# Classic Books Which Live Up To Their Reputation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 19, 2022, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763 "2022-12-19T02:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/41 "2022-12-19T19:57:45Z")
I’ll mention _The Magnificent Ambersons_ by Thornton Wilder. Welles did a creditable job (even before the studio butchered it), but he didn’t actually capture the theme of the book all that well. George Minifer is shown to be an egotistical asshole who refuses to change with the times, and suffers greatly for it. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/42 "2022-12-19T19:58:23Z")
> **[The Monk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monk)** > > The Monk: A Romance is a Gothic novel by Matthew Gregory Lewis, published in 1796. A quickly written book from early in Lewis's career (in one letter he claimed to have written it in ten weeks, but other correspondence suggests that he had at least started it, or something similar, a couple of years earlier), it was published before he turned twenty. It is a prime example of the male Gothic\[clarification needed\] that specialises in the aspect of horror. Its convoluted and scandalous plot has m... Sleazy, anti-Catholic and written like it was published over a century later, this was by far the best book I ever had to read in college. I re-read some of it decades later and its mix of elements - including high adventure and diabolism - were still fascinating to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/43 "2022-12-19T20:07:50Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > The Sherlock Holmes novels etc. are a close second. But only the originals. Newer books and especially newer TV and movie adaptations don’t quite get it. They always seem to want to make it all about this super-hero and super-villain thing between Holmes and Moriarty. That, and the “romance” with Irene Alder. Who also showed up in only one of the stories, and while she might be the only woman Holmes ever showed any genuine interest in, there’s no indication that she felt likewise, and she ends the story marrying another man. And I’ve tried to read Frankenstein, but it’s just too slow. I got maybe a third of the way through it, and it still felt like nothing had happened. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/44 "2022-12-19T20:11:52Z")
I like Boccaccio’s _Decameron_ (also not a novel). It was extremely influential on Italian literature and beyond that. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/45 "2022-12-19T20:26:56Z")
I stumbled across this old thread, on much the same topic: > [@Classic novels that have aged well.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-novels-that-have-aged-well/420599): > > I want to become a more well-rounded reader, my current diet of sci-fi/fantasy literature is fun to read, but doesn’t make for great chat at cocktail parties. stuck_out_tongue So, name me some books that are considered “classics” of fiction (or non-fiction) that aren’t agonizingly dry or outdated. If it’s an entire author’s set of works, try and pick the best “starter” book if you can. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/46 "2022-12-19T20:31:04Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > And Silko’s Almanac of the Dead, also mentioned in the OP’s linked article, was published in 1991. Even if it and Infinite Jest count as “classics” by some metrics (and I wouldn’t argue with that), they’re not the sort of thing I thought of when the OP spoke of “an old classic book”. Yeah, those were included to hype those books. By no means are they “classic”. This makes the list suspect. Huckleberry Finn. Roughing It. - Twain. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I’d submit The Lord of the Rings. I concur. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I’d say _Finnegan’s Wake_ by James Joyce. Yeah. Also Pilgrims Progress, and The Last of the Mohicans. > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Remembrance Of Things Past (Proust), The Fountainhead (Rand) and Silas Marner (Eliot). Proust isn’t bad, IMHO, but Rand is garbage. Silas Marner is a bit of a slog. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/47 "2022-12-19T20:38:15Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > The actual story parts of _Les Miserablés_ are great. The fifteen page digressions where Hugo ponders whether or not human feces would be good fertilizer for the farms of Paris are… less great. Does a classic hold up to its reputation if it’s in need of a solid modern editing process? I actually found the digressions in _Les Miserablés_ fascinating (and they are way more than 15 pages - probably 20- 25% of the book). The first time I read an abridged version which eliminated the digressions but unfortunately eliminated some of the story as well. I then read an unabridged translation but kind of skimmed over the digressions. On later re-readings I read through everything. The information contained in the digressions is not essential to the plots (there a many plot lines and character arcs) but do add a lot of useful background. Ont he other hand, while I have also read _1984_ many time I always skip the excerpt from _The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism_… ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/48 "2022-12-19T20:50:43Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > (and they are way more than 15 pages - probably 20- 25% of the book) Oh, definitely. I meant 15 pages on that one topic, not counting musings on the church hierarchy or taxes or how buttons are made. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/49 "2022-12-19T20:52:04Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > > > I’d say _Finnegan’s Wake_ by James Joyce. > > Yeah. Also Pilgrims Progress, and The Last of the Mohicans. Whack-a-Mole was suggesting books that _don’t_ deserve their reputation in that post. Are you suggesting _Pilgrim’s Progress_ and _The Last of the Mohicans_ don’t deserve their reputation as classics? If yes, I concur. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/50 "2022-12-19T21:01:49Z")
