Take me on a journey into literature

[carlc]

Over the years I have become a 'lazy' reader. I'm not saying I don't read but what has happened is that I have settled into a comfortable pattern of reading books from certain genres, authors and particular periods in history.



When I go to the local library I will go to the 'classics' section, stand for a while and then wander empty handed over to the familiar shelves.



So I have made a decision. Every other book I read is going to be a classic and it is for that reason I am turning to all of you.



What I like/don't like is immaterial to this journey, the point is to take me away from the similar.



To help (a little bit) I will set the following parameters/conditions:



The date of publication is not important ( ancient, vintage, modern are all fine).

It must be available in English.

It must be a 'classic' (however that is defined).

I am especially looking for a (single) recommendation by both Dickens and Hemmingway. I have an irrational dislike of both these authors (irrational because I have never read any of their work).



TLDR recommend me some 'classic' novels to read.



Thankyou all for your help.



Carl

[fqgouvea]

I can't help you with Hemingway, whom I mostly dislike. For Dickens, I find The Pickwick Papers kind of fun. But if you would let me suggest Dickens's great rival, I think a good choice is Trollope's The Warden. He's kind of the anti-Dickens, telling stories about mostly ordinary upper-middle class folks rather than Dickens's monsters. I really loved reading him.


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[carlc]

Thankyou.

I only mentioned those two because of the irrational dislike - I have to give them a chance.

Thanks for the Trollope recommendation - I knew of him but had no idea of what to read.

[reprieve]

If you only read one book by Dickens, it has to be A Tale of Two Cities. If only one by Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms.

Some of my favorite classics:
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Suttree by Cormac McCarthy
1984 by George Orwell
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories are classic and very fun. Anything by Jules Verne, too.

[carlc]

Thankyou reprieve that's excellent.

[Laura N]

My favorite Hemingway is The Sun Also Rises. My favorite Dickens is Great Expectations. FWIW.

[carlc]

Thanks Laura

[Empty_of_Clouds]

For Hemingway I prefer The Sun Also Rises

I would heartily recommend both One Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the time of Cholera by Marquez.

And how about -

Coming up for air by George Orwell. This is less well-known than his big hits (1984, Animal Farm) but in some ways is just as interesting, in quiet manner.

Brighton Rock or The Quiet American by Grahame Greene.

I'll leave it there for the moment, sure in the knowledge that there will be others offering alternative titles soon.

[Annie]

One Hundred Years of Solitude from me too. For Dickens, I recommend Great Expectations. I made a similar trip through the classics in my late teens and never regretted it, often returning to them when the chick lit gets too dull.

[Cob]

I'll offer my twopence-worth.

Please read Decline & Fall (Evelyn Waugh) - so funny - and if you like that there are several others all written in exquisite English.

George Orwell's Animal Farm of course but also his Keep the Aspidistra Flying, a great novel.

Rosamond Lehmann's Dusty Answer, Invitation to the Waltz and The Weather in the Streets its dark sequel.

Anthony Powell's first novel Afternoon Men is great; I have read it many times (but not twenty + times like Decline & Fall!)

Cob

[Empty_of_Clouds]

If you want something totally irreverent and non-PC then I thoroughly recommend Riotous Assembly by Tom Sharpe. It was one of the few books that got me into trouble by making me laugh out loud in public places. Of course all of Sharpes' work is uproarious in my opinion, though perhaps being English helps a great deal with some of the humour and referents. YMMV.

[Cookies]

Oooh, well it's tough to narrow my selections down, but off the top of my head I would recommend...

Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises or A Farewell to Arms
Dickens - Great Expectations

All-time favorite classic - The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged is a must)

Others worth mentioning - Brave New World, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, Dracula, Treasure Island, The Maltese Falcon, Song of Solomon and absolutely anything by Vonnegut.

[migo984]

I have to endorse Love in the Time of Cholera. A wonderful book.

I also enjoy Orwell's Essays.

My favourite book of all time is a modern classic: One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn. A very short book but it's huge in its impact; so raw and powerful. I must have read it more than 25 times since I first bought a copy at age 13. The first book to take me outside my comfortable, middle-class, British surroundings and open my eyes to the world.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

I have to endorse Love in the Time of Cholera. A wonderful book.

The scene where he talks about his love for the cello player on the rooftop is one of my all time favourite passages in any book. Such passion!

[Lady Onogaro]

Since no one else has mentioned it, I have to suggest Uncle Tom's Cabin. If you have only heard about it and never read it, I think you will find it completely different than what you thought it was. There's a reason it was a bestseller: it has everything that makes for a great story: a tragic injustice, a principled hero (in the person of Uncle Tom), a night flight across treacherous terrain by a beautiful heroine who is pursued by hungry wolves (in the sense of a couple of villainous slave hunters), a haunting and the "gaslighting" of a villain, moving death scenes, etc. Really a terrific read and moving book.

As far as Dickens, well, A Christmas Carol is a good introduction, I have found. I also liked David Copperfield.

For Hemingway, I would suggest not a novel, but his memoir A Moveable Feast. (Paris in the 20s)

[carlc]

Thanks all who have made recommendations to date. I'll be honest I have read several of the books /authors noted but I'm not going to say who to avoid the 'if you like x then you'll like y' posts.

Some recommendations have never appeared on my radar before. This is turning out to be a very informative thread.

Any more?

[Annie]

One more - Madam Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

[carlc]

One more - Madam Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

I wondered when that would turn up. Thanks Annie.

[Cob]

Rose Macaulay: Told by an Idiot, Crewe Train and the wonderful The World my Wilderness.


Oh yes: Julian Maclaren-Ross Of Love & Hunger brilliant.
Cob

[manoeuver]

If you like the Russians here are some of my top picks:

Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I found this one the easiest to get through, and just fantastic.

Gogol is interesting too. The Overcoat was a painful treat.

In college I found some amazing Soviet-era stuff:
The Master and Margarita- Mikhail Bulgakov my favorite find. It's about the devil.
We- Yevgeny Zamyatin. A big influence on George Orwell, and 1984 in particular.
Bend Sinister- Vladimir Nabokov. An interesting take on dystopia- almost a prelude.

and for something non-Russian, the fiction I've revisited most has been Joseph Heller's Catch-22.​ I want to be Yossarian.