Thursday Thought Provoker
Thursday, May 26, 2011
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Although I’m currently sick of the All-Things-Jane-Austen-All-the-Time trend we’ve seen for the last four or five years, I’d have to say that the classic that I’ve read the greatest number of times as well as the one which has had the most dramatic and literal impact on my life is Jane Austen’s Persuasion. Not only do I identify with Anne Eliot the most out of all the Austen heroines, but Frederick Wentworth is my favorite Austen hero. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Ransome Trilogy and Love Remains were inspired by it.
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When I read this I thought I mostly read childrens books and no real classics but I then remembered I read the Little women series and loved them, Then there was Pollyanna, Heidi. Then I thought of the Billabong by Mary Grant Bruce. These were great books they about growing up in Australia and we then see Norah marry and into Adulthood and ww1. I didn’t read all the book but they were classics in Australia.
But then I thought an Australian Classic was Seven little Australians by Ethel Turner I had the books and read it and the sequal. then it became a series here also.
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Ooh, thanks for the reminder. I really need to read Seven Little Australians if my historical proposal sells, since one of the books features an Australian hero!
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I can never seem to choose just one, so I’d have to say Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.
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I’m impressed with anyone who can read books that long! Especially since they’re translations (or at least, I assume they’re translations—next you’ll surprise me by telling me you’ve read them in the original Russian and French!) 🙂
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LOL! No, I definitely don’t read or speak Russian, and my French is definitely not good enough to try to read Dumas.
Now, I might be able to read Harry Potter in French, provided I also have my English copies next to me. 😉
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Citzen Kane
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Interesting! I’ve never even seen the movie, much less thought about picking up the book. What is it about it that makes it your favorite?
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That’s tough. I do love Austen. But I love J.R.R. Tolkien more.
#1 The Lord of the Rings
#2 Pride & Prejudice
There are books written in the sixties, or right around that time, that I adore. But I’d have to go look them all up to be sure of their pub dates. Mary Stewart. Edith Pargeter/Ellis Peters among them.
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LOTR—love the movies, had to force myself to make it all the way through the books. And now I need to sit down and read The Hobbit before the movies come out.
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I love LOTR! I was put off by it for years before the movies came out, and then I had to sit down and “make” myself read about 50 or so pages. After that I carried that 3-in-1 with me EVERYWHERE until I finished it. 🙂
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Fahrenheit 451. (At least, I think that was pre-1960.)
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Yep, it was published in 1951. I need to add more Bradbury to my reading list.
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The Great Gatsby. LOVE. IT.
Then I remembered the Little House on the Prairie series which I absolutely love too. My favorite there is The Long Winter.
So which one do I like more??? Oh, it’s hard–and they’re so different. I don’t think I can decide–but now I’m going to have to reread them both. 🙂
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Those are both great choices. I’ve read “The Long Winter” so many times it’s ridiculous! 😀
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Oh, I love The Great Gatsby too! Definitely my favorite American novel.
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Anne of Green Gables
Runners up:
the rest of the Anne of Green Gables series
The Count of Monte Christo
The Lord of the Rings
Dracula
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I have an audio book of Dracula read by Greg Wise. I’ve only listened to about the first 25% of it, but I need to finish it—both for the story, and for listening to his silky-smooth voice!
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I’ll have to see if I can find that – I like listening to audio books, especially if the readers are really good. I first read Dracula for English class in high school, and I thought the first 50-75 pages or so (or rather, the 50-75 pages after Jonathan’s initial visit to Transylvania) were the most horribly boring thing ever, but after that it got really good!
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I downloaded it from Audible.com (you can listen to a sample of it there):
http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B002UZKUAS
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There are so many classics I haven’t read, but one that I’ve read more than once, and still love, is “Little Women.” Even as a teenager, I was a sucker for an overly-long novel! 😀
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I think I’ve mentioned this here before, but I didn’t read Little Women until I was in my twenties (after the Winona Ryder/Christian Bale movie came out), and while I enjoyed it, I just didn’t get as lost in it as I probably would have if I’d come to it as a teenager.
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I don’t think I can pick just one…so I’ll list a few favorites. 🙂
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini
Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
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What? No Jane Eyre? I’m shocked! 😉
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Ohmygosh…the list part two: 🙂
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
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I fell in love with two classics in High School and college. You know the ones that get assigned and you sigh and say, “Fine, if I have to” but end up reading way before the deadline because you loved them?
First is A Tale of Two Cities, one of the best ever written.
Second was Fathers and Sons by Turgenev. A phenomenal read and seems underrated to me all time.
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I loved A Tale of Two Cities too. Also, For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway.
A Wrinkle in Time (and the many, many Scholastic Books I read) sparked my love of reading. I’m so thankful I was encouraged to read as a child/teenager! What a great gift.
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Wuthering Heights & Jane Eyre, then Emma and Anne of Green Gables! Favorite heroes are Mr. Rochester & Mr Knightley, though 🙂
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Classic books are my favorite so my list is long but my top ones are:
Pride and Prejudice
The Secret Garden
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer/Huckleberry Finn
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Peter Pan
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It would be a toss up between Little Women and the Little House books.
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I read it at least once a year. I love the transformation of Francie from little girl to young woman and how the historical events around her influence her. My favorite book EVER. And I have to confess to loving Gone with the Wind. The book is so different than the movie. Scarlett winds up being a much more sympathetic character in the book. (Hated the sequel though.)
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Pride and Prejudice would have to top the list as my very favorite (there’s a reason why Jane Austen is so popular to the point of overload – she’s awesome! :-)) I also loved Emma.
Beyond her books…well, I love many of those listed above (including Little Women and the Anne of Green Gable books) but to add a few that aren’t listed:
Wives and Daughters as well as North and South both by Elisabeth Gaskell
Bath Tangle and other Regency Romances by Georgette Heyer – I think hers were written before 1960…
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definitely North & South by Elizabeth Gaskell. The book is much better than the BBC mini series.
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My fav. classics are also my fav books! : Les Miserables by Hugo, Great Expectations by Dickens and the Blue Castle by L M Montgomery 🙂
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An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott. Little Women is good, but this one is her masterpiece!
The Phantom of the Opera (in which there is an entire chapter devoted to the curious affair of a safety pin as it related to a trap set for the phantom)
The Secret Garden
Jane Eyre
A Little Princess
I was very excited to pick up the B&N Classics edition of The Secret Garden for free a few weeks ago. I have no idea what happened to my paper copy!
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