Starting with the classics

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Forum -> Hobbies, Crafts, and Collections -> Reading Room

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View latest: 24h 48h 72h

tigerwife

Wed, Oct 03 2018, 9:06 pm

I loved Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrel.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy is great.
I liked The Scarlet Pimpernal until the very negative depiction of Jews- it really turned me off from the rest of the book.
I’ve also been looking for clean classics to read lately. I’ve downloaded Great Expections for free from iBooks and we’ll see how that is. You can download many classics for free on iBooks, such as Austin and Dickens.

sequoia

Wed, Oct 03 2018, 9:39 pm

I second The Blue Castle. It is so, so good.

emzod42

Wed, Oct 03 2018, 9:50 pm

Maybe Elizabeth Gaskell? North and South and Wives and Daughters both have romance. If you're reading Jane Austen I think Northhanger Abbey is fun and not such a heavy read. Emma and Pride and Prejudice are also good.

amother

Mauve

Wed, Oct 03 2018, 10:11 pm

Mommyg8 wrote:

Anne of Green Gables, Emily of New Moon. Caddie Woodlawn. Johnny Tremain. These are kid books but I can still read them now.

James Herriot. Agatha Christie. Dorothy Sayers.

To kill a mockingbird.

Erma Bombeck.

Is James Herriot that vet? I personally didn’t like his books bec I couldn’t read them while I ate. lol!

Reality

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 12:37 am

sequoia wrote:

I second The Blue Castle. It is so, so good.

Third vote. I was going to include it in my list but I couldnt remember the title. A really romantic easy read by L.M Montgomery!

perquacky

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 1:48 pm

Look no further than PBS: http://www.pbs.org/the-great-a.....ks/#/

Amarante

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 2:14 pm

Jane Austen is the mother of all chick lit books :-) Pride and Prejudice is the most famous but all of her books are beautifully written; keen observers of human behavior as well as being classic chick lit.

Edith Wharton - House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence are wonderful books. Elevated "chick lit" dealing with the nouveau riche clashing with the old money in New York at the turn of the century. My friend and I just finished reading The Husband Hunters which is non fiction about the rich young women who were sent to England in the late 19th century to marry impoverished members of the aristocracy. A great fun read. I had already read Wharton's The Buccaneers which is a fictional account of this phenomenon but my friend was inspired to read it after enjoying The Husband Hunters so much.

There are many fine works of modern literature which deal with women's issues/family life but are not as formulaic as the writers you have been reading. I tend to gravitate towards those books as I get bored with the superficial and non-realistic stories in the real chick lit books. If you are interested in some of those books, let me know.

iyar

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 2:36 pm

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (not sure I spelled his name correctly) is one of my favorites. Not chic lit but definitely a 21st century classic. It draws you into an amazingly realistic world of characters and places that will stay with you long after you put the book down.

iyar

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 2:39 pm

PS
Did you read The Help by K Stockett?
Another 21st century classic.
Read it. You'll thank me.

Mommyg8

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 2:48 pm

amother wrote:

Is James Herriot that vet? I personally didn’t like his books bec I couldn’t read them while I ate. lol!

Yup, the vet. I really liked the books, but if you don't, that's ok!

Have you read To Kill a Mockingbird?

amother

Magenta

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 3:37 pm

I love Edith Wharton ( I'd rank her above Jane Austen personally) and have read all of her books that are in print but going by op's description I don't think she'd like them...no happy endings, very heavy drama, etc.
(Btw, she only wrote the beginning of The Buccaneers! It was completed after her death by another writer.)

Amarante

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 3:57 pm

amother wrote:

\

Yes I realize The Buccaneers was finished posthumously by a third party but as I wrote my friend when I sent her The Buccaneers, mediocre Wharton is better than most books :-)

If you like Wharton, I recommend The Husband Hunters by Anne De Courcy. It's non-fiction but so delicious in stories of the clothing; the excess; the social squabbling and Wharton based some of her characters on the real life prototypes which are written about in the book. It reads as easily as a luscious fictional book because the lifestyles are so completely unfathomable. I kept translating the dollars spent in terms of 2018 money and it was staggering and of course that was in an era when there were no taxes and servants worked for a pittance - not that I am wishing for an era of human exploitation :-).

Also Louis Auchincloss is not as good as Wharton but he dealt with the WASP upper echelon of the 1950's/1960's New York with some of the same themes. He is a cousin of Jackie Kennedy's stepfather - FWIW. If you haven't read Auchincloss, you might try one of his on for size :-). I am thinking of trying John Cheever which covers the suburban upper class.

amother

Magenta

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 4:15 pm

Thanks for the rec-- The Husband Hunters does sound like something I would enjoy.

Amarante

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 4:17 pm

amother wrote:

Thanks for the rec-- The Husband Hunters does sound like something I would enjoy.

If you pm me I can send you a digital copy p if you read on Kindk or a smartphone

Last edited by Amarante on Thu, Oct 04 2018, 4:18 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Babyblue

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 4:17 pm

I recomend Outlander.

amother

Magenta

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 4:27 pm

That's very kind of you, Amarante to offer-- thank you! I prefer print books, though. I usually am able to find cheap secondhand copies of stuff on abebooks etc, or for free in the library, lol.

Reality

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 7:25 pm

iyar wrote:

I found this book to be extremely graphic. Not sure its for OP.

Reality

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 7:27 pm

I love Edith Wharton also but most of her books aren't an easy read for people who aren't used to reading classics. I would recommend her novelette Ethan Frome. Very readable and a gripping romantic story.

amother

Wheat

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 7:34 pm

Scarlet pimpernail amazing read! I also adore tale pf two cities, 12 angry men,

Younger read- follow my leader I
can still read and cry

amother

Magenta

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 7:49 pm

Ethan Frome is an easy, enthralling read for sure...but as op specified no psychological drama type books, I wouldn't recommend it to her LOL

Probably the only Wharton book I could in good conscience recommend to her would be Glimpses of the Moon. It's the "sweetest" of her books, for lack of a better word.

And I agree with the previous poster about The Kite Runner. Excellent book but horrifying and sad.

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