What do you consider to be 'classic' books/literature?

[SCope13]

Might have to read Siddharta so I can have an opinion on it.


Also, Atlas Shrugged is probably the worst book ever.

[ehbes]

Might have to read Siddharta so I can have an opinion on it.


Also, Atlas Shrugged is probably the worst book ever.

its terrible

[cloquet]

Steppenwolf by Hesse is great

[Naan_Bread]

I read an earlier Hesse I hadn't heard of called Gertrude last month and thought it was wonderful.

@ehbrums It gets his main ideas across without the mysticism or weirdness of Siddartha or The Glass Bead Game if that put you of those or your opinion I'd based on them.

My favorite three are Kafka, Hesse and Camus. I love Ulysses but haven't really given much time to the rest of Joyce. Never understood why Ulysses has such a stigma: it's much more straightforward than Naked Lunch which a lot of people seem to be posting (I remain convinced that book is a massive in-joke, I tried and failed to read it in sequence but enjoy flicking it open and reading random pages.)

Biggest offender posted so far is On The Road, that shit is the hipster equivalent of The Alchemist.

[Naan_Bread]

For more character driven, enjoyable reads that I would still consider classics I would reccomend

Earthly Powers - Anthony Burgess
Point Counter Point - Aldous Huxley

[yoowan]

[cloquet]

it's much more straightforward than Naked Lunch which a lot of people seem to be posting (I remain convinced that book is a massive in-joke, I tried and failed to read it in sequence but enjoy flicking it open and reading random pages.)

dipping into burroughs (no pun intended) is probably the best way to read him. obviously the stuff with a linear narrative, like junky & queer, is designed to be read in sequence but naked lunch and the nova trilogy can be read in any order. it's one of his ways of breaking down systems of control.