# Favorite Classic



## KJ Kron (Mar 24, 2011)

I just love George Sand's Indiana.  They the villain balances two women - Indiana and her maid Noun is just incredibly funny that I wished he'd keep it up even longer.  But don't think it's a comedy - this book reads like modern fiction - it's brilliant.

What's your favorite classic?


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

Difficult to pick one, and my answer might change from month to month - but currently I would say The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I love the sinister image of gaslight in a foggy London, the mystery unravelling and the sheer good storytelling with its focus on human nature and temptation.


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## strether (Dec 15, 2008)

Funny you should be mentioning George Sand.  I'd just been reading that Jeremy Irons and Sharon Stone were going to appear on stage later this year reading the letters that Sand and Chopin sent to each other.  Think it's in Italy in August, if my memory serves, just in case anyone wants to attend.  

Jim


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## TWErvin2 (Aug 7, 2010)

I've always been fond of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

It probably depends upon how you define "classic", something no two people would necessarily agree upon. It's a tough call. Plato's _Symposium_ maybe. _The Picture of Dorian Gray_ maybe. Or...

Nope, impossible to choose.


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## William BK. (Mar 8, 2011)

For me, it has to be the Old English poem _Beowulf_. If we're talking prose exclusively, then it would be a toss-up between _Ivanhoe_ and _The Lord of the Rings_.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

It's hard to pick just one, but I think it has to be _Pride and Prejudice_. I'm an incurable romantic, and Jane Austen's understanding of human nature is remarkable, especially given her young age when she wrote the book.


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## LiteraryGrrrl (Jan 24, 2011)

The Grapes of Wrath. No question.

Shana


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## leopardgirl314 (Mar 5, 2011)

Fahrenheit 451 
The Great Gatsby
To Kill a Mockingbird 

and 

The Call of the Wild.


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## JerseyGirlBookReviews (Jan 27, 2011)

Cindy416 said:


> It's hard to pick just one, but I think it has to be _Pride and Prejudice_. I'm an incurable romantic, and Jane Austen's understanding of human nature is remarkable, especially given her young age when she wrote the book.


As a huge Jane Austen fan I think all of her books are timeless classics, but no doubt Pride and Prejudice is my favorite.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

Kathy24 said:


> As a huge Jane Austen fan I think all of her books are timeless classics, but no doubt Pride and Prejudice is my favorite.


I love all of her books, too, but P&P is my favorite, probably because of the "Mr.Darcy" factor. (Does it get any better than the A&E 1995 mini-series with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy? I think not!)


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## JerseyGirlBookReviews (Jan 27, 2011)

Cindy416 said:


> I love all of her books, too, but P&P is my favorite, probably because of the "Mr.Darcy" factor. (Does it get any better than the A&E 1995 mini-series with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy? I think not!)


Nope it doesn't get any better then that! lol Mr Darcy is the ultimate romantic character.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

LiteraryGrrrl said:


> The Grapes of Wrath. No question.
> 
> Shana


Yes! Ending to that book is the best I've read. Years since the last time I read it, but it's making me emotional right now just thinking about it.


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## Mo (Mar 25, 2011)

The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit for me. I read these when I was young and it absolutely hooked me on fantasy, and I got into sci-fi around that time too!


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## James Everington (Dec 25, 2010)

Daphne said:


> Difficult to pick one, and my answer might change from month to month - but currently I would say The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I love the sinister image of gaslight in a foggy London, the mystery unravelling and the sheer good storytelling with its focus on human nature and temptation.


That's what I was going to pick... such a well designed little book, it's like clockwork.

I'll toss in a vote for Mrs Dalloway by Virgina Woolf; I didn't 'get it' when I started, but once you do it's really good. It's one of those books that if you judge it by the same criteria as more traditional fiction fails; you need to judge it by its own standards if that makes any sense (on first coffee of the day, so it might not yet!)

