# What is your favorite piece of English literature?



## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

I have just returned from a glorious two weeks touring England and Scotland on holiday with my family. I dragged them about, visiting various author graves (Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Chaucer, Dickens, Browning, Blake and DeFoe, to name a few). This got me thinking. 

What is your favorite piece of English literature? I know it is difficult to pick only one, but maybe narrow it down to categories: novel, play and poetry.

For me, it is "Pride and Prejudice" (novel), "King Lear" (play) and one of either Keats, Byron or Shelley for poetry. Can't really make up my mind there.


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## Paegan (Jul 20, 2009)

Not at all difficult for me to choose.
Novel:  Jane Eyre
Poetry:  Shakespeare's Sonnets


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

By "English Literature", do you mean something written in English, or something written by someone who is English (or British) and/or in England (or Britain) and/or about England (or Britain)?


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

Karen - Your holiday sounds lovely, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. My first degree was in literature and I actually came away with a love of Middle English - Arthurian Romances etc. For modern poets I love Philip Larkin for his cynical humour and knack of putting into a few words thoughts we all have and rarely express so well. I read Othello recently and what I enjoyed most in it was the humour (that handkerchief!). But I am, of course, spoilt for choice and could go on for ever.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

NogDog said:


> By "English Literature", do you mean something written in English, or something written by someone who is English (or British) and/or in England (or Britain) and/or about England (or Britain)?


I mean English literature in the classic sense...Something written by a British person.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

Daphne said:


> Karen - Your holiday sounds lovely, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. My first degree was in literature and I actually came away with a love of Middle English - Arthurian Romances etc. For modern poets I love Philip Larkin for his cynical humour and knack of putting into a few words thoughts we all have and rarely express so well. I read Othello recently and what I enjoyed most in it was the humour (that handkerchief!). But I am, of course, spoilt for choice and could go on for ever.


I know--there is so much to choose from. One of my degrees is English, too, but with a writing concentration. It was divided with studying and analyzing literature. For me, it was the best of everything.


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## chipotle (Jan 1, 2010)

I love Middlemarch even though I know a lot of people hated it. Every time I re-read it I dearly wish Dorothea would have refrained from marrying that jerk.


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## Gabriela Popa (Apr 7, 2010)

I like AS Byatt's short story book "The Matisse stories." They are charming, sharp, exquisite. http://www.amazon.com/Matisse-Stories-S-Byatt/dp/067976223X
Gabriela


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

I think "Wuthering Heights" is the greatest English-language novel.  "Pride and Prejudice" is a close second.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

KarenW.B. said:


> I mean English literature in the classic sense...Something written by a British person.


In that case, _Night Watch_ by Sir Terence David John Pratchett, OBE.


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## karinlib (Jan 1, 2010)

Great Expectations is definitely my favorite (so far, I am now reading of human bondage).


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

NogDog said:


> In that case, _Night Watch_ by Sir Terence David John Pratchett, OBE.


This is my favourite book! I've read it about 15 times (no exaggeration) and will read it again. I think it is a masterly piece of literature, although I find Pratchett's works variable - the man is a genius. (I'm charmed to find someone who rates it as I do).


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## farrellclaire (Mar 5, 2010)

Jane Eyre.  It's the only book I've reread a ridiculous amount of times.  I love it.

I'm due a reread, I think.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Daphne said:


> This is my favourite book! I've read it about 15 times (no exaggeration) and will read it again. I think it is a masterly piece of literature, although I find Pratchett's works variable - the man is a genius. (I'm charmed to find someone who rates it as I do).


I don't think I can say that _Night Watch_ is my favorite book, but if I group the 5 "Amber" novels by Roger Zelazny as number 1, then _Night Watch_ probably vies with Zelazny's _Lord of Light_ for the next two spots. (I've probably read the Amber books at least 15 times, while _Night Watch_ maybe 6 times, but then Zelazny's books had a couple decades' head start.  )


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Like Nog, I tend toward contemporary novelists and I my favourite is a toss up between two Scottish writers - either _Trainspotting_ by Irvine Welsh or _The Atrocity Archives_ by Charles Stross.

