# What classic novel have you read recently for the first time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 3, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947 "2005-12-03T22:04:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/1 "2005-12-03T22:04:03Z")
I recently read _East Of Eden_ by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck had always been a favorite of mine, and I had read most of his novels. But I had never read \*EOE \* before. Now I know why it won the Nobel Prize for literature. I’m going to have to get around to \*War And Peace \* one of these days. What great classic did it take you forever to get around to? Did you love it, or were you disappointed? ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/2 "2005-12-03T22:13:54Z")
Alright, I read it about a year ago. I was moved by it to start writing a WWII novel that had been on the back of my mind for about 15 years. Of course, the first draft was in the same voice as AQWF, but I put it down for a few months and started it back up again later. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/3 "2005-12-03T22:31:10Z")
**The Scarlet Letter**. Yeah I should have read it in high school, but I didn’t go to the kind of high school where they required reading books like this. And no one asked me to read it in college…I was busy with Huysmans and Pound and Rodenbach and Calvino. And for years I had heard that it was the Most Boring Novel in All of American Literature. But I really _loved_ it. Hester and Chillingworth are great characters, and their dilemmas are quite moving. And that lil’ hellspawn, Pearl, I just wanted to eat her up. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/4 "2005-12-03T22:54:43Z")
I read _Catcher in the Rye_. It sucked and I didn’t finish it. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/5 "2005-12-04T00:38:27Z")
I’m currently reading **Crime and Punishment** for the first time, despite feeling I know the whole story already. Damn, that rascal Raskolnikov sure is a worry-wart, isn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/6 "2005-12-04T01:11:59Z")
Is **Watership Down** a classic? I just read it last January. I liked it, a lot. I’ve read some other stuff where the characters were animals, and have come to the conclusion that it’s hard to pull off, but Adams did it. In August, I read **The Woman in White**. Loved that one too. It wasn’t nearly as dated as I feared it would be. **War and Peace** has been sitting near the bedstand for about five years now. I keep picking it up, putting it down, picking it up. I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/7 "2005-12-04T01:15:48Z")
I’m about 30 pages shy of finishing _On the Road_. What a great ride indeed! ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/8 "2005-12-04T01:21:12Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > **The Scarlet Letter**. > > But I really _loved_ it. Hester and Chillingworth are great characters, and their dilemmas are quite moving. And that lil’ hellspawn, Pearl, I just wanted to eat her up. _The Scarlet Letter or How Hester Won Her A_🙂 Reading _Anna Karenina_ and am enjoying it, but perhaps not as much as _War and Peace_ Also just finished _Barry Lyndon_ and was somewhat disappointed as it dragged on way too long IMHO. This may be one of the few times when the movie was better than the book. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/9 "2005-12-04T01:21:00Z")
A few months ago I read _Brideshead Revisited_, which I’d always meant to do because it’s always up there on those “Greatest Modern Novels” lists. It’s amazingly good, of course. I intend to read the rest of Waugh’s books, but the unread pile is sooo big and getting nothing but bigger. I have to finish Mary Kingsley’s _Travels in West Africa_ first, at least, which is another one I’ve been meaning to read and just got around to (Nancy Pearl _loves_ it, and now I can see why - I’d totally go gay for Mary Kingsley.) ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/10 "2005-12-04T01:36:14Z")
I’m working my way through _A Prayer for Owen Meany_, and just finished _Gulliver’s Travels_. _1984_’s next on the list. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Stark\_Raven\_Mad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stark_Raven_Mad)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/11 "2005-12-04T02:17:28Z")
I’m trying to get through _Ulysses_ right now, since my favouritest author ever (Vlad Nabokov) loves Joyce so much, but boy is it taxing. ---
**Author:** ![Albert\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Albert\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Albert_Rose)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/12 "2005-12-04T05:32:38Z")
I finished **War and Peace** recently - it was very worthwhile. Treat it like a four-book series, if you want to. I heartily recommend it. I’m working on **Jane Eyre** now. ---
**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 4, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/13 "2005-12-04T06:15:44Z")
I read _Vanity Fair_ after seeing the Reese Witherspoon film. I liked the novel a great deal, and recommend it highly. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/14 "2005-12-04T06:28:06Z")
**Crime and punishment** for me too. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/15 "2005-12-04T13:42:25Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > - > > Also just finished _Barry Lyndon_ and was somewhat disappointed as it dragged on way too long IMHO. This may be one of the few times when the movie was better than the book. The movie is one of only two films I have cried at as an adult. The abrupt change from… the dying boy, asking his parents to stop fighting with each other, to his funeral procession, with the coffin in his little cart drawn by his goats made me start bawling like a baby. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/16 "2005-12-04T13:55:18Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Is **Watership Down** a classic? I just read it last January. I liked it, a lot. I’ve read some other stuff where the characters were animals, and have come to the conclusion that it’s hard to pull off, but Adams did it. Yep, and he’s one of the few authors that succeeds, in my opinion. _Plague Dogs_ by him works pretty well, too, although I think the movie version has the better ending. I recently read _Treasure Island_ for the first time. It’s not a book I’d give to a young child to read: some of the language in it was unfamiliar to me as a fairly well-read adult. But I think that it’d be a great read-aloud for a kid who’s eight or nine, and by the time a kid is twelve or thirteen, I’d give it to them if they’re a good reader. The language may be unfamiliar, but it is **so** resonant, **so** beautiful. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/17 "2005-12-04T16:05:34Z")
Just finished reading Roots for the first time. I can’t believe I hadn’t read it before. I found it fascinating and quite sobering; it really brought home the terrible impact of slavery. ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/18 "2005-12-04T16:40:06Z")
> [@Stark Raven Mad](#): > > I’m trying to get through _Ulysses_ right now, since my favouritest author ever (Vlad Nabokov) loves Joyce so much, but boy is it taxing. Let us know if you make it! I tried twice and gave up after my brain began to hurt. Does it ever get to the point where you can understand what’s going on? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/19 "2005-12-04T17:54:16Z")
Does Thomas Beer’s 1926 **The Mauve Decade** count as a classic, or is it too obscure? I’m thoroughly enjoying it, but it requires _concentration_. I loved _Vanity Fair, The Scarlet Letter, Anna Karenina_ and _Brideshead Revisited_ when I first read them, by the by. ---
**Author:** ![ladybug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@ladybug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladybug)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2005, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947/20 "2005-12-04T17:56:17Z")
I’m almost finished with _Anna Karenina_, which I started reading after my mother raved about what an incredible book it is. It’s not bad, but I’ve enjoyed other books more. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classic-novel-have-you-read-recently-for-the-first-time/333947.md?page=2)