 50 years is really not that long ago, but can seem ancient at times to our modern sensibilities.

I would love to read more classics, but I really have to be in the right mindset, as I find I read them quite slowly.

My favourite also is To Kill a Mockingbird (*swoons over Atticus*) I feel like it took me forever to finish it, but I'm SO glad I did!! I would love to read all the Jane Austen and Emily Brontë books in particular.

I think it takes a certain level of maturity to enjoy a classic. I got the most out of classics when I was in my 20s as opposed to high school (freshman year - "The Odyssey" anyone?). Also, "The Scarlet Letter" went completely over my head when I was in high school, but when I read it again in college, I understood it at a much deeper level!

My Favorties:

Crime and Punishment
Rebecca
Gone With the Wind
1984
The Grapes of Wrath
Huckleberry Finn
The Color Purple
To Kill a Mockingbird
Jane Eyre

Currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo for the first time.

In my opinion *war and Peace', 'Don Quijote' and the norwegian classic 'Kristin Lavransdatter'', is beautiful pieces on the classic shelf. There's so much going on in the stories, personal and social, and so many details- that they need to be read several times. Especially 'Kristin Lavransdatter'- it should be read during different periodes in your life.

Currently reading Great Expectations - I try and read at least 2 per year. One for my RL book club and one I own.

That is so true. Everyone is so impatient these days!

I've spent some time in "Classics" this year. I won't debate 100 vs 50 years but I would probably lean towards 50. Definitely old enough to fall off a Pop literature list.

East of Eden - first book where I remember actually hating a character. That is how I knew he had me right where he wanted me

Brother's Karamazov - Yes the story is very complex and parts were wonderful. I found that parts were very slow and over cumbersome also. Found this to be the case with many of the older stories though.

The Three Musketeers - I think Dumas does a wonderful job with his characters.

Les Miserables - Hugo probably did the best in my opinion in penning a great story and giving us understandable characters. Maybe why the award is named after him?

John wrote: "I've spent some time in "Classics" this year. I won't debate 100 vs 50 years but I would probably lean towards 50. Definitely old enough to fall off a Pop literature list.

East of Eden - first boo..."

Excellent classics :)

John wrote: "I've spent some time in "Classics" this year. I won't debate 100 vs 50 years but I would probably lean towards 50. Definitely old enough to fall off a Pop literature list.

East of Eden - first boo..."

I believe that the Hugo Award, awarded to the best science fiction novel of the year as voted by fans and given out at worldwide science fiction conventions--the only one I attended was the Worldcon in Philadelphia, PA USA in 2001 with members of America Online's group Other Worlds Cafe--was named after Victor Hugo. There is a Victor Hugo Bookstore in downtown Boston, Massachusetts which specializes in rare SF/Fantasy.

The Nebula Award, named after an enormous gas, dust, and stellar cloud in space, is the award given by critics to the best science fiction novel of the year.

Jim

I was uninformed. I always assumed they were named after Victor Hugo! I did read they were named after a "Hugo" that was an editor. Thank you. But Victor Hugo was still amazing Haha.

Why are they called Hugos?
The Hugo Awards are named after Hugo Gernsback, a famous magazine editor who did much to bring science fiction to a wider audience. Gernsback founded Amazing Stories, the first major American SF magazine, in 1926. He is widely credited with sparking a boom in interest in written SF. In addition to having the Hugo Awards named after him he has been recognized as the “Father of Magazine SF” and has a crater on the Moon named after him.

My all-time favorite classic authors are Jane Austen and Edgar Allen Poe.
But novel-wise: Jane Eyre, A tale of two cities, Frankenstein.

Ok, looking to get your feedback. I joined the classics challenge but am personally debating about adding A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin to my list. I bit the bullet and got it after she passed recently, but for a while now I've been seeing how many people point to her as an early leader in the fantasy world. The book just now reached 50 years old. What say you?

Ok, I am going to take silence as affirmation and add it to my classics list :)