Favourite play is definitely _MacBeth_ by our friend Bill

and my favourite poet by far is W. H. Auden. While I consider him to be an American Poet (though he didn't move to the US until his early 30's), he was British by birth ....

A shilling life will give you all the facts:
How Father beat him, how he ran away,
What were the struggles of his youth, what acts
Made him the greatest figure of his day;
Of how he fought, fished, hunted, worked all night,
Though giddy, climbed new mountains; named a sea;
Some of the last researchers even write
Love made him weep his pints like you and me.

With all his honours on, he sighed for one
Who, say astonished critics, lived at home;
Did little jobs about the house with skill
And nothing else; could whistle; would sit still
Or potter round the garden; answered some
Of his long marvellous letters but kept none.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

NogDog said:


> In that case, _Night Watch_ by Sir Terence David John Pratchett, OBE.


I've never read Pratchett - and I take it this novel is part of a series? It's hard to tell from the Amazon page of it.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

DYB said:


> I've never read Pratchett - and I take it this novel is part of a series? It's hard to tell from the Amazon page of it.


It is part of Pratchett's "Discworld" series, or perhaps better termed "milieu" as each book is more or less a stand-alone story, with varying amounts of interconnectedness to the others. While _Night Watch_ is maybe somewhere around the 20th Discworld book, it's the in the "City Watch" story arc (my favorite arc); so before reading it I would first read (in this order) _Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo,_ and _The Fifth Elephant_. _Night Watch_ is then followed by _Thud!_.

For a complete listing of DW novels in publication order (and within any story arc they are published in story order), see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#Novels.

And beware the luggage!


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## Daphne (May 27, 2010)

NogDog said:


> It is part of Pratchett's "Discworld" series, or perhaps better termed "milieu" as each book is more or less a stand-alone story, with varying amounts of interconnectedness to the others. While _Night Watch_ is maybe somewhere around the 20th Discworld book, it's the in the "City Watch" story arc (my favorite arc); so before reading it I would first read (in this order) _Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo,_ and _The Fifth Elephant_. _Night Watch_ is then followed by _Thud!_.
> 
> For a complete listing of DW novels in publication order (and within any story arc they are published in story order), see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#Novels.
> 
> And beware the luggage!


Having said that, which I agree with (and the City Watch are my favoured arc - although I love Death) - the first book I read was "Thud" and I only subsequently went back and read Guards Guards etc. So I'm pretty sure you could start with Night Watch and still enjoy the book.


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## Joel Arnold (May 3, 2010)

I like most anything by Roald Dahl.
I'm also a fan of Wuthering Heights, though I haven't read it in years.
And - um - does JK Rowling count, yet? 'Cause I'd like to throw the Harry Potter series into the ring!

Joel


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

Joel Arnold said:


> I like most anything by Roald Dahl.
> I'm also a fan of Wuthering Heights, though I haven't read it in years.
> And - um - does JK Rowling count, yet? 'Cause I'd like to throw the Harry Potter series into the ring!
> 
> Joel


Even though she lives in Scotland, I think JK Rowling should count because what she writes seems so quintessentially British. And, besides, I love Harry Potter too. 

And Joel brings up another question: Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre? Which one do you prefer?


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## Genaro Zamora (Jul 6, 2010)

Right off the back I would have to say,
Shakespeare's Hamlet.


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## loonlover (Jul 4, 2009)

I'd have to go with Jane Eyre.  Lost track of the number of times I have read it.

Hamlet has always been my favorite Shakespeare.  May have something to do with the fact I saw a live production (twice in the same season) in Stratford, Ontario.


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## Harry Shannon (Jul 30, 2010)

Probably Hamlet.

