Classics for Beginners discussion

It may take me a while to fill this thread up, but I intend to note my classic reading as I go. I read a lot of classic horror, so that will probably be evident to anyone who is checking in on me.

Key:

(SS)= short story
(N) = Novel
(P) = Play
(A) = Anthology

I would love some classic horror reccomendations!

Nicolle, we have a group that you are welcome to join:

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/3...

1.The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (SS)
2.For The Blood Is The Life by F. Marion Crawford (SS)
3.The Ghoul by Sir Hugh Clifford (SS)
4.The Wind in the Rose-Bush by Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman (SS)
5.Smee by AM Burrage (SS)

What is SS?

Short story.

Aahhh, I feel a bit silly now :)

Oh, no. Don't feel silly. I thought about putting a key, but I didn't get around to it. It's a good question.

6.The Faceless Thing by Edward D. Hoch (SS)
7.The Messenger by Robert W. Chambers (SS)

I am guessing you like short stories?! What is you max pages for a short story?

I love short stories, especially horror and fantasy. The Messenger was about 48 pages. I've read some that were around 100 pages, like The Turn of the Screw by Henry James and The Picture of Dorian Gray, which is 120 or so pages. I like short stories because they are less of a commitment than a longer book. I will definitely add some novels when I get a chance. Part of it is we are reading short stories weekly on the classic horror group.

I read The Yellow Wallpaper in college and it had me totally freaked for weeks! It was really good, and I always suggest it to people who like horror!

Kristen, it's a story that really benefits from rereading. I picked up a lot more on the second read.

Classics I have already read:

Novels:
Jane Eyre
The Good Earth
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: And Other Tales of Terror (novella/short stories)
White Fang
Siddhartha
Little Women
Jo's Boys
Little Men
The Color Purple
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Song of Solomon
Crime and Punishment
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
The Stranger
Heart of Darkness
Invisible Man
The Awakening
Dracula
The Scarlet Letter
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The Blue Castle
The Call of the Wild
Carmilla
A Wrinkle in Time
A Passage to India
The Great Gatsby
The Sound and the Fury
A Christmas Carol

Plays:
The Crucible
Othello
Romeo and Juliet
The Tempest
Julius Caesar
Our Town

Short stories:
Billy Budd, Sailor

Started but Abandoned:
Novels:
Demian
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Taming of the Shrew
Fanny Hill, or Memoirs of a Woman of
Pleasure (plan to finish one day)

ppfft....that is rubbish, I can't belive that's ALL youu've read!

Haha

LOL! That's why I'm in the Classics For Beginners group. :0

8. Moonface by Jack London (SS)
9. The Burial of the Rats by Bram Stoker (SS)
10.Count Magnus by MR James (SS)
11. Jikininki by Lafcadio Hearn (SS)
12.The Death Warrant by EF Benson
13.The Mezzotint by MR James (SS)
14.They Bite by Anthony Boucher (SS)
15.Out of the Aeons by HP Lovecraft and Hazel Heald (SS)
16.Monsters in the Night by Clark Ashton Smith (SS)
17.The Adventure of the German Student by Washington Irving (SS) (reread)
18.Idle Days on the Yann by Lord Dunsany (SS)
19.The Sandman by ETA Hoffman (SS)
20.The Thing in the Upper Room by Arthur Morrison (SS)
21. Alice Doane's Appeal by Nathaniel Hawthorne (SS) (reread)
22. The Yellow Sign by Robert W. Chambers (SS)

23.Voice in the Night by William Hope Hodgson (SS)
24.Wake Not the Dead by Johann Tieck (SS)
25.Poor Old Bill by Lord Dunsany (SS)
26.What Was It? by Fitz-James O'Brien (SS)
27.The Unhappy Body by Lord Dunsany (SS)
28.The Man with the Roller by EG Swain (SS)
29.Mrs. Jeromette and the Clergyman by Wilkie Collins (SS)--My first read by this author. I like his style!
30.The Bride by MP Shiel (SS)
31.The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (N)
32.The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle (N)

How long does it take you to read these?

Nicolle, I'm sorry I didn't see your question. It depends. A short story can take a few hours or even less. A book can take days.

I am still working my way through Great Expectations. It's going to take me a few months.

33.Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (N)
34.Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini (N)
35.The Vampyre: A Tale by John Polidori (SS)

34.The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins (Novella)

35.Mere Christianity by CS Lewis (N)

Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress wrote: "33.Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (N)
34.Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini (N)
35.The Vampyre: A Tale by John Polidori (SS)"

Did you enjoy The Vampyre: A Tale? I've been curious about it ever since reading Frankenstein.

I'm so sorry for the reply. I think The Vampyre is overrated, honestly. It was okay. Not very good quality writing, honestly.

36. The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (N)

Lady Danielle aka The Book Huntress wrote: "I think The Vampyre is overrated, honestly. It was okay. Not very good quality writing, honestly."

I finally got around to reading it and I'd have to agree.

I expected better. I think the Lord Byron allusions are it's greatest strength.