by some French guy. Easily as good as anything Danielle Steele ever wrote.

Too many to from, but given the "context" in which the question was submitted and the recurring theme of the board...one has to list "Candy", "Topic of Cancer", "Lady Chatterly's Lover". All are classics in the truest sense of the word, well written and highly erotic, except for Candy..which makes up for its simplistic composition by creating so many great scenes that I was jacking off continuously as a young teenager. The scene where the Tantra master is pounding Candy's sweet little and very tight pussy and cums...but assures her that he was able to withhold the semen from his ejaculation. Candy's incredible innocence allows her to believe the SOB and off she goes...smiling with his nectar dripping from her moist pussy and running down her legs.

Many others that really shine too and justify comment, but gotta get back to "work"!

Curious about why you posed the question...just curiuos!

I'm not sure how well Danielle Steele serves as a benchmark for "classic novel"...

O.

-- Modified on 1/31/2003 11:15:12 AM

I am assuming that you mean by "classic novel" a novel that is accepted into the literary canon as "important" by academia; that is, it is taught in classes, etc. This precludes many fine current authors and makes selection a little easier.

That said...

1) Cervantes' "Don Quixote": besides being entertaining AND brilliant, it set the structural tone for centuries of novels to follow. Also a must for understanding Borges, another must-read author.

2) Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying": probably the first "serious" novel that fully engaged me as a child; Faulker's finest work, imho.

3) Swift's "Gulliver's Travels": the satire is still hilarious (if you have a grounding in English history around the time of Walpole) and it is just a great adventure.

4) von Clausowitz's "On Warfare": not a novel, but an important work for anyone wanting to understand the interaction between warfare and diplomacy, and relevant again in a post-Cold War world. Set the tone for power politics in 19th century Europe.

5) Lucretius' "On the Nature of Things": a epic poem that defined Roman epicureanism, and a strangely sort of buddhistic and quantary world view; condemned by the stoics (who eventually dominated Roman philosophy) it has been sort of rediscovered of late. I think it influenced Swedenborg and indirectly Kant.

6) Homer's "Iliad": far superior to the "Odyssey" (so much so I suspect these have different authors)... read the Fitzgerald translation for the best poetic sense.

7) Conrad's "Heart of Darkness": I still find Kurtz one of the most chilling characters in fiction... "the horror, the horror".

8) Socrates' "Three Theban Plays": well, not a novel (the form didn't exist) but Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone between them address every issue in literature; also there is the uncannily spot-on understanding of human psychology that the Greeks understood, Socrates particularly. And to think this guy's day job was as a General...

So that's eight... could go on and on.

For "modern classics", I highly recommend McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" for one of the best-drawn villains of contemporary literature, "Judge Holden". Rushdie's "THe Moor's Last Sigh" is very wonderful storytelling, in that kind of Bollywood-esque "family chronicle" tradition... very comical.

Note I didn't mention The Russians (Tolstoy, Chekov, Dostoevsky) because they really need to be read in Russian to fully appreciate. There are some much improved translations entering the market but the names evade me... nice trade paper versions, though.

Beyond the west, I really love Soseki's marvelous "I am a Cat" trilogy, merciless satire of the Japanese middle class in the late 19th/early 20th century.

So, some suggestions.

O.

Fyodor Dostoevsky-Crime and Punishment

Ernest Hemingway-For Whom the Bell Tolls

William Makepeace Thackeray-Vanity Fair

Margaret Mitchell-Gone With The Wind

Thomas Hardy-The Mayor of Casterbridge

Jack London-White Fang

Hermann Hesse-Steppenwolf

Not sure which is my favorite, but these are all great books.

-- Modified on 2/1/2003 8:34:55 AM

-- Modified on 2/1/2003 8:40:52 AM

Great, great book.  Adventure, Romance, Obsession, Redemption, Sacrifice, Revolution.

Something that would be judged as real literature (i.e. Moby Dick, Catcher in the Rye, etc.) Could be English, AMerican, but something you might have read in a elit class..

I read that book in college. Wonderful story.. Depressing..

My favorite still remains something I read in High-school.. Actually two novels.. A Seperate Peace, and The Chocolate War..

You are all over.. Can't argue with any of them.  I love Don Quixote but for a very different reason..  I find the story utterly compelling.. I still think it has meaning today... The idea of an idealist considered insane, but in his insanity he is able to see a woman who utterly has no self-worth, and because he treats her with dignity and respect, she is transformed.

Ever see the adoptation of it into a musical(i.e. Man of Lamancha)? By the end there was not a dry eye in the theatre..

ANother great one along with the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
The utter dispair of human cruelty and triumph of human compassion..

I am somewhat surprised that no one mentioned anything about Graham Greene ... specifically, he has one about a loveless marriage, but the "courage" to stay with it ... some of the more worldly audience, would know Scobie ...  I am guessing most of the audience in this board, are married ... and I can not imagine if someone is truly in love, would want to have sex with someone else ... hobbyist or provider ...  so a lot of Major Scobie in all of us ...

