Classics That Are Worth Reading?

[fordag]

The Hobbit &
The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King)
by J.R.R. Tolkien
I reread them every few years. I read them annually when I was in the military.

The Sherlock Holmes stories & novellas
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Dracula
by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

Allan Quartermain books
by H. Rider Haggard

Starship Troopers
by Robert Heinlein

I just finished The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and it was very good.

 

[TidalWave]

Ah yes. Another one everyone should read. And it is indeed a very readable book, not all arcane or whatever:
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, by Solsinytsyn (sp?).

It’s a snapshot of one full day as experienced by a common Zek or prisoner in the soviet Gulag, circa 1951. He’s basically innocent of any reasonable charge, but he’s serving 10 yrs and is maybe a third through it. It shows how he gets along and survives with his fellow Zeks.
Sobering stuff, that this could take place not very long ago ( up until the mid 80s).

 

[TidalWave]

The Hobbit &
The Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King)
by J.R.R. Tolkien
I reread them every few years. I read them annually when I was in the military.

The Sherlock Holmes stories & novellas
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Dracula
by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

Allan Quartermain books
by H. Rider Haggard

Starship Troopers
by Robert Heinlein

I just finished The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler and it was very good.

Dracula - prob the scariest book I’ve ever read. Very well woven tale, with a couple of themes the reader can take or leave.

 

[cico7]

Allen Ekerts Frontiersmen series

I am reading these now. I read these every couple years and learn something new each time.
I read the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn recently.. I am now reading The Essential works of Edgar Allen Poe.

Or check out:

Hiking Through: One Man's Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail​

great read ​

 

[Susquash]

When speaking of the Classics don't forget Louis L'Amour, Zane Gray and that entire genre of Western Classics.

 

[Funwithfuel]

For me, anything Edgar Alan Poe. But they're short and you burn through pretty quick. The call of the wild got me to want to read when I was younger. Last but certainly not least, Grapes of wrath and of mice and men. Other than that, i like coloring books n comics

 

[Recusant]

It's sad to say, but in today's world very few children will ever have the motivation to read any of the classics mentioned so far.

 

[KillerFord1977]

Not a book, but the classic german silent film from the 1920’s , “Metropolis” is a fantastic film highlighting their vision of the future with oppression and angst between the workers and the masters.

fritz lang metropolis

 

[Jimbo]

I am studying the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) in the Bible - putting the stories together to get a more complete picture. I'm prepping so I can teach it - I have found that I learn a lot more when I teach it, because being up in front of a class forces you to get as much as you can out of the text, so you don't make a fool out of yourself by running out of things to say! (Been there, done that.)

I also very much enjoy reading the history of the Roman Empire. Not sure why I am so fascinated with Rome, other than that it is the most modern of the ancient empires, the Romans were fantastic engineers, and they spoke Latin, which is a lot like Spanish (my second language). Also probably because Christianity started and grew during the Roman empire.

Did you know that the Roman empire ended in the year 1453? Not sure why they don't teach that in schools. I was always taught that it ended in the year 476, but when I did my own research, I learned otherwise.

 

[TSiWRX]

It's sad to say, but in today's world very few children will ever have the motivation to read any of the classics mentioned so far.

Depends on the school, to a certain extent, but it also depends on the parents and other influences.

But teaching them the joy of reading is the first step.

 

[benstt]

The Grapes of Wrath
The Hunchback of Notre Dame

I read those recently and enjoyed them. The Metamorphosis (Kafka, not Ovid's story of a similar title) is a good twisted read. I've soured on Huxley, Orwell, and other dystopian classics the last few years so I don't feel like recommending them.

 

[wmg1299]

I've soured on Huxley, Orwell, and other dystopian classics the last few years so I don't feel like recommending them.

I can sympathize to some degree. I flew through Orwell's 1984 and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 this summer, and enjoyed them both. Huxley's Brave New World was assigned reading in my high school. I tried revisiting it last month, but it just hasn't hooked me like the others. I can appreciate the concept, but the writing just doesn't do much to pull me in.