Classics Considered

by Marian H

Ten Classic Authors I’ve Never Read (in Full)

Everyone has those embarrassing reading gaps, and today, I am going to share some of mine…

  1. Leo Tolstoy. So far, I’ve only read his pacifist essay “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” And I own a copy of War and Peace. Baby steps, right?
  2. Alexandre Dumas. I read a sizeable chunk of The Count of Monte Cristo many years ago, but it didn’t hold my interest for whatever reason. I want to try it again one of these days.
  3. Gabriel García Márquez. I fully expect a magic realism phase in my reading future. It’s just a matter of time!
  4. Voltaire. I borrowed Candide from the library a long time ago and couldn’t get into it. That’s another novel I’d like to try again, with a bit of historical and philosophical prep work.
  5. Isaac Asimov. Feel like I should read at least one book by him.
  6. Stephen King. I have no desire to read gruesome or perverse horror. I might try one or two of his books someday, but they’re not high on the list.
  7. Shirley Jackson. My preconception is that Jackson writes horror of a “quieter” variety than King. I would like to try her short stories and The Haunting of Hill House.
  8. Salman Rushdie. I’m not that interested in his books, but I am curious about the controversy and deaths/injuries related to it. Maybe I’ll just read his memoir.
  9. JD Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye is one of those classics I suppose I should read, I just haven’t got around to it yet.
  10. Upton Sinclair and Sinclair Lewis. I’m putting the two Sinclairs together as authors which, as far as I understand it, wrote as much to drive home a point than to tell a story. I don’t enjoy these kinds of books as much as I once did, but I do have The Jungle on my shelf and look forward to learning a bit of history from it. My great-grandfather was a meat inspector, so I’m curious what things were like before his job existed.
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Marian

Blogger, YouTuber, reader, and scribbler. I love classic literature, tea, and rain, preferably all at once.

16 responses to “Ten Classic Authors I’ve Never Read (in Full)”

  1. Lory Avatar
    Lory

    I finally read The Count of Monte Cristo this year. It was long, and took me a while to get through. I found it readable but was not as enthused as many other bloggers. Salinger is also all right but does not inspire the cultish response in me that it seems to in some.

    Shirley Jackson, though, is a must read! I don’t like horror (agree about King), but her stories are masterpieces of psychological insight and dry humor. My favorite is We Have Always Lived in the Castle. She also wrote two books about her family life which are in a completely different vein (though they also have a dark side).

    Isaac Asimov you can read to have read him, it’s probably necessary just to understand his influence. But after I read Foundation, that was enough. I do not want to live in his universe.

    I read Tolstoy as part of my classics club list – Anna Karenina. I was tempted to join in a chapter a day readalong of War and Peace, but was not ready to commit at the time. If you are ever interested I might be up for a buddy read, let me know!

    Otherwise, I have Marquez on my list but have not gotten to him, only read Voltaire in school, and should probably read Sinclair and Lewis but am not that interested. I’ve only read Rushdie’s children’s books, about which I had mixed feelings (I loved Haroun but hated Luka).

    I’ll be interested to see if you do read any of these!

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Marian Avatar
      Marian

      That’s great to hear about Shirley Jackson! I love those psychological writers.

      Oh, yes, it is interesting how so many of the authors elicits strong love/loathe responses from readers. I know there are really big fans of Asimov and Tolstoy, too. Sometimes that kind of hype can almost scare me away, like I’m afraid to be disappointed. 😆

      I’ll keep you in mind for a War and Peace readalong!

      Liked by 1 person

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  2. Susan Avatar
    Susan

    I have a degree in English, but I haven’t read most of these authors either. And, honestly, I don’t really want to! LOL. Of course, the author I have read on this list is Stephen King. I was a huge fan of his as a teen and YA. These days, I’m too wimpy to read his books. Plus, I value my sleep 🙂

    I hope you enjoy all these authors if/when you get to them.

    Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

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    1. Marian Avatar
      Marian

      Thanks, Susan!

