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I have been looking on project Gutenberg for books and can't decide. Recommended me something. Nothing too tough like war and peace, something more like to kill a mockingbird etc. Not too long.
Catcher in the Rye or The Old Man and the Sea are fantastic if you've not read them and still fantastic if you are reading them again.
Some of them not so much as classics but
To Kill a Mockingbird obviously if you have not read it yet
Catcher in the Rye
Of Mice and Men
The Caine Mutiny
The Big Sleep
Catch22
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn / The Count of Monte Cristo / Treasure Island / Robinson Crusoe
George Orwell's 1984
Top suggests. Plenty to be on with thanks.
If you like Mockingbird then try Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry.
Anything by Camus touches on morality and society like the above and has the benefit of being fairly short. The Outsider is the classic place to start.
As above, anything by Hemingway is very accessible because of his writing style, which isn't always the case with classic books...
As is the STW way I'll recommend my personal favourite, Catch 22, but be warned if you don't tune in to the dark humour and non-chronological approach in the first 50 pages, you might hate it. If you do, then you'll probably love it.
edit: Just realised you're looking at Gutenberg specific titles. That's a tough list - Candide was a book I enjoyed for it's satirical side that belies it's age and Treasure Island that, as well as being a great tale, is staggering in it's effect on future literature (Treasure maps, x marks the spot, boyhood adventures, etc) and has aged so little considering it is also ancient.
This is a better list imo, but not free obvs. Just read Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman! Wonderful stuff.
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/78785.Reddit_Top_200_Books_list_1
Another one for Orwell's "1984". "Animal Farm" is a good read too.
Arthur Conan Doyle, all the Sherlock Holmes stuff. R L Stevenson (Jekyll & Hyde, Kidnapped, Treasure Island etc). H G Wells (War Of The Worlds, Invisible Man, Time Machine etc). Edgar Allan Poe.
Mr Tickle
I'll add "The Alchemist" (Paulo Coelho) to the list
Hamlet is a good read, even if it is a play.
And pretty much anything by Saki.
Three Men In A Boat.
Anything by Hemingway.
Brave New World.
The Asimov short stories.
A Clockwork Orange.
Stella Gibbons' Cold comfort farm is v funny and easy to read
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.207573
Edgar Allen Poe
esp Murders in the Rue Morgue
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2147
John Buchan's The Thirty Nine Steps among others of his like Greenmantle
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=john+buchan
Some but not all of Hemminmgway's short stories appear available too
http://central.gutenberg.org/articles/eng/the_complete_short_stories_of_ernest_hemingway
Lord of The Flies is a fab read even outside of an O Level English class. Probably better, cos you don't have to analyse the joy out of it!
Does One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest count? Cos that's simply the best book ever.
Just avoid Dracula, cos that's the dullest thing I've read in my whole life.
Some good choices above. I'll add my favourite authors: Joseph Conrad and Thomas Hardy. Most of Conrad's work is well worth reading but Nostromo is harder work. Hardy's painting of a long gone rural landscape, lifestyle and customs is without peer.
Many good choices up there also ^^
But another vote for Count of Monte Cristo, an absolute classic and my personal favourite - although the unabridged version can be tough.
The picture of Dorian Gray is also worthy of a read.
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Edgar Rice Burroughs Barsoom series - John Carter of Mars. Trashy but enjoyable.
+1 for Biff, Chip and Kipper.
Thomas Moore - Utopia
Somerset Maugham short stories.
Jack London - but not White Fang.
Dickens - let me know how Martin Chuzzelwit ends.
Proust if you have trouble sleeping.
Bulgakov The Master and Margerita is interesting.
Or something controversial and subversive
David Graeber<b> </b>Debt the First 5,000 Years
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
Utterly compelling from start to finish and the final page is the finest last page of any book ever.
had a quick look at the top 100, I would recommend...
Frankenstein
Huckleberry Finn
Dorian Gray
Heart of Darkness
And maybe try a Jane Austen and a bit of Arthur Conan Doyle for fun.
