Reading the Classics discussion

So I was thinking that reading the classics involves more than just reading novels. There is poetry, short stories, and nonfiction to start. Novels are great, but maybe we could explore some of these other forms in literature. Perhaps we could open some discussions to explore what we are most interested in.
Let me know what you think!

I think that is a good idea, also

Like what short stories?

Really whatever people want to read. I can make suggestions such as ones by Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Jack London, Edith Wharton, Mark Twain, Katherine Mansfield, as well as many others. Others can suggest stories to read as well. There are several websites where you can read complete classic short stories directly on your computer. Perhaps we could read 1 or 2 short stories a month as optional side reads.
Also, we could do the same thing with poetry. I had an idea to perhaps post a different poem once a week or so and leave it open to others to read and discuss. The poems and short story discussions would remain as threads that people could read and discuss whenever they wanted, even months after the original posting. These are just some ideas. If anyone has any other ideas or feels that my ideas may not be quite right for this group please let me know...I am open to anything.

Oh I see what you mean. I like both ideas.

For those of you who are interested in nonfiction reads, I have to apologize that I do not have much, if any, knowledge of nonfiction or what would be considered good or classic nonfiction. I welcome anyone who feels that they would like to take on in leading any nonfiction reads and/or discussions. Same goes with any other forms of literature that I may have neglected to mention.

I'm certainly up for reading poetry and short stories, too! F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote some incredible short stories ('The Cut-Glass Bowl' is my favourite)!

We could have a side read of some short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald for March. That gives me an idea to feature a different author of short stories each month and read a few of their best that month. Anyone else interested in that?

I'm really swamped at the moment with my booklist and groups so I can't add anything for March. I may actually skip the Mansfield Park read because of my overload and also because I've read it twice within the last 2-3 years. I'm so sorry! I know the group is small and I really wanted to participate but I'm not sure I can make it work for this month. I'm finishing up a number of books at the end of March and I should be much more free for April!

Jenn, I'd be happy with that, and if you need me to suggest any stories, just let me know.

I would like that Jenn (:

A good (in my opinion) non-fiction classic read for me was, "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds", by Charles Mackay. The first edition was written in 1841 and expanded in 1852.

Mackay takes an arm chair view of various mob and crowd manias over the centuries. It is well written, with some humorous prose thrown into the mix.

Some of the topics covered by the book are:

* Tulip Mania
* Magnetism
* The Crusades
* Witchcraft

As far as nonfiction, we could read anything from The Diary of a Young Girl to although that's probably pretty heavy reading.The Story of My Life to any other autobiographies, or even some of the philosophy classics of Plato and Sophocles, but that could get into some pretty heavy reading. I do like the idea of doing some children's classics on the side and I haven't gotten a chance to read any of the poetry or short stories that have been posted, but that's such a good idea! Is it bad that I only knew about the Lady of Shallot because I love Anne of Green Gables so much? :)

Alana, that is how I knew about the Lady of Shallot also!!

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a good nonfiction consideration.

I love short stories, and The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is one of my favorites. :)

Kelli wrote: "In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a good nonfiction consideration."

I didn't really know until recently that In Cold Blood was nonfiction. I've had it sitting on my shelf forever but couldn't decide if it was really worth reading. Then I learned that Truman Capote spent the summers in his youth living next to Harper Lee (hence the character somewhat based on him in To Kill a Mockingbird) and I became very intrigued. I don't know if it's considered a "classic" per se, but I would love to read and discuss it!

I have never read anything by him. But, it sounds like something I would like to read and discuss

In Cold Blood is very well done, I was excited when I found a first edition in a yard sale for five dollars. Another good non-fiction book is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, though it being published in 1969 might not meet the age requirement (think I read it was 50 years?). Other books I've heard regarded as classics are The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, The Prince by Machievelli, and Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence.

In terms of short stories, I would recommend Tales of Soldiers and Civilians by Ambrose Bierce. It is an anthology of stories occuring during the American Civil War. Many people have read one of the stories "An Occurance at Owl Bridge Creek" as part of high school English classes. I'm not sure if you can find the anthology by itself anymore, but it is available as part of The Collected Writings Of Ambrose Bierce

I'd forgotten about Ambrose Bierce. I didn't realize there were other stories like that. All of those are good suggestions, Jeremy.

He has several other anthologies, which are quite good too, but I think that anthology is by far the best. A couple stories in there affected me more than anything else I've ever read.

I think it's a great idea to add some non-fiction to the readings here! This group's definition of classic is anything that was first published more than fifty years ago, is that right?

I don't know of many non-fiction writers who were popular before the 1930's, but I became acquainted with a few in my childhood. (I grew up in a very rural state in a town where the only books available for sale were largely from when people either died or went to live in a nursing home. So the books I had were usually decades old.)

