<p>I need to do a book report on a book that I have not read yet. I would like to read something that is considered a classic. Does anyone have a credible list of such books? The Great Gatsby is a work that epitomizes my definition of a classic. Thanks.</p>
<p>1984 is a good book. Then you've got your "real" classics; Oedipus and the such.</p>
<p>Collegeboard has a list somewhere on their site.</p>
<p>The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
...Or anything else by Hemingway, for that matter.</p>
<p>The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas</p>
<p>The quintessential adventure tale told by a master storyteller. Read it!</p>
<p>A Clockwork Orange</p>
<p>Harry Potter = instant classic</p>
<p>Ulysses, joyce really fits the definition....but if you want something less dense id recommend the "greatest russian novel of the 20th century" master and margarita by bulgakov....LOVE that book</p>
<p>Btw, a relatively short book would be nice due to my time constraints.</p>
<p>the catcher in the rye by jd salinger is short and good.</p>
<p>How short are we talking? Goethe and Tolstoy are my favorite go-to guys for classics. With Tolstoy you have a whole range of lengths, from War and Peace (about 1300 pages) to Two Old Men (30 pages) and some really short stories that are under a page. With Goethe, you get a range of lengths, but also a range of genres. (Yes, yes, Tolstoy does do both fiction and nonfiction, but Goethe goes further). Goethe has sturm und drang, romantic, poems, idylls, elegies, et cetera. You can read either one's most famous works (Anna Karenina and War and Peace or Faust) or you can go off the beaten path with something well-known but a little different, something that shows your personality. Personally, I enjoy The Death of Ivan Illyich at about 120 pages, (as did Gandhi) and for Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther (really didn't notice the pages but somewhere around 200 I think).</p>
<p>If you're looking for something off kilter, a black comedy, I'd go with The Master and Margarita by Bulgakov. Incredible, funny, and has a lot of literary merit. I wasn't really paying attention to page numbers when I read it but it might be pushing 400.</p>
<p>I didn't realize someone had already recommended Master & Margarita. Well, I back him/her up!</p>
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<p>Do you honestly think TSAR was a good book?</p>
<p>I may be a bit biased but Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.</p>
<p>It's my favorite book, I'd use any excuse to read it.</p>
<p>lilygraces...Hemingway? Seriously? I have lost all respect for you.</p>
<p>Try "Of Mice and Men" or "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck. They're like in the 100-page range, easy reads, and absolutely stunningly incredible to boot.</p>
<p>Ah, I absolutely love The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - dunno how long it is maybe 250-300 pages, but it was a really quick read for me. And another favorite is Crime & Punishment, but that's fairly quick to read as well even though it's like 500 pages. lol.</p>
<p>Oh, you could do Candide by Voltaire - it's er somewhat of a classic I suppose and verrrry short.</p>
<p>Of Mice and Men, The Red Badge of Courage, Huck Finn, and maybe throw Moby Dick in there haha</p>
<p>The most famous piece of literature is without a doubt Oedipus Rex...</p>
<p>If that single play is too short, do all three Theban Plays.</p>
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The most famous piece of literature is without a doubt Oedipus Rex...
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Um . . . not?</p>
<p>^Lol, yeah, it definitely is NOT the most famous piece of literature.</p>
<p>Catch-22. It's 400-ish pages but it's so amazing that you will start it one night and not go to sleep until you finish it and still never notice that a day passed in between.</p>
<p>I would also recommend something by James Joyce (A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man probably), but you should definitely not speed-read his books.</p>
<p>edit: But what do you all you guys have against Hemmingway?</p>
<p>Try pokemon: I think it's #2, island of the adventure or something. It's an epic read.</p>