There isn't enough time to read everything. I've read too many classics that bored my eyeballs off. It seems to make more sense to talk about classics that held up, that really were as good as everybody said, that were an absolute delight. Maybe that will be next year's question.

A few that worked for me: Anna Karinina, Crime and Punishment, Tom Sawyer, Moby Dick, The Sound and the Fury, The Lord of the Rings, Treasure Island, Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, War and Peace, The Just So Stories, Gone With the Wind, Catcher in the Rye, The Once and Future King, Kidnapped, The Invisible Man, and Invisible Man.

Not part of the canon yet, but should be: Double Star by Robert A. Heinlein, The Maltise Falcon by Dashell Hammett, and Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brien.

What's really worked for you?

I agree completely. It always annoys me when someone says "I can't believe you haven't read that." There are so many great books, classic and modern, I find it impossible to read them all. I also enjoyed the Sound and the Fury, Catcher in the Rye, Invisible Man, Huck Finn, and Hamlet, or anything else by Shakespeare for that matter. There are some classics that I have read more than once and that I keep on hand because I loved them so much and will read them again: Pride and Prejudice, Call of the Wild, Watership Down, my Signet Complete Shakespeare, Dune. I even kept my Norton Anthologies from school and read from them quite often. Just finished A Streetcar Named Desire. There are many books on my shelf that I never finished, including Crime and Punishment, Gravity's Rainbow, Les Miserables, and lots of modern classics. One that I had to start many times but eventually finished and even enjoyed is The Fountainhead. Sometimes I will read a novel and love it so much I will read everything by that author or read anything I can find with a similar theme. I went through a Jane Austin phase, Arthurian legend phase, Joyce Carol Oates phase, William Faulkner phase. I am currently in a Chinese women's writing phase.

I loved Invisible Man. Among "classics," my favorites are that, Light in August, Anna Karenina, Catch 22, The Count of Monte Christo. I quite like Nick Hornby, but by far my favorite author of the last 20 years has been Haruki Murakami. His collection of short stories, After the Quake, is about the best work of fiction I've ever seen.

As for new arrivals, I'm looking forward to reading Jim Shepard's book, and as I mention in the top-post above, Maynard and Jennica is fantastic.

It sounds like you would enjoy Georges Simenon. Also, if you haven't read the book (the movie was apparently not good) check out A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot.

I teach Asian Studies, and I'd love to know what you've been reading in your "Chinese women's writing phase."

august:

I teach Asian Studies, and I'd love to know what you've been reading in your "Chinese women's writing phase."

I am so happy you posted a response. I would love to hear some suggestions on new material. I should say I have been reading Chinese-American women writers. It started when I read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Amy See, which made me get out my copy of Kingston's The Warrior Woman, which led me to buy Bamboo Shoots After the Rain from Amazon.com, and the next book on deck is The Selected Poems of Wang Wei. I am certainly not an expert on Chinese culture and literature so it is hard for me to know what is worthy reading material. I would really appreciate if you could suggest some authors.

Oops! I meant LISA See. Must have had Amy Tan on the brain.

And I meant The Woman Warrior. I always transpose Woman and Warrior when I talk about that book.

Well, I would definitely read Tripmaster Monkey. It's been a long time, but I really enjoyed it. Also, Timothy Mo has a number of novels, mostly about overseas Chinese living in England.

Among Chinese writers, Ding Ling is classic, and really good. Check out I Myself Am Woman. You might also try somebody I haven't read, Wang Anyi:

<link>

Among my favorites are Les Miserables, Lolita, most Dickens, especially Bleak House. I loved A Confederacy of Dunces, but now it seems a bit dated. Moby Dick was great when I read it in high school. George RR Martin is my guilty pleasure. He replaces Thomas Berger, who almost killed me with Little Big Man.

Never finished Proust or Pynchon. So much to read, so little time...................

I'm sorry. If a book is over 200 pages then it's too long. I mean if you haven't said what you want to say in 200 pages then colour me unimpressed already.

You can keep all of them thar books but you'll have to pry The Catcher in the Rye from my cold dead fingers. I have read it at least five times. It makes me cry every time. There - I said it. Cry! The phrase "hauntingly beautiful" was newly-wrought to describe just that text. Nice and short it is too, under 200 pages as I recall.

I wanted to quickly respond just by saying if you or anyone here read the article a few days ago (not sure of the exact date) that talked about how reading has become uncool and how the existence of other newer forms of media are making reading obsolete? I really loved the article and, as I look for it now, cannot find it. Anyone know what it was?