James


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## lpking (Feb 12, 2011)

_Vanity Fair_, by Thackeray. _Bleak House_, by Dickens. _Heart of Darkness_, by Conrad.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Sherlock Holmes in general, Hound of the Baskervilles in particular.


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## Vianka Van Bokkem (Aug 26, 2010)

"Little Women" is one of my classic favorites.


-Vianka Van Bokkem


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

I'm very fond of Alexandre Dumas books. Cant beat reading 'The Three Muskateers' if you need a good escapist read.


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## LDHesler (Mar 25, 2011)

Threeway tie between "As I Lay Dying" by Faulkner, "Beowulf" and "Oliver Twist."


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

Grace Elliot said:


> I'm very fond of Alexandre Dumas books. Cant beat reading 'The Three Muskateers' if you need a good escapist read.


Oh, God I love Dumas. _The Count of Monte Cristo_ is one of my all time favorites for a plain ol' fun read. Dumas gave me my love of adventure novels.


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

I have to admit I haven't really read a huge amount of classics so picking a favorite is difficult as its probably still out there unread. I do love Jane Austen and the prose always gets me in a certain mood. 

But I read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte recently and I was astounded at how much ahead of the time she wrote. The hell that is spousal abuse was so powerfully described. It didn't even have a name yet back then. That book has stuck with me. Very powerful.


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## JRainey (Feb 1, 2011)

The Great Gatsby is definitely my favorite. Ever since I was about fifteen, I've been in love with that book. I even play the Great Gatsby video game online! Heh.

Other favorites are Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Frankenstein and Brave New World (always gets compared to 1984, but I actually like it much better). Oh! And Sherlock Holmes! I love me some Holmes action.


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## lstrange (May 21, 2010)

The Picture of Dorian Grey.


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## valleycat1 (Mar 15, 2011)

East of Eden (really, just about anything Steinbeck, but this one really grabbed me)
Catch-22 - the one book I've bought multiple copies of over the years & constantly re-read in bits & pieces


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## Ben White (Feb 11, 2011)

PG Wodehouse, Code Of The Woosters.  In my opinion, his funniest book.  And that's saying something.  It's also the most well-plotted and has some of his very best writing.  Just all-round great, basically.

1984 for a 'classic' in the sense of 'young person you must read this'.

And The Little Prince.  Of course.


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## GBear (Apr 23, 2009)

JRainey said:


> The Great Gatsby is definitely my favorite. Ever since I was about fifteen, I've been in love with that book. I even play the Great Gatsby video game online! Heh.


If you're going to cast a vote for Gatsby, then I must cast my countervote for _The Sun Also Rises_.  A professor once claimed that Hemingway and Fitsgerald are likes dogs and cats in that people generally love one and hate the other. Although Fitzgerald wrote a few short stories I like and and I can't say I love everything I've read by Hemingway, I do love Sun Also Rises and couldn't stand Great Gatsby.


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

GBear said:


> If you're going to cast a vote for Gatsby, then I must cast my countervote for _The Sun Also Rises_.  A professor once claimed that Hemingway and Fitsgerald are likes dogs and cats in that people generally love one and hate the other. Although Fitzgerald wrote a few short stories I like and and I can't say I love everything I've read by Hemingway, I do love Sun Also Rises and couldn't stand Great Gatsby.


I'm a fan of both Fitzgerald and Hemingway, but would have to choose Hemingway if I had to pick on. I love _The Sun Also Rises_.


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## JRainey (Feb 1, 2011)

GBear said:


> If you're going to cast a vote for Gatsby, then I must cast my countervote for _The Sun Also Rises_.  A professor once claimed that Hemingway and Fitsgerald are likes dogs and cats in that people generally love one and hate the other. Although Fitzgerald wrote a few short stories I like and and I can't say I love everything I've read by Hemingway, I do love Sun Also Rises and couldn't stand Great Gatsby.