I have to go with:

The Divine Comedy - Dante

Faust I & II - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Le Morte Darthur - Sir Thomas Malory

Thus Spake Zarathustra - Friedrich Nietzsche

La Belle Dame Sans Merci - John Keats

Why,

They challenge and press one's sense of one's self!

Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy.  Very, VERY sexy book.  In a good way.

Richard Wright's Classic--I read it in colllege and to date, its been the most profound thing I've ever read!

Joey

I have not read a great deal of classical literatures.  My interest resides with politics, history and biographies.

I admire Jane Austen's astute observation and witty dialogue especially in Pride and Prejudice.  The PBS mini-series of Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle made that even better.  I watch the movies "Sense and Sensibility", "Emma" and "Mansfield Park" instead of reading the books.  All three are very good films especially in DVD with the directors' commentaries.  In time, I will check out the DVD version of "Persuasion".

I am basically a dreamer and a sort of romantic who loves fairy tale endings grounded with a certain kind of realism.

I also like a rather obscure novel "The Black Tulip" of Alexandre Dumas.  Count of Monte Cristo is great but I love the innocence of the hero and heroine in "The Black Tulip".

Dickens are too dark and Bronte sisters are too sad for me.

As for Great Non-Frictions:

Daniel Yergin's book "The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power" is great.

Richard Ben Cramer's "What It Takes: The Way to the White House" is simply amazing.

"A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East" by David Fromkin is a preannual read.

I love the original first 2 volume biography of Richard Milhouse Nixon by Stephen Ambrose ever since I laid eyes on them in the 80s.

I adore "The Last Lion" and "Alone", the Vol I and II biography of Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill by William Manchestor.

For years I had waited for the triumphant last volume.  I even called the publisher in mid-90s inquired about the progress and the welfare of Mr. Manchestor.  Too bad he couldn't and won't let others finish that volume ever since his wife passed away.  It is a lost to future generations


-- Modified on 2/1/2003 9:55:18 AM

I also enjoyed Native Son. Another book I read in high school was "Cry the beloved country" by Alan Paton left a great impression. It was the begining of my interest in South Africa and it's people. I have other favorites, but since your's was the only post to mention a black author I thought I'd mention Alan Patons book, even though he wasn't black.

Jane Eyre because I love a good heroinne.... and Candide because of all the sexual undertones.... great book.

It covers everything human. And the friendship between the Don and Sancho is timeless. The commentary on the human existence is still spot-on over 400 years later. Whatever you want to know about what it means to be human, Cervantes has already been there.

OK, and it's funny as hell, too *lol*

The story is of a love triangle that flies in the face of he conventions of society where upper-class society will not let her forget her past.

The story is of a love triangle that flies in the face of the conventions of society where upper-class society will not let her forget her past.

A very heartfelt little book, with deep insights from a man who rode the ragged edge of life & death.

read it in high school and I loved that book ... some others

fiction:
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Herbert Selby
Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski
Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
Emma Who Saved My Life by Wilton Barnhardt

non-fiction:
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
All God's Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence by Fox Butterfield
The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner

Reon Quixote

Ditto..The story of my male counter-part...I've always identified with the character...although, as I get older, I realize that the energy wasted "Josting at Windmills" can be better utilized elsewhere...But a good study in the strength of the human spirit, none the less...Peace, Robyn

Much to heavy..

Jane Eyre is so so sad... Wonderful story..
I don't think though yo can find a more modern and tragic heroine then the central character of the Thorn Birds..

Reon Quixote tunred into Man of LaMancha

Absolutely favorite musical.. Captures the spirit of Cervantes
and the difference that a single human being can have on others.
With idealism, compassion and human decency we can transform ourselves and others... I can't think of anything performed in the musical idiom that invokes that much power to move..

Come to think of it.. South Pacific comes pretty close..

Unfortunately, I didn't know better at the time and missed that chance

Didn't the Man of La Mancha feature the song "The Impossible Dream?".  That song, along with "This Moment In Time" (the theme of the '84 Olympics) are among two of my favorites because of the way they depict the human spirit.

....that's exactly the way I found Ivanhoe to be.  The first 40-50 pages particularly.  I would've never continued with it except it was a required reading assingment.

Treasure Island & Muntiny on the Bounty are a couple, & for a change of pace..Tom Sawyer.

Almost forgot...damn near anything by Hemingway--too hard to pick a personal favorite from his books.  

-- Modified on 2/2/2003 5:30:05 PM

You are correct.. The lyrics to that song come up over and over outside the context of the musical.. It is universal in its appeal.

We all need to stive for our impossible dreams..

Even the Late Leo Burnett once said when you reach for the stars, you may not come up with one, but you certainly won't come up with a hand full of mud either...

Reon Quixote

This is my favorite as well.  For much the same reasons.

Correct, from "Man of LaMancha", on of my favorite musicals of all time.

Reon Quixote

Ah, but the energy spent tilting at windmills is what makes us human... wasted or not.

I love the fact that you never see what the Don sees, so you are always left wondering how crazy he really is. However, the Don admits that he sees what he wants to see... but that is his reality. As is our own realities...