*coughs* So, the classics!

[starrylizard]

There's something that I've been bemoaning lately. Apparently, back in high school and even in college (that's yr 11 and 12 here in Canberra), they didn't teach the same stuff in English as everyone else. Why yes, looking back through my English notes, I have waxed lyrical about The EarthSea Trilogy, learnt all about puberty via Judy Blume and even (wait for it!) written an essay about Aliens comparing the Director's cut to the screen version and discussing the subtle ways in which the movie pointed out the inhumanity of the android character found therein.

While all of these things were reasonably entertaining, I now find I have never studied Shakespeare, never picked up a Dickens or even a Jane Austen. (I did manage to get one term worth of Greek Tragedies, which was pretty darn fun!) So, now I'm thinking that perhaps I should try to fill this little void in my education.

I haven't a clue where to start though. So, please suggestions, my wonderful learned flisties! Tell me which Penguin Classic I should pick off the bookstore shelf.

I want something with a reasonably happy ending. Something not too bogged down with slow bits. You know, just for a starting point. I don't want to be put off right away.

I loved Hornblower on TV. Are the books good to read? The BBC adaptations of Jane Austen are awesome and right now I'm watching Our Mutual Friend, which appears to be very twisty-turny and fun! Don't laugh too hard, but I didn't know that was a Dickens book until it popped up in the opening titles. *doh* Oh yes!

So (*rubs hands*), please be giving insightful knowledge over now? :)

Comments

[the-muppet.livejournal.com]

I adore all the Jane Austen books - except for Sense & Sensibility which I've tried and failed to read several times. The others I've read countless times =)

I have at home shedloads of classics which I've read over and over and am happy to send you an email with a more detailed list later if you like?

Ooh - off the top of myhead, though, read Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' - one of the best books I've ever read and a million times better than any of the film adaptations ever made.

[pdragon76.livejournal.com]

The Tempest remains my favorite Shakespeare play.

Go forth. Read.

[sarlania.livejournal.com]

Our Mutual Friend is fantastic! I'm assuming you're watching the one with Paul McGann and David Morissey? *winks*

Ummm classics well it's all too personal taste. I think Pride and Prejudice is the most readable Austen, and the most popular, so that's a good starting point. After that I recommend Persuasion or Emma. I prefer the former. =) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is too a very readable and fantastic classic. However, it's more of a bittersweet ending than a happy ending soo....

If you want happy endings, don't read Dickens! Apparently (I haven't read all the Dickens myself) Our Mutual Friend is the only Dickens novel to have a happy ending, so if you're into something cheerful don't go for Tales of Two Cities or David Copperfield!

Hornblower I think is fantastic, but it's very much down to taste. There's quite a bit of sailing terminology to get one's head around, but IMO it doesn't detract from the fantastic plot and characterization. I say go for it, but be warned that the ITV adaption is quite different from the books. Archie doesn't have a major role in the books, Hornblower's only friend being Bush, and Hornblower's character in the books is much more introspective and much darker than in the movie. Go yeah, give it a read! I recommend perhaps skipping the first book in the series chronologically, going straight to Lieutenant Hornblower. =)

(BTW, if you haven't already, watch BBC's adaptation of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, which is crackling and utterly hilarious! (Happy ending XD )

[meg-tdj.livejournal.com]

I second the recommendation for Jane Eyre, though I did think it had a happy ending. Then again, I'm used to death and destruction at the end of most of my fave books, so... ;)

For Dickens I'd suggest Bleak House. The title might sound, well, bleak, but it's actually a very uplifting story and SOOOOOO amazingly well-written. It does make you cry in spots, but in the good way. ;)

I had the same problem with my education, since I was homeschooled from age 13. I had to discover the classics on my own, too, and I'm really glad I did. You don't have to pick them apart or force yourself to read ones that you don't enjoy, you can just have fun with them. :)

[reedfem.livejournal.com]

The only classic I ever studied in high school was To Kill A Mockingbird, which is a fabulous book btw.

I've read some "classics" on my own, but I found Shakespeare too convoluted. So you are not alone in your educational void.