I must be the odd one out, because I love them both! In different ways, though. Fitzgerald barely passes Hemingway for me. My favorite Hemingway (though The Sun Also Rises is great) is actually In Our Time. I'm not sure why. Could be because I wrote a massive paper on it (on sexuality and gender roles and all that fun stuff) and became intimately acquainted with it at the time, but I've always liked it.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

If I go for pre-20th century, I'd probably choose _Moby Dick_ with the close runners up being _The Count of Monte Cristo_ and _The Song of Roland_. For more modern classics, _Slaughterhouse Five_ or _The Lord of the Rings_, though if we can now designate books from the 1970s as "classic", I would pick Zelazny's original "Amber" series.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

Boswell's London Journal, anyone?


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## kCopeseeley (Mar 15, 2011)

valleycat1 said:


> East of Eden (really, just about anything Steinbeck, but this one really grabbed me)


I'm with you! I hate to choose just one, but I have to admit, it was the first classic I read that wasn't required by an English class and it knocked my socks off!

(Other than that, I'm an Austen girl.)


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

I think I could pick many different classics by century and region!

Overall, "The Count of Monte Cristo" has my vote. It's one of the few I've read multiple times!

20th Century American would be the hardest to decide. There are a lot of good books and I haven't read a tenth of them!

21st Century, and I can't say this enough: "Never Let Me Go," by Kazuo Ishiguro. He's surely my favorite modern writer.


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## Hedra Helix (Feb 17, 2011)

Great Gatsby for me too. But also Steinbeck for Cannery row, Tortilla flats, and Sweet Thursday. 
Omg, but then Bradbury's dandelion wine is going to haunt me if I don't include it. 

For new classics,   Oscar Wao.


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## deckard (Jan 13, 2011)

valleycat1 said:


> East of Eden (really, just about anything Steinbeck, but this one really grabbed me)


_Timshel_.

When I fiorst read this book and started to really think about it, it had a profound impact on my life.

And this is why _East of Eden_ is one of my favorite books. I am not sure I have a single favorite, but this would rank in the top 10 or so.


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## Randy Kadish (Feb 24, 2010)

_Don Quixote_, hands down (especially the second part). I too have trouble making peace with the world, so I really relate to the character. Yes, the book could be shorter, but nothing is perfect in this world.

Randy


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## KJ Kron (Mar 24, 2011)

Many great choices - love the Oscar Wao as a modern classic - just brilliant.  1984, DQ, et al.  Great.

But no one has picked Thomas Hardy?  What about Jude, The Mayor, or Tess?


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## BethCaudill (Mar 22, 2011)

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.  There is a new version of the movie coming out.  I saw a trailer for it yesterday.  I was skeptical since there have been so many versions made but it looks very interesting.

I also like The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.  I'm a total anything Phantom fan.


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## David Gurevich (Mar 16, 2011)

Wodehouse is classic and hilarious.  His stuff is really good.

Another vote for The Great Gatsby.  It just seems to capture the darker side of the American Dream, how often we spend our days in search of some idealized orgiastic future.


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## Lizzarddance (Oct 28, 2008)

Jane Eyre is my absolute fave!!! It was also the first book I read on my Kindle. 
Also love Dracula, Northanger Abbey and The Castle of Ontranto. 
I love gothic books, can you tell?


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## Alle Meine Entchen (Dec 6, 2009)

The Hooded Claw said:


> Sherlock Holmes in general, Hound of the Baskervilles in particular.


I figured you for a Holmes homey.

DH's fave is the Count of Monte Crisco. He loves the book and since he's not a reader, that's saying something! Mine would have to be the Scarlet Letter. There is something so sad and romantic about how Hester Prynne kept the secret of her baby's daddy all that time. I did go thru a Hawthorne faze @ one point (when I was around 18 yrs old or so) and people were surprised to see a teenager carrying around his books and reading them, obsessively. I even had people try to prove to themselves that I wasn't really reading the books, that I just carried them around to look smart by questioning me about it. They were v disappointed to find out that I was reading it and I do understand what the plot is and I am smarter than they thought.


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## EGranfors (Mar 18, 2011)

A Tale of Two Cities.

