When I turned 32 last month, I briefly considered making a list of 35 things I want to do before I turn 35. But then I realized that’s only three years away. (Yes, math has always been my strong suit. Thanks for noticing.)
And because I know how fast my first three years as a mom have gone, I imagine I might be just a TINY bit busy for the next 36 months. So, I decided to be a little more realistic, while still pursuing some challenging goals. The first one? Read more classic books.
Specifically, I decided to read 35 classic books before I turn 35. That’s roughly one book a month – and totally doable. The only question that remains is which 35 books?
I’m starting with Pride and Prejudice (to be followed quickly with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I’ve heard is actually quite good). So far – about 10 chapters in – I’m not loving it. Please, don’t throw things at me! I’m sure I’ll get more into it. Right?
(I’m actually really bummed that I don’t love the book so far. I don’t mind this period, and the dialect and old-fashioned writing style don’t bother me. And it IS quite funny. But these people are pretty annoying so far!)
When I discussed my lack of classical reading last summer, you all had some great ideas for what I should put on my to-read list. Unfortunately, that post is one whose comments were eaten during my switch to WordPress. So, would you mind helping me out by suggesting the best – or your favorite – classic books to read?
What books should I put on my list? I’ll compile a list of 35, based on my research and your suggestions, and post it here in a couple weeks.
I LOVE this goal! I think I may take it up as my own.
But for now, some suggestions…
The Scarlet Pimpernel
To Kill a Mockingbird
East of Eden
Robinson Crusoe
The Last of the Mohicans
A Tale of Two Cities
The Great Gatsby
Middlemarch
The Importance of Being Earnest
Huckleberry Finn
The Portrait of a Lady
The Sound and the Fury
The Old Man and the Sea
Some to start… when I’m reading classics, I try to find an old text edition. They often have glossaries, summaries of chapters, explanations of historical references, etc. It helps wade through the tough spots. Hope you update us on how the list is coming along over the next couple years!
I am not sure if this counts as a “classic” but I loved reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I also thought Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne were both interesting reads.
I recently reread Pride and Prejudice and loved it! :-) I enjoyed the new movie and felt like the book explained people’s feelings and actions so much better than a movie could ever do. Anyway…I also read Sense and Sensibility and Emma. (Emma was a rather irritating character, but, by the end of the boo, she learns some lessons. :-)) I also read Great Expectations and loved it!! Although it takes a while to get past the first few chapters, I’m so glad I finally finished it. So many great lessons and I love Dickens’ style of writing.
I really liked “Great Expectations”. I know a lot of people hate it, but I love Pip. Also, I really like the Count of Monte Cristo.
The Count of Monte Cristo has gotten a lot of votes. And I never did see the movie, so I won’t be tainted by Hollywood’s take.
I do not have a lot of time to read, but have a stack of books by my bedside table, none of them are classics. Many of the ones mentioned are familiar as we’ve required our kids to read them. Robinson Crusoe was their favorite, but I’ve also told our daughter I want her to read The Scarlet Letter this year. Had to do a little explaining what it was basically about. She did read Pride and Prejudice last year. Wish I could join in on this goal, but for now, I’ll have to pass it on to our children. I hope you are able to attain your goal!
Oh, you’re speaking my language. Here goes:
The Great Gatsby
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The Wings of the Dove
Frankenstein
Anne of Green Gables
The Little Princess and/or The Secret Garden
Main Street
Winesburg, Ohio
The House of Mirth
Death Comes for the Archbishop
The Sun Also Rises
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Song of Solomon
To Kill a Mockingbird
Catch-22
White Noise
Catcher in the Rye
The Bell Jar
I could put so many more, but that’s probably enough.
See, that’s what you get when you ask a PhD student in English about books. ;)
I love this! Thank you!! Stay tuned for my final list o’ 35!
Not sure what qualifies a book as a “classic” but one of my all time favorites is “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn”.
“Pride & Prejudice & Zombies” IS hysterical, and since you’re reading them back-to-back, you’ll probably end up wondering why there weren’t zombies in the original! (as I did).