      Like

      Reply
  3. lydiaschoch Avatar
    lydiaschoch

    Stephen King was on so many lists this week!

    he wrote a nonfiction book about writing called On Writing which was really good if you ever want to try something from him that isn’t horror. But no pressure, of course. 🙂

    Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Marian Avatar
      Marian

      Interesting! Yeah I think he could be the most famous unread living author 😆

      Like

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  4. smellincoffee Avatar
    smellincoffee

    WordPress keeps eating my comments recently, and I’m starting to wonder if it’s a Firefox thing. :-/ I’ve read almost all of Asimov’s fiction and much of his nonfiction, so if you ever want a reccommendation just let me know. I’m fairly sure you’d like Tales of the Black Widowers and the series that followed it, given your love of Sherlockian mystery.

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    1. Marian Avatar
      Marian

      Hey, thanks for the rec! I’m amazed at his range 😮

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      1. smellincoffee Avatar
        smellincoffee

        He has nonfiction for every single category of the Dewey Decimal system except the 0-100 range, which would be information/philosophy. 🙂 Outside the Black Widowers, he had other mystery collections. — Asimov’s Mysteries, the Union Club Mysteries, etc. Union Club was disappointment to me after Black Widowers.

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    2. Cyberkitten Avatar
      Cyberkitten

      Good thought…!

      Black Widowers
      1. Tales of the Black Widowers (1974)
      2. More Tales of the Black Widowers (1976)
      3. The Casebook of the Black Widowers (1981)
      4. Banquets of The Black Widowers (1984)
      5. Puzzles of the Black Widowers (1989)
      6. The Return of the Black Widowers (2003)

      Liked by 2 people

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  5. Cyberkitten Avatar
    Cyberkitten

    I’ll do a variation on this theme on Saturday I think – plus its given me a prompt for another idea I’ve been mulling on….

    I have a few Tolstoy and have even tried one [Anna Karenina], but haven’t managed to finish one – yet.

    The only one I’ve read by Gabriel García Márquez [One Hundred Years of Solitude] was stunningly brilliant. I have several more waiting to be read.

    If you want to dip your toe into Stephen Kings work I think ‘Firestarter’ is fairly mild and not horrific at all. Its definitely more SF than Horror.

    I was impressed by my only Sinclair Lewis so far [It Can’t Happen Here] which seems to be a *must* read these days! I certainly intend to read more of his works.

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Marian Avatar
      Marian

      I’m looking forward to your answers!

      Have you seen the short film “Don’t Be a Sucker”? I came across it on YouTube not too long ago and thought it had aged amazingly well. I’m guessing Lewis’s book will be somewhere in the same headspace.

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      1. Cyberkitten Avatar
        Cyberkitten

        My review of ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ is… here:

        https://cyberkittenspot.blogspot.com/2021/03/just-finished-reading-it-cant-happen.html

        I picked up a book recently called ‘Can It Happen Here?’ which I’ll try & shoehorn into next years read. Plus, of course, Rachel Maddow’s new book ‘Prelude’ which I *might* even pick up in HARDBACK… [lol]

        Liked by 1 person

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  6. Miranda's Vegan Comics Avatar
    Miranda’s Vegan Comics

    I read a couple of Stephen King books, but I feel too sorry for the characters, they never end happily.
    The Haunting of Hill House is good, very spooky and worth reading.
    I’m half-way through Anna Karenina, I think Tolstoy’s books are best read a little bit at a time, over a long, long period of time. 😀 I’m not keen on the way different chapters follow different characters, and some characters are never returned to. I’d prefer to spend more time on one character, and really get to know them.
    I hope you are reading something good now.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Marian Avatar
      Marian

      Yes, that can be so frustrating! I encountered that with Middlemarch last year (which I never did finish).

      I’m getting increasingly interested in Shirley Jackson now, so thank you for the rec!

      Right now I’m trying to finish Beowulf and The Quiet American by Graham Greene, neither of which is holding my interest very well. 😆

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      1. Miranda's Vegan Comics Avatar
        Miranda’s Vegan Comics

        Oh really? Hahaha, sorry they are not holding your interest, I’ve never read those. 😀 I will avoid Middlemarch too, thank you for the warning.
        I’m reading Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne right now, which is quite funny.

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Hi, I’m Marian—I talk about classics, history, and other books on this blog, as well as on YouTube.

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