Chicagoist: Classic Convince Us

LisaMama

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 19:43:32 -0600

To Kill a Mockingbird - I read it every year. Still holds up, and means more to me now that I'm a parent. Lord of the Rings - Another one I read every year.

Susan

Fri, 05 Jan 2007 10:40:47 -0600

The Moonstone (Wilkie Collins)--Collins is sometimes said to have invented the detective story, and The Moonstone is one of his funnier efforts in that genre (more so than The Woman in White, another well-known work of his, which is also worth reading). The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate (Nancy Mitford)--Darkly comic works about upper-class life in pre-WWII Britain. Kristin Lavransdatter (Undset)--a trilogy about a woman growing up in medieval Norway and struggling to reconcile faith and passion. When I read what I just wrote, it looks like Harlequin copy, but the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy was the best thing I read in 2005. I second the Waugh recommendations that have been flying around, but the work I'd recommend is A Handful of Dust (or if anyone's looking for a slightly less "classic" work, try The Loved One, his only book set in America, which is a viciously hilarious skewering of the funeral industry).

Mike C

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 23:46:24 -0600

I may be wrong, but I don't think anyone has suggested "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. People either love it or hate it. I loved it and even read it for the second time over the summer. A definite classic, and a lenghty one at that. The kind of book that makes you feel like you accomplished something when you're done. I would also suggest "A Separate Peace" by John Knowles as it is a bit more approachable.

Otter

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 21:43:10 -0600

Richard Wright's "Native Son" and it takes place in Hyde Park/Kenwood too.

Mister C

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 18:42:05 -0600

How about a couple of different offerings by "classic" authors? Like Point-Counterpoint by Aldous Huxley (a fictionalized "slice of life" novel of early 20th Century British intelligentsia, everyone in England read it when it came out to see if they were "in" it); or Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck (a slice of cynical Post WWII America about a disaffected New England shopkeeper).

kiran

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 18:21:32 -0600

right, i find kierkegaard incredibly dry and could care less about jane austen's england. instead i think you should read some great american novels. like uncle tom's cabin. or the devil wears prada... haha. or how about hemingway (illin!) or f. scott (minnesnowta!).

freedomrider

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 18:03:26 -0600

All these suggestions are too heavy. How about Kurt Vonnegut's "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater?"

Elli

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:43:35 -0600

Anna Karenina. Tolstoy at his best!

Ariel

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:38:29 -0600

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Marilyn

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:26:12 -0600

I LOVE Hemingway, which is not man-lit in my, er, book. There is actually a lot of vulnerability in his work, particularly THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA. I love THE NICK ADAMS STORIES.

Matt

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 16:03:07 -0600

The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. A better read is hard to find.

geekgrrl

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 14:28:44 -0600

hehe, man-lit. does it make you grow bitch tits?

Rachael

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 14:14:49 -0600

Grainbelt- Too heavy on narrative means pages and pages full of initimate descriptions of H.H. and Lolita's roadtrips together. Also, instead of dialogue, what is said is described. Sometimes described beautifully (One of the best opening passages..."she was Dolly in slacks") but it is a very dense book. Hemingway is man-lit. NOT classic,

jon

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 14:02:13 -0600

Gatsby, as well as Tender is the Night (both Fitzgerald), hold up marvelously, despite being 70+ years old.

Margaret

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 13:57:36 -0600

Awesome suggestions everyone! Yes, I will post which book I'm reading tomorrow, so if anyone wants to read along, that would be most excellent.

Jerry

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 13:30:56 -0600

I don't get Hemingway, something about how he writes doesn't draw me in. Maybe I just suck. But Catch 22 is great. Personally, I'll recommend the Sherlock Holmes Anthology (or whatever - you can easily get a collection of all the Sherlock Holmes stories). Fun to read. You get a whole bunch of separate stories, and they are all good. I think I need to go book shopping though. I've never read steinbeck, and I think I need to.

Michelle

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 13:14:12 -0600

I love this idea, it will help me get back into reading, I took a break over the summer, and well, Im still on break. Here are some of my favorites and some I've been wanting to read: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, The Great Gatsby - Fitzgerald, Steinbeck's East of Eden, A Farewell to Arms - Hemmingway, Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, On the Road - Jack Kerouac, In Cold Blood - Capote. Will you be telling us the book titles in advance so we can read along by time your review is posted? sort of a virtual book club?

Mark Braun

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 13:03:49 -0600

The Eisenhower Public Library in Harwood Hts (Lawrence west of Harlem) has been doing you one better. This round of classic reading is INHERIT THE WIND and copies don't even get checked out: they're bought and stacked in the lobby. Besides the book discussion sessions, they screen the film version(s) of these choices at the close of the whole round. I'm recommending that you give Penny at reference a call about this one.

Chuck

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:33:11 -0600

I found a dog-eared copy of Kierkegaard's "Fear and Trembling" in the park last summer, and it was completely engrossing for a short read. I also already recommended to you Oscar Zeta Acosta's "Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo."