My definition of classic may be slightly more inclusive (I already consider the Harry Potter books classics), but here are a few:
To Kill a Mockingbird–my most favorite book ever!
Fahrenheit 451
Anne of Green Gables series
Little House on the Prairie series
Animal Farm
1984
Gone with the Wind
A Tale of Two Cities
Huck Finn – Tom Sawyer -Pudd’nhead Wilson
Little Women
I re-read The Lord of the Flies last year and hated it just as much as I did as a freshman in HS. Also read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time and can tell you not to bother–it was annoying! Read the Book-A-Minute version instead: http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/classics.shtml. Book-A-Minute also has a great list of classics to give you ideas.
Good thing I’m not at home to look through my book collection/have a brain or else this list would be much much longer!
Good luck!
I’m still wading through P&P and I suspect zombies would make it a LOT more interesting.
I read the first page of P & P & Zombies and it cracked me up, but I’m not sure about an entire book of it…
Oh, and I have another non-recommendation: don’t read Fellowship of the Ring. If you’re wading through P & P, you’ll definitely be wading through FotR! That one was tough.
Oh, I thought you had read it. Guess I was wrong!
I love P&P and P&P and Zombies is just ridiculously funny and bizarre. If you hate P&P you won’t be the first person.
Already so many great suggestions. I’ll be repeating some for sure.
To Kill a Mockingbird (I read it at least once a year)
East of Eden (give it time)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (written in the last century but so good)
Oliver Twist–really funny while also kind of depressing ;)
Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights (fantastically depressing and dismal)
I loved The Brothers Karamazov, but that is not normal I don’t think. It is long and confusing and about Russians. Maybe Crime and Punishment would be better if reading Dostoevsky.
I know there are more but I can’t seem to think of them.
Oh! I’m excited by your reading quest! I’m going to put a few of the suggestions on my reading list – you’ve got awesome readers with really good ideas!
I’ve just picked up the Count of Monte Cristo and can’t wait to read it. I can’t believe I haven’t thus far.
Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, Tale of Two Cities, … oh my, I can’t even think about what to add… I keep looking at your list and I’m more excited to re-read some of the classics other people have listed. I’m not helping, am I?!
Here’s one: Les Miserables. Now I don’t feel so guilty. ;)
A few of my faves:
The Great Gatsby
Around the World in 80 Days
The Old Man and the Sea
1984
The Grapes of Wrath
The Jungle
Catch-22
On my to-read list:
Treasure Island
Emma
Sense and Sensibility
The Phantom of the Opera
Les Miserables
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Bell Jar
Obviously, I can’t recommend the ones on my to-read list yet, but I thought I’d throw them out there. I may have to join you on this quest – I’ll be 35 in a few years, too!
The Scarlet Letter
East of Eden
Animal Farm
Silas Marner
Cry, the Beloved Country
The Count of Monte Cristo
Brave New World
Also, my DH is always talking about A Tale of Two Cities! He keeps trying to get me to read it but I’m not in Classic Mode these days. Good luck!
I second votes for To Kill a Mockingbird, Farenheit 451, Animal Farm, and Cry, the Beloved Country (this is also a lovely film starring James Earl Jones). I also loved The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
I recommend not reading Anna Karenina. ;) Then again, you’re such a fast reader, it might not be that bad for you! I still am only halfway through and have checked it out several times. As for recommendations TO read, I agree with Erin: Harry Potter. :D
Well, of course. Feel free to send books 6 and 7 on anytime. (Or come down for a visit and bring them with you. That way we can exchange books, and you save on shipping. No. Don’t tell me gas costs more than shipping. Those books are HEAVY!)
Hehe, that’s true. :) Maybe March…. (But they do usually have multiple copies at the library, you know;) (The other benefit of me coming there though is that we can discuss them in detail:)
I really liked Wuthering Heights when I read it in college. Since college I’ve read a few classics: Catcher in the Rye (did NOT like), To Kill a Mockingbird (loved), Lord of the Flies (an experience). This year I’m planning on tackling The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
This is such a great post. It’s so hard to define “classics,” though, which is apparent by the diversity in people’s lists. For instance, I would say that a piece of literature that starts or defines a movement is classic. I like The Sorrows of Young Werther. It started the Romantic period and is terribly depressing, but it’s short and it’s amazing at how Goethe encompasses so many emotions.
