Which of these classics are your favorite? (best, crime, literature)

[ArbolWin]

A few months ago I bought a TON of classics and would like to know which ones I should read first. Out of the following books on the list, which ones are your favorite and why? If you'd like, it would be GREAT if you can rank the books in order of your preference. Thank you in advance!

Anna Karenina

The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi)

The Count of Monte Cristo

Crime and Punishment

Dangerous Liaisons

Dracula

Great Expectations

Ivanhoe

Jane Eyre

Les Miserables

Nineteen Eighty-four

Oliver Twist

One Hundred Years of Solitude

Pride and Prejudice

A Tale of Two Cities

The Three Musketeers

Vanity Fair

War and Peace

Wuthering Heights

[Puru]

I've only read a few on the list, but out of the ones I did read, I found Dracula to be incredibly boring and slow moving that I've never been able to make my way entirely through it despite attempting it many times.

Pride and Prejudice I liked though. Its just a nice romantic tale with a really strong female lead, and I liked Mr. Darcy.

[user376]

Of the ones I've read (or started, but quit due to boredom), I'd rank them as follows:

1984 - A cultural touchstone and an entertaining read that gives you plenty of food for thought. It's quite disturbing to consider that Stalinist Russia wasn't that different from the hell Orwell portrays.

Crime and Punishment - Maybe the best examination of what it means to feel guilt.

The Count of Monte Cristo - A fun, swashbuckling revenge story.

Ivanhoe - Author does a good job of making middle ages England come alive, but I ended up losing interest about halfway through.

[sgresident]

wow, tough to say which is a fav! I totally enjoyed Jane Eyre and wuthering heights, pride and prejudice,1984. was not too fond of great expectations, but that could be from reading it back in high school.

[Sandhillian]

I loved Jane Eyre. How fun to be reading it for the first time!

[StarlaJane]

My top three are 1984, Crime and Punishment and Jane Eyre.
I don't like Dickens, so put those at the bottom, along with Dracula, which is sooooo boring. Dumas is a good storyteller and his books are entertaining but not thought-provoking. Most of the others are period romances, which reflect the society of the time; they're interesting, but not ones that I have or would read more than once.

[lolagranola]

I love love love Anna Karenina! Jane Eyre was very good.

Oliver Twist should be really good. I love Russian writers, but Crime & Punishment I did NOT care for. It is the only Dostovski (sp?) I have read, and I expected to like it. I also don't care for Dumas.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Puru

I found Dracula to be incredibly boring and slow moving that I've never been able to make my way entirely through it despite attempting it many times.

Dracula is one of my favorite books; I couldn't put it down! I've never been able to get past the first 75 pages of Anna Karenina, though...I can't keep track of all of those characters. I re-read Wuthering Heights at least once every five years. Silas Marner is one of my favorites (not on your list). I could never get into any of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's books.

[DrummerBoy]

LOL--You're in for some rough plowing with most of those tomes. I've read all but three of them and I can tell you that, unless you're really into literature for literature's sake, that it, exploring different genres of writing and wallowing in the particular writer's mindset and technique, most of these books are going to come across as boring and incredibly verbose. Some are pure literary masturbation, and sheer self-indulgence. "A Hundred Years of Solitude" is a good example; how it won the Pulitzer Prize I have no idea. I defy anyone who was raised in the modern USA to tell me they enjoyed that book, and could make sense of all those same names that Gabriel-Marquez uses.
Crime & Punishment is probably my favorite of the bunch--an excellent depiction of a man's sink into madness and paranoia anf guilt; but Dostoevsky is not for everyone. He can spend 30 pages describing what his character thought about having for breakfast. Plus the Russian names and the patronymics are challenging.
Anna Karenina will likewise tax your patience, unless you're a Russo-phile.
War and Peace! LOL--are you a masochist?
A Tale of Two Cities? Sure, give it a whirl, but Dickens was as verbose as they come--in fact alot of thee guys you're gonna try and read--including Dickens--used to get paid by the word, so you'll understand why they can be so long-winded.
1984, Oliver Twist, Dracula, Ivanhoe, and Great Expectations are probably the most reader-freindly of the bunch.
Bottom Line: my favorites are (and the ones I would call must reads) are: The Count of Monte Cristo; Crime & Punishment, 1984, and Les Miserables.
Good Luck...and enjoy!

[maciesmom]

My favorites were Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice....but I also enjoyed Tale of Two Cities. I had a hard time with The Count of Monte Cristo, did not enjoy 1984 at all and as much as I wanted to read Anna Karenina (guilty Russophile here) I could never get into it. It comes down to the types of books you enjoy...for each of us, it will be different.