Closer to home, sometimes wonder if Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" will be looked upon as a 20th century classic in another hundred years, certainly hope so. It's the same language, right?


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

KarenW.B. said:


> And Joel brings up another question: Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre? Which one do you prefer?


I'd definitely vote for "Wuthering Heights." I've only read "Jane Eyre" once and when I did originally - I enjoyed it, but didn't care enough to read it again. "Wuthering Heights" I've read at least half-a-dozen times. Emily's prose is gorgeous. I'll give Charlotte another chance one of these days.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2010)

So many great ones already mentioned--King Lear, Shakespeare's Sonnets, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre.

I read Frankenstein recently and that was really much different than I thought it would be and was really good.

Don Quixote, Catch-22, the stories of Jorge Luis Borges, *As I Lay Dying*, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Clearly I've broken the rules of the thread, but there are too many good ones to just choose one!


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

foreverjuly said:


> ...
> Don Quixote, Catch-22, the stories of Jorge Luis Borges, *As I Lay Dying*, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Clearly I've broken the rules of the thread, but there are too many good ones to just choose one!


Well, since the OP specified literary works by _British_ authors, that would probably disqualify all of those (Spanish, American, Argentinian, American, American).


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

Your trip is one of my dreams--one day I WILL have my trip to England and walk where the Brontes walked!

As an English major, I took every class I could that covered the 1800s, that's my favorite period--everything from Jane Austen to Dickens. My senior course was on Dickens, so he's got a special place in my heart (and I love some of his lesser known works, like Dombey and Son and Our Mutual Friend. The Romantic poets are up there too, but I think Jane Austen might just be my ultimate favorite, with Sense & Sensibility being the winner overall.


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## Five String (Jun 6, 2010)

Another vote for Wuthering Heights. Far From the Madding Crowd was pretty darn good, too.

Also, Master and Commander and H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O'Brian. Historical novels, yes, from a series, yes, but gorgeous, lyrical, compelling, heartbreaking, inspiring. I recommend them to anyone regardless of your taste in books.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

NogDog said:


> It is part of Pratchett's "Discworld" series, or perhaps better termed "milieu" as each book is more or less a stand-alone story, with varying amounts of interconnectedness to the others. While _Night Watch_ is maybe somewhere around the 20th Discworld book, it's the in the "City Watch" story arc (my favorite arc); so before reading it I would first read (in this order) _Guards! Guards!, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay, Jingo,_ and _The Fifth Elephant_. _Night Watch_ is then followed by _Thud!_.
> 
> For a complete listing of DW novels in publication order (and within any story arc they are published in story order), see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discworld#Novels.
> 
> And beware the luggage!


Thanks! I might have to add to my list of 150 unread books.


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## Debra Purdy Kong (Apr 1, 2009)

KarenW.B. said:


> I have just returned from a glorious two weeks touring England and Scotland on holiday with my family. I dragged them about, visiting various author graves (Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Chaucer, Dickens, Browning, Blake and DeFoe, to name a few). This got me thinking.
> 
> What is your favorite piece of English literature? I know it is difficult to pick only one, but maybe narrow it down to categories: novel, play and poetry.
> 
> For me, it is "Pride and Prejudice" (novel), "King Lear" (play) and one of either Keats, Byron or Shelley for poetry. Can't really make up my mind there.


I'm with you, there. Pride and Prejudice, always.

Debra


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## LB Gschwandtner (Jun 21, 2010)

Anyone but me ever read Daphne DuMaurier's The House on The Strand?

I found it prescient and unforgettable. Maybe not my fave of all time but ...


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## Lyndl (Apr 2, 2010)

Jane Eyre.. read it when I was 9 and it's remained one of my favourite books of all time.    Close behind are Pride & Prejudice, Wuthering Heights and A Tale of Two Cities


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

AnnetteL said:


> Your trip is one of my dreams--one day I WILL have my trip to England and walk where the Brontes walked!
> 
> As an English major, I took every class I could that covered the 1800s, that's my favorite period--everything from Jane Austen to Dickens. My senior course was on Dickens, so he's got a special place in my heart (and I love some of his lesser known works, like Dombey and Son and Our Mutual Friend. The Romantic poets are up there too, but I think Jane Austen might just be my ultimate favorite, with Sense & Sensibility being the winner overall.