'Frankenstein' - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
*edit. Beaten.
Also, an author that is often overlooked, but clearly read by millions is Stephen King.
Due to you liking shorter books read his collection of 4 novellas called Different Seasons. It includes the stories behind Shawshank and Stand By Me to give you an idea. If you like that then Green Mile and eventual his best book The Stand. Go for the edited version though, even though it's still a beast!
What about perhaps a future classic? Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. Never met anyone who has read it not enjoyed it. The content is timeless.
Fahrenheit 451.
Whoever said catcher in the rye needs wheeled out and shot though its shit. Like proper dross.
The boy who wanted peace is an interestimginsight to the poverty syricken slum tenements ofglasgow.
Just avoid Dracula, cos that’s the dullest thing I’ve read in my whole life.
First half is good second half requires erasing from history.
Some brilliant suggestions. I have started catcher in the rye. I think I will go and buy catch22 just based on the number of recommendations.
Most of those mentioned I read for school but what stood out were Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the original Plant of the Apes.
Some fine suggestions above to which I would add
The Man In the High Castle
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Both by Philip K Dick
Currently reading Alone in Berlin (Hans Fallada) which is very good too.
Loads of good stuff mentioned but,
"Cider house rules" is also well worth a read.
Just avoid Dracula, cos that’s the dullest thing I’ve read in my whole life.
Sir has not read Moby Dick, I'll wager.
Someone above mentioned three men in a boat.
I'm not sure what i was expecting when i read it...
Its brilliant.
If you liked Three Men In A Boat (which is indeed flipping brilliant), you should definitely read Three Men On The Bummel. It's the same thing, but with bikes.
What about perhaps a future classic? Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks. Never met anyone who has read it not enjoyed it. The content is timeless.
Second that , certainly one of the best books I have ever read . On a theme of books about war I also really enjoyed two brothers by Ben Elton ( don't laugh) . I found it a gripping read but I suppose it isn't what you would call a classic .
Androcles & the Lion (ok, a play but still a great read)
One day in the life of Ivan Denisovitch
Jules Verne. Any one - you know most of the stories 🙂
Also from the top 100 list - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I was young when I read it, but it's fascinating to read books like that which have totally permeated modern culture, and see what the original concept was. See also War of the Worlds - proper seminal work that.
Not on the list - Brave New World. Not that long, but also pretty influential, interesting and quite good.
Personally avoid Moby Dick, insufferable.
Dickens, great expectations.
Wuthering heights .
Stienbeck grapes of wrath
Lord of the flies
Day of the triffads
As mentioned Fahrenheit 451.
If you read 1984 and like it, try We by Yevgeni Zamyatin.
Staying on the Russian theme, you could read 'One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich' by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (mentioned above) based on the authors time in a Gulag and 'Master and Magarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov a satire of Stalin's rule
Final one from me, Babel 17 by Samuel Delaney, 1960s sci fi. - If you like anything by PKD and Ray Bradbury I think you will like this.
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
Kafka - Metamorphosis
Vonnegut Jr - Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse 5
Dickens - Bleak House
Saki - Chronicles of Clovis
Steinbeck - The Pearl
Balzac - The Wild Ass's Skin
+1 Ray Bradbury. Especially the short story collections. First one I ever read was 'The October Country'. Immediately hooked forever.
+1 Catch 22
Don't forget the classic ghost stories available on Gutenberg, especially those by M R James. Also 'The Willows', by Algernon Blackwood. Extraordinarily unsettling.
Already been suggested, but ‘yes!’ to
Moby Dick
Heart of Darkness
and
Rogue Male
Nausea
3 Men In A Boat
Mein Kampf
Sir has not read Moby Dick, I’ll wager
"Call me Ishmael" best bit, don't bother with the rest !!
I couldn't make it through catch 22 I'm afraid - although it sounds like I'm in a minority of 1.
