I am ashamed to say that I have not yet read......

[srboone]

Edward Gibbon's THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

Now that I was reminded, I just bought all six volumes on Kindle for under $10. Not bad! It will take a long time to get through them, but I've always wanted to read it.

I read many of the classics when I was a kid. My grandparents had a big old bookcase full of books going back generations, and there were books going back to the late 1600s. I'm sure some of the classics were first editions, which meant nothing to me then. Many of them were old enough that the 's' looked like an 'f', and it was cool to see names and dates of owners from the 1800s.

Years ago, I bought the 8-vol. set of TFotRE from The Folio Society and it's still gathering dust on my shelf. But housed in 2 slipcases, it makes great bookends!

It's not on my TBR list anymore, but...we'll see.

And no ones casting stones, Pete. Not big ones anyway! Pebbles, maybe!

[jester05jk]

Ok, ok...

Here's one from the classics: ...wait for it....

.....


"To Kill a Mocking Bird"

From the horror pool, nothing (YET) by the following:

Lovecraft
Bentley Little
Jack Ketchum (i really want to pick up "The Woman")

and probably several more, but those are the big names that first come to mind.

...Let he cast the first stone who is without fault. :P

You can't start with The Woman. As the man once told me, start with the first, his first and go from there. Off Season, Offspring, The Woman. All very good.

[peteOcha]

You can't start with The Woman. As the man once told me, start with the first, his first and go from there. Off Season, Offspring, The Woman. All very good.

Thanks for the tip. I guess I'll have to try and find those somewhere and start from there...

[HorrorScribe]

My only saving grace as a former English major is that I'm unofficially starting a Masters of Arts in English degree this fall. My first course is Literature of the Renaissance, so I finally got around to reading Machiavelli's The Prince (a book I've always been very curious about) as well as a more thorough look at More's Utopia. Perhaps once I've earned this new degree, I can lessen my shame a bit as I may become a little less adverse to use my "pleasure" reading time solely toward contemporary fiction. Of course, that's what i thought as an undergrad...

[RJK1981]

You can't start with The Woman. As the man once told me, start with the first, his first and go from there. Off Season, Offspring, The Woman. All very good.

Thanks for the tip. When this was announced I had no idea it was something following another book (or 2 books as the case is), but had heard somewhere that it followed these books. Good to hear for sure that it is so I don't read it right away when the CD edition ships, unless I get Offspring and read that and Off Season by then

[RJK1981]

Thanks for the tip. I guess I'll have to try and find those somewhere and start from there...

You could probably find the paperback editions of these for cheap at a used book store like Half Priced Books or at places like Amazon or eBay

[theenormityofitall]

I should look over this forum more. I've noticed I've had no idea several dozen threads even existed.
Books I'm ashamed of not having read:
I can't say Dracula because I don't like vampire books/movies.

But here are some:
1. Animal Farm (I did read 1984).

2. The Naked and The Dead

3. A Christmas Carol and David Copperfield

4. Red, by Ketchum even though I'm a big fan of his

5. The Old Man and the Sea

6. Too damn many to list. But I'm also ashamed that even with novels I really like, I finish 90-95% of them sometimes then put it aside to try and finish later, or purposely forget about it and store it away for a non-fiction book.

[TerryE]

Animal Farm and The Old Man and the Sea were required reading for me in high school English and both very good. And you could read Old Man in a single sitting.

[Dan Hocker]

Animal Farm and The Old Man and the Sea were required reading for me in high school English and both very good. And you could read Old Man in a single sitting.

I think I remember reading Animal Farm in high school as well (maybe middle school, can't remember). I also had to read The Jungle, Watership Down, and All Quiet on the Western Front. All books that I probably never would have read if I didn't have to, but once read I feel like they are probably books everyone should read at some point in their life.

[theenormityofitall]

I think I remember reading Animal Farm in high school as well (maybe middle school, can't remember). I also had to read The Jungle, Watership Down, and All Quiet on the Western Front. All books that I probably never would have read if I didn't have to, but once read I feel like they are probably books everyone should read at some point in their life.

It's very odd now that I think of it, but I only remember doing one single book report in my life. I was either a junior or senior and I guess the class was either English Lit or American Lit since I know the book was Flowers in the Attic. It was a book I had read years earlier because my mom had read that one and I think 2 more were written?? Anyway, another odd thing is that I had to go up to the teacher's desk and remember feeling embarrassed answering questions about the brother and sister's incestous relationship. Books like Animal Farm and the others I mentioned I don't recall ever hearing about in those days. Too young I guess. Besides, I was at that time and way before then, reading those big non-fiction books Reader's Digest used to put out about true mysteries and supernatural stuff, etc (I loved those things and still have them).
But as for reading The Old Man and the Sea and being able to read in one sitting...I doubt I could do that unless I was in the proper mood simply because it's a novel. And something else that's odd is that I can seemingly only read at night, same with movies. But can any of you guys tell me what you consider to be the top 3 best works of Mailer and Hemingway?? I get tired of horror novels and short stories all the time, even by Lovecraft and Poe. But I've read just about everything they wrote anyway (the best horror writers in history of course).

[theenormityofitall]

One more thing....Terry said he read Animal Farm in highschool and The Old Man and the Sea and you Dan, said you read Animal Farm but those other books too....can you guys tell me what years that was? May have nothing to do with that but just depends on the school or teacher, but I graduated in 1984 funny enough. Funny kinda because of the famous sorta "true novel" or "non-ficton novel" by the same name. At least I saw it as being non-fiction written in a novel format (I know people will disagree with me on that but it was obvious the entire book was about what was taking place in the world when he wrote it just like Animal Farm), in almost the same way of Capote's In Cold Blood (excellent book).

