gandpsmommy Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I very much enjoy old novels, and I was in a great groove with reading some classics that I had never read before up until a few months ago when I suddenly just stopped. I think part of it has been being overwhelmed/stressed/depressed off and on, but I would love to delve back into reading. Some works that I really enjoyed were Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Age of Innocence, House of Mirth. I own the Complete Works of Jane Austen, and I've enjoyed several of her novels, but I just don't feel like reading one right now. I also own a compilation of a few other novels by Edith Wharton, but haven't been able to get into those, either. Any recommendations? I guess I could just look back over the list from The Well-Educated Mind, but I thought I'd ask for personal favorites, too. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie in Oh Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I read Great Expectations last year and enjoyed it. I also love Bronte's Wuthering Heights and if you have never read Jane Eyre that is a must read. That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Hope you get lost in a book soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyatHome Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I've enjoyed some new "old" authors recently: Wilkie Collins (Moonstone, The Woman in White) Elizabeth Gaskill (Wives and Daughters, North and South) Charles Dickens (Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michelle in GA Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis. It was wonderful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Book Crazy Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Some of my personal favorites that I have read lately are: Armadale - Wilike Collins Villette - Charlotte Bronte Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte Bleak House - Charles Dickens Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy Middlemarch - George Eliot Wives and Daughters - Elizabeth Gaskell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFSinIL Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Mary Barton by Gaskill is also great - as is her bio of Charlotte Bronte! For a series of books that read similar to Austen, try Patrick O'Brian's series about Jack Aubrey and Steven Maturin. Set in the Austen time period, yet written within the last few decades. They have to be read in order, though - and the first book takes a bit to get going. But it is worth it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BritAnnia Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 You and I share similar tastes in reading. Some books I've thoroughly enjoyed Jane Eyre, Madam Bovary, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Mayor of Casterbridge. I enjoy Oscar Wilde, Wilkie Collins, HG Wells, the Bronte's, Tolstoy.. perhaps you could try some of Tolstoy's shorter stories. I often find when I've stopped reading I need something simple or short to bring me back into the deeper reads once more. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laylamcb Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Till We Have Faces, by C.S. Lewis. It was wonderful! Isn't it, though? It's one of my favorites. A great historical mystery that is, IMHO, several cuts above most in the genre is Iain Pears' An Instance of the Fingerpost. Really fascinating look at one crime through several different eyes. Another recent read that I LOVED was Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I know that I've raved about it here before. Wow, what a book--unlike anything else I've ever read and really difficult to "categorize." But I get mostly blank looks when I mention it, so I don't know if it wasn't widely read or wasn't widely liked. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielle Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 It's a three volume novel. I bought the first book on Friday nite to see if I would like it. By Saturday morning I was outside the bookstore waiting for it to open. Danielle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I recently read The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins and loved it. I would also recommend Jane Eyre. If you are in the mood for a modern novel with an old feel to it, I strongly recommend The Thirteenth Tale. ~Dana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathleen in VA Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Ok, no flames here, but I love Moby Dick. I've said it before and I will say it again. It is so hilarious in parts that I truly did laugh out loud. Find the chapter on Nantucket - that is worth the read alone. 'Peices of wood were so scarce that the people carried them around as if they were pieces of the true cross.' :lol:(a loose recollection at best, I'm afraid) I really can't understand why folks don't like this book. I also love Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities is my favorite so far. I absolutely love his descriptions. The description of Tellson's bank is a riot (I actually felt myself shoving the door open and stumbling down the steps as I read it) and the description of Miss Pross's cooking was marvelous as well. I get lost in the words, just rolling them over and over again in my mind. Of course, the story as a whole, is outstanding as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Virginia Dawn Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I've been reading Nathanial Hawthorne's Twice Told Tales. The stories have kind of a Twilight Zone feel about them. I really love anything by Mark Twain. Lost Horizon by James Hilton is a modern classic that I read over and over. A more modern book is The Dante Club. Famous America literary figures from the 1800's get together to solve a series of murders based on Dante's Inferno. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I've enjoyed some new "old" authors recently: Wilkie Collins (Moonstone, The Woman in White) Elizabeth Gaskill (Wives and Daughters, North and South) Charles Dickens (Bleak House, Our Mutual Friend, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit) Oh yes, don't miss Wilkie Collins!! Great books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WTMindy Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I really can't understand why folks don't like this book.. Um.....perhaps it was all those chapters about whaling and the different types of whales and all those stinking pages between the covers!!!!! ;) I struggled to get through the whole book, but I won't flame you for liking it. Someone out there must like it since it is a classic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyatHome Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 The Count of Monte Cristo I found a less abridged version of this book that was 1200 pages (three volumes). It was great, but FULL of rabbit trails. I had no idea so much was left out of the versions I had read before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laylamcb Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Ok, no flames here, but I love Moby Dick. Um, have you seen a professional about this...problem? Because that's just not normal, dear. :D A more modern book is The Dante Club. Famous America literary figures from the 1800's get together to solve a series of murders based on Dante's Inferno. I really, really loved The Dante Club! