Do you read classics?

I love so many of the classics; 1984, Pride and Prejudice and all the other stories by Jane Austen, Wuthering Heights, Day of the Triffids. There are so many great classics for children, that I loved and I am encouraging my kids to read too – like A Wrinkle in Time, the Narnia series, Little Women and The Lord of the Rings.

There is actually some debate about what a classic book is. It is generally held to be a literary work that is held in high esteem and has themes with a ‘freshness’ that endures in some way. What about age – should they be published before 1960? If a book has endured thirty years, should it then become a classic? Mark Twain noted that a classic book was “something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read”.

My current favourite author of the ‘classics’ is Daphne du Maurier. I started with a creepy tour round Manderley in the novel Rebecca, then I sampled the delicious temptations of time travel in The House on the Strand. Now, I have just finished My Cousin Rachel.

I think Du Maurier should be mandatory reading for writers, since the books do a great job at subverting the expectations of the reader – I find myself shocked at the ending every time. They are strangely timeless as well. For books written in the 1930’s, the psychological themes are still relevant although the class structure and gender roles have changed dramatically.

Some classics I have not yet read include The Wind in the Willows, War and Peace and Frankenstein, although I have got Frankenstein sitting on my bookshelf!

Summer Blog Hop

That’s right – for the whole month of June, I’ll be touring the web with my blogging buddies from the Bookish Blog Hops group. We’ll be answering a wide variety of bookish questions over the next 30 days.

Below are the answers from the other book bloggers.

Views She Writes https://viewsshewrites.wordpress.com

If Christie and Doyle novels are classics, then yes. Else, not so much.

Leslie Conzatti www.upstreamwriter.blogspot.com

Absolutely! I was homeschooled, so I grew up reading ALL the classics, from Shakespeare and H. G. Wells to Louisa May Alcott and G. A. Henty! My favorite “classic” is kind of more contemporary–The Princess Bride by William Goldman! Though probably I could list some others, like Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels, or Jane Austen’s Persuasion.

Becki Svare – A Book Lover’s Adventures https://abookloversadventures.com

I don’t read a lot of classics, but I do love Jane Austen! I’ve read most of her books. But now I’m really enjoying reading some of the modern retellings of her books. Those are fun to read and compare to the originals. One of the most recent retellings I enjoyed was Jane of Austin by Hillary Manton Lodge. It’s a modern (Texas) retelling of Sense and Sensibility!

Jo Linsdell www.JoLinsdell.com

I love classics! Amongst my favourites would definitely have to be; The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and pretty much anything by Jane Austen.

Brandy Potter www.brandypotterbooks.com

Read them, re-read them and collect them. I have several classic books that are rare antiques. Not that they are worth anything, but… I love Austen, Christie, Doyle, The Brontes, Kipling. Need I go on?

Fee Kelly http://ebookaddicts.net

I don’t read the classics, in fact the only ones I have read have been Dracula, Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein and Charles Dickens (only because it was at High School) I really want to read them though, I just never get round to it!


Previous stop: How do you choose the next book to read? With Eline at Lovely Audiobooks

Next stop: Is there a specific genre you like to read during the summer? With Becky at A Book Lover’s Adventures


Dear Reader –

Do you read the classics? If so, what is your favourite?

What books of our era will become classics in fifty years?

34 thoughts on “Do you read classics?”

  1. I love classics! I have read all of Jane Austen’s novels, I love Sherlock Holmes, and there are probably more that I’ve forgotten lol. I hope books that are considered “classics” do get a little more diverse and that books that are popular today are classics in the future.

  2. Yes, very true – more diversity in classic literature could only be a good thing.

  3. I prefer the classics by far. I feel so much more comfortable with them, and as works of literature they are more complete.

    I don’t get on with many modern books at all in all honesty. Sometimes they feel incoherent, there are sometimes holes in the plot, inconsistencies in the characters and overly contrived plot developments. And I often find it hard to get my head round the mindset/morality of modern characters…whereas with characters in classic works – there is a traditional outlook that has been pretty much the same for centuries up until the last few decades. I find it easier to understand why the characters in classic works think the way they do. In the modern world, I am baffled at why some people think the way they do.

  4. Interesting perspective! I do know what you mean about the motivations of the characters in classic works.

    But have there always been lots of books with flat characters, plot holes and silly choices and only the great ones endure? So we only see the very best? Does it ever make you think what if the last copy of the very best book ever written was lost in a flood or fire or simply chucked under some juicy food scraps?!

  5. Pingback: Do you read classics? If so, what is your favorite? – Views She Writes

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  7. I’m not a huge fan of classics, but I have a select few that I have loved, the most recent one being A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I loved that book so much I read the other lesser known books the author published and loved those as well. I’m also a fan of Little Women and The Catcher in the Rye.
    I’ve been trying to read Moby Dick since, oh …. 2002? But can’t get past 100 pages or so haha!

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  11. Most of the classics are on my TBR, but I never seem to get around to them. I do usually love them when I read them and always tell myself I’m going to catch up.

  12. Sooooooo many great author’s here. However, it’s interesting to me how many we all have in common. And again… Rebecca… great book and little read!

  13. Oh, me too. So many great stories. I love PG Wodehouse too, and Jack London

  14. I know, they are classic works for a reason. It is just a matter of sinking your teeth into them, since they are usually written in a more long-winded way.

  15. Yes, definitely. It’s so cool that we have lots in common despite being from different places and cultures etc

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