# What classics do you read? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915 "2005-06-12T01:48:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [June 13, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/21 "2005-06-13T04:04:06Z")
Anything Nabokov - especially _Ada_, _Lolita_, and _Speak, Memory_. Just beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Such incredible skill in his craft - and you can tell he’s having fun showing off too, but you don’t frigging mind because he’s just so. damned. good. Also, not sure if this counts (if it doesn’t, it damned well should) but Gabriel García Márquez’s _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ should be compulsory reading in all high schools. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/22 "2005-06-13T04:18:37Z")
> [@Stark Raven Mad](#): > > Also, not sure if this counts (if it doesn’t, it damned well should) but Gabriel García Márquez’s _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ should be compulsory reading in all high schools. No! Then you’ll have people saying it sucks just because it’s a book they “have to read for class”. I don’t want my favoritest book of all time being trashed! ☹ [sub]I did my senior thesis for Humanities on Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I luff him![/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_MuD\_PhuD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/2bfe46/32.png) [@Elmer\_MuD\_PhuD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_MuD_PhuD)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/23 "2005-06-13T04:33:00Z")
Count me as another that absolutely hated literature in hs/college, but came to appreciate it on my own time. Also, count me as another who absolutely detests reading Dickens (though, I do read A Christmas Carol every couple of years at Christmas time). I was Jesuit educated, and then a classics minor in college, so I’ve read The Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid just about every year for 8 years. I read This Side of Paradise, and The Great Gatsby every year or so, though they push the limit of ‘classics.’ ---
**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:** [June 13, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/24 "2005-06-13T05:23:36Z")
I re-read _The Odyssey_ last summer and am working my way through all of Austen’s books for the second or third time. All of the previous posts have talked about works of fiction, but the OP asked about “classics,” so I’ll mention Galileo. Almost all of his writings are interesting and witty, and all are far more accessible than similarly seminal works from, say, Aristotle or Newton. Most are written in the form of dialogs in which the accepted (and mostly wrong) “wisdom” of the day is defended by the bumbling Simplicio and Galileo’s new ideas are presented by the wise Sagredo. What I find most exciting about Galileo is that you can watch as he invents the modern scientific method, and overthrows the previous practice of science, which generally amounted to looking up what Aristotle had said about the subject and accepting it without question. My recommendations: _Dialog Concerning the Two Chief World Systems_, which deals with the Copernican model of the solar system and sparked his fatal controversy with the Catholic Church. And if you’d like to read one of the best explanations of exactly why religion and science aren’t in conflict, read his _Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina_. (I personally like Stillman Drake’s translations.) If you’re looking for a good biography of Galileo, I found Dava Sobel’s _Galileo’s Daughter_ to be excellent. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/25 "2005-06-13T05:31:11Z")
Oops. Salvatio presents most of Galileo’s ideas, not Sagredo. (I keep mixing them up.) ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Train\_Song](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/26 "2005-06-13T12:16:03Z")
I just started getting into Thoreau. Walden is a great book. and Ralph Waldo Emerson (all of it) JJ Rousseaus “Confessions” was good too. With those three in mind, where a good place to turn next? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/27 "2005-06-13T12:22:04Z")
I’ll agree with **Bposad** about just about anything Twain wrote. Especially **A Connecticut Yanmkee in King Arthur’s Court** and **Life on the Mississippi**. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve re-read **The Iliad** and \*\* The Odyssey\*\*. The dialogues of Socrates that Plato wrote ar priceless. By far the most modern “ancient” writings I’ve read are the works of **Lucian**. Get the Penguin translation – it’s priceless. I have a weakness for epics. I’ve Read and re-read: **The Epic of Gilgamesh Beowulf The Argonautica The Rime of the Ancient Mariner** ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/28 "2005-06-13T14:26:15Z")
I love Austen’s books, especially P&P and Persuasion. My copy of Three Musketeers is about to fall apart. And I love reading The Raven on stormy nights. Does Anne of Green Gables count as a classic? ::wondering:: ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/29 "2005-06-13T17:19:09Z")
