what great classic books would you say a prospective English student should have read before university?

Question

which are must-reads / which did you love?

Answer 1

It’s not WHAT you read that is important. It is only important that you READ and ENJOY reading. Comprehension is essential. Critical thinking is important, but don’t worry if you are weak there. Any good university will include critical thinking in the general education requirements.

It is okay to only have a background of popular culture reading when you enter college and declare English as a major. In fact, the complexities of popular culture mysteries and some horror fiction cultivate analytical reading skills, which is essential when you begin your upper level course work. You will pick up the important canonical works as you progress through your education. When you choose an area of special interest (usually in graduate school), your advisor will address additional reading needs.

By the way, I notice that some of the comments underestimate the importance of being familiar with the Bible. I disagree. Many works of literature allude to the Bible or draw directly on specific books of the Bible. You do not have to be a Christian to realize the significance of the Bible to most of the works you will read in the first sophomore lit course. The first five books of the Bible (which for me are the most difficult to read) correspond to the history and culture of the first period of literature you will study – the Ancients. Specific books of the Bible will be important when you study the Renaissance and the Reformation. Milton’s Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes are examples. It is also important to recognize that there is an example of every major literary genre in the Bible. Therefore, in addition to being an important spiritual document, you must recognize the Bible as a historical and literary document.

For what it's worth, I strongly recommend a minor in history. A firm understanding of social and cultural issues is essential to literary studies, and a minor in history complements a major in English.

For now, just enjoy reading what you enjoy reading. You will learn the “discipline” of reading a semester at a time.

Answer 2

Firstly the bible is not great English literature so strike that off your list. I also assume you will be starting Uni at the end of the summer - it would take ages to read the bible.

Back to reality, there are thousand of books that you could read, you can generally buy them cheap in bookstore in the classics section. I wold recommend James Joyce - especially as Bloomsday was last Friday. Ulysses is a real challenge to read but worth sticking at. If you get lost just keep going it doesn't matter, most people haven't got a clue about it.

You can get Tristram Shandy on line for free as the copyright has run out - this is considered to be the first postmodern piece of literature and written in the 18C it is truly insane.

If you want to bolster your catalogue, so that you can talk pretence with those guys in your class that have read all of this, done all of that and have opinions on everything under the sun try

Catcher In The Rye - JD Salinger
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Merchant Of Venice- William Shakespeare
The Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemingway
Dubliners - James Joyce


these are all relatively short - some you could read in a day or two but they are renowned books by famous authors.

Answer 3

If u plan to study english, u must have a passion for the subject?! Read as many books as u can, it really doesn't matter if u read "classics" as u will be forced to read them at uni anyway. I did an english degree at top UK uni and i tend to avoid "classics" on principal. Ask your prospective uni to send u a list of required reading and try to get thru it before term starts, especially books like Middlemarch which are a ball ache to read in a week! But as long as u are reading u are broadening your experience, u doing OK... and actually knowledge of the Bible is really very useful because so much literature is based on Biblical themes, how can anyone study Paradise Lost without some background reading? the fact that its a Christian work doesn't matter, many religious works are studied in conjunction with an english degree

Answer 4

I'm a sophomore English major, and I think these books are pretty essential to read BEFORE or DURING your college career:
1. The Tale of Genji (Lady Murasaki Shikibu)
2. The Metamorphosis (Kafka)
3. The Plague (Camus)
4. The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky)
5. The Divine Comedy (Dante)
6. A few Ibsen plays
7. The Odyssey (Homer)
8. Lolita (Nabokov)
9. Pride & Prejudice (Austen)
10. Waiting for Godot (Beckett)
11. The Awakening (Chopin)
12. Ulysses (Joyce)
13. The Waste Land (Eliot)
14. Daisy Miller (Henry James)
15. The Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)
16. Lots of Shakespeare plays

As far as poets are concerned:
Eliot, Plath, Sexton, Auden, Marvell, Dickinson, Frost, etc, etc.

Answer 5

I HATE IT when people try to make you feel ashamed for not having read the entire canon of classical english literature. I can't stand some of the pompous old stuff; it is without relevance to my life and I'm not going to pretend to enjoy it just to look clever. I much prefer modernist and postmodernist texts myself.

I think you should read what appeals to you; browse the back of books (or product descriptions on online bookstores); ultimately you will only be inspired by what speaks to you. If you have to know about a specific author for your degree, you will be told in advance what books to read and will have countless lectures on the subject.

All that being said, you do sound like a person who wants to read; who loves to read, so I would recommend that you get an anthology of english poetry (there is a very complete one by penguin). And in answer to the very last part of your question, I loved the novella 'The Ballad of the Sad Cafe' by Carson McCullers, which also had some short stories with it, and learnt a lot from 'Diary of a Madman and other stories' by Nikolai Gogol.

