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Classic novels to start with?

Hello, I have sort of lost my love for reading and really need a good book to bring me back into reading. I want to start reading some of the classics like Pride And Prejudice, any suggestions? Also if anyone has any other book recommendations, feel free to let me know!

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Reply 1

ajj2000

Germinal - Emile Zola

Reply 2

Cote1

I was going to suggest Pride And Prejudice. 🙂
I also like Persuasion.

If you can cope with the length of it - Anna Karenina.

To Kill A Mockingbird.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 3

Cote1

Great Expectations.
Little Women.
Lord Of The Flies.

I liked 1984.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 4

Cote1

Rebecca.
Far From The Madding Crowd.
Brideshead Revisited.

I do love Pride and Prejudice.

Reply 5

Sinnoh

Crime and Punishment
A Tale of Two Cities (since it's on the shorter side for Dickens)

Reply 6

Surnia

Some great suggestions already on here!

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte.
The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins.
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell.
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Black Beauty - Anna Sewell.
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck.
Beau Geste - PC Wren.
Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell.
A Passage to India - EM Forster.

Reply 7

McGinger

Anything by Laurie Lee.
Anything by Thomas Hardy.

Reply 8

username5706823

Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby, 1984, Picture of Dorian Gray, Emma, Rebecca.

Reply 9

Cote1

Original post by Surnia

I love Gone With The Wind (fabulously long).
Also like Jane Eyre and Woman in White.

Reply 10

Cote1

Original post by McGinger

Anything by Laurie Lee.
Anything by Thomas Hardy.

What is your favourite Thomas Hardy (if you have one)?

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 11

Cote1

Original post by summerbirdreads

Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby, 1984, Picture of Dorian Gray, Emma, Rebecca.

Austen - my favourite is Pride and Prejudice, followed by Persuasion and Emma.

Reply 12

username5706823

Original post by Cote1

Austen - my favourite is Pride and Prejudice, followed by Persuasion and Emma.

Yes Pride and Prejudice is the best! but OP already mentioned it.

Reply 13

Cote1

Original post by summerbirdreads

Yes Pride and Prejudice is the best! but OP already mentioned it.

I know. I like it so much I keep going on about it!

Have you read Persuasion?

Reply 14

username5706823

Original post by Cote1

I know. I like it so much I keep going on about it!

Have you read Persuasion?

Not yet but it's in my TBR list!

Have you read anything by Wilde?

Reply 15

Wired_1800

Original post by angelboo2323

Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki
The Godfather - Mario Puzo

Reply 16

Cote1

Original post by Wired_1800

Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki
The Godfather - Mario Puzo

I have not read The Godfather.
So you obviously recommend it?

Reply 17

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

This reading list from the Princeton Comparative Literature department might be a good starting point, and is relatively "global" in it's selection:
https://complit.princeton.edu/undergraduate-program/current-majors/reading-selection-list

Note that you can read translations of most ancient Greek or Latin texts for free on Perseus (although they're usually public domain ones that are quite old so they may be a little archaic in phrasing at times).