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparkle Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 How about Anthony Trollope? I love his Chronicles of Barsetshire series. The Warden is the first one. I also second (third?) The Woman in White and The Moonstone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 I very much enjoy old novels, and I was in a great groove with reading some classics that I had never read before up until a few months ago when I suddenly just stopped. I think part of it has been being overwhelmed/stressed/depressed off and on, but I would love to delve back into reading. Some works that I really enjoyed were Crime and Punishment, Anna Karenina, The Brothers Karamazov, Age of Innocence, House of Mirth. I own the Complete Works of Jane Austen, and I've enjoyed several of her novels, but I just don't feel like reading one right now. I also own a compilation of a few other novels by Edith Wharton, but haven't been able to get into those, either. Any recommendations? I guess I could just look back over the list from The Well-Educated Mind, but I thought I'd ask for personal favorites, too. Thanks. How about some of the Dorothy Sayers' mysteries. The Nine Tailors or A Cloud of Witnesses are both good. Not quite as classic as Austin or Wharton but very good. You might also try a short story collection. Wharton has some good ones. Or Gogol. Or Jack London (I just finished Stories from Hawaii). I like short stories because they give me a sense of accomplishment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Another recent read that I LOVED was Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I know that I've raved about it here before. Wow, what a book--unlike anything else I've ever read and really difficult to "categorize." But I get mostly blank looks when I mention it, so I don't know if it wasn't widely read or wasn't widely liked. :001_smile: Ooo, I'll second it. I loved that book! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jsj in nc Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 How about Thomas Mann? The Magic Mountain and Buddenbrooks are extraordinary, in my opinion, and too often overlooked. John Woods' translations are terrific. I second the recommendations of Sigrid Lavransdatter and Moby Dick. Did you say you had read War and Peace? There is nothing to compare to it; Tolstoy takes my breath away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier is a great read. It's one of the first adult level novels I read--I was probably a young teen. It definitely takes you to a different time and place--I remember wanting to have a morning room to sit in and choose the dinner menu! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi @ Mt Hope Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Ditto on Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White is a great gothic mystery. The Moonstone is great fun. Mystery with a bit of comedy. :) I will also second Gaskell: North and South, Wives and Daughters, or Ruth. All terrific! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in Orlando Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Another vote for Jonathon Strange here - really unusual, entertaining book. I enjoyed Wilkie Collins is fun too. I recently re-read Rebecca - great story. And, I don't think you can go wrong with Dickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom to Aly Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Ok, no flames here, but I love Moby Dick. I also love Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities is my favorite so far. :001_huh: Kathleen! I'm worried about you! Moby Dick, to me, is one of the worst horrors ever put upon a literary audience, and then came, Billy Budd! Not quite as bad, but close! But I do agree with Dickens, and A Tale of Two Cities is my fave as well, if not just for the beginning and ending. Every lit class I ever taught had to discuss the beginning and ending of that book and how memorable they are. I also adore Oscar Wilde, and Mark Twain. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is more modern, but one that is easy to get lost in. I especially love his short stories, and short stories are wonderful to me, because, even to care for, you can finish one at night, and not be left hanging. I also love Flannery O'Connor and Alice Walker for short stories. I love Rudyard Kipling. Also Victor Hugo. A modern book that I read a year and a half ago is Drowning Ruth. After I'd read it, I then reread it, then reread again, then spent a couple of weeks just looking through it and rereading excerpts before I lent it to someone who never gave it back, or I'm sure I would have read it again a few more times. I still haven't gotten it out of my mind. I'm sure you can tell from the title it is not a cheery book, but it touched me more than any book I have read in a long, long time--I think about it at least once a week, maybe more, and I cannot remember the last time a book has effected me that way. If you are in the mood for a truly moving book, I would highly recommend that one. That's all I can think of now. Hope you find some great ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kidlit Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Okay, this is not old an old, classic novel, but it is a beautiful one: Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry. It's set in Kentucky from roughly the time of WWI until the 1980s. Wendell Berry is a poet (really) and his insight into the workings of the human heart is just breathtaking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto4greatkids Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Anything by Wendell Berry--My favorites: Jayber Crow and Hannah Coulter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MIch elle Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 , Anna Karenina, . It's amazing I finished that book! Anybody want to buy it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in OH Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 I also enjoyed the books you listed. Here are a couple of others that I liked a lot: Les Miserables, Victor Hugo Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy Also, I really enjoyed A Tale of Two Cities, on CD. The characters, and Dickens's wry wit, really come alive. Beth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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