Best Traditional Literature

[WordCountess]

What are your favorite 'famous' historical peices of world literature?

Walden by Henry David Thoreau is by far one of my favorite pieces of work. The beautiful philosophies of an all-natural simple life are utterly inspiring. My 10th grade English teacher played a huge roll in introducing me to this piece of literature and to this day I send her thank you notes for bringing such an inspiring piece into my life.

The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe still stands as one of my favorite peices of poetry. It never fails to amaze me that Thoreau and Poe came from approximately the same time in history yet have completely different perspectives on life.

[morriss003]

Little Women, Little Men, Jo's Boys, Eight Cousins, Rose in Bloom, Under the Lilacs, by Louisa May Alcott, a early feminist.

[drofgnal]

My favorite is still War and Peace, followed by Les Miserables.

[Bilbo1967]

Assuming it would count as 'traditional literature', I'd pick The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. Great book.

[AlbertaCowboy]

My favorite is The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

[jersysman]

The Three Musketeers hold a special place in my heart. Very well written and marvelous story.

Any book by Jane Austen also is high on any list I might make.

[crich70]

Treasure Island and the Sherlock Holmes stories.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jersysman

The Three Musketeers hold a special place in my heart. Very well written and marvelous story.

Worth remembering, of course, that it's only one fairly small part (probably about 20%, length-wise) of the "D'Artagnon Chronicles". The whole thing is in the MR library.

[jersysman]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Worth remembering, of course, that it's only one fairly small part (probably about 20%, length-wise) of the "D'Artagnon Chronicles". The whole thing is in the MR library.

Thanks, Harry. I will look into that. Don't know who would replace M'Lady. I actually was pulling for her.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jersysman

Thanks, Harry. I will look into that. Don't know who would replace M'Lady. I actually was pulling for her.

Here's part of what I wrote about my eBook edition of it, which may be of interest:

Everyone is familiar with The Three Musketeers, thanks to the many movies which have been made of this book, some of them sharing little more than the name in common with the actual book

What some people may be unaware of is that The Three Musketeers is merely the first (small) part of a set of three books called, as a whole, the D'Artagnan Romances, which collectively tell the life story of D'Artagnan, who appears as a young man in The Three Musketeers. The book is, like its main protagonist, of truly heroic proportions. If you think that War and Peace or The Lord of the Rings would be quite good if only they were longer, this is the series for you .

This gets a bit complicated, so pay attention (there will be a test at the end)...

The D'Artagnan Romances consists of three books:

1. The Three Musketeers.
2. Twenty Years After (set 20 years after The Three Musketeers).
3. The Vicomte de Bragelonne (set 10 years after part 2 - ie 30 years after The Three Musketeers).

OK, so far, so good. Where it gets complicated is that the final book in the series is a truly gargantuan work, and is generally published split into either 3, 4, or 5 separate volumes. This edition uses the four volume version, and these four volumes are called, respectively:

3a. The Vicomte de Bragelonne.
3b. Ten Years Later.
3c. Louise de la Valliere.
3d. The Man in the Iron Mask.

Where things get complicated is that The Vicomte de Bragelonne can refer to either the whole of this third book, or just to the first volume of it. Moreover, it is subtitled Ten Years Later, so once again this title can refer to the whole book or just the second volume of it. Finally, just to confuse matters, The Man in the Iron Mask is often printed as a "self-contained" novel, and can be split up in quite a different manner from the 4-part split described above.

Phew...

Hope that's clear to everyone .

Search the MR library for "D'Artagnan Romances" to find it.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Assuming it would count as 'traditional literature', I'd pick The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck. Great book.

at the top of my list.



also (that I've read - there are many lists and many on my tbr list):

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The Sound and the Fury
Catcher in the Rye
Great Expectations
Of Human Bondage
Sons and Lovers

[jersysman]

Thanks, Harry. I'll download those when I get home tonight.

[rkomar]

I've read RLS's The Master of Ballantrae three or four times, which probably makes it my favourite classic novel. I haven't read any other more than twice. I can't explain why I've re-read it so many times; maybe because of its reasonable length.

[Fat Abe]

Harry, what do you think of the Pevear translation of The Three Musketeers? Some say it is saucier than editions now in the public domain.

[SteveEisenberg]

Everything by the Brontës.

Trollope's Barsetshire series

Many of the Yiddish novels in English translation.

Conrad Richter's Awakening Land trilogy.

Churchill's The Second World War

Edited: Pearl Buck's The Good Earth