Jamauk Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 (I'm on my phone, so please excuse any glaring typos) I'm ashamed to admit that I've not read a lot of the classics. Shakespeare and The Scarlet Letter are the only Classics that I can really recall reading. Oh wait, To Kill a Mockingbird also. I want to make a list of the classics that I missed out on in my own education: The Greek Epic (reading it with my son this year) (I did read the cliffs notes in school) :D Animal Farm Of Mice and Men Pride and Prejudice The Grapes of Wrath Gone with the Wind Please feel free to add to my list. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakia Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I'm subscribing so I can follow, too. I "cliff noted" my way through high school, and now I'm regretting it. I've been trying to read a few classics a year. Great thread! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Have you read The Well Educated Mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamauk Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 Have you read The Well Educated Mind? I have not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Have you read The Well Educated Mind? :iagree: An excellent place to start. How about the St John's College Reading List? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I'm subscribing to this thread. I haven't read many of the classics either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelAR05 Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 While I don't subscribe to the philosophy of Thomas Jefferson Education, I have used their book lists as a starting point for me. Here are a few Classics lists here . I second the Well-Trained Mind as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I have not It is a wonderful book. It gives you the tools you need to read with depth. It explains various genres, and gives a synopsis for each great book that is suggested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I second the Well-Trained Mind as well. This may have been a typo, but just in case anyone is confused, The Well Educated Mind is a separate book from The Well-Trained Mind. The former is about educating yourself and reading the classics, the latter is about homeschooling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lily_Grace Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Two of my favorites: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn The Jungle Definitely get the annotated version of The Jungle when you go to read. It adds so much more to the story. Same with Anne Frank's diary, if you haven't read that. I'd skip Gone With The Wind. It's one of the only books I have thrown down in disgust after I finished it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairfarmhand Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I jsut read my first Charles Dickens book....Great Expectations. I started it as an audio book, which got me familiar with the characters, and finished it up on my own. I second Anne Frank and start on some Mark Twain.... Very easy to read and enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamauk Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 It is a wonderful book. It gives you the tools you need to read with depth. It explains various genres, and gives a synopsis for each great book that is suggested. We're heading to the library this afternoon and ours has a copy on the shelves. I've added it to my list. I had forgotten that she wrote a book for the us :001_smile: Thanks for the suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieH Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I'm subscribing so I can follow, too. I "cliff noted" my way through high school, and now I'm regretting it. I've been trying to read a few classics a year. Great thread! I did too..and I regret it! :( I cliff noted my way through a research paper on "Great Expectations" and got an A+....had no idea what I was talking about.:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphin Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I loved Gone with the Wind (which another poster did not enjoy) Jane Eyre is great, my favorite book of all time. Jane Austen books are fun Edith Wharton (the age of Innocence, summer etc...) Also, read, or if you can, watch Shakespeare. So much of his work keeps popping up in modern culture. King Lear is amazing and there is a DVD of a performance with James Earl Jones as Lear. I highly recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I did too..and I regret it! :( I cliff noted my way through a research paper on "Great Expectations" and got an A+....had no idea what I was talking about.:lol: That was one of the papers in which I was accused of expecting too much from characters in novels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tammyw Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I just requested The Well Educated Mind from my library. Can't wait to check it out. I have to say that one incredibly huge benefit to homeschooling, for me, is that I get to learn right along with my children - a lot of which I really didn't learn the first time around, either because of lack of interest (which is so sad) or it just simply wasn't offered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamauk Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 I just requested The Well Educated Mind from my library. Can't wait to check it out. I have to say that one incredibly huge benefit to homeschooling, for me, is that I get to learn right along with my children - a lot of which I really didn't learn the first time around, either because of lack of interest (which is so sad) or it just simply wasn't offered. I was very disinterested in History when I was in school. I'm learning so much this go 'round and I'm realizing how much history is relevant to today's current events. Another reason why I love