I, too, recommend _One Hundred Years of Solitude_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It’s only about 50 years old, but if it isn’t already considered a classic, it definitely will. The Iliad and the Odyssey have been mentioned. For another classic, try Plutarch’s “Roman Lives” (there’s also “Greek Lives”); it’s a bit dry but quite interesting. I’ve been on a Russian Literature kick the past few years. Anything by Tolstoy (“War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, etc), Dostoevsky (“Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”\*, etc), Anton Chekhov (short stories and plays), Mihail Bulgakov (“The Master and Margarita”), Boris Pasternak (“Doctor Zhivago”), etc. Dostoevsky is one of my most favorite authors, but it’s not necessarily for his style. I find his style a bit difficult to read, but the story he tells and the themes he uses are what I love. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/30 "2005-06-13T17:20:43Z")
Dammit, I forgot my asterisk: - “The Idiot” is what I’m currently reading. Fascinating. Oh, and for Dostoevsky, I highly recommend the translations that Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have published. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/31 "2005-06-13T19:39:32Z")
I just finished **Brideshead Revisited** a couple weeks ago and it’s _fantastic_. I had no idea how much I was going to like it, although it’s a little too modern to be what I’d usually call a “classic.” ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/32 "2005-06-13T22:57:21Z")
**The Age of Innocence** is I think Edith Wharton’s finest and most easily accessible novel. The movie’s also very good even if Michelle Pfeiffer is grossly miscast as Countess Olenksa. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/33 "2005-06-13T23:27:17Z")
I enjoy Dickens, but I’ve never tackled one of his really long works. The thing that I found challenging at first but have since come to really love is that every sentence is sarcastic, until there’s one that isn’t. Not something you see these days. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/34 "2005-06-13T23:34:55Z")
I also like Tolstoy’s short stories. And I’ve read Churchill’s 6 volume _History Of The Second World War_. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/35 "2005-06-13T23:42:14Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > _Moby-Dick_ is good. But it helps to be in the right mood. And in New England. Actually, I find myself reading _ **The Confidence Man** _ every few years. It goes extremely well with _ **Huck Finn.** _ They both have that “goin’ down the Mississippi, exposin’ the hypocrisy of 19th-century American society” motif. Seriously, though, that was, IMO Melville’s greatest book. Also try _ **White Jacket,** _ another great Melville novel. And don’t forget the neglected _ **The Good Soldier** _ by Ford Madox Ford. This is a Modern classic, but in the past forty years it’s almost completely disappeared the culture. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/36 "2005-06-14T00:17:51Z")
**Rooves** , after those three authors, I recommend [The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius](http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.html). ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/37 "2005-06-14T00:26:09Z")
_The Canterbury Tales_ by Geoffrey Chaucer _The Legends of Good Women_, also by Chaucer _The Consolation of Philosophy_, Boethius _Beowulf_, as translated by Seamus Heaney _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_ _The Divine Comedy_ by Dante. I love the Dorothy L. Sayers translation of _The Inferno_, if you can find it. _Paradise Lost_ by Milton Those are a few of my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/38 "2005-06-14T00:45:21Z")
Is _Naked Lunch_ considered a classic yet? If it isn’t, it will be in a few years. Burroughs is dead, after all. I read a lot of Poe and Lovecraft when I was younger. (Big surprise, I know. ;)) King simply cannot stand up to them, but King can’t stand up to anyone who’s _not_ sold in drugstores. I will always love Poe’s “The Black Cat” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”, but then doesn’t everyone? Dark, overgrown 19th and 20th century horror never managed to frighten me, but I love it just the same. I love short fiction more than most novels. I have a special place in my heart for Saki, aka H. H. Munro, and O. Henry, aka William Sydney Porter. Ambrose Bierce, W. Somerset Maugham, Jack London, and Conrad Aiken are all masters of the form, but even authors as wordy as Melville can pull it off. (“Billy Budd” is heavy-handed in its symbolism, overtly Transcendental in its philosophy, and utterly successful despite those handicaps.) If you enjoy short fiction as much as I do, hunt out _Tellers of Tales_, a short fiction anthology edited by W. Somerset Maugham. I have a classic edition, much faded on the cover but perfectly readable on every page, copyright 1939 and probably printed not much later I picked up for a song at a since-closed used book store. Amazon doesn’t appear to have it, but used book websites do. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/39 "2005-06-14T00:56:41Z")
What reading the classics, it never hurts to have the [SparkNotes](http://www.sparknotes.com/) study guides at hand. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915/40 "2005-06-14T01:16:07Z")
> [@lavenderlemon](#): > > **The Age of Innocence** is I think Edith Wharton’s finest and most easily accessible novel. I liked **Custom of the Country** better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-classics-do-you-read/307915.md?page=3)