What are some great classic books or just fantastic reads?

Question

I like reading classic books, like the count of monte cristo, enders game, jurassic park, tuesday with morrie, those kinds of books. I'm not sure what to read now and was wandering if anyone had any recomendations? I posted a similar question a few hours ago so don't get mad at me if you run into this question again,lol.

Answer 1

My Top American classics (i love these b/c its easy to read yet full of great writing)

-Catcher in Rye by J.D. Salinger

(a troubled teenager tells the story to his shrink; very cool b/c even though he really is crazy, halfway through the novel his reasoning starts to make sense to the reader)

-To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

(20th century racism from the point of view of a 9yr old tomboy)

-Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

(very short novel about the lives of NY's rich in the 1920s)

-Fahrenheit 451

(in the future, eveyone's gonna have wall-sized tv screens and books will be banned)

-1984 by George Orwell

-Catch 22

^also sorta like utopia-gone-wrong

-Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

(personally, i think this is his best novel. long compared to the previous books on this list tho)

Modern classics:

-Beloved by Toni Morrison

(Nobel-prize winning ghost/slave story)

-Autobiography of Malcolm X

(very insightful though it gets a bit boring after Malcolm X becomes the great spiritual leader we all know)

Older Classics:

-If you like romance, Pride and Prejudice is always good. Jane Eyre too. But they're a bit long.

-The Hunchback of Notre Dame

(long and a for me bit hard to read, but very tragic and heartstriking)

Answer 2

These are some really good books that I've read and thoroughly enjoyed:

-the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathan Stroud*****

-the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer*

-The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen(any book by her)

-Hawksong(series) by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes(any book by her)

-The Shannara series by Terry Brooks*****

-Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

-Watership Down by Richard Adams

-Great Expectations by Charles Dickens*

-Warrior Cats series by Erin Hunter

-The Counte of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas*

-The Princess Bride by William Goldman*

-Discworld series by Terry Pratchet*****

-Battle Royale by Roushun Takami*****

-Angels and Demons by Dan Brown*

*s are the ones I really REALLY recommend for anyone to read, and the ones with five *s are the best books I've ever read in my life!!!!

Wuthering Heights, Great Expectations, and The Princess Bride are the classics in that list. Angels and Demons, even though more modern, you may really like.

I also recommend the classics The Kite Runner by Khaled Hasseini, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, Catcher in the Rye by Salinger, and Sense and Sensibility.

Answer 3

Jane Austen books

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Anything by H.G. Wells

Answer 4

"Wieland" by Charles Brockden Brown is an American Gothic novel... wonderfully creepy!

"A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens is great, set during the French Revolution. It's poignant.

"Puddin'head Wilson" by Mark Twain... is by Mark Twain. He just rocks.

"Lord of the Rings" is an obvious one, but it's one everyone should read at some point!

Answer 5

Kurt Vonnegut is my favorite author.  These are some of my favorite books by him:

Breakfast of Champions

Slaughterhouse-5

Mother Night

Slapstick

Welcome to the Monkeyhouse (short stories)

Answer 6

there's a lot of classics and I;m gonna guess you mostly like adventure well any classics that aren't either really slow or extremely boring.

The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (it isn't an adventure or anything but the book has a meaning any person can relate to, even guys like this one)

War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells (great book, I did this one for a book report)

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (I've read this once and I'm planing on reading it again. It's creepily close to our close future and what our society is like today even though it was written in the 1950s-ish)

and

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (Its a sci-fi but a great one.)

Answer 7

Harry Potter- don't be fooled by the 'Children's' label it touches on some very ethical topics

A modern classic.

Answer 8

Kite Runner and Life of PI..Kite Runner is my favorite of all time.

A Prayer for Owen Meany and Cider House Rules by John Irving

Owen Meany is my second favorite of all time!

Answer 9

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  

Answer 10

Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes)

Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift)

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

Oliver Twist (Charles Dickens)

The Scarlet Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Moby-d**k (Herman Melville)  Madame Bovary (Gustave Flaubert)

Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)

Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)

The Trial (Franz Kafka)

Answer 11

John Steinbeck.

Arthur Conan-Doyle.

Answer 12

To Kill A Mockingbird

The Outsiders

Scarlet Letter

Answer 13

Anything by Jane Austen.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Etc.

Answer 14

Try Wuhtering Heights by Emily Bronte, Night by Elie Wiesel, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. These are all really gooood!!!

Answer 15

Anything by Jane Austen

Answer 16

You can never really go wrong with anything on the banned book list (maybe because the word "banned" makes it seem like you're breaking the rules a little by reading them).

Like others said, you can never go wrong with Austen, especially if you like romance. Personally, I think you can never go wrong with Oscar Wilde, either. Who doesn't love a little bit of humour and quirkiness in books (not to mention, "The Picture of Dorian Gray" is pretty creepy in it's own right).

Answer 17

zodiac or snow crash by neil stephenson. anything by william browning spencer. anything by neil gaiman, william gibson, dennis lehane or pc hodgell.

have fun!

e

Answer 18

You can't go past Harry Potter!

Also some of my other favourites are:

Cry of the Cat by Emily Rodda (crime mystery)

Watchers I.D By Peter Lerangis (Blurb on the back of the book: Nobody knows who the watchers are. But they are around us. They observe us. They see the things we can't see...

Who is Eve Hardy? Is she the only child of a normal pair of parents? Or is she the offspring of a bizarre experiment that has gone horrible wrong? Eve doesn't know. But if she doesn't find out the truth, it will destroy her. Time is running out...)

Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett (blurb on the back of the book: On a warm October night in Chicago, three deliveries were made in the same neighbourhood. A plump tangereen moon had just risen over Lake Michigan. The doorbell had been rung at each place, and an envelope propped outside...The same letter went out to all three:

Dear Friend,

I would like your help in identifying a crime that is now centuries old. This crime has wronged one of the world's greatest painters. As those in positions of authority are not brave enough to correct this error, I have taken it upon myself to reveal the truth. I have chosen you because of your discriminating eye, your intelligence, and your ability to think outside of convention...Although you may never meet, the three of you will work together in ways none of us can predict. If you show this to the authorities, you will most certainly be placing your life in danger...

The letter was not signed, and it had no return address.

I also like Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. It's one of the top 20 books in the bookstores at the moment and one of the top 50 books in 'books you can't put down' list. Here's the blurb:

About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him - and I didn't know how dominant that part might be - that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

When Isabella Swan moves to the gloomy town of Forks, and meets the mysterious, alluring Edward Cullen, her life takes a thrilling and terrifying turn. With his porcelain skin, golden eyes, mesmerizing voice, and supernatural gifts, Edward is both irresistible and impenetrable. Up until now, he has managed to keep his true identity hidden, but Bella is determined to uncover his dark secret.

What Bella doesn't realize is that the closer she gets to him, the more she is putting herself and those around her at risk. And it might be too late to turn back...

Deeply seductive, and irresistibly compelling, the book 'Twilight' is an extraordinary love story that will stay with you long after you have turned the final page.