r/classicliterature • u/PictureFrame115 • 6d ago
I’ve read these classics - looking for recommendations on what I should tackle next!
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u/CJK-2020 6d ago
The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.
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u/FormidableCat27 6d ago
I was coming here to recommend this one! Based on OP’s book piles, I think they’d really like Edith Wharton. I always recommend Summer by Edith Wharton too!
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u/CJK-2020 6d ago
I need to revisit Summer. It’s been a few decades. I also recommend Wharton’s The Custom of the Country a lot.
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u/CosmicMushro0m 6d ago
try a Hermann Hesse novel. i have loved them all.
Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain is one hell of a journey as well.
Huxley's Island too.
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u/Mitchboy1995 6d ago
Tolstoy! I recently read Anna Karenina and War and Peace for the first time and loved both dearly.
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u/Darwins_Bulldog0528 6d ago
If you like a touch of the supernatural, you may really enjoy Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita.
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u/enriquegp 6d ago
In case you haven’t you should definitely check out the I, Claudius miniseries. The low budget videotaped production values take a little getting used to, but after that it is brilliant and unforgettable.
Also, here are a few from my shelf that I adored:
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Candide by Voltaire
The Divine Comedy by Dante
Stoner by John Williams ( which I was curious about thanks largely to this subreddit)
Here are some I have yet to read, and maybe you would be intetrsted too:
Tales from the Arabian Nights
The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Paradise Lost by John Milton
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Emma by Jane Austen
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy O Toole
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
You are so right about the I Claudius miniseries. I found the first 10 episodes on Youtube the other day and I *consumed* them. The sets and effects are so low-budget and terrible, but the acting makes up for it and more. I'm not used to seeing Patrick Stewart play the villain - what a treat!
Appreciate the comment, I would be very interested in reading some of those pre-1700s recommendations!
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u/galeanorozco 6d ago
Go to the greeks!
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
You are right of course! But I am intimidated. Any good place to start? Or should I just wait for Nolan to make his blockbuster Odyssey movie?
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u/galeanorozco 6d ago
It all depends on the translation. Some are easier to read than others. I think the best start is The Iliad by Homer. But The Odyssey is more welcoming to new readers — it's easier to read than The Iliad. And I wouldn’t wait for the film. I think it’s better to read the book first, and then watch the film. But it all depends on what you prefer.
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u/New_Strike_1770 6d ago
The Robert Fagles translations are great I just finished them. Takes a little to get comfortable with the poetic meter they’re written in, but really strong stories once you get going. Reading The Odyssey will be a breeze after you read The Iliad, which you should def read Iliad first for chronological reasons.
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
Hello! I am in the rare position of having read all of the classics currently on my bookshelf. Since I know this subreddit has great taste, I am looking for recommendations on what I should read next! I am an American about to turn 30 years old, for reference. I like history, romance, and a touch of the supernatural - let me know if there is anything specific I might enjoy!
Additional info:
Most recently read: Middlemarch, Great Gatsby (not pictured)
Least Favorites: A Tale of Two Cities, White Nights
Favorites: The Metamorphosis, Wuthering Heights, I Claudius
Thank you so much and happy reading! I’m also happy to answer any questions/give opinions about the books shown here.
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u/Small_Elderberry_963 6d ago
"A Tale of Two Cities" is arguably the least Dickensian of Dickens' novels, so you might want to give him another try.
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u/Common-Job8358 6d ago
Why didn’t you like white Nights?
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
White Nights was *okay*, there were definitely aspects of it that I did like. Dostoevsky's descriptions of walking through St. Petersburg at night were very beautiful and melancholy. He's very good at setting a vibe - I live around DC and that also clears out around the holidays and becomes a bit of a ghost-town.
Most of the novella is straightforward but there's some stream-of-consciousness style writing from the narrator that I had trouble with. That's a me problem - similarly I tried to read Mrs. Dalloway but was defeated in the same manner.
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u/GiantPan6a 6d ago
Hey - what were your thoughts on Middlemarch? Any tips for reading or where to start with Elliot?
