Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 21:26     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
finished 16, tried a few more.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2025 08:18     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I've read 17 of them. What surprised me is that there is a book/author I've never heard of on there -- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. And I have a grad degree in English.


From a real school?

I know I sound mean, but I am really, really surprised you haven't heard of Wilkie Collins. Not read? Sure. But not heard of?🤯


NP, Comp Lit major, I’ve read pretty much everything on the list (except Les Mis and weirdly never got entirely through Anna Karenina) + many many more “classics” but also have never even heard of Collins…
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2025 20:09     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
Anonymous wrote:
But it's kind of sad this generation of kids is not going to read, much less be moved, by 19th Century literature. I think Gen X is the end for when literature mattered.


I've taken up reading classic literature again, as I enjoy it more now than when I was forced to read it in high school. I also read real books not e-books, so I carry a book around with me.

Talk about one way to get female attention. Only from a subset, but I guess it's really rare to see a guy carrying around a book these days.
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2025 20:00     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
Anonymous wrote:I've read all of these except for Les Miserables (which is borderline unreadable due to all of Hugo's digressions) and War and Peace (because I don't have time to chart it). My mom loves Dickens and keeps giving me different ones to try and with the exception of the last third of Tale of Two Cities I just haven't found his stuff that compelling.

I read quite of few of these for class (honestly no way I would have finished Tess D'Ubervilles if I didn't have to) and some on my own.

Honestly it's fine? If someone was starting a reading journey Heart of Darkness or Dracula would be a better place to start than, say, Bleak House.


I agree. I just don’t love Dickens.

Dracula is a fun book and it’s one I will recommend my kids read when they’re youngish teenagers.
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2025 14:42     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
Anonymous wrote:I've read 17 of them. What surprised me is that there is a book/author I've never heard of on there -- The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. And I have a grad degree in English.


From a real school?

I know I sound mean, but I am really, really surprised you haven't heard of Wilkie Collins. Not read? Sure. But not heard of?🤯
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2025 09:46     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
I've read all of these except for Les Miserables (which is borderline unreadable due to all of Hugo's digressions) and War and Peace (because I don't have time to chart it). My mom loves Dickens and keeps giving me different ones to try and with the exception of the last third of Tale of Two Cities I just haven't found his stuff that compelling.

I read quite of few of these for class (honestly no way I would have finished Tess D'Ubervilles if I didn't have to) and some on my own.

Honestly it's fine? If someone was starting a reading journey Heart of Darkness or Dracula would be a better place to start than, say, Bleak House.
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2025 09:34     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
I've read six plus many others not on this list, eg, several other Mark Twain works, various Jules Verne, The Scarlet Pimpernel, additional novels by Alexandre Dumas.

I never liked the Russian authors or Charles Dickens. I got halfway through Bleak House and could never get through any of the others. And, frankly, nearly all of these I read as a teenager, except Middlemarch which was in a college English class. I've revisited a few as an adult and was bored to death by the melodrama. Except Twain and Verne. I actually appreciated those more as an adult.
Anonymous
Post 07/13/2025 08:20     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
I’ve only read eight of them. Loved Middlemarch, Brothers K, Frankenstein, Crime and Punishment. Haven’t finished Moby Dick, never tried War and Peace. Couldn’t get through Heart of Darkness but I was young.

When I was 22 I read Les Mis and loved it, but near the end I realized I’d bought the abridged version and felt like an idiot, so I’m not counting that one.
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2025 18:53     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
Anonymous wrote:I've read all of them except for Moby Dick.

I am offended that Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are not on this list.




Same, show some respect for the Brontes!!
Anonymous
Post 07/07/2025 15:15     Subject: 25 19th century novels people have read and want to read
I have read 10 of those in some detail (aka studied / re-read) but have little interest in reading the rest of them.