Likewise the sections of _Notre Dame de Paris_ (aka _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_), which were long digressions about the view of Paris from a certain place, twenty years before the present story, and all the buildings that were no longer there. IIRC, little or nothing to do with the story, just bringing the plot to a grinding halt for no apparent reason. And of course, the chapters and chapters and chapters about whale anatomy in _Moby-Dick._ A good digital edition of any of these books could have an editor’s note saying, “You can skip over this section without losing anything essential to the main plot. But if you want to read it, click here.” ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/51 "2022-12-19T21:12:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > That, and the “romance” with Irene Alder. Who also showed up in only one of the stories, and while she might be the only woman Holmes ever showed any genuine interest in, there’s no indication that she felt likewise, and she ends the story marrying another man and the little bit of attraction wasn’t even romantic …holmes was intrigued as she had outsmarted him a bit (aka girls can be smart too …wow! ) great expectations lived up to its rep as a moralistic slog of about not much at the end ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/52 "2022-12-19T21:18:11Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > This may well be true, but I would hesitate to say that it is true about any particular “classic.” If I find a book unreadable or not worth the time, that might be my fault rather than the book’s. Absolutely. I accept that to be classic many people found something in it over periods of many years. The diversity of responses suggests everyone has their personal favourites and dislikes which others view completely differently. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/53 "2022-12-20T00:38:50Z")
> [@gnarator](#): > > Whack-a-Mole was suggesting books that _don’t_ deserve their reputation in that post. Are you suggesting _Pilgrim’s Progress_ and _The Last of the Mohicans_ don’t deserve their reputation as classics? > > If yes, I concur. Yep. Not well written and a drudge to read. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/54 "2022-12-20T00:57:26Z")
> [@gnarator](#): > > Whack-a-Mole was suggesting books that _don’t_ deserve their reputation in that post. Are you suggesting _Pilgrim’s Progress_ and _The Last of the Mohicans_ don’t deserve their reputation as classics I believe mark twain wrote a few essays about J.F Cooper’s works and the world pretty much agrees with him ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/55 "2022-12-20T00:57:42Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@gnarator](#): > > > > Are you suggesting _Pilgrim’s Progress_ and _The Last of the Mohicans_ don’t deserve their reputation as classics? > > > > If yes, I concur. > > Yep. Not well written and a drudge to read. _The Last of the Mohicans_ is a great story; just a lousy book. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/56 "2022-12-20T01:31:02Z")
> [@I'm reading "Moby Dick" for the first time ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-reading-moby-dick-for-the-first-time-ever/694173): > > For some reason, I assumed I had read been tormented with this book in high school like a lot of posters here have described. Last week, I realized “Hey, I don’t think I’ve ever read it. I’ve only seen the movies.” So I’m reading it right now on the Gutenberg website. At the moment, I’m about a third of the way through. Here are some comments: Wow, it reads like a much more modern novel than it is. It was written in 1851, I think? And he’s frequently playing with the language more like a… This is a lovely thread about Moby-Dick. It includes the helpful suggestion to read it like your friend Ishmael’s blog. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/57 "2022-12-20T02:07:46Z")
I am not sure how well regarded it as _high_ literature but I find _The Wonderful Wizard of Oz_ by L Frank Baum to still be an entertaining read. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/58 "2022-12-20T02:22:37Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > I believe mark twain wrote a few essays about J.F Cooper’s works and the world pretty much agrees with him I continue to be amazed that so many people read those essays and conclude that Twain didn’t like Cooper’s works. Am I the only one who recognizes the sarcasm? Everything Twain accuses Cooper of, Twain himself did to an even greater degree. > [@nightshadea](#): > > and the little bit of attraction wasn’t even romantic …holmes was intrigued as she had outsmarted him a bit (aka girls can be smart too …wow! ) I wouldn’t say it was entirely aromantic… He seems to have a stronger reaction to Alder than he does to the few men (Moriarty, Mycroft) who have also outsmarted him. Holmes was probably about 95% aro, but very, very few people are 100%, and if there was anything that would arouse that 5%, it’d be a woman who outsmarted him. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/59 "2022-12-20T02:22:47Z")
> [@slalexan](#): > > _Catch-22_ definitely lives up to its reputation of greatness. Yes. It changed my life when I was 20 and has been my bible for 52 years. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2022, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763/60 "2022-12-20T02:38:02Z")
Slaughter-House Five I read it last year and when I was done, I just kind of sighed and thought, “Yeah…that was terrific.” It’s everything. The opening few pages about Kurt Vonnegut’s experience with the massacre just killed me. He thought he was writing a whole book about the massacre…but what can you say? He came out, saw many killed people…and then that was it? The main part of the book was just awesome. In one part, aliens ask our main character if Earthlings have any religion. He tries his best to explain Christianity to them. They go away and come back. Their takeaway? **“Before you kill somebody, make absolutely sure he isn’t well connected.”** I loved the entire book. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classic-books-which-live-up-to-their-reputation/976763.md?page=4)