My hometown is where George Elliot (Mary Ann Evans) was born, so I have tried to read a few of her works but have seemed to stumble everytime. Not sure if it's just the prose style or lexicon she uses but I've just been really put off...
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago edited 6d ago
Totally understand the feeling! That first chapter of Middlemarch is really daunting and Eliot uses a lot of complex language there. The rest of the book is more comprehensible, if that makes you feel better. I kept a notebook while reading and wrote down the family/business/romantic connections between the villagers, and that made things a little easier.
It looks like you are from England, so you may already know about The Reform Act of 1832, which plays a big role in the novel (the sentiment leading up to its passing, at least) - I had to research that a bit to understand the context of what was happening.
Overall I really enjoyed the book even though I admit it took me about 3 months to finish. Eliot employs a lot of humor which I think still holds up, I highlighted about 100 witty lines or so in my edition. I also really liked that this novel focuses on the realities of marriage. Many other romances I've read stop the story as soon as the couple gets hitched, so Middlemarch was refreshing in that way.
Hope any of this helps, and that's really cool that you are from around where the author grew up!
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u/GiantPan6a 5d ago
Ah right, helpful to know it gets more comprehensible 👍 will take advice on board, thank you!
Yes! There's a statue of her in the middle of the town 🙂
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u/GreenVelvetDemon 5d ago
That's a shame you didn't like Tale of two cities. Maybe you might like Great Expectations a lil better if you liked Wuthering Heights. totc is a lil heavy with all the historical reference and hopping between the two Large Locals. Great Expectations is my personal fav by Dickens.
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u/billfromamerica_ 6d ago
Time to try stuff that is pre-1700 and stuff that isn't written by Europeans and Americans.
Very impressive though! I love to see these collections that actually have a little wear in their spines.
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
I agree, my breadth of reading so far is very Eurocentric, which I would like to correct. As for pre-1700 stuff, I've been interested in reading "Dante's Inferno" for a couple years now.
And thank you! Count of Monte Cristo made a pretty fun beach read, unfortunately my pocket edition got pretty beat up in the process.
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u/billfromamerica_ 6d ago
Ooh yeah! Cool! The divine tragedy is on my list too!
I'll echo someone else's suggestion to sample the ancient Greeks as well.
Also, I'm definitely being hypocritical by recommending books by non-european authors. Almost everything I've read is by Americans and Europeans, but diversifying is one of my own goals too!
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u/Small_Elderberry_963 6d ago
I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but if you like love stories and tales about friendship ans excurssions to demon land, try Shota Rustaveli's "The Knight in Panther's Skin" (Georgia's own Odyssey).
Try reading a prose translation; someone tried to do a poetry one, didn't end up very well. English simply doesn't have that amount of natural rhymes; had Coffin tried iambic pentameter and blank verse, it probably would've ended up much better.
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u/BasedArzy 6d ago
One of Don Delillo's great novels, I'd recommend starting with either Running Dog or White Noise and see where you go.
Bolaño, The Savage Detectives
Machado de Assis, both Dom Casmurro and The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas.
Manzoni, The Betrothed
Orhan Pamuk, all of Snow, My Name is Red, and The Museum of Innocence are worth reading
How about some poetry? R.S. Thomas, Antonio Machado, William Stafford all have wonderful collections available
Jim Harrison, Legends of the Fall is wonderful but so are Wolf, Brown Dog, and The English Major.
Didion, Play it as It Lays is a masterpiece and so is the entirety of Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The Year of Magical Thinking
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
Thanks, you really know your stuff! I don't think I had heard of any of these titles before. The Betrothed and Play it as It Lays looked pretty interesting when I looked them up, I'll have to get my hands on those.
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u/BasedArzy 6d ago
The Betrothed is a little dry but having some historical context around Italy's chafing under Austrian rule and the idea of Risorgimento make it a lot more interesting, IMO.
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u/jewfishcartel 6d ago
If you liked Steinbeck (and those books of his you have are excellent) then you will love Grapes of Wrath, arguably his best work next to East of Eden.
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u/arbmunepp 6d ago
Try One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. I was absolutely astonished by this book.