homeschooling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelAR05 Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 This may have been a typo, but just in case anyone is confused, The Well Educated Mind is a separate book from The Well-Trained Mind. The former is about educating yourself and reading the classics, the latter is about homeschooling. Yes that was an OOPS! :tongue_smilie: I meant The Well Educated Mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homeschoolkitty Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 I dunni how to subscribe from my phone. but I need this thread. I grew up overseas and I did not get an american education. so I learned and read Gabriel Garcia marquez, and others. read Sheakspere translated into Spanish. so no English beauty admired. just plain stories... I did read Anna Frank in both languages. and other non-English classics/modern too. I find myself begining my homeschool path w/no knowlwdge of the classics! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maus Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 :iagree: An excellent place to start. How about the St John's College Reading List? Oooo, how did I not see this thread before? I've seen lists from a number of schools. I rather like the one from the BYU honors program, because it sorts the books by era AND includes music, art, and film suggestions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 I would start with Harold Bloom's "The Western Canon", or "How to Read and Why". Enough material there for a lifetime of reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tammyla Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 :iagree: You may find yourself wanting your own copy; it's an excellent resource. We're heading to the library this afternoon and ours has a copy on the shelves. I've added it to my list. I had forgotten that she wrote a book for the us :001_smile: Thanks for the suggestion! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennsmile Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 Harvard Classics, or Havard shelf of fiction. Love the BYU list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 Harvard Classics, or Havard shelf of fiction. Love the BYU list. This. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyniffrec Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 Some of my personal favorite classics: The Count of Monte Cristo, 100 Years if Solitude, Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre (what a woman!), A Tale of Two Cities, Dracula, and Frankenstein. Most, if not all, of those are free on Kindle (100 Years isn't even on Kindle now that I think about it). I am looking forward to having a gander at the lists others have posted as well. Oh, we can't forget the Russians! Anna Karenina and The Brothers Karamozav are both good introductions. As an Eastern Orthodox person I laughed out loud at Brothers at some points. I didn't get the jokes before my conversion when I read it many years ago. If you are a Harry Potter fan read The Harry Potter Bookshelf. He lists several classic books that heavily influenced Rowling. Great thread, by the way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcconnellboys Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 This past summer I started reading through some I either hadn't read before or hadn't read in a long time. I'm not sure I can recall all of them now, but I enjoyed them all in some way! Wuthering Heights, Bronte The Once and Future King, T.H. White (last part of this also: The Book of Merlin) Brave New World, Aldous Huxley Jane Eyre, Bronte (actually listened to that one on tape and really enjoyed it) The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells Frankenstein, Shelley I don't know that Mary Stewart's Arthurian series is considered "classic," but I consider them so, LOL! I read all of those.... I read some of Agatha Christie's classics. I don't know, I find her language too simplistic, but there have been plenty of studies done about how she used that, too, so maybe simplicity is genius.... I'm reading Sense and Sensibility, Austen, right now, and will probably start Great Expectations, Dickens, next.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 I just requested The Well Educated Mind from my library. Can't wait to check it out. I have to say that one incredibly huge benefit to homeschooling, for me, is that I get to learn right along with my children - a lot of which I really didn't learn the first time around, either because of lack of interest (which is so sad) or it just simply wasn't offered. I could have written your post word for word! I started reading some classics this year. I trawled through best/top 100 lists alphabetically and made up a list of 'A' books - it was over 100 long on it's own :tongue_smilie:, I included some modern classics though too! I'm not going to read all of them but it was a good starting point for me. So far I've read Age of Innocence (great), Atlas Shrugged (TOTALLY LOVED IT - then sidetracked to read The Fountainhead aswell), I'm part way through Anna Karenina which I'm enjoying but I'm struggling with for some reason. I have the Aeneid on my shelf ready to go - I cliff-noted my way through uni on that one. I've only done an A list so far, I can post it if anyone's interested. I got sick of only A's so I started early on a B, which I downloaded on my new kindle - the Brothers Karamazov. I'm really enjoying it so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharonM Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 If your phone is a smart phone, you can download the kindle app or the nook app and then have access to hundreds of classic books. I have both apps, and really am having a good time reading! And since I take my phone everywhere... my book is everywhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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