Animal Farm is good, and to read it’s not as creepy as the cartoon movie. Madame Bovary is good and might be nice to read with The Scarlet Letter. And speaking of Scarlet, you can’t skip over Gone with the Wind. Talk about a history of the antebellum lifestyle. And, since we’re talking history, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is also good, but it is thick with cathedral history, and is incredibly boring.
For “old” classics, The Cantebury Tales in a new translation is really funny, and Dante’s Inferno, also in a new translation, is pretty interesting. But, closer to our times, Frankenstein I find to be so boring, but the history behind the book and what was going on in the world is quite interesting…it was written during a long winter-y summer as a contest with her husband and Lord Byron.
I don’t personally care for the Brontes or Jane Austen. I think the style is flower-y, the people are winy, and they never do anything to benefit themselves. These are my ideas. But I know we read completely different things, so take em or leave em!
You’re right. “Classics” can mean a hundred different things. And I have read several, just not enough. Jane Austen is not doing it for me, but I’m trying to power through. While taking breaks to read whole books in between chapters. Hmm…maybe 35 by 35 is going to be harder than I thought…
Don’t know if any of the previous posters have suggested this already, but I have a couple of friends who have started (and are well on their way) to completing the reading of ALL the Pulitzer-Prize winning novels. It’s a daunting task, but if you’re gonna read something….I suppose the Pulitzer winners are a good start. There ARE well over 35….in the 80s I believe…but you can make it a lifelong goal! :-) Happy reading!
P.S. Hang in there with P & P….to say you have read it is worth the pain!
That’s a great idea. Maybe for another birthday, though…my 80th? ;)
(And of course, I’m kidding. I wonder if I could do 80 books by 40???)
East of Eden! I swoon over Steinbeck.
But if I’ve already read ONE Steinbeck, do I have to put another one on my list? I’m not sure he’s going to make me swoon…
Love this goal! You’ve made me start thinking about stuff I wanna do before 35! I’m thinking maybe lose weight before my 33rd birthday this June. Whacha think? 33 pounds?
I’m not yet sure I can pull it off. But it sounds like a good idea in my head! ;)
You can pull it off. I know you can. Seriously.
Drew has a reading list of classics as well. I’m not such an avid reader, but I totally respect/value y’all for doing this!! Just read another blog by another friend and she’s got a great list going as well… dang. I feel very unaccomplished now. :)
Girl, are you not the same woman who wrote a gazillion awesome songs in ONE YEAR? Unaccomplished, my foot. ;)
My own goal for this year is to read more classics!
Here are some of my favorites that I’ve already read:
~A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (my favorite book of all time!)
~Little Women
~Jane Eyre
~A Little Princess
~To Kill A Mockingbird
~Gone With the Wind
Have your thought about getting books/cds on tape to listen to in the car? I listen to a lot of classics (and my kids do too!) that are likely beyond my interest or ability to read. You can get them from the library.
The Count of Monte Cristo is one of the best I have ever listened to.
If I had a long commute on a regular basis, I would consider it – although I love reading. But these days, I’m only behind the wheel when I’m shuttling my kiddo to preschool and back, or running errands. And she’s usually with me. So, all that to say – I think I have to do my reading the old-fashioned way! :)
I read Pride and Prejudice at the height of my classical romance stage of life {oh, you know, like 18ish} and I loved it. But the characters are super annoying at times. It does get better.
Favorite classics:
Scarlet Pimpernal
Count of Monte Cristo
Little Women
To Kill a Mockingbird {nothing more Southern than that one!}
Les Miserables {though this is a long read if you do the unabridged verison}
Jane Eyre
I’m sure my list could go on if you need more ideas!
This is a bit old I know, but I just floated over from MMD…
The first time I read Pride and Prejudice I had no clue what was going on. Then I convinced myself to watch the movie, Keira knightly version, and l.o.v.e.d. It. I went back to read the book again and it suddenly made a lot more sense and I was able to fully enjoy it. Although….the movie was better…gasp! :)