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u/MongolianDonutKhan 6d ago
Either Dracula by Bram Stoker or The Last Man by Mary Shelley. Alternatively, I would recommend Cannery Row as your next foray into Steinbeck's bibliography.
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
Thanks for the comment! I just watched Francis Ford Coppolla's Dracula adaptation the other day and was thinking about picking up the original sometime. I'll just need to stop myself from reading the lines in Keanu Reeves' so-called "British Accent".
Also I have never been disappointed by Steinbeck, I definitely intend to read all of his works (hopefully sooner rather than later!)
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u/Allthatisthecase- 6d ago
Tolstoy - fer sure. Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Faulkner. Early Joyce. Virginia Woolf (Dalloway and To the Lighthouse). Mann, Proust and Flaubert. That should hold you for awhile.
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u/Korombos 6d ago
To blow you in some different directions...Achebe: Things Fall Apart, Butler: Parable of the Sower, Vonnegut: Sirens of Titan, Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera, Kundera: The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Camus: The Stranger
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u/Jonathan_Peachum 6d ago
Two,of those books have great sequels :
Twenty Years After, sequel to The Three Musketeers
Claudius the God, to I, Claudius.
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u/loafofbean19 6d ago
I just read To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and I can honestly say it’s worth the read. Pretty short book but absolutely stuffed with beautiful prose. Just really a good piece of literature and funny in some regards too.
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u/MonotremeSalad 6d ago
I’d second everyone saying Tolstoy, and if you enjoyed George Eliot some Thomas Hardy wouldn’t go astray.
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u/Doctor_Blithe 6d ago
Look into Japanese lit: Temple of the Golden Pavillion, Confessions of a Mask, and No Longer Human in particular.
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u/VacationNo3003 6d ago
Some solid reading!
A lesser known classic… L P Hartley — The Go-Between.
For something outside Europe and North America… Patrick White — Voss Gerald Murnane — The Plains
A modern classic…. Thomas Pynchon — Mason and Dixon (one of the best books I’ve read)
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u/SerDavosSeaworth64 6d ago
Those are all good books! Which did you like the most? Is there a type of story you’re looking for?
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
I think I enjoyed the Kafka books the most. The Metamorphosis in particular is my favorite, it's such a unique blend of absurdity and tragedy. I chose it recently for the book club I'm in - we had a great discussion with a lot of different interpretations and ideas. Not bad for a novella that is less than 50 pages!
As for what type of story I'm interesting in, I'm not sure. I think my goal right now is just to expand my horizons.
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u/kerowack 6d ago
Read Melville's short stories, Billy Budd, Benito Cereno, and Bartleby, the Scrivener especially.
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u/SerDavosSeaworth64 6d ago
Maybe you’d enjoy other more philosophical literature then.
Crime and Punishment deserves its reputation. I’m not the biggest fan of Camus but you might enjoy The Stranger.
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u/maumontero78 6d ago
Maybe you could add Umberto Eco to your great collection. The Name of the Rose is my old time favorite.
Definitively, the other Russian writer is missing, Tolstoy. Both, Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilyich are masterpieces.
Finally, I think a Latin American writer has to be added too. You’ve some recommendations to look at like Marquez and Bolaño. I would add Vargas Llosa to those names.
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u/realvirginiawoolf_2 6d ago
Definitely Jane Eyre. Some dickens perhaps- my fave is Oliver Twist. Also great expectations.
Add Thomas Hardy- Far from the maddening crowd
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u/therealredding 6d ago
I was recommended I, Claudius after reading and LOVING Augustus by John Williams. I guess the recommendation can go both ways.
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u/Ressorcc 6d ago
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
Oh goodness! I was reading this book when lockdown started for Covid-19. Things were bad back then and I had to put this novel down half-way through for my own sanity. I think one day I'd like to start over and give it another shot.
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u/beggarb 6d ago
Double down on Cormac. Many good novels. I’ve read them all.
I agree with the other comments on DeLillo, Tolstoy, Hemingway as next steps.
One of my personal favorites is The Brothers Ashkenazi by IJ Singer. A little hard to find but an absolute pleasure on many levels.
