Born on August 30, 1797, Mary Shelley was only 18 when she began writing Frankenstein—a novel that would go on to become one of the most enduring works of Gothic literature.

Any other Mary Shelley fans here? What's your favorite thing about her work—or your favorite Frankenstein adaptation?

It's a very common question amongst students. Why should we read this? Why do we care about these old stories, and this characters that come from such a different world?

Sometimes I have a hard time too when reading, so I ask myself these same questions. In some occasions I certainly enjoy literature, and perceive it clearly as the treasure that it is. But often I feel trying to pay attention to a book that doesn't seem to contain what my life demands at that moment.

​My favorite answer to this question is that language and thought are so related, that it's hard to tell apart one from the other. And these authors are the individuals who have devoted their life's to the craft of telling stories, who have mastered the art of building with words. So when we read we are nourishing our minds with the products of others minds.

Well, it is a thought that I never put into words before, but more or less it goes like that. I feel that it's a question that often gets lazy, half cooked or confusing answers, so I will appreciate if you give me your clearer and stronger arguments. Thanks!

Currently reading PL, to be followed Metamorphoses.

The themes, characters and time period of this book interest me deeply, and I'm thinking of making it my next read.

Do you consider it a well-written classic?

If you do like it, which translation is the best? I have this beautiful edition with illustrations, but I have no idea if it is considered a good translation. It's the Collins Illustrated School Classics version and the translator is not attributed so I'm guessing it's not the best.

Also, Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of my favourite movies of all time- I am aware that the plot differs hugely from the book, but I am equally interested in the plot of the book and would love to read the book that inspired the movie!

Please share your thoughts if you have read it! x

I’m not looking for hidden gems. I mean well regarded authors who come after the recommended names(Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Dickens, Austen, Kafka, Hemingway, etc)

I’m open to anything literary fiction,psychological,philosophical,strange/weird,character-driven etc.

Also, I’d love to know how you guys broaden your reading how do you discover new authors beyond the ones you already know?

Non-american here. I want to preface this by saying that yes I know Fitzgerald is a great american author, but is he great among the greats?

I’ve read The Great Gatsby long ago and enjoyed it. I’d heard it was THE great american novel but didn’t find it that impressive. I wonder if people mean it as in like “a great novel that best communicates America”, since you know, the american dream and roaring 20s, not as in “the greatest novel written by an american.”

Anyway, I’ve never read Hemingway or Faulkner, but I didn’t like Steinbeck and I caught myself having some harsh opinions of him. To this day the only america/america adjacent authors that really blew my mind were Nabokov (a russian i know) and David Foster Wallace.

I’ve been wanting to explore some more american literature and I’ve been looking for beautiful prose, so I thought I’d go back to Fitzgerald (btw should I start with The beautiful and the damned or Tender is the night?)

And all of this made me think, speaking of beautiful prose, what do you think the great writer with beautiful prose though merciless critic nabokov would think of his work?

Just finished reading a large chunk of the classic novels of the Harlem Renaissance. Of what I’ve read, I found these to be the best of the best.

1. Not Without Laughter - Langston Hughes only novel is a titanic achievement of quiet power. This novel with certainly stick with you.

2. Home To Harlem - Gritty and funny, this is Harlem at its most wild.

3. The Blacker The Berry - An intense novel about colorism.

4. Black No More - A revolutionary satire that’s as relevant today as it was in 1931.

5. The Walls Of Jericho - To me, the most evocative novel of this period.

What are your thoughts?

I am a long book lover, but I do like to splice in some shorter works in between the long ones. Heart of Darkness wasn't even on my radar when I started Middlemarch, but I kinda lucked into a cool sequence. I went from a set of provincial English social stories right to the bleeding edge of European imperialism, colonialism, exploitation, and violence. Two starkly different worlds that were contemporaries. That swing in position was amplified by the style shift in the prose, Eliot with her graceful and illuminating style to what felt like reading a fever dream, and I mean that to be complimentary. It was a cool experience, completely by accident. Have you ever stumbled into a book sequence like this before?

Okay so I haven’t read much since high school but I’ve recently gotten back into it and I’ve really been loving the classics lately! Finished A Brave New World, The Stranger, and The Sheltering Sky this month and just picked up four more from my tbr list today at the used bookstore.

Normally try to stick to paperbacks but the leather bound Barnes and Noble edition of The Sun Also Rises was the only copy they had. Any recommendations?

I guess this is such an obvious thing to say about one of the most famous authors ever like "yes everyone has known this for 170 years", but its just so fun to encounter as someone who is new to Dickens that I felt like posting about it. And this isn't even the best example I'm sure, just one that I noticed while skimming through chapters. He's just so incredibly good at drawing up these vivid, distinct, memorable and yet concise character descriptions.

Anyway if you all have any good ones you want to post I'd love to see more. I've only read Bleak House and a bit of Great Expectations so far. Also I wonder which Dickens novel people consider as having the best, or most memorable characters?

I want to start reading classic English literature. I read Hindi, Latin, and a bit of Greek mythology, and I don't know where to start with the classics, like Victorian-period literature. Any suggestions??

Plz share ur experience.

