I'm going back to read the classics I missed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't finish Little Women or Anne Frank.

I know that for Little Women it is that I don't like that Jo turns down Laurie. I thought maybe that when I grew up a bit and reread it as an adult I might see things differently but no...the book falls apart for me then.

I'd like to read more Hemingway. I read the Old Man and the Sea and that was it.

I went to a small college prep high school and we were assigned authors but not titles usually. Of course we went and found the shortest "classic" by each author. So I've read Tale of Two Cities but nothing else by Dickens. Typee but not Moby Dick. Of Mice and Men but not Grapes of Wrath. Etc...

Never mind that for "light" reading, I plowed through all of Herman Wouk's books, Gone with The Wind, and countless other massive tomes.

You must make yourself finish it.

You will be very happy with what happens for both Laurie and Jo.

I'm not so happy with what happens for Jo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't finish Little Women or Anne Frank.

I know that for Little Women it is that I don't like that Jo turns down Laurie. I thought maybe that when I grew up a bit and reread it as an adult I might see things differently but no...the book falls apart for me then.

I'd like to read more Hemingway. I read the Old Man and the Sea and that was it.

I went to a small college prep high school and we were assigned authors but not titles usually. Of course we went and found the shortest "classic" by each author. So I've read Tale of Two Cities but nothing else by Dickens. Typee but not Moby Dick. Of Mice and Men but not Grapes of Wrath. Etc...

Never mind that for "light" reading, I plowed through all of Herman Wouk's books, Gone with The Wind, and countless other massive tomes.

You must make yourself finish it.

You will be very happy with what happens for both Laurie and Jo.

I'm not so happy with what happens for Jo.

Why? LW is one of my favorite books from childhood, one that I've re-read with my own DD, and though I consider myself a romantic at heart, I love the ending.

BTW, like other posters I've read or re-read many classics as my children have grown up and been assigned these books in school. We have had wonderful conversations about many of these books. In several cases I've found that my kids' insights into the stories have made re-reading them a much richer experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have lugged a copy of War and Peace around the world with me. Still never read it. I have been tempted to ask the passport guys to stamp it in each country.

When I finally got to this I loved, loved this. I did read pretty fast over the battle and philosophy parts, though.

[Anonymous]

If I explained why I'm not happy with what happens for Jo, I would be spoiling it for the PP...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I explained why I'm not happy with what happens for Jo, I would be spoiling it for the PP...

Have you read Little Men?

If you know the whole story, she had the best ending she could possibly have for herself.

[Anonymous]

I never read Anna Karenina because a friend once accidentally told me the ending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read Grapes of Wrath a few years ago and it is well worth a read.

This is my favorite of all the books I remember reading in High School.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I read Grapes of Wrath a few years ago and it is well worth a read.

This is my favorite of all the books I remember reading in High School.

I remember it being a slog.

[Anonymous]

Evelyn Waugh--the satiric novels
Graham Greene--both the entertainments and the more serious novels
Thomas Pynchon--Have gotten to page 100 twice of Gravity's Rainbow. Not sure I want to try again. Very much liked the Crying of Lot 49 and V--will try some of his others.
Walker Percy--Have read most of these but very long ago.
And I love Joan Didion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pickwick Papers - Ambitious! Maybe I will too! (It will take me forever. I miss those days when I could curl up with a book for hours.)

NP
I got through it in high school. I was trying to "challenge" myself. I had to take notes on each chapter just to remember the plot. I wonder if I would have better luck now if I read a chapter a week, rather like a serial similar to when Pickwick was first published. Instead I felt like I had eaten too much at Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous]

I recently picked up Rebecca after reading about a woman who chose it from the BBC Big Read list and wow it was so good. Starting Emma next. I also bought David Copperfield after finishing and loving Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead.

[Anonymous]

I think knowing that some authors were shady characters (Charles Dickens was horrible to his wife, for example) makes revisiting some “classics.” Hard.

Also, I think about how many brilliant women were overlooked as writers and it makes me kind of mad.

It’s funny to see opinions from 2013 in this thread. We’re still dealing with some people who think “reading” is only done with functioning eyes looking at a page, but those folks are much smaller in number today.

[Anonymous]

I don't think Little Women is actually a literary classic. I think it's just populist American fiction. And I think it is sentimental and schlocky. There are no hallmarks of a classic text about it at all. Sorry. Who is studying this text at college? No one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Little Women is actually a literary classic. I think it's just populist American fiction. And I think it is sentimental and schlocky. There are no hallmarks of a classic text about it at all. Sorry. Who is studying this text at college? No one.

. We aren’t beholden to what old, dead white guys said were classics. Another reader can say Little Women is classic for them and you don’t have to agree. Carry on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think Little Women is actually a literary classic. I think it's just populist American fiction. And I think it is sentimental and schlocky. There are no hallmarks of a classic text about it at all. Sorry. Who is studying this text at college? No one.

. We aren’t beholden to what old, dead white guys said were classics. Another reader can say Little Women is classic for them and you don’t have to agree. Carry on.

What are your standards for classics?