[Dan Hocker]

One more thing....Terry said he read Animal Farm in highschool and The Old Man and the Sea and you Dan, said you read Animal Farm but those other books too....can you guys tell me what years that was? May have nothing to do with that but just depends on the school or teacher, but I graduated in 1984 funny enough. Funny kinda because of the famous sorta "true novel" or "non-ficton novel" by the same name. At least I saw it as being non-fiction written in a novel format (I know people will disagree with me on that but it was obvious the entire book was about what was taking place in the world when he wrote it just like Animal Farm), in almost the same way of Capote's In Cold Blood (excellent book).

I'm not 100% sure when I actually read those books. I graduated in 2005 if that helps. I know I read All Quiet on the Western Front for a writing class in college.

[theenormityofitall]

I'm not 100% sure when I actually read those books. I graduated in 2005 if that helps. I know I read All Quiet on the Western Front for a writing class in college.

I think it actually does help...because of this: what surprises me is not just that in the 2000-2005...they would still consider these novels masterpieces and not somehow politically incorrect the way things are nowadays. I know Orwell was supposedly a socialist, but he at least had some common sense and tried to tell the world of the evils of Stalinism, but I would think nowadays the teachers/professors would say Orwell was a nut criticizing the great mass murding Stalin simply because socilaism/communism is supposed to be so wonderful nowadays in so called "academia"....I have to watch it, getting into the political stuff again. But in the 80's there was no such thing as that idiocy. But what also surprises me is how young you are. 2005!! Man, that's makes me feel like the old man with his sea lol.

[TerryE]

Well, Enorm, that must be a big difference in our school systems. I graduated the same year that you did (and Squire Boone, too, as it turns out). We had assigned novels every year from at least 8th grade on. We read Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three" in 8th grade during our section on fantasy and horror. That was the best for me, as it was when I wrote my first horror story for an assignment. It was a tale heavily inspired by Salem's Lot & Alien which were both fresh in my life.

9th grade included "Great Expectations" and "MacBeth". 10th grade had "Animal Farm", "To Kill a Mockingbird", and "Julius Caesar", "A Separate Peace" and "The Old Man and the Sea." In 11th we got to pick our own books from a large list, but had to finish 8 of them that year. The ones I remember are "A Tale of Two Cities", "Red Badge of Courage" (which I also used for an American History report), "Catch 22", and "The Fountainhead". Senior year was much more relaxed. All I remember there was "Hamlet", "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (which I couldn't finish) and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".

FYI, "In Cold Blood" was non-fiction, but "1984" was science fiction, but definitely an extrapolation of where Orwell thought things were going in the near future.

[theenormityofitall]

Well, Enorm, that must be a big difference in our school systems. I graduated the same year that you did (and Squire Boone, too, as it turns out). We had assigned novels every year from at least 8th grade on. We read Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three" in 8th grade during our section on fantasy and horror. That was the best for me, as it was when I wrote my first horror story for an assignment. It was a tale heavily inspired by Salem's Lot & Alien which were both fresh in my life.

9th grade included "Great Expectations" and "MacBeth". 10th grade had "Animal Farm", "To Kill a Mockingbird", and "Julius Caesar", "A Separate Peace" and "The Old Man and the Sea." In 11th we got to pick our own books from a large list, but had to finish 8 of them that year. The ones I remember are "A Tale of Two Cities", "Red Badge of Courage" (which I also used for an American History report), "Catch 22", and "The Fountainhead". Senior year was much more relaxed. All I remember there was "Hamlet", "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (which I couldn't finish) and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".

FYI, "In Cold Blood" was non-fiction, but "1984" was science fiction, but definitely an extrapolation of where Orwell thought things were going in the near future.

Damn!! There's no way we read any of those books you mentioned...I went to Wesclin high school until I was a sophmore and finished off my last two years at O'fallon Township highschool, one of the best in the country, whereas Wesclin is one of the worst and both about 15 miles or so from each other in rural southern IL. I do in fact remember reading in English class in 9th grade a lot of books, but not taking them seriously at the time because I was such a goof-off. I don't think I actually read them, just in class certain passages and because I was hanging around with the wrong guys, I took nothing seriously, especially after actually getting the first "F" in that very class. I actually had to take it again even though it was for freshmen only. I got a lot of hell from my mom for that lol, and looking back on it, I defintely wished I had taken school much more seriously than I did. But after that first F, I didn't give a shit anymore and actually had to take a class in summer school so I could graduate with my class. Personal things here, but it was so long ago it doesn't mean much to me at this point. Anyway, because I did so badly at Wesclin my mom moved us to O'fallon and that school was GREAT. I took virtually all history courses, not the easy crap for easy credit. But I can't believe you read all those books in highschool?? I could see that in college, but highschool? I'm not doubting what you're saying, I just mean that really surprises me that books like that were mandatory in highschool, it really does depend on what school you go to I guess. But because I was always so interested in history, I never appreciated the "classics" like I began to do in my 20's.
And as for 1984, you say it's science fiction. It may be labeled that way in what would take place in the future, but I took it as an assault on both Stalin and the evils of totalitarianism. It's also amazing to me that the title of that book was about the same year where mandatory seatbelt laws came into effect in IL and around the country, actually forcing adults to wear them while driving a car, and it's just gotten so much worse since then that I don't even consider this country to be "Free" anymore at all. We're controlled by the government in every way imaginable. And I know In Cold Blood was non-fiction but it was written in the format of a novel.
Oh well, that's enough. Yet another post of mine that was too damn long.