I'm so glad to see some fellow English majors here, as well as some great reading ideas. 

I trod upon hallowed ground and returned ready to write. My first piece will be a blog on my visit to Jane Austen's house and grave.


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## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

KarenW.B. said:


> And Joel brings up another question: Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre? Which one do you prefer?


When I was younger, Wuthering Heights. Such reckless, thoughtless, and selfish anti-hero and anti-heroine! (I would argue now that Hareton and young Catherine are the real hero and heroine of WH).

But now, I love, love Jane Eyre.

My favorite of English lit is a three-way tie among Middlemarch, Jane Eyre, and AS Byatt's Possession.


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

_I trod upon hallowed ground and returned ready to write. My first piece will be a blog on my visit to Jane Austen's house and grave._

Please link over to your post when it's up--I'd love to read it. (Hallowed ground? Absolutely!)


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

AnnetteL said:


> _I trod upon hallowed ground and returned ready to write. My first piece will be a blog on my visit to Jane Austen's house and grave._
> 
> Please link over to your post when it's up--I'd love to read it. (Hallowed ground? Absolutely!)


Will do!


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

Annette and anyone who is interested,

Here's my blog post on my visit to Jane Austen's house.

http://karenwojcikberner.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading,
Karen


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## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

KarenW.B. said:


> Annette and anyone who is interested,
> 
> Here's my blog post on my visit to Jane Austen's house.
> 
> ...


Very nice, Karen!


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## karencantwell (Jun 17, 2010)

Karen -- I'm jealous! I want to take a trip to Europe for my 50th birthday (sadly not so far away . . .) and England is at the top of my list.  As for British authors - Dickens stole my heart in college when I read Great Expectations.  And yet, there are those wonderfully fun (not so literary) PG Wodehouse books. Really, who doesn't love Jeeves?


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## AnnetteL (Jul 14, 2010)

Karen, What a great post! Thanks for linking over. I think I'll link to it from FB so my fellow Jane-fan friends can see it.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

AnnetteL said:


> Karen, What a great post! Thanks for linking over. I think I'll link to it from FB so my fellow Jane-fan friends can see it.


Thanks so much!


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

Depending on how closely one defines British, either the _Heart of Darkness_ by Joseph Conrad or _Jude the Obscure_ by Thomas Hardy.


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## pdallen (Aug 3, 2010)

Another tough one. 

Shakespeare
James Joyce
William Blake (in illuminated print)
Thomas Wolfe (Look Homeward Angel & Of Time and a River)
and too many more to mention.


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## William L.K. (Aug 5, 2010)

Gotta go with 'Great Expectations'


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## brenwinter (Jun 12, 2009)

Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility

Brenda


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

brenwinter said:


> Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
> 
> Brenda


YAY!


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

Lord of the Rings, anyone? Frankenstein and Dracula (all right, he was Irish, but didn't he live in England at the time?)


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## Barry Eysman (Jul 19, 2010)

Joel Arnold said:


> I like most anything by Roald Dahl.
> I'm also a fan of Wuthering Heights, though I haven't read it in years.
> And - um - does JK Rowling count, yet? 'Cause I'd like to throw the Harry Potter series into the ring!
> 
> Joel


I do especially love Roald Dahl. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Danny, Champion of the World, and indeed his wry horror fiction. Way Out appears, save 5 precious episodes, lost.
Also love Ian Fleming's Bond novel.
Philip MacDonald List of Adrian Messenger Warrant for X


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I've read and enjoyed many of the books mentioned here - Pride & Prejudice, Wuthering Heights etc. I've delved into the wonderfully imaginative world of Terry Pratchett's books. I love Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, The Taming of The Shrew, Midsummer Night's Dream.