I am researching a prequel for someday!


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## Hedra Helix (Feb 17, 2011)

KJ Kron said:


> Many great choices - love the Oscar Wao as a modern classic - just brilliant. 1984, DQ, et al. Great.
> 
> But no one has picked Thomas Hardy? What about Jude, The Mayor, or Tess?


Isn't it? Makes me so happy when I read/hear Oscar Wao love. That book is brilliant, so fresh and alive.


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## Patrick Skelton (Jan 7, 2011)

1984
A Clockwork Orange
Brave New World


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## WillieMcIntyre (Mar 30, 2011)

Other than any of Walter Scott's books which are quite heavy going, an ecellent Scottish classic is 'Blood Hunt' by Neil M. Gunn, author of many great books including the equally excelletnt Silver Darlings. Unfortunately, not yet to be found on Kindle butavailable on Amazon. Blood Hunt is a very popular title, including one for a book by Ian Rankin, but accept no substitutes.


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## JRainey (Feb 1, 2011)

KJ Kron said:


> Many great choices - love the Oscar Wao as a modern classic - just brilliant.


Yes! I read Oscar Wao last year and was blown away. Amazing book.


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## KJ Kron (Mar 24, 2011)

Hedra Helix said:


> Isn't it? Makes me so happy when I read/hear Oscar Wao love. That book is brilliant, so fresh and alive.


The audio book is great - fantastic readers

My wife is reading the book - it reads well too

So true - it's one of the best books I've read in a long time


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

John Steinbeck's books, particularly _East of Eden_, _Of Mice and Men_, _Cannery Row_, and _The Grapes of Wrath_.


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## Ottilie (Jan 15, 2011)

My favorite classic probably has to be To Kill a Mockinbird!


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

I would normally say anything by Jane Austen but I recently read Jane Eyre and just loved it!


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## JeanneM (Mar 21, 2011)

I loved  David Copperfield. Is there a villian more declicious than the oh so humble Uriah Heep?


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## jesscscott (Aug 5, 2009)

Either Edgar Allan Poe's or Oscar Wilde's collected works...and Nabokov's _Lolita_...oh man, too many


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## joanhallhovey (Nov 7, 2010)

Jane Eyre, always and forever.  But there are many others that have their own place in my heart: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, Great Expectations by Dickens. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca.  So many wonderful books out there.


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

joanhallhovey said:


> Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca.


I read _Rebecca_ when I was a teenager. I love that book!


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

Great list!  Wow!  Some of my all-time favorites on here.  I notice most of them are on the American/British list, so I'm going to venture into Russian territory: Fyodor Dostoevsky's CRIME AND PUNISHMENT.  Every time I read it, I think "Wow, that is the greatest book ever written!"  (And yes, I've read it many times, because I teach it).

I love REBECCA, too, and I also love Edith Wharton's THE HOUSE OF MIRTH.

Julia


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## KJ Kron (Mar 24, 2011)

Julia444 said:


> Great list! Wow! Some of my all-time favorites on here. I notice most of them are on the American/British list, so I'm going to venture into Russian territory: Fyodor Dostoevsky's CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. Every time I read it, I think "Wow, that is the greatest book ever written!" (And yes, I've read it many times, because I teach it).
> 
> I love REBECCA, too, and I also love Edith Wharton's THE HOUSE OF MIRTH.
> 
> Julia


The thing I love about this thread is that I keep remembering books I've read int he past. Yes, Crime and Punishment was great. I also loved Notes from the Underground - especially part II. And now I just remember reading Stendhal's Charterhouse of Parma - somewhere in the first 100 pages I just started laughing - absolutely hilarious when he went to war.


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

"Crime & Punishment" is the only Russian classic I've read. I liked the book despite reading it for a High School class! (It may not sound like it, but this is high praise). I'll have to put that on my reread list.


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## WrongTale (Feb 16, 2011)

Surprised to see Dumas on so many lists - and some non-English authors in the public which, I guess is predominately with English as mother tongue.