John Gunther was a very influential journalist in the 1930-1950's. He wrote a series of books about different cultures of the world that were very influential. It was called the Inside Series and was generally grouped by region. I have Inside Europe, Inside Asia, Inside Russia Today and Inside U.S.A. I won't say they are 100% accurate. (I think one notorious prediction he makes in his works that most people know is when he predicted that the Marshall Court was not likely to achieve much.) These books give a good idea of the then-current ideas that were being circulated around that time, which makes it interesting beyond the subject matter and into the point of view that the author has.

Another writer was the German biographer Emil Ludwig. He was particularly active between the two World Wars and he interviewed several major European leaders of the time: Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Ataturk, Masaryk. I don't think he managed to interview Hitler. He wrote biographies of Bismarck, Napoleon, Beethoven, Goethe. What makes his writing so interesting now is the amount of psychoanalysis that he uses and even some more out-there pseudosciences like physiognomy (the idea that a person's physical characteristics tell about a person's personality) and phrenology (the study of bumps on the head). He also wrote biographies of the Nile River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Jim Bishop was a biographer who was known for writing about certain periods of time like The Day Lincoln Was Shot, The Day Christ Was Born, The Day Christ Died, FDR S Last Year. The 'Days' books are divided into hours and heavily researched. His books are very informative of the time period, but probably less interesting because he doesn't interfere personally in the narrative like the two above.

Other classic non-fiction books that I've read that were really good were Stanley Loomis's Paris in the Terror (about the French Revolution) and Czeslaw Milosz's The Captive Mind (about being behind the Iron Curtain).

All of these are good, readable non-fiction books that are over 50 years old.

Another area that I think would be interesting to explore is memoirs. I've been trying to read Henry Adam's The Education of Henry Adams. It's very good, but for some reason, I always get distracted by something before I can finish.

I picked up a copy of "The Education of Henry Adams" for future reading. I thumbed through it before I bought it but have yet to schedule it for reading.

Mickey: how far into that book are you?

Rick wrote: "I picked up a copy of "The Education of Henry Adams" for future reading. I thumbed through it before I bought it but have yet to schedule it for reading.

Mickey: how far into that book are you?"

I've read to about the third chapter several times. I always start at the beginning when I try again, probably because the writing is so dense.

Maybe sometime we can have it for a side read. I'd be game for that.

I'd be interested in reading memoirs, also. That might be good for a future side read. I think we are deciding on a children's book for the next side read.

Mickey wrote: "I've read to about the third chapter several times. I always start at the beginning when I try again, probably because the writing is so dense."

The bits I read before buying looked like he had a pretty good wit too. ;)

A side read sounds good to me.

Doesn't Ray Bradbury have countless amounts of short stories? I wood be interested in some of those.

The most amazing short story ever: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. There are many others from various authors that I liked but this one I'd absolutely recommend to the group. But don't read it at night. Or when you're alone. Preferably in a room that doesn't have wallpaper.

Janine wrote: "The most amazing short story ever: The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. There are many others from various authors that I liked but this one I'd absolutely recommend to the group. But ..."

I know that title, I know I've read it, I think in high school, but for the life of me I can't really remember the plot. I think it involves a young woman and birds or flowers on the wallpaper? I have to reread it now.

A lot of short stories I read in high school I didn't really care for, mostly because I hadn't lived enough life to really understand them. Now that I'm a little older I would like to read some again with a more experienced perspective, particularly some of the works of Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote some amazing, if disturbing, stories. As did Flannery O'Conner.

One of the most useful books about the classics I've read is C. S. Lewis' last book, "The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature." There are certain common threads that occur in both the books of those periods as well as the novels of Lewis and Tolkien.
I have a blog dedicated to this book which gives an overview of its content.
http://theswordoffiresaga.com/

If you would like to truly understand the classics from the Medieval period or those works based on them, then I would strongly encourage you to read this book.

Regards,
Bill McGrath

One of the most useful books about the classics I've read is C. S. Lewis' last book, "The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature." There are certain common threads that occur in both the books of those periods as well as the novels of Lewis and Tolkien that leap out at you once you have read this book.
I have a blog dedicated to this book which gives an overview of its content.
http://theswordoffiresaga.com/

If you would like to truly understand the classics from the Medieval period or those works based on them, then I would strongly encourage you to read this book.

Regards,
Bill McGrath

I read The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklinrecently. It was one of the most inspiring books I've read. It makes you want to go and start your life all over again! There is one chapter that I found a bit boring (military subject), but other than that, it was really interesting and very readable.

Alana wrote: I know that title, I know I've read it, I think in high school, but for the life of me I can't really remember the plot. I think it involves a young woman and birds or flowers on the wallpaper? I have to reread it now.