I'd also like to throw into the mix Dorothy Dunnett's two series - The Lymond Chronicles and House of Niccolo. Complex and intricate plots, woven through with Dunnett's legendary and breathtaking attention to historical accuracy, filled with equally complex, flawed characters. These are historical novels as they were meant to be - there are no knights in shining armour or one dimensional heroines. These books are not for the fainthearted, they demand your attention and concentration if you want to keep up with even half of what's going on. You'll need your dictionary (and not just the an English one!) and your wits about you.

It's impossible to properly describe these books, you need to read them for yourself. Start with The Lymond Chronicles first book, The Game of Kings (and read the reviews, not the product description).

I'm delighted to discover they're available for the Kindle - time to re-read them I think!


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## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

Linjeaked - that's great news about the Lymond Chronicles coming out for Kindle. Hurray! I've been wanting to read those for a while now, and I find I just don't like reading paper books anymore. The print is too small!

I've got a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. I'm taking the plunge from Kindle for PC to a real, live Kindle 3. When it gets here in August (I hope), I think my one-click experience is going to increase more than my bank account will like...

Speaking of English literature, I already named my three favs, but this thread has got me thinking about it. One book that's so much better (in my opinion) than its reputation is Mary Shelley's Frankenstein







.

The Penguin edition is 6.99 compared to some other free ones, but it's completely worth it. Fantastic formatting and toggled footnotes and all the great intros are here, including those of Shelley's husband (ha) and Shelley's own intro to the 1831 version.

This isn't slash horror, but the more complex, psychological kind. When I read Frankenstein as an adult, I wondered if Freud wasn't influenced by this novel.


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## robertduperre (Jun 13, 2010)

LOVE David Copperfield.  And Frankenstein is darn good, as well.


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## Edward C. Patterson (Mar 28, 2009)

*Nicholas Nickleby * by Charles Dickens.

Edward C. Patterson


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

LKRigel - I read Frankenstein many years ago and I think I was too young to appreciate it on any but a surface level - it's subtleties passed me by.  I think that's another one I need to revisit.

I'm glad I thought about the Lymond books when reading this thread - I hadn't realised they were available on Kindle till I checked to put the links in my post - I bought Game Of Kings on the spot!


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

Ooh Ooh! Ghormenghast by Mervyn Peake. Weird and wonderful. I couldn't get far in the second one when I was young, I need to try again.


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## Batgirl (Sep 22, 2009)

I'm going to have to go with Jane Eyre.  This thread reminds me that it's been far too long since I've re-read it.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2010)

Batgirl said:


> I'm going to have to go with Jane Eyre. This thread reminds me that it's been far too long since I've re-read it.


Definitely a great book. I love how Virginia Woolf gets on her for being an angry writer and all, but it's an amazing story.

I'll toss Gulliver's Travels in there. I must've read the book 10 times over the course of my life.


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## Carolyn J. Rose Mystery Writer (Aug 10, 2010)

Shakespeare. Not so much the lighter plays, but Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear, Richard, etc. If you haven't seen the three-season Canadian series, Slings and Arrows, it will give you terrific insight into interpretations of Hamlet, Macbeth, and Lear. And it's pretty darn funny.


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## Robert Tell Author (Aug 17, 2010)

I just re-read Gulliver's Travels, the famous British satire by Jonathan Swift and was amazed at how similar our current society's problems are to 17th Century England. It should be required reading for all voters, politicians, etc. But my all time favorites are HG Wells "Seven Famous Novels" including: The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and several other tales that were remarkably prescient over 100 years ago. Modern sci-fi authors could learn a lot from Wells about plot, character development, imagination, suspense, etc. Happy reading!