Some slightly more unusual suggestions, but easy reads:
I am Legend, by Richard Matheson. Yes, it has zombies in it, but its not really about zombies. Don't be put off by the appalling film - the book is excellent. 1954 - so might not be out of copyright
Gorky Park, by Martin Cruz Smith. Certainly a modern classic, but certainly not on project Gutenburg yet. Hard-boiled detective fiction set behind the iron curtain - fantastic. 1980 I think?
Starship Troopers, by Robert A Heinlein. A bit controversial - but certainly worth a read in these interesting times. Like re-reading 1984, this recently was ringing lots of familiar bells about the current state of the US. 1959
As I'm here - I'll mention that I've just read "red sparrow" - certainly not a classic, but very good. The film looks toss, but the book is good.
Confessions of Zeno by Svevo
Decameron by Boccaccio (lots of short stories so good bed-time reading)
both very funny
A lot of great books recommended there. In case you are doing some totting up I'll go with
Three men in a boat, Sherlock Holmes short stories and Treasure island for light reading, Vonnegut, Kavka, 1984 for something a little deeper
Dickens. I never liked him until I read "Sketches by Boz". He had to fit those tales into a space rather than get paid by the word, so there's no unnecessary verbiage. Some really good wry humour and still reads well.
"Diary of a Nobody" - I pick this up every so often and read it again.
Mark Twain - almost anything is worth a read.
If you can handle mediaeval English, Chaucer is worth a read. Each tale is exquisitely positioned from the teller's viewpoint. At least the Miller's Tale. 🙂
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Lucky Jim
Cold Comfort Farm
The Code of the Woosters
What a good thread - thanks OP I've been reminded of a few books I need to read.
My personal "classic" is
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway)
But when I get asked on to Desert Island Discs I'll be placing
Mr Crabtree Goes Fishing
as my one book as I love the evocation of an England long gone.
A few people seem to have missed the last word in the thread title..! Chaucer? Moby Dick!? I ask ya. 😆
[i]Sir has not read Moby Dick, I’ll wager[/i]
Ah, this was aimed at me! Yes! I have read the whole of Moby Dick... much more interesting than Dracula. The first few chapters are actually pretty funny. The anatomy of a whale stuff, not so much.
On the Road
@DezB - that's why I recommended Conrad's short novellas and guarded against Nostromo.
The word 'classic' is a bit of a moveable feast. These days, I'd probably consider the best books so far on this thread as Rogue Male and Code of the Woosters. My journey of self-improvement via literature has clearly ended!
I'd probably be looking towards more modern literature, maybe Midnight's Children by Rushdie, Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, something by Cormac McCarthy for the bleak - personally I'd go for No Country for Old Men. Books that were probably consigned to the trash fiction shelf in their time now deserve an upgrade, for example earlier works by authors such as Stephen King: The Shining is a masterpiece and beautifully written.
Traditional classics can be very rewarding, but require even more effort these days when writing has become ever more disposable and functional.
I think a few have not read the OP either.
Project Gutenburg https://www.gutenberg.org/ is specifically FREE classics (out of copyright)
I think Stephen King might have something to say if any of his stuff ended up on there 🙂
jack Kerrowac - On the Road was a good read.
I think I will go and buy catch22
Buy - local library is bound to have it
I think a few have not read the OP either
Yeah - I'm guilty, you can knock my choices off the list.
jack Kerrowac – On the Road was a good read.
really? I thought it was so far up it's own arse I think I lasted half way maybe...
If you try an Austen, rather than Pride and Prejudice, could I offer Persuasion instead? Still bonnets (who doesn't love a bonnet drama) but a bit more subtle and observed.
All of Dostoyevsky's works look like they can be downloaded. He's obv a heavyweight, and so are his books (literally), but they're accessible - good combination of straightforward prose but great stories that delve pretty deep into the human psyche. Bit like Dickens is said to be. The exception to his tome-like output is the very slim Notes from the Underground, so if you're looking for a quick read classic this might fit the bill. Especially if you found Camus too freewheeling and cheerful - it is bleak as hell from memory.