Regaining A Love For Learning and Classic Literature

[Wynona]

My husband and I are reading an audiobook together called Out of the Ashes:Rebuilding American Culture. We felt very undereducated to say the least. So I wanted to make a thread to talk about seeking to read classic works.

 

[Cassandra]

My husband and I are reading an audiobook together called Out of the Ashes:Rebuilding American Culture. We felt very undereducated to say the least. So I wanted to make a thread to talk about seeking to read classic works.

Do you mean what kind of classics do we read or recommend?

 

[Wynona]

Do you mean what kind of classics do we read or recommend?

Yes. Also to record books Im reading or want to read.

 

[Wynona]

Shakespeare and Homer seem like great authors to get into initially.

 

[Cassandra]

Charles Dickens is good. I think you'd like his books.
Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
A Tale of Two Cities
"Scrooge"

 

[PossibleThrowawayAccount]

Classic literature is one of my favorite things and I have a ton of suggestions. The following list is of authors followed by their works I recommend.

Various: The Bible.

Homer: the Iliad, The Odyssey.

Unknown: The Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf.

Ovid: Metamorphoses.

Virgil: the Aeneid.

Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy.

Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote.

Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tales.

Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo.

Victor Hugo: Les Misèrables, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle.

Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre.

Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights.

Louisa May Alcott: Little Women.

Bram Stoker: Dracula.

Mary Shelley: Frankenstein.

Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Treasure Island.

Jules Verne: Around the World in 80 Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea.

L. Frank Baum: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Jane Austen: Emma, Northanger Abbey.

Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World.

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment.

Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace.

Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield.

Mark Twain: Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Prince and the Pauper.

H.G. Wells: War of the Worlds, Island of Dr. Moreau, From Earth to the Moon, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine.

Gaston Leroux: The Phantom of the Opera.

John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath.

Jack London: Call of the Wild.

Margaret Mitchell: Gone with the Wind.

Hariett Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Emile Zola: Germinal.

Frank Norris: McTeague.

Herman Meville: Moby Dick.

And I also suggest Fairy Tales because they are always pleasant to read. The stuff by the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.

 

[Wynona]

Charles Dickens is good. I think you'd like his books.
Great Expectations
Oliver Twist
A Tale of Two Cities
"Scrooge"

Thank you. Ive heard a lot of good things about both his writing and values.

 

[Wynona]

Classic literature is one of my favorite things and I have a ton of suggestions. The following list is of authors followed by their works I recommend.

Various: The Bible.

Homer: the Iliad, The Odyssey.

Unknown: The Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf.

Ovid: Metamorphoses.

Virgil: the Aeneid.

Dante Alighieri: The Divine Comedy.

Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote.

Geoffrey Chaucer: Canterbury Tales.

Alexandre Dumas: The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo.

Victor Hugo: Les Misèrables, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Washington Irving: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Rip Van Winkle.

Lewis Carroll: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre.

Emily Bronte: Wuthering Heights.

Louisa May Alcott: Little Women.

Bram Stoker: Dracula.

Mary Shelley: Frankenstein.

Robert Louis Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Treasure Island.

Jules Verne: Around the World in 80 Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea.

L. Frank Baum: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Jane Austen: Emma, Northanger Abbey.

Arthur Conan Doyle: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World.

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment.

Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace.

Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, David Copperfield.

Mark Twain: Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Prince and the Pauper.

H.G. Wells: War of the Worlds, Island of Dr. Moreau, From Earth to the Moon, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine.

Gaston Leroux: The Phantom of the Opera.

John Steinbeck: Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath.

Jack London: Call of the Wild.

Margaret Mitchell: Gone with the Wind.

Hariett Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Emile Zola: Germinal.

Frank Norris: McTeague.

Herman Meville: Moby Dick.

And I also suggest Fairy Tales because they are always pleasant to read. The stuff by the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.

Happy to say Im familiar with a handful of those including Emma, Jane Eyre, Gone With the Wind, Les Miserables and Frankenstein.

What a great list! Thank you.

 

[Wynona]

So, my story is that as a child I read everything I could. I read for enjoyment and often for the. challenge of it. It slowed down in high school and stopped in the few years I went to college.

In recent years my reading has mostly been articles and social media posts. But reading about the great works of classic literature kind of resparked that old love.

Its not only that reading classic literature makes you smarter. It gives you access to ancient wisdom. In fact, my study of the Bible may be the only thing that has kept me from complete ignorance. Even further, these books enhance the human experience. After all, life is more about surviving. A good book has a transporting effect or causes you to think deeply about life.

 

[Wynona]

Most of my childhood education was a naked pursuit of money and finances through college prep. Hobbies, play, and volunteering were only valuable as college entrance or resume boosters.

No wonder Ive reduced life to a series of achiecements and work for work's sake.

What about playing in nature with other kids, the free painting I used to love, reading for enjoyment, hospitality, exploring, and knowing your neighbors?

Hours sitting on the porch with your family? Cookouts, fishing, simply sitting out in the sun and enjoying life.

Life is more than just security and survival. Its the fun and relationships we build with one another. Pleasure God provides without needing an agenda or end goal.

 

[Pearl]

To Kill a Mocking Bird.

Gone With the Wind

The Colour Purple.

Dances with Wolves.

All brilliant books is not exactly the classics you spoke of @Wynona But they are classics in their own right.

When I was young I was a bit of literary snob and would only read classic literature like Austen and Bronte etc but have since learned that there are so many good books out there it's a bit short sighted to limit myself.