Restricting the list down to the works known to the aforementioned audience: 
Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo is a classic, and so is Three Musketeers.
The Pickwick Papers - the only truly funny book Dickens ever wrote.
Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K.  Jerome

from post-WWII, it must be Lord of the Rings and My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.


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## kindleworm (Aug 24, 2010)

It seems as though the more classics that I read, the longer my list of favorites grows...
So far, my favorites are:
Little Women
David Copperfield
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Mysterious Island


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## KJ Kron (Mar 24, 2011)

Malweth said:


> "Crime & Punishment" is the only Russian classic I've read. I liked the book despite reading it for a High School class! (It may not sound like it, but this is high praise). I'll have to put that on my reread list.


Try reading Darkness at Noon - now that's a great Russian novel. Chekhov is worth checking out. Tolstoy is good - if you don't want to tackle Anna or War and Peace, try something short like the Death of Ivan.


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## Skate (Jan 23, 2011)

I often go back and read bits of 'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo when I'm trying to strengthen one of my characters. It's brilliant for that. There's far too much description in there for the modern reader, but the characters will never be beaten. (IMO).


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## Flashman (Apr 10, 2011)

Ben White said:


> PG Wodehouse, Code Of The Woosters. In my opinion, his funniest book. And that's saying something. It's also the most well-plotted and has some of his very best writing. Just all-round great, basically.


I couldn't agree more. _The Code of the Woosters_ is the funniest book in the English language, the rest of PG Wodehouse's output comes a close second with Jerome K. Jerome's _Three Men in a Boat_ a remote third - but miles in front of anything else.


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## Cheryl Shireman (Feb 11, 2011)

I LOVE that there are so many Steinbeck fans out there!

My favorite classic is definitely East of Eden by Steinbeck.

He considered it his greatest work, too.

Steinbeck fans - two books that you would probably love are Steinbeck a Life in Letters (a collection of letters he wrote spanning his lifetime - fascinating reading).

And - The Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters. Also a collection of letters - these written by Steinbeck as he was writing East of Eden. He used them to warm up for the day's writing.

Both books are among my very favorite books. If you are a writer, you will love this peek into the writing life. I loved reading how he struggled in his early years. Fascinating!


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## Ottilie (Jan 15, 2011)

Cheryl, oh good to know!  I liked mice and men by him and have east of eden on my self waiting to be read, but I'll have to look into those thank you


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## Cheryl Shireman (Feb 11, 2011)

Ottilie - always THRILLED to share anything Steinbeck with others.


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## Ottilie (Jan 15, 2011)

haha good!  Always up for suggestions!


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## Connor Dix (Mar 27, 2011)

KJ Kron said:


> I just love George Sand's Indiana. They the villain balances two women - Indiana and her maid Noun is just incredibly funny that I wished he'd keep it up even longer. But don't think it's a comedy - this book reads like modern fiction - it's brilliant.
> 
> What's your favorite classic?


I have a hard time picking between Jekyll and Hyde and Treasure Island. Both fantastic books, I'm a big fan of Stevenson. Kidnapped was pretty darn good, too.


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## athanos (Apr 7, 2011)

My favorite classic has gotta be Dicken's Great Expectations. I still remember
feeling everything Pip did & hoping for him to become the gentleman he strove
to be. Also being let down when he fell short.

Anyway that's my 2 pence.


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

Cheryl Shireman said:


> Steinbeck fans - two books that you would probably love are Steinbeck a Life in Letters (a collection of letters he wrote) spanning his the writing.


I have this in paper and on my kindle.

As for my favorites I like Don Quoxite, Heminway's Across the River and into the Trees, and Shakespeare's King Lear.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

Kerouac, anyone? I vote for "On the Road."


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## jherrick (Apr 1, 2011)

The Great Gatsby.  A modern classic, but still...


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## sal79parody (Apr 7, 2011)

It would have to be Anna Karenina, with Crime and Punishment coming in second.


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