What is your favorite of the classics? What do you recommend?

Must - read!

-- Sherry (sherina@masc.ca), March 06, 2001

Answers

I decided to go with Tolstoy and thus i'm now reading Anna Karenin. So far it's a great story, very smooth.

My biggest problem is that i want to read so many things at once and although i used to be able to do that, i can't anymore.

Fitzgerald has been suggested to me before. I think i have one of his novels, though i forget which, so i should look around and give that a try. I also have Hemmingway's In Love and War which i've always meant to read.

Any other suggestions? This is fun.

-- Sherry (sherina@masc.ca), March 28, 2001.

Real Books ?

Hmmm,

The only thing that would qualify as a must read would be the Tolkien series, most of all The Hobbit and The fellowship of the ring.

Not exactly a reply to this question, but if you would include must see movies, I think The Sound of Music and Dead Poets Society are some of them.

(Sorry for any typo's made)

Cheers,

Wim.

-- Wim Van Oudenhove (wvanoudenhove@ip-globalnet.com), March 07, 2001.

The Sound of Music made my ears bleed just from a snippet. I couldn't see forcing myself to sit and watch it, though i do know the story at least.

I loved Dead Poet's Society so much (I sound my barbaric yawp from the rooftop of the world...) that i've seen it five times. I should really buy the damn thing (and to get this back on topic, i could then do some reading of the same things that they cover in the school).

-- Sherry (sherry@masc.ca), March 07, 2001.

i'm a big fan of the russians: bulgakov, nabokov, tolstoy, dostoyevsky, pushkin, etc. i can't stand jane austen, i prefer the brontes. i haven't read anything medieval either. like at all. i have homer, dante, etc, but they just sit there.

also a fan of the irish: joyce, beckett, wilde, etc.

i recommend reading 'the golden bough' even though there is some controversy over the accuracy of the book. it's fascinating anyway. i'm also trying to catch up on my mythology.

but mostly i'm embarrassed about how much i haven't read.

-- jessa (piratequeen@chickmail.com), March 07, 2001.

Jessa,

I've been hearing a lot about Joyce lately. He wrote a book also called "The Odyssey" didn't he? Apparently a lot of the classic Irish books require at least a substantial understanding of Christianity's basics in order to understand the references. I'd like to read some of those as well.

The Russians were long-winded, that's one thing! Whoo boy! :) But i believe i had some Tolstoy lying around once upon a time, so i should check through my boxes of still-unpacked books and see if i still have any.

I think i should have just caved in and bought Moby Dick... Printing it out has been a huge effort. Plus, sticking it into a binder doesn't exactly make for easily portable reading material. :)

Ah well, i still have to finish The Stand regardless of my newfound book lust. I've started and stopped so many times that i refuse to let myself do it again, especially since i've finally hit a section i hadn't already read before.

-- Sherry (sherry@masc.ca), March 07, 2001.

I just re-read Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. I love that book.

-- Scully (scully@terrapin-gardens.net), March 14, 2001.

I've been picking up some classics at random (penguin pockets!) - most are above average. The best one I found so far, and hard to top, is F Scott Fitzgerald. At times he writes so beautifully it makes you want to step back in awe. Most of his work has this magic, especially Tender is the Night and The Great Gatsby. More dear friends: Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton), One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey) and LA Confidential (James Ellroy); all made into great movies as well.

-- Underhill (underhill@operamail.com), March 28, 2001.

Well if you are looking for classics I suggest "The Cat in the Hat," "Green Eggs and Ham" or nearly any other Dr. Seuss work.

-- Scully (scully@terrapin-gardens.net), March 28, 2001.

Tsk tsk. Rick. Please.

I *own* Green Eggs and Ham. I have the book and it's falling apart. I have the t-shirt. I mean, come on. Who *doesn't*?

I would not could not in a boat I would not could not with a goat Not in a house Not in a tree Not in (a something) You leave me be!

I do not like green eggs and ham I do not like them, Sam-i-am!

I love me some Dr. Suess...

-- Sherry (sherry@masc.ca), March 28, 2001.

Some of my favourite classics that I didn't see mentioned: The Wars by Timothy Findley, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, and In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Everyone should be lucky enough to read those last three. I'd also recommend HST's long-lost novel The Rum Diary. His first novel, written in 1959 but not published until 1998. Perhaps not a classic, but a fantastic piece of literature anyway.

-- Craig (craig.campbell2@sympatico.ca), March 28, 2001.

Craig, i should follow your advice - you once suggested thati read "Dance Me Outside" by W.P. Kinsella, and i loved it, especially the first chapter.

-- Sherry (sherry@masc.ca), March 28, 2001.

It may not exactly fit here, but try the movie version of "Dance Me Outside". Not as good as the short stories - but a nice interpretation. (While you're at it, check out the movie Hard Core Logo - about a punk rock band's cross-Canada tour. Lot's of swearing but lot's of music and lot's of fun)

Back to the books: Try Kinsells's "Shoeless Joe". Don't let the baseball theme scare you off. It's about a whole lot more than that.

-- Craig (craig.campbell2@sympatico.ca), March 29, 2001.

I remember hearing something about "Shoeless Joe", and if i recall correctly it was a good review.

I actually saw the movie version of "Dance Me Outside" - not bad at all.

And "Hard Core Logo" was vastly entertaining.

I'm still enjoying Anna Karenin but it's slow going right now. I think i'll read more when i am at home next week.

-- Sherry (sherry@masc.ca), March 29, 2001.