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

Carolyn J. Rose said:


> Shakespeare. Not so much the lighter plays, but Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear, Richard, etc. If you haven't seen the three-season Canadian series, Slings and Arrows, it will give you terrific insight into interpretations of Hamlet, Macbeth, and Lear. And it's pretty darn funny.


I'll have to check out Slings and Arrows. "King Lear" is my favorite tragedy. And who doesn't like a good tragedy every once in awhile?

Karen


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2010)

KarenW.B. said:


> "King Lear" is my favorite tragedy. And who doesn't like a good tragedy every once in awhile?
> 
> Karen


Mine too. I took an entire graduate class on it, and the brilliance is just inexhaustible.


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## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

Carolyn J. Rose said:


> Shakespeare. Not so much the lighter plays, but Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear, Richard, etc. If you haven't seen the three-season Canadian series, Slings and Arrows, it will give you terrific insight into interpretations of Hamlet, Macbeth, and Lear. And it's pretty darn funny.


I just looked -- and this series is available to stream on Netflix! Thanks. I'm going to watch it.


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

I shouldn't try to post here . . . I can't narrow down my selections enough.

A couple of the books mentioned many times already, _Jane Eyre_ and _Pride and Prejudice_, I've read to tatters.

I have to say that _Jude the Obscure _ brought me to tears as an older teenager, I loved it so much. And _Great Expectations_--that one makes me cry too.

And JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis were both Brits, and I love LOTR and all of Lewis's fantasy.

My favorite poets are William Butler Yeats and TS Eliot (if he counts as a British poet rather than an American one.)

And depending what mood I'm in, I could call just about any Shakespeare play my favorite.

Some great companion books I've found are _The Friendly Shakespeare _ by Norrie Epstein (Epstein is very witty and not only interprets the plays themselves but also compares and contrasts the different adaptations for stage and screen), _A Dab of Dickens and a Touch of Twain _ by Elliot Engel (includes fascinating bios of both British and American writers from Chaucer to Robert Frost), and Daniel Pool's _What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew_ which tells you anything and everything you ever wanted to know about 19th century England.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

foreverjuly said:


> Mine too. I took an entire graduate class on it, and the brilliance is just inexhaustible.


Did you happen to see the Ian McKellen version that was on PBS last year? Magnificent. No matter how many times I read it or see a production, I find something new.

Were you an English major? Just curious.

Karen


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

purplepen79,

I have the Daniel Poole book--it's great.

Karen


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

KarenW.B. said:


> purplepen79,
> 
> I have the Daniel Poole book--it's great.
> 
> Karen


I can just dip into it at any point and start reading--Daniel Poole helped convince me to be a history major in college because I realized history wasn't just about battles and various political/religious movements.


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## Richardcrasta (Jul 29, 2010)

Salman Rushdie is a British national. So, would 
"The Satanic Verses"  qualify?

I think it a brilliant novel.
Richard


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

purplepen79 said:


> I can just dip into it at any point and start reading--Daniel Poole helped convince me to be a history major in college because I realized history wasn't just about battles and various political/religious movements.


That is very true. What really interests me is what happens to the people during all of those wars and political/religious movements. How these impact their lives. I think that is where novels come into play, chronicling life at a particular time period.

I often wished I would have taken more history classes (I was an English major). I did take a hybrid course once, "Historical Reality in American Fiction." It was wonderful.


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## Robert Tell Author (Aug 17, 2010)

It's probably the curse of the English Major (which I was as an undergrad), but I keep thinking about historic stuff like Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, and all those wonderful Romantic Poets: Keats, Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Coleridge, etc.  And what about Dickens? Has anyone mentioned Dickens? Surely, Oliver Twist, Tale of Two Cities, Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Pickwick, etc. deserve honorable mention here. And while I'm at it, Arthur Conan Doyle's immortal Sherlock must have a place on this list. OMIGOD! How is it possible to choose just one favorite?


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## drenfrow (Jan 27, 2010)

KarenW.B. said:


> Annette and anyone who is interested,
> 
> Here's my blog post on my visit to Jane Austen's house.
> 
> ...


