classic novels that are engaging?
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Anonymous
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Yes, when I was in high school and college I loved George Eliot - so, OP, you might want to check out Eliot. I remember liking Mill on the Floss, like this pp, but I also remember adoring Middlemarch. Caveat - now that I'm older I don't know that I would fall for the weepy sort of plot line but I remember really liking it then. I read almost all of her novels but Middlemarch was the one I remember best.
Also if you haven't read them, Charlotte Bronte's Villette and Shirley were both quite enjoyable. I particularly loved Villette - although now that I'm older I don't know how I'd feel about the heroine's love relationship. +1 to George Eliot. I loved Daniel Deronda. Also, another vote for Steinbeck--Grapes of Wrath left me breathless and in tears at the end. Stunned silence. |
Anonymous
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Bleak House by Charles Dickens is wonderful
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy; tragic but so good |
Anonymous
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The Jungle
The House of Seven Gables Great Expectations The Virginian Anything by Agatha Christie Anything by John Steinbeck |
Anonymous
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"Can You Forgive Her?" by Anthony Trollope. Excellent.
Anything by Dorothy Sayers--fun mysteries with Peter Whimsey, but the ones the focus on Harriet Vane are the BEST! "Gaudy Night" is one that I re-read every year. Josephine Tey's novels are good, especially "Brat Farrar" |
Anonymous
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Lolita disturbed me to the extent that I could not finish it. The main character describes how Lolita's basically got that child puppy-dog smell and then gets all aroused at that plus her sticky lolly pop mouth.
I don't doubt it's great writing...has to be to disturb me so much....but I couldn't take it. |
Anonymous
Actually, all of Trollope is good, I particularly liked the Palliser novels . Currently reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and love it! (and no, I am not a libertarian 
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Anonymous
I agree with this list (although Lady Chatterly only had one lover if I remember correctly haha). I also liked Little Women if you havent' read it. |
Anonymous
| What Makes Sammy Run? |
Anonymous
Wuthering Heights gets downright sexy sometimes. |
Anonymous
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The Far Pavilions.
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Anonymous
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Flannery O'Conner & Arthur Conan Doyle for short stories
Dickens--Great Expectations & Tale of Two Cities Call of the Wild or White Fang by Jack London Kipling's The Jungle Book Stevenson's Treasure Island I've also heard Gaskell is good if you like Austen and Bronte: http://www.pemberley.com/bin/recread/recread.cgi?category=cbritish |
Anonymous
I worshipped The Fountainhead--I think I ready it 20 times. But the first time was when I was too young to get the politics... |
Anonymous
This was going to be my suggestion. I read it when I was younger and LOVED it. Have been meaning to read it again as an adult. |
Anonymous
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Somerset Maughm's "A Painted Veil"
Lady Chatterley's Lover Count of Monte Cristo Parade's End (3 novellas) Brideshead Revisited Anything by Waugh Anything by the Mitford Sisters Michael Crichton "Andromedra Strain"; reading "The Terminal Man" now. Anything by Pearl S. Buck All Trollope Atlas Shrugged (especially now since we are living it) 1984 and Fahrenheit 451, if you missed them Great Gatsby (every reading brings out more) Maus Tess but IMHO too long; same with "mill on the floss". |
Anonymous
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East of Eden
Budenbrooks A Tree Grows in Brooklyn |