It's about a woman's descent into madness, similar to the protagonist in Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. She becomes obsessed with the yellow wallpaper in her room. It can be read as gothic fiction but also be interpreted as a feminist text. And it is seriously creepy. But I think I have made that point.

I knew it was something like that. I read that plus a bunch of Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor and others all in the same semester, so they all started to run together after awhile.

I downloaded a copy of The Yellow Wallpaper from Project Gutenberg Can't wait to read it.

Denise wrote: "I downloaded a copy of The Yellow Wallpaper from Project Gutenberg Can't wait to read it."

LOVE, that story! Might have to reread this one, along with a few hundred others. :)

I like the idea of switching up the side reads every month. Maybe one month could be a children's classic (like right now), then the side read could be nonfiction, then poetry, then memoir/autobiography, the short story, etc. That way we don't swamp everyone with five different books a month.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift would be a fun essay to discuss. I also like Ray Bradbury short stories.

I think another interesting essay to discuss would be George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant, which is about his short stint as a police officer in Burma and his ambivalence toward his position.

What about Carlo Cipolla's "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" (http://www.searchlores.org/realicra/b...)? It's not forty years old but the author is dead and it was (obviously, considering the subject) an instant classic.

Rozzer wrote: "What about Carlo Cipolla's "The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" (http://www.searchlores.org/realicra/b...)? It's not forty years old but the author is dead and it was (obvi..."

I'll need to free up some time this week to finish reading that one - it's quite humorous (and too true!). :)

Mickey wrote: "I think another interesting essay to discuss would be George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant, which is about his short stint as a police officer in Burma and his ambivalence toward his position."

Looks like a good read Mickey; added to my list.

For a classic nonfiction, I think A Movable Feast by Hemingway is wonderful. Recently I finished a collection of short stories by Mavis Gallant, who started writing in the 1950s. Wonderful stories about the people in Europe after the war. Most of her stories seems to have appeared in the New Yorker.

Alana wrote: "Kelli wrote: "In Cold Blood by Truman Capote is a good nonfiction consideration."

I didn't really know until recently that In Cold Blood was nonfiction. I've had it sitting on my shelf forever but..."

In Cold Blood is great. I read it for a class this year, and found it really interesting because it seems like it's fiction, the story is so horrifying. I also recommend reading it because Capote reveals his emotions and involvement in the story as he gets further in. At first he is a bystander, but by the end it is clear just what a toll the events had taken on him. THere are a ton of theories about this time in his life and it is so fascinating because the research and writing of this book supposedly contributed to his demise. After you read it, I highly recommend the movie Capote because it takes you through his perspective as he is following the story. Every time I read it, I catch subtleties in his writing that makes me wonder just how objective he is/was throughout the story. It's a haunting book but easily in my Top 10.

I really like the short story idea! The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin and The Yellow Wallpaper are some of my favorite feminist pieces. But I also really love Hills Like White Elephants and anything by Flannery O'Connor.. As for non-fiction, how does everyone feel about essays? Self-reliance or Civil Disobedience, for example..

I would second A Moveable Feast and In Cold Blood. Both are very readable, not too dense for someone who doesn't necessarily read a lot of nonfiction.

Some other classic reads (I'm going by the 50 year rule).
The Guns of August
Silent Spring
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
Night
Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
A Night to Remember (the sinking of the Titanic)
Madame de Pompadour
Speak, Memory
Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft
Mythology
To the Finland Station
Enemies of Promise
Goodbye to All That
The Frontier in American History
Eminent Victorians

....I'll stop.

That's a wonderful list! Thanks for posting it.

How about plays? I took a Renaissance literature class last semester, and many of the plays we read were really entertaining. A few that we read are Dr. Faustus, The Roaring Girl, The Witch of Edmonton, and Arden of Faversham. And then there's Shakespeare :)

I too loved 'The Yellow Wallpaper.' I remember really liking Hemingway's 'The Snows of Kilimanjaro' as well.

I'm keen on humorous or spooky things. There's George Orwell's essays, or Edgar Allan Poe short stories. Stevenson has a lot of humorous short stories too. Not to forget The Awful German Language by Mark Twain... :)

Edgar Allan Poe Short Stories:
http://www.online-literature.com/poe/...

Orwell:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks03/0300...

Stevenson:
http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org...

Mark Twain:
http://www.crossmyt.com/hc/linghebr/a...

Another one on my to-read list is The Souls of Black Folk, an essay collection from 1903. I've read snippets of it, a long time ago.

Meghan wrote: "How about plays? I took a Renaissance literature class last semester, and many of the plays we read were really entertaining. A few that we read are Dr. Faustus, The Roaring Girl, The Witch of Ed..."

Plays would be good. There's Oscar Wilde, Ibsen (if you want something cheerful), G.B. Shaw. Maybe something like The Importance of Being Earnest, or An Ideal Husband by Wilde.