Jane Austen is my favorite classic author and I guess I would have to pick Pride and Prejudice as my favorite of hers although Persuasion runs a close second.

I visited Austen's house in Chawton ten years ago and can still picture it vividly in my mind. I enjoyed your blog about it.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks, drenfrow.

And, Robert Tell, it is really difficult to choose. Besides my perennial favorite of "Pride and Prejudice," I've had various phases, like my "William Wordsworth and the Age of English Romanticism" absorption after seeing the museum exhibit of the same name, my Shakespeare immersion period, my "Hey, Chaucer was really good" discovery, and my Pink Floyd's "The Wall" as an example of 20th century post-apocalyptic fiction hypothesis. 


Karen


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## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

My yearly urge to read _Middlemarch _is creeping up again.

I often put that among the "best" of English literature. And since I consistently re-read it more than any other book, I suppose it is by definition my favorite.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

Well, my status just went from "Jane Austen" to "Conan Doyle." Although happy to be here, I weep a little at the loss of my dear Jane.

I guess I have to learn to be mysterious now...


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

R. Reed said:


> Ooh Ooh! Ghormenghast by Mervyn Peake. Weird and wonderful. I couldn't get far in the second one when I was young, I need to try again.


I bought the first volume this weekend--it looks very gothic and fantastical, just my kind of book, like the soundtrack would include St. Saen's Danse Macabre.

@KarenW.B.

Congratulations on your status change, though I would weep to lose Jane too, especially after reading your wonderful tribute to her on your blog. Thank you for sharing that--she is such an inspiration to women authors everywhere. She started writing simply for the joy of writing, never with the expectation of publishing her work because women of that time rarely got published. In one of the books I mentioned before (_A Dab of Dickens and a Touch of Twain_), Engel wrote a wonderful chapter about Jane Austen and all the prejudices she overcame as a woman and a writer.


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## kglavin (Mar 18, 2010)

Hi Karen and Friends,

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. I use to go to England
every summer, but haven't had a chance in a while. I look
forward to going again soon.

There are so many great pieces of English literature.
One of the courses I teach is British Literature.
I have fun rereading the classics every year--Beowulf,
Canterbury Tales, Arthurian Tales, Paradise Lost,
Hamlet, Gulliver's Travels, Donne's poetry, Pride and Prejudice,
Wuthering Heights, Dickens, and many more.

Every year, we get up to Joyce, read "Araby," and then run out of time.
I'd love to find the time for the class to read Ulysses or
Finnegan's Wake, but you would need months to go
through them.

It's hard to choose just one piece. I enjoy them all,
and every year find something new in each of them.

Kevin


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## Roger E. Craig - novelist (Aug 28, 2010)

The choices have been defined as British which includes the Irish writers. So I choose the works of James Joyce - not that unreadable Ullyses - let's say *The Dubliners*, which I purchased from Kindle earlier this year. And I think it was free.


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## BooksGalore (Aug 5, 2010)

*Personal Favorites*
Shakespeare - The Taming of the Shrew ***all time favorite
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre

*Youth worthy for adults*
Harry Potter series
anything Dahl


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## drenfrow (Jan 27, 2010)

KarenW.B. said:


> Well, my status just went from "Jane Austen" to "Conan Doyle." Although happy to be here, I weep a little at the loss of my dear Jane.
> 
> I guess I have to learn to be mysterious now...


Mine finally went from Lewis Carroll to Jane Austen. Hurray!


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## warobison (Aug 29, 2010)

Favorite classic novel: _A Tale of Two Cities_ -- This is the only Dickens book that I find myself reading more than once.

Favorite popular novel: _Death in Holy Orders_ -- P. D. James does such a good job with her setting (and I think Adam Dalgliesh (sp?) is such a good character.)

