Hi all,

I'm new to the classics and wondered it Tess of the D’Urbervilles was a good place to start... any suggestions?

Bee

I really enjoyed Tess of the D'Urbervilles when I read it last summer, especially for her character. She's very likable, not a goody two shoes but definitely not amoral either. It was lengthy, though, and took me several weeks (I mixed in other books). If you're willing to tackle it, go for it!

The recent adaptation with Gemma Atherton is a great follow-up to the book, too.

Haven't read it, but i did read Jude the Obscure ny Thomas Hardy this year and found it strangely compelling... more so after i finished, i found myself thinking about it a lot afterwards. So i'm quite keen to read Tess myself.

Have you ready Jayne Eyre? Also a good place to start, i reckon.

To Kill a Mockingbird, if you didn't read it in highschool. Even if you don't get the metaphors, it's still a wonderful book. If your into darker not so feminine books Crime and Punishment is great.
But anything that you're interested in is a great place to start. Enjoy!

hello bee, I don't know how useful (if at all) this is, but below is a list of the first half of a series published a while ago by marshall cavendish called The Great Writers where every fortnight you got a book and a magazine describing the book / author. I had a similar problem of 'where to start?' and used this as a springboard. the second half goes into more contemprary novelists of the 20th century if you're interested in that list too ...
even if perhaps it's not what you're looking for it may be a good starting point for a discussion on what favourite books of people have been left out, if you agree / disagree with the inclusions :)
happy reading!

1. Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
2. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
5. The Mill on the Floss – George Elliot
6. Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen
7. The Fall of the House of Usher & other stories – Edgar Allen Poe
8. Vanity Fair – William Thackeray
9. Moby Dick – Hermann Melville
10. Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
11. Voyage of the Beagle – Charles Darwin
12. Alice in Wonderland / Through the looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
13. Portrait of A Lady – Henry James
14. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
15. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
16. Little Women – Louisa Alcott
17. Barchester Towers – Anthony Trollope
18. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
19. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
20. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
21. Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott
22. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
23. Cranford – Elizabeth Gaskell
24. Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

Bee,

If you live in Devon, you're going to have to give Thomas Hardy a try some time, so why not? You might find Tess a bit depressing, but it is a compelling story. Hardy is a very visual writer, so it's sometimes a bit like watching a film.

If you're looking for a painless launch into 19th century novels, then out of Yosarian's list Cranford and The Woman in White would both be good jumping-off points. Village gossip or a great Victorian mystery - you can't go wrong.

good suggestions thorold, and I know mr andrew suggested jude the obscure above but my favourite thomas hardy novel is by far far from the madding crowd. maybe a better intro to thomas?

>7

I like FFMC better than Tess too, but Tess strikes me as a better starting point. Having a single central character and a relatively straightforward plot it's likely to be easier to get into.

do you know ... in all honesty i'm not so sure I can actually remember tess that well now myself.
I've just taken it off the shelf, it's my next book to (re-)read!! :)

Thank you all so much for the suggestions! I'm going to get right onto it :-) Quite excited about Thomas Hardy, I think I will start there! I moved to Devon from Queensland, Australia a few months ago (Coast to Country), and it's so... I dunno how to describe it.... there is just something about this place, so beautiful and quiet, I want to know what life was like here generations back, so the classics are very appealing, particularly in these surroundings.

Bee

Hi bee! Another LTer from Devon - that's great news. Tess was my introduction to Hardy (whom I adore) and I never looked back.

ETA - You should also read lots of Daphne du Maurier (technically most of her books are set in Cornwall but there is a bit of over-the-Tamar drift going on from time to time). Also Lorna Doone is probably the best known classic set wholly in Devon (Exmoor) and, if you like books about animals, Tarka the Otter is also worth a try. Do you mind me aksing which part of Devon you are in? (You can send a PM if you don't want to tell the whole world.)

Mensagem editada pelo seu autor, Jul 2, 2009, 2:16am.

Hey there! (I'm not too sure how to send a PM here...?)

I live in a little village just outside of Exmouth on the south coast. It's so lovely here and warm (at the moment)... though I think it's going to rain today, haha :-)

Greetings from Plymouth! Exmouth is beautiful. In fact I will be there tomorrow! (It's okay - I'm not inviting myself to tea or anything - I have relatives there (Exton) whom I'm visiting.) I'm going to have a good think now about other books about the area. (PMs (private messages) are sent through profile pages.)

Another really wonderful writer from your area (Lyme Regis, so technically Dorset, but only a few miles up the road) is John Fowles. For life in the South of England's 'yesteryear' try The French Lieutenant's Woman and A Maggot - jaw-droppingly great books anyway!

PS - No Touchstones today

ET correct typo

Mensagem editada pelo seu autor, Jul 2, 2009, 10:47am.

I'm struggling through Tess via DailyLit. I wouldn't recommend it as a first jump into the classics. It's very florid.

well for anyone wishing to try it out online, maybe to while away a lunch-hour :) I believe this link works and you get the whole book;

http://www.online-literature.com/hardy/t...