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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
BelleIsa
member
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
FU to book thread below: What are some classics that you think everyone should read?
BelleIsa
member
So what are the books that you feel everyone should take the time to read in their lifetime? Either because it's an awesome book, or because you feel it has some social/political value.
I'm trying to balance my reading list and not only be reading new releases...
Here are some off the top of my head:
-The Mists of Avalon
- Anne of Green Gables
-Les Miserables
-The Virgin Suicides
-The Cider House Rules
That's all I can think of for now because I'm brain dead from not sleeping (kicking baby, snoring DH, wakeful toddler... urgh).
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
This discussion has been closed.
Re: FU to book thread below: What are some classics that you think everyone should read?
In Cold Blood
Catch-22
1984
Lolita
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Stranger
1984
Animal Farm
Franny & Zooey
Catcher in the Rye
The Prophet
Night
The Bell Jar
The Color Purple
Brave New World
... and on and on
I had to look that one up - will def add to my list!
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
Yeah, but aren't those all standard high school reading? They were for me and I didn't even go to an English high school..
I was thinking more like, books that you didn't have to read in high school.
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
Everyone's said most of mine already. I'll add:
-Wuthering Heights
-Pride and Prejudice
-The Great Gatsby
I don't know about "classic"... but these are some of my favorites
Geek Love
Stiff
At least the first Dark Tower book by Stephen King- The Gunslinger (well, anything by Stephen King but that's b/c he's my fav)
American Psycho
I'm thinking about attempting The Stand. Is it worth it?
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
Yea! Most of his books are really good. I'm reading "It" now.
The Running Man is really good too, nothing like the movie. So are the short story books for the most part, like Everything's Eventual.
A Handmaid's Tale
A Clockwork Orange
The Giver
The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe
None of those were for me. They're all favorites of mine, though. More off the beaten path, but not necessarily "classics":
Motel Chronicles
Chinatown
Bone
The Interpreter of Maladies
Under the Banner of Heaven
Soumchi
1984
Brave New World
Lord of the Flies
Dragon Lance Chronicles
What Child is This?
Phantoms (Dean Koontz - battle of good and evil)
Harry Potter (deep meaning and many moral lessons)
"We like nothing better than buffing our Zygoma. And imagining a horny time traveling long overcoat purple scarf wearing super sleuth nordic legend fuck fantasy. Get to work on that, internet." Benedict Cumberbatch
<a href
Where the Red Fern Grows, but only because it's my fav.
Yes, it is worth it.
Others in addition to those already posted:
The Grapes of Wrath
A Wrinkle in Time
Alice in Wonderland
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Also, to the PP who said things outside of High School English. There is a reason they are required. It is just a good base of common and popular culture to read these classics.
More recommended Capote reading: Breakfast at Tiffany's
What books were on your reading list in high school then?
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
Also would like to add
Interview with a Vampire
Even if you don't like vampire stuff, this book is amazing.
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
It makes me so proud to see this on a list. I live in PEI and we tend to get a little "Anne'd out" from time to time, so it's always uplifting to see that others consider this novel to be important!
I don't think I read any of those in high school. I don't actually remember what was on our list.
Charlotte Ella 07.16.10
Emmeline Grace 03.27.13
The Stand and The Dark Tower series are my ultimate favorite books.
Charlotte Ella 07.16.10
Emmeline Grace 03.27.13
Yeah - I get that teachers want more accessible books since getting kids to read is hard (well, getting me to read was easy but I was nerdy), but if almost all of you think that these are important books of literature (Animal Farm, Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, A River Runs Through It, Catch-22, To Kill a Mockingbird, Farenheit 451, Catcher in the Rye etc.), then isn't it sad that these aren't mandatory reading?
In any case, many good suggestions here that I've added to my Wishlist and hope to get through on my vacation to Mexico!
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
The ones I remember? High school was a very long time ago for me. I remember a lot of poetry, Shakespeare and British lit.
Heart of Darkness
Persuasion
Great Expectations
The Good Earth
The Scarlet Letter
Main Street
Jane Eyre
Don Quixote
Madame Bovary
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Confederacy of Dunces
We
All of Robert Frost's and William Blake's poetry
Non-classics:
+1 on Geek Love, never thought this book would get mentioned on TB!