Favorite Play: _The Importance of Being Earnest_ -- Something new and funny every time I read it or see it

(If you have to pick a Shakespeare one-- _Romeo and Juliet_ or _Taming of the Shrew_

Poetry-- Any of the World War I poets, but particularly Wilfred Owen, especially "Anthem for Doomed Youth"


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

BooksGalore said:


> *Personal Favorites*
> Shakespeare - The Taming of the Shrew ***all time favorite
> Pride and Prejudice
> Jane Eyre
> ...


Have you read any of Roald Dahl's short stories for adults? If not, I highly recommend them, particularly if you like his wonderfully twisted, dark style in the children's stories. It's even more twisted and dark in the adult stories.


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## BooksGalore (Aug 5, 2010)

Purple, I haven't read short stories since college.  I'll have to look into that.  I need more hours in my day because now I want to go back to read many of the classics I've read, many I haven't, re-read Shakespeare, and sooooo many other books.  If I cut out the cleaning/cooking (the hours of the day that aren't as pleasant) without stirring up rebellion, then I'll have time for it all.


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## Thalia the Muse (Jan 20, 2010)

I love a lot of English lit, but if I have to choose one I will go with A. S. Byatt's Possession.


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## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

Thalia the Muse said:


> I love a lot of English lit, but if I have to choose one I will go with A. S. Byatt's Possession.


I adore this book. It's another that I re-read every year or two.

Ooh! I don't have it for Kindle yet...

update: WAH!!!!!! not available on Kindle! boo-hoo~!


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## purplepen79 (May 6, 2010)

BooksGalore said:


> Purple, I haven't read short stories since college. I'll have to look into that. I need more hours in my day because now I want to go back to read many of the classics I've read, many I haven't, re-read Shakespeare, and sooooo many other books. If I cut out the cleaning/cooking (the hours of the day that aren't as pleasant) without stirring up rebellion, then I'll have time for it all.


I generally don't read short stories either--novels have always been my thing--but Dahl's are worth it. They all have these awesome, evil twists. Good luck with getting some more time for reading--I know the feeling! Too many good books, too little time!


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## Robert Tell Author (Aug 17, 2010)

This is such a long discussion group that I must admit to possibly missing someone's posts. But in scanning many of the comments I haven't seen anyone mention GB Shaw. OK so he's technically Irish, having been born in Dublin, but his impact on English Literature has been enormous. I mean think about such classics as: ARMS AND THE MAN, MAJOR BARBARA, HEARTBREAK HOUSE, MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION, CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA, ANDROCLES AND THE LION, and dozens of other pieces, many with messages that are still relevant today.

I STILL CAN'T PICK A FAVORITE!!!!


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## ArthurC (Aug 4, 2010)

Anything by Dickens, especially 'The Pickwick Papers'.

'The Woman in White', by Wilkie Collins.  It's an outstanding mystery.


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## William Woodall (Jun 8, 2009)

I would have a hard time choosing between "The Silmarillion" by JRR Tolkien and "Perelandra" by CS Lewis, when it comes to novels.  The series of which each of those is respectively a part would get sneaked in if I thought I could get away with it. lol

As for poetry, Coleridge will probably always be my favorite, specifically "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Christabelle", and a couple of others.

Plays?  Well, nobody could ever compete with Shakespeare, but my favorite of his plays is "The Tempest", followed by "Romeo and Juliet".


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## 13893 (Apr 29, 2010)

My cat is named Coleridge.

I like _Constancy to An Ideal Object_. And _Christabel _is fantastic.


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## 13500 (Apr 22, 2010)

LKRigel said:


> My cat is named Coleridge.


That is awesome.


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## Barry Eysman (Jul 19, 2010)

everything by John Fpwles
Phillip Macdonald
Oliver Twist
Great Expectations
Peter Haining (editor and writer)
The Hand-Reared Boy by Brian Aldiss
not English but close enough, J.P.  Donleavy
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
H.G.  Wells
John Colleton


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