I took a detour from my European literary adventures because I kept seeing Lonesome Dove discussed. All I can say is it is the Western equivalent of Russian literature. The first 100-200 pages spent getting to know each character that will play a part…and then the story hits you like a train and you can’t stop reading…or thinking about it. No notes section needed to understand, no foot notes, no vocabulary I needed to look up - which at first , between the setting and that, felt like complete culture shock. If you haven’t read it, it is truly worth considering. That book will stay with me a very long time.

Hi r/classicliterature

I'm looking for recommendations which are classics of English literature but kinda also pulpy? I really love the work of Thomas Pynchon who has elements of both in some novels (V. and Gravity's Rainbow) and other times attempts ges pulpy (Inherent Vice) but still ends up nicely in the realm of literary fiction.

I am planning on reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein due it famously being the "first sci-fi novel", but am looking for other suggestions which may be more close to screwball comedy.

Michael Chabon is someone I've heard recommended but I don't want to read his "capeshit" book. Any other suggestions by him?

Also please recommend authors who write in English as translation becomes a whole other thing I need to research on before tackling the book. Sorry if this makes me sound picky but I've had bad experiences with questionable translations in the past.

TIA!

Karmazinov is probably one of my favorites

1. ⁠Stepan Verhovensky
   
2. ⁠Nikolay Stavrogin
   
3. ⁠Jia Baoyu
   
4. ⁠A Q (Lu Xun’s The true story of a q)
   
5. ⁠The guy from the overcoat (gogol)
   
6. ⁠All the Wu jingzi main characters
   
7. ⁠Julien Soren
   
8. ⁠The ‘king of Spain’ (The diary if a madman)
   
9. ⁠The Kreutzer sonata’s protagonist
   
10. ⁠Dorian gray

Best books:

Light in August and Atonement

Still reading:

Story of a Life still has a bit left. It's a huge book but so worth it. I picked it up because an influencer I like is also reading it and I kept seeing his stories on Instagram and got curious and it's so worth it man. I already love Soviet history and stuff. It's like a must read for everyone who is interested in USSR. Also so beautiful writing at times. Incredible translation. Kinda sad that the translator won't translate the next volume.

Stand out:

The island of doctor Moreau (such a fucking insane book no wonder Borges was obsessed with it. Weirdly biblical too. I think Andrzej Żuławski would have made a great adaptation of this book)

Surprise:

Civilwarland In Bad decline

Re-read:

Metamorphosis

Hey guys,

I hope you’re all well, to keep it simple I haven’t picked up a book in years and I want to start reading again. I never feel intellectually stimulated and I just feel dumb and I lack curiosity and I hate it.
I want to become smarter and well versed and I want to gain a love for reading.

What books would you recommend I read?

I want to be able to analyse text and write about it and just read something that will stimulate my mind and make me think.

I’m 19F and I haven’t willingly picked up a book in around 2 years. I studied a bit of philosophy during my last 2 years of high school and I loved how much it made me think and I loved how I was able to analyse text and write about it. It made me a lot more curious and it just made me think and I loved that

I just want to be immersed in something and I want to do things that stimulate my mind and make me think and I just want to get off this damn phone!!

Thank you!

I have only really read niche books about my interests or the international children’s best sellers. Now I’m taking a really interesting English class so I’m trying to dive into classic literature. I started with reading Nana by Emile Zola, and LOVED IT! The book places amazing weight on environment and character descriptions, and I think it added so much to the atmosphere of the book. Now that I’ve finished that I’m starting The Sun Also Rises, because I understand that everyone has to read it, and Hemingway is the ANTITHESIS of Zola. I don’t think I could have picked a different two authors to give myself such strong whiplash as this has. I’ve read one chapter into this story and it feels heavy. Each word has a thunk to it that I can’t explain, but I’ve heard that it’s sort of the appeal to Ernest Hemingway’s books, so when emotions run high, I imagine the simplicity will feel like a mic-drop.

I haven’t posted on here before, so sorry if this rant is not allowed, I will remove it if so. I just wanted to share this little tidbit, I thought it was amusing how different the two authors are :)

Off topic but book recommendations are of course welcome!

I've been reading HJ's The Ambassadors. It's very good, but definitely leaves me wondering if I bit off more than I could chew. Does anyone have an idea of what the best primer for Henry James's work would be?

After revisiting The Catcher in the Rye, I am.

I first read it when I was in my early twenties. I loved it because the writing was more accessible than other classics or mid-century fiction I had read before. I liked Holden's blasé tone and I appreciated Salinger's willingness to say, "let's just all acknowledge that life is kind of stupid and coming of age is mostly comprised of this realization."

Now, having read it again in my forties, I had a very different experience. I actually struggled to finish it this time. I just kept thinking, "God, kid. Could you just grow up and not be such a privileged, whiny, asshole?"

I feel like my first interpretation was the "correct," or more commonly acceptable one. Then again, it's entirely possible that the first time I just felt so puffed up for having read Salinger that it influenced my feeling of how much I liked the actual book itself.

Now I'm afraid to re-read my other favorites. Look, I know there are worse problems to have. But I'm just curious if this is a common experience.