The Fvkkup
Psychopath Test
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Invisible Monsters, and most others by Palahniuk
It was a totally different experience the second time around. I am glad I read it again as an adult. Still very enjoyable!
Pride and Prejudice
Heart of Darkness
Brave New World
Lord of the Flies
The Forsyte Saga.
(In addition to every book mentioned already)
Unable to even.
********************
You don't understand the appeal of Benedict Cumberbatch / think he's fug / don't know who he is? WATCH SHERLOCK. Until you do, your negative opinion of him will not be taken seriously.
I went to a fairly strict, religious, private school and I imagine that the list teacher's were allowed to cull from was limited. Thankfully, I already had a strong love of reading, so I spent more time reading books that were not required rather than ones that were.
I actually read Anne Of Green Gables, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Little Princess, and Little Women to my daughter (now 21) when she was around 8yrs old. We both loved them so much and it gave us so much to talk about. Read them for yourself but share them with your kids.
I also loved Atlas Shrugged and 1984.
I had the same issue because the guy jumps around too many topics and periods of life, so its hard to understand where he is going with it. He never actually hones in on just one thing, it's pretty much a commentary on the life of a typical 1990's-MTV influenced-jaded-lazy male (although he does care for a younger sibling because their parents are dead). If you happen to have gone to high school in the early 90's it's an easy read. Anyone from another generation won't see the point of this book I think.
Brave New World
The Stranger
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Bell Jar
The Kite Runner
Watchmen (graphic novel)
White Teeth
Catcher in the Rye
Confederacy of Dunces
Middlesex
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
I Know This Much is True
I read it and thought it was just okay. I'm like you in that I thought I would absolutely love it, based on other authors I read and what friends said about it, etc. It just didn't do it for me. I did really enjoy Zeitoun, though.
LOVED these two!
Eleanor Noelle - 18/05/12 Claire Elisabeth - 16/-5/10
I just have to say that I love reading but this post makes me really feel like I do NOT make enough time for it in my life. I have so much to read.
Here's my piddly list:
The Outlander series (not exactly classics but I love these books!)
Little Women
The Chronicles of Narnia
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living my baby you'll be.
- Robert Munsch
Books that got me "into reading" as a youngin'
James and The Giant Peach
The Bridge to Terabithia
Are You There God, It's Me Margaret
Anne of Green Gables
Where the Wild Things Are
Those are off the top of my head most favorite books as a younger child that I actually remember reading and loving and re-reading
Totes worth it!!!
"We like nothing better than buffing our Zygoma. And imagining a horny time traveling long overcoat purple scarf wearing super sleuth nordic legend fuck fantasy. Get to work on that, internet." Benedict Cumberbatch
<a href
didn't read all the responses, so I might be doubling up:
Their Eyes Were Watching God
the writings of Dr. MLK, Jr.
Jane Eyre and its "companion novel" Wide Sargasso Sea
Frankenstein
Huck Finn is really funny
a Shakespearean comedy (perhaps Shrew or Midsummer) and a Shakespearean tragedy (perhaps Hamlet or Othello)
the Wife of Bath's Tale (most famous of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales)
world poetry-- the Russian, Japanese, and French have beautiful poetry traditions and I lurve the Harlem Renaissance poets
I'm a literature PhD student, and the words "classics" and "should" are somewhat problematic to me. (Mostly because the traditional canon defines literary value in a very narrow way thus resulting in lists dominated by white, straight, middle class men who tend not to challenge the status quo, or to do so in terms of aesthetic convention, and eschew politics. It's interesting to me that if you take a canonized author like Herman Melville, the rarely assigned pieces -- for example Mardi -- tend to be more radical and political than the stuff teachers usually use. But I digress.)
That being said, I know that I love a lot of the books that have been recommended. I also think a list of awesome, but often overlooked, literature might include Wharton's The House of Mirth, Forster's Howard's End, Warren's All the King's Men, Roy's The God of Small Things, and Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Thanks for this list, I'll check them out and read the one with the least amount of pages. Yep, I've become a philistine like that as a Mom.
The Grapes of Wrath.
The Jungle.
and for laughs, David Copperfield.