I believe that every literate human being should read Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" at least once in their life. And if you intend to read in French, I would suggest Henri Murger's "Scenes de la Vie Boheme" (which I've only read in English, but still....)
I don't know about books the "made to read in school" list. I remember "Cry, The Beloved Country" by Alan Paton, but that's about it. There was also the year where we had a list of optional readings that included "Exodus" (Leon Uris), "Great Expectations" and "The Lord of the Rings". Oh, and C S Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters".
Otherwise, some favourites of mine (assuming that "everything written before WW1 and still in publication now" can be considered a "classic": "The Warden" - Anthony Trollope "Barchester Towers" - Anthony Trollope "Three Men in a Boat" - Jerome K Jerome "Silas Marner" - George Eliot
Probably doesn't count as a "classic", but David Lodge's "The British Museum Is Falling Down" might make a good appetiser for your 50-classics feast. Supposedly it parodies or references 10 different Great Writers Of The English Language, but I'm not well-read enough to detect any of them other than Kafka. And probably Virginia Woolf. I've never actually read either of them.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-12-10 06:09 pm (UTC)I don't know about books the "made to read in school" list. I remember "Cry, The Beloved Country" by Alan Paton, but that's about it. There was also the year where we had a list of optional readings that included "Exodus" (Leon Uris), "Great Expectations" and "The Lord of the Rings". Oh, and C S Lewis's "The Screwtape Letters".
Otherwise, some favourites of mine (assuming that "everything written before WW1 and still in publication now" can be considered a "classic":
"The Warden" - Anthony Trollope
"Barchester Towers" - Anthony Trollope
"Three Men in a Boat" - Jerome K Jerome
"Silas Marner" - George Eliot
Probably doesn't count as a "classic", but David Lodge's "The British Museum Is Falling Down" might make a good appetiser for your 50-classics feast. Supposedly it parodies or references 10 different Great Writers Of The English Language, but I'm not well-read enough to detect any of them other than Kafka. And probably Virginia Woolf. I've never actually read either of them.