[caffienekitty]

Our Mutual Friend. Oh yes. ;-)

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein is a good one, but not really happy if I remember. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins if you like detective stories. It's considered the first English-language detective novel, and stands up pretty well, iirc. Depending on your tastes, there's Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle... check online at Project Gutenberg, they may have some of the rights-expired stuff entered there. Not of Conan Doyle, though; his estate's never letting them go.

Ooo. Also Lovecraft if you're into weird, twisty, brain-screwage wrought in purple prose. It's an acquired taste though, and not much on the happy endings.

Now, Shakespeare's an odd one for reading unless you're used to reading plays. I read most of them in high school. Hamlet's always a good one (no happy endings there), 12th Night, Midsummer Night's Dream. As for film adaptations, I love Kenneth Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" and ooo. If you can find it (doubtful but worth a shot) there's a comedy troupe that's done "The Complete Works of Sharespeare" in... I forget. Either an hour or two. Must be seen if you can find it, it's rather obscure.

[ljmckay.livejournal.com]

I haven't read many "classics" myself, though I've read a few Wishbone versions!! ;)

Seconding the recs for P&P, especially since you've seen the film adaptation/s. IMO, that makes it easier to follow some of the dialogue since you have a feel for how the tone was supposed to be. Or maybe that's just me.

Shakespeare is quite convoluted, so (again) I'd recommend watching a film adaptation first - particularly the Kenneth Branagh "Much Ado About Nothing" as someone else mentioned.

Seconding Dracula and To Kill a Mockingbird (not sure on the happy ending factor, but they're fantastically easy to read and very enjoyable).

I've only read one Hornblower book (I think it was Lieutenant Hornblower) and I did enjoy it quite a lot. Sounding like a stuck record, but seeing a film adaptation helped me a lot...

[charis-kalos.livejournal.com]

As a beginning:

Any Jane Austen, but Pride and Prejudice is the most popular for a reason.

Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre.

Elizabeth Gaskell: Any, but there's a Penguin Classics edition of her Gothic short stories which are lots of fun.

Charles Dickens: Bleak House

Wilkie Collins: The Woman in White

I'm away from my bookshelves at the moment, and I'm trying to visualise what's on them but do those do as a beginning?

[lark_ascends]

Man, the states really *do* have different curriculums. We couldn't avoid Shakespeare of some form!

To Kill a Mockingbird--was read in year 9 or 10 for English, so wasn't a hard slog, and was a bloody good book.

The Phantom of the Opera--why yes, it was a book first! :-) The book is good and a bit different from the musical.

I did enjoy Jane Eyre, Tess d'ubervilles is depressing and do not read Wuthering Heights. *shudders* People say that it's one of the best 'love stories' but it's all about obsession and stalking.

Anne of Green Gables series--so enjoyable.

Little Women--same as above.

If you ever want something harder, Les Miserables is bloody good. Well, other than the first 100 pages going on about the piety of the priest who is otherwise in it for two seconds, and the stuff recapping the battle of Waterloo. I really enjoyed it otherwise, but it's a long book.

Scifi classics: Fahrenheit 451 (I think). Short book but bloody awesome.

War of the worlds--I really enjoyed it, which I didn't expect.

Australian classics:

A town called Alice and The Beach. Both bloody good reads, read them a few years ago.

Any of the Mary Grant Bruce Billabong books (good read as an adult too), although you need to take into account the racism of the time.

Seven Little Australians--has a fond place in my heart.

[merlins-sister.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big classics fan but definitely go with the Pride and Prejudice recommendation - it is not possible to adapt that book and do justice to it. Also with the Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream still my favourite.

For others you could give Chaucer a go - always good for a bawdy giggle, and how about Greek Comedy - Aristophanes rules that. :D

The trouble I find with most books considered classics is that they tend to be tragedies - people don't seem to appreciate the art of the comic. But you could try P.G. Wodehouse, and of course the lovely Oscar Wilde.

If you can cope with some tragedy Brave New World by Aldous Huxley still stands out for me.