Classics of literature?

[Heretic Apostate]

What are some classics of English (and American) literature? I'm currently reading Catch-22. I'm planning on reading Microbe Hunters soon after. I'm thinking of reading Moby Dick. So what are some other good classics. (No "flavors of the month," please....)

On a slight tangent, what are the classics of Stephen King? I've read Carrie, and I'm placing holds at the library for Cujo and Christine. (I also read Firestarter, many years ago.) I _think_ I read Salem's Lot, many years ago, as well, but it might be fun to read again. So what are his best books?

 

[Mark]

Read anything you can get your hands on by Mark Twain. Arguably the first great American author.

 

[reutbing0]

Read anything you can get your hands on by Mark Twain. Arguably the first great American author.

Ahem *cough* Nathaniel Hawthorne *cough*, but of course that can be argued as well. Twain is a great American Author though.

My quick list of some must read classics:
The Scarlett Letter - Hawthorne
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
The Dubliners - James Joyce
On The Road - Jack Kerouac
The Great Gatsby - F.S. Fitzgerald
The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
Lolita - Nabokov
I know Why the Caged Birds Sing - Maya Angelou
Oh and for some lesser known Twain, read Pudd'nhead Wilson.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Beloved-Toni Morrison
The Lord of the Rings/Hobbit/Silmarillion-Tolkien
IT-Stephen King
Turning of the Screw

I like ghost stories.

 

[Chauzu]

War Of The Worlds - H.G. Wells
The Last Of The Mohicans - J.F. Cooper
One Flew Over The Coocoo's Nest - Forgot
Treasure Island!

 

[LostSoul]

Try "The Old Man and the Sea".

 

[Yig]

If you like horror stories you can't go wrong with Lovecraft.

Good stuff

 

[John Crichton]

in addtion to what has been mentioned...

"Catcher and the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

I second anything by Mark Twain.

"Ethan Frome" by Edith Wharton

...hmm, those are what I remember enjoying from high school.

This link may be of some help.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Try "The Old Man and the Sea".

I second that.

 

[Viking Bastard]

Re: in addtion to what has been mentioned...

"Catcher and the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

I'm a big reader and I have a rule of never reading english-language literature in the translated versions (being good in english). When I found an english pocketbook version of the famous so-called-masterpiece 'The Catcher in the Rye' in the shelfs of my library I was really thrilled. I read it in one night.

How. Utterly. Boring.

I can see why this book was so ground breaking. I mean, it's called the first 'Teen Literature'. But with the flood of similar books since then, I found the book offered me nothing of any value.

It was well written and all, but had nothing in it that I don't see in TV every single day.