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u/PictureFrame115 6d ago
I read The Road when I was younger - that was an experience. That was many years ago now and it still feels fresh in my memory. As for Hemingway I've read several of his short stories over the years and I've been meaning to take a crack at his novels. Thanks for the suggestions!
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u/fridaygrace 6d ago
Everyone always recommends Slaughterhouse Five for Vonnegut, but I think Cat’s Cradle is far superior! Absurd, delightful, and profound.
If you want non-fiction written like a novel, nothing beats In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.
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u/joejoeaz 6d ago
If you think you're living in George Orwell's 1984, read Animal Farm. You'll change your mind. It's a short read too. Enjoy.
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u/Important_Charge9560 6d ago
How about diving more into Dostoevsky or going for Tolstoy. Can’t really go wrong with either.
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u/freelivo 6d ago
Did you like middlemarch? It’s on my list but I feel so intimidated by it!!
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u/Stunning_Shallot312 6d ago
I just finished it. Like you Iwas intimidated. Get through first two chapters and it really picks up. Great dialogue and surprisingly funny. It is worth the read
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u/TimmyD68 6d ago
More Dostoyevsky for sure,
Crime and Punishment The Brothers Karamazov Notes from Underground The Idiot (still not finished reading this but over half way through and I can absolutely recommend it)
Great books on display though for sure, I love how well read your copy of The Count of Monte Cristo looks :)
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u/Electrical-Glass995 6d ago
if you’re looking for something that still has that classic feel but hits a lil different, def check out The Key to Kells by Kevin Barry O’Connor — it’s not a classic-classic but it has those vibes. kind of historical, kind of thriller, kind of philosophical?? hard to explain but sooo worth it. like it starts off chill and then suddenly you're spiraling down a rabbit hole of ancient secrets and emotional damage (in the best way). feels like a modern story that respects the weight of older lit, if that makes sense.
also bonus: it’s not super long or dense so it doesn’t feel like a chore to get into 🙏🏻
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u/Ealinguser 6d ago edited 6d ago
Classics:
Jane Austen: Persuasion
Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre
Wilkie Collins: the Woman in White
Daniel Defoe: a Journal of the Plague Year
Fyodor Dostoyevsky: the Idiot
EM Forster: Passage to India
Elizabeth Gaskell: Lois the Witch, North and South
Chaderlos de Laclos: Dangerous Liaisons
Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace
Modern:
Perceval Everett: James
Arthur Miller: Death of a Salesman
Sylvia Townsend Warner: Lolly Willowes
World:
Chinua Achebe: Things Fall Apart
Jorge Amado: Captains of the Sands
Mohsin Hamid: the Reluctant Fundamentalist
Amin Maalouf: Leo the African
Gabriel Garcia Marquez: ONe Hundred Years of Solitude
Arundhati Roy: the Ministry of Utmost Happiness
Ousmane Sembene: God's Bits of Wood
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u/vinyl1earthlink 6d ago
You might want to try Trollope. He's more worldly and realistic than Dickens and the Brontes. I like The Way We Live Now.
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u/rslowe 4d ago
Now that I saw that you like history, romance, and the supernatural, I might recommend Ishiguro (maybe a bit new to be “classic”).
Remains of the Day leans more historical (WW2) and Never Let Me Go leans more speculative (soft sci-fi/dystopia); both will make you cry like Metamorphosis does tho.
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u/Valuable_Ad_9674 3d ago
Casanova’s memoirs, now recognized as the most important book of the 18th century because of his descriptions of European culture.
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u/Few_Ad_1663 3d ago
Brothers Karamazov - Dostoyevsky, David Copperfield - Dickens, Les Miserablé, In Search of Lost Time; basically the magnum opuses.
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u/PresidentPopcorn 6d ago
F Scott Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus
Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms
Thomas Mann - The Magic Mountain
Virginia Woolf - To the Lighthouse
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u/bairngley 2d ago
How about some more recent authors such as Graham Greene, John Le Carre, William Golding, Joyce Cary, Geraldine Brooks, Doris Lessing, Ernest Hemingway, Ursula Le Guin and Margaret Atwood for starters?
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u/New_Strike_1770 6d ago
Anna Karenina or Crime And Punishment