Classic Books

[NorthernBelle]

I love reading and have decided I’d like to read some classic novels & build up a nice hardback collection to pass onto my children.
I’m going to start with To Kill A Mockingbird.
What are your must-read classic book suggestions?

 

[Mulholland Drive]

I recall reading "Jane Eyre", "The Secret Life of Bees", "The Great Gatsby", "The Colour Purple", "Death of a Salesman" and "Of Mice and Men"

All of which are a required taste, but I found all of them quite arresting.

 

[Apple In My Pie]

I love:

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Norwegian Wood
Of Mice and Men
The Color Purple
Mrs Dalloway
To The Lighthouse
Murder on the Orient Express

I want to read:
Cider with Rosie
1984
The Picture of Dorian Grey

 

[NorthernBelle]

I recall reading "Jane Eyre", "The Secret Life of Bees", "The Great Gatsby", "The Colour Purple", "Death of a Salesman" and "Of Mice and Men"

All of which are a required taste, but I found all of them quite arresting.

The Great Gatsby is definitely on my list

 

[mcfeez]

The Great Gatsby (and also Tender is the Night) by F Scott Fitzgerald.
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
1984 by George Orwell
Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

I recall reading "Jane Eyre", "The Secret Life of Bees", "The Great Gatsby", "The Colour Purple", "Death of a Salesman" and "Of Mice and Men"

All of which are a required taste, but I found all of them quite arresting.

Not to be that person - Death of a Salesman is great but actually a play!

If OP is interested in plays too though, I'd personally recommend
A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams)
Macbeth, King Lear, Twelfth Night + Anthony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare)

 

[Mulholland Drive]

Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf
Kes (Kestrel for a Knave)
Empire of the Sun

... are worth checking out too

 

[newtoyou]

I can’t really read classics, I always find them a slog. But Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier is one of the best books I’ve read.

 

[Gym&Tonic]

Pride and Prejudice. Still stands up today over 200 years after it was written.

If you have a kindle lots of classic books are available for free.

 

[Bette21]

If you wanted some for your kids to be able to read a bit sooner then Where the Red Fern Grows and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit might be some to get them started on. Oh, and What Katy Did.

 

[MyJunk]

This might be helpful - https://bookssnob.wordpress.com/reviews/

 

[NorthernBelle]

If you wanted some for your kids to be able to read a bit sooner then Where the Red Fern Grows and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit might be some to get them started on. Oh, and What Katy Did.

They’re 18 & 19 now but i’ll mention these to my sister for my niece, thank you x

 

[ClockworkDolly]

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is my favourite classic read.

I have The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night, just waiting for me to sit down and read them.

Tess of the D’Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy I enjoyed. I have read other books by Thomas Hardy, but could barely remember the content of each book.

The Go Between by L.P. Hartley is another lovely book. Set in the Edwardian period and was made into an equally lovely film starring Julie Christie.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill is a classic ghost story.

I recently bought On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I have yet to read it.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell is a lovely children’s classic.
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett again, another children’s classic
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

 

[bubbadabut]

I had the whole set of those 'classic adventure storybooks' as a child. The ones that stayed with me were the old mysteries such as The 39 Steps and The Hound of the Baskervilles. Also Black Beauty.

They're all relatively short, too.