ChicagoJman

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:32:52 -0600

Personally, I think everyone in the USA should read The Quiet American by Graham Greene. It's amazing how an Englishman predicted the chaos that American ignorance would cause in Vietnam, and now Iraq years before either war began.

Kevin

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:16:44 -0600

I have to concurr that Heminway ALWAYS does it for me; I think For Whom the Bell Tolls is one of his best works. On the Road is great, and eventhough I have to be on something to read it, I always love it. And then there is Graham Greene's The Quiet American and Our Man in Havana. Both excelent reads.

Sarah

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 11:55:56 -0600

I'm going to resist suggesting The Jungle for the 5,000th time and say The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemmingway.

Grainbelt

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 11:22:47 -0600

What does it mean that a book is "too heavy on narrative?" I'm just curious. How about Frankenstein?

Gary

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 11:21:04 -0600

The Stranger by Albert Camus, A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, or A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Anne

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 11:02:32 -0600

How about Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh? That has all the fabulous British-ness of an Austen or Dickens novel but is set in a time of upheaval - so the plot is far more interesting and relevant. I enjoyed it. On the other hand, I would not reccommend David Copperfield. That book went on forever without much payout.

Rachael

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:56:34 -0600

Pride and Prejudice If you are going through a break-up, Austen is the place to go! And Spin-off value alone makes it relevant. I MUST agree with Russian Lit in the winter, The Overcoat by Gogol is often overlooked in favor of Chekov but I think is just as good. Someone mentioned Lolita and I agree, although it is for me too heavy on narrative. Can't wait for the review!

Mike

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:54:47 -0600

I hate to go all Oprah on everyone because she's a fucking...whatever, but East of Eden would be my pick. Grapes of Wrath or Of Mice and Men seem to be the go to Steinbeck books but I think part of that is due to the fact that Grapes of Wrath was also a classic movie and Of Mice and Men is a stage classic. Not that East of Eden if underrated but I think it's the best of Steinbeck

vise77

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:41:08 -0600

Right on about the Chekhov collection. And winter is the best time to read the classic Russian novels. If you haven't already, read "War and Peace." It can be easy to be daunted by the length, but believe me, once you get going, the story rolls along--and the payoff is an interesting view of history and how "great men" figure into that. Try to find a newer translation, one that isn't as stiff with the language. As for Dos Passos, his USA trilogy is a winner, and really experimental in parts. One person sugggested Brave New World. That probably has more relevance to the path we are headed down in the USA than 1984, but if you read BNW, beware: It sucks as a novel, but if you read it as a narrative political essay, it goes down much better.

Margaret

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:37:27 -0600

Ah yes Curmudgeon, the eternal question. "A classic--something that everybody wants to have read an nobody wants to read." - Mark Twain Anyway, at least for my purposes here, I'm looking for a book that expresses large themes, death, love, beauty, art, etc. and most importantly, something that stands the test of time. Something that remains wonderful to this day.

curmudgeon

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:32:35 -0600

This begs the question "What is a classic?" Age? The fact that you were forced to read it in high school? The fact that it bored you to death?

Rob

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:27:34 -0600

Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos. The whole "art as kaleidescope" concept, with intersecting plotlines a la Robert Altman or "Crash" had its modern-day birth right here in this novel. It's shamefully under-read. The prose is so colorful and so much fun. I never get tired of this book.

bibliogrrl

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:22:38 -0600

Having been on a huge Jane Austen kick for the last 6 months, right there with you. The Great Gatsby is always wonderful. Vanity Fair was great. and if they can be considered classics? In Cold Blood (Capote), The Executioner's Song (Mailer) and An American Tragedy (Dreiser). I read them as a trilogy of the original 'true crime' classics. Wonderful

Danielle

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:18:07 -0600

This is too new but White Teeth by Zadie Smith will eventually be a classic. Two traditional classics: The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and, of course, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Bridget

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:16:36 -0600

Little Women has always been one of my favorites!

Danielle

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:16:22 -0600

This is too new but White Teeth by Zadie Smith will eventually be a classic. Two traditional classics: The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and, of course, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

Bainard

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 10:05:35 -0600

Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde any collection of Chekhov short stories will do you well too, especially one containing "The Kiss" and "The Bet".

Marilyn

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:55:17 -0600

The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Holly

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:54:53 -0600

I think you should re-read something you were forced to muddle through in high school or undergrad lit, and evaluate it as a grown-up (kind-of). Like: Metamorphosis, Catcher in the Rye, Brave New World, Lolita, On the Road, etc.

Marilyn

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:54:10 -0600

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

curmudgeon

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:41:25 -0600

Well, I don't know if it counts as a classic, but Catch-22 seems to me to be close, with a timely message about war, as well.

mike

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:41:20 -0600

"Ruth Hall" by Fanny Fern

mike

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 09:40:10 -0600

"Ruth Hall" by Fanny Fern (Sara Payson Willis)