Answer 6

Having read a lot of classics and also contemplating the thought of studying English at university, you should probably start with the basics, such as Austen (Pride and Prejudice is a must-read, it was Jane Austen's favourite book as well...moreover, her style and wonderful moments of comic satire are delightful and expand your knowledge), Dickens ('Great Expectations', 'Tale of Two Cities', etc.), Bronte (Jane Eyre), Anthony Trollope (Barchester Chronicles) as well as the master of them all, Shakespeare...you can't go into studying English if you haven't picked up the play 'Hamlet', can you? However, don't just restrict yourself to the Classics, you will need a wide range of literature knowledge to allow yourself to adapt to the texts you have to read.
Read contemporary books, Kazuo Ishiguro is a great author ('The Remains of the Day' is a wonderful book that you should read), John Fowles is fantastic, his 'The French Lieutenant's Woman' is a marvellous blend of literary power and style that will open your eyes to the different styles of writing out there.
Dramatic plays are also a must, such as Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest), George Bernard Shaw. Poetry too is a good way of explanding your knowledge, from Lord Byron, Worthsworth, Robert Graves...take your pick.
Although these following authors aren't English, the translations of their texts are good reading, like Victor Hugo (Les Miserables), Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, etc.) The key to English is that you read as widely as you can...but moreover, you must enjoy it, enjoy what you read and have a love for the wonders of the English language.

Answer 7

You've got a pretty thorough list from tetsuwan and Epic poem.
But you need to add:
The complete works of Jane Austen -well at least Pride and Prejudice,Sense and Sensibility and Emma.
The works of Charles Dickens -whatever you do,don't miss the Pickwick Club.
The entire works of Shakespeare -can't miss any.
Thomas Hardy is necessary -at least the Mayor of Casterbridge and Far from the Madding Crowd.
The Brönte sisters -don't miss Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights:
The Bible too -epecially the gospels
Leo Tolstoy -War and Peace and Anna Karenina
This list is far from comprehensive,but it's still a good starting point for those wanting to study English.Had you wanted to study the Law or Political Sciences,you would have required a far different list,although some of the above would also be included.

Answer 8

Unfortunately the book that you have to read is first the Bible, because there are many references to it in Literature.
Although I've been studying Literature without reading it but just remembering from the basic religious education I had when I was a child.
So at least, you have to know about it, and be able to recognize a religious influence in a text if there is.

You should know about foreign authors as well as English/American authors.

Major french authors to know:Zola/Balsac/Sartre/Voltaire (Candide is excellent)/Molière. (Sorry, I'm French!!)

As far as English is concerned I suppose you have to have read at least Shakespeare, Blake and Dickens, and some American authors like Hawthorne, Carver ("short cuts" is nice).
I'm studying English in University, and teachers are depressed about our "poor" foreign culture and keep saying that we have to read the "basis" so these authors are what they call the "basis".

Above all, just read for your pleasure, you'll be given work anyway!!So don't worry.

I also go on sparknotes.com and I read some summaries of "important" books, just to be able to know about the themes and stories of important books.
If you seriously spend time on sparknotes and make a real effort to remember what you read as a summary, and key themes and elements, you can almost consider you've read the book, because you know enough to be able to compare it with other texts.

I've noticed in University that the most important is not actually to know about the books but to pretend you know.I know it sounds bad, but it's a strategy: a small accurate reference to another book is always better percieved than a broad and unused knowledge!

Good luck!

Answer 9

If you start studying English at that level without first reading some Joyce, Dickens, Kafka, Beckett, Dante, Dostoevsky, Orwell and Swift then hang your head for shame, FOR SHAME!

I suppose you aught to have a flick through some Shakespeare as well but it'll bore you to death compared to the great stuff listed above!! LOL

EDIT: The bible?!? If you are a Cristian (and who else would want to read it?) then you wouldn't see it as fiction!

Also I live in Sheffield and looking at the students round here I think you'd get though your course if you only read Harry Potter, The De vinchi code and Bridgett Jones' diary but what do I know, I'm not clever enough (or rich enough) to be a student (in fact I don't drink at all!)

Answer 10

The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
The Tale of Two Cities
I loved the "The Brothers Karamazov"

I think you should read Hamlet, MacBeth,Romeo and Juliet, Othello....Mid Summer's Night Dream.

The Canterbury Tales

The entire bible

Peter Pan

Morte de Arthur

"Interior Castle" by Theresea of Avila

"Paradise Lost" by Milton
Hans Christian Andersen entire original writings

Agony and Ectasy

Hostage To The Devil by Malachi Martin

The Illyad and the Odessey

Longfellow
Ramona
Hiawatha

Sherlock Holmes