like the iliad, etc.
2007-02-27 12:57:22 · 13 answers · asked by Tweek 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
I would recommend "The Unwilling Vestal" by Edwin White. This book is available at http://www.gutenberg.net.
"The Unwilling Vestal" is about a young girl who does not want to become a Vestal Virgin of Rome during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. It is not because she doesn't believe in the religion, but because she already knows at age nine who she wants to marry. When she is selected, though, she dutifully agrees to serve the 40 years a Vestal must serve.
This is a rare and well researched look into the lives of the vestals. They were the most powerful women in Rome, but they also had sacred duties. If one was caught with a man, there was only one punishment--burial alive. No one could kill a sacred vestal so she would be lowered into a stone crypt and left with water and food and a candle. The crypt would then be sealed.
This book is a great read. Very hard to find in print.
2007-02-27 21:25:59 · answer #1 · answered by loryntoo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair was really good. You can really feel the helplessness that the main characters were going through. George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm were both very interesting, especially because they portray things that are happening and could happen today. One of the best parts of 1984 was when Winston was imprisoned in the Ministy of Love. It felt like I was right there in the room with him. Plus, the Doublespeak that you will learn is quite interesting. The Odyssey was a good adventure!
2007-02-27 23:44:19 · answer #2 · answered by zesty4pie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
David Copperfield (any Dickens)
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Dracula
Don Quixote
The Count Of Monte Cristo
Canterbury Tales
Philosophy in the Bedroom
2007-02-27 21:40:29 · answer #3 · answered by yeraluzer 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hmm, well some books I've read and really, really liked include The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde; The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald; A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens; and Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, among others.
2007-02-27 21:55:12 · answer #4 · answered by Shruti 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Odyssey by Homer
The Divine Comedy (Inferno, Pergatorio, Paradiso) by Dante
Pride and Prejudice (or anything by Jane Austen)
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
A Tale of Two Cities (or anything by Charles Dickens)
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs
A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolfe
The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Hamlet (or anything by Shakespeare)
The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Native Son by Richard Wright
Paradise Lost by John Milton
The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spenser
2007-02-27 21:21:50 · answer #5 · answered by Kate 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ana Karenina
2007-02-27 21:05:29 · answer #6 · answered by Cister 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Scarlet Letter is a great story but a bit hard to read due to the seventeenth century English.
2007-02-27 21:20:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would suggest "A Book of the Thousand Night and a Night".
The Burton translation is avaliable at Gutenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/a
Look under Anonymous.
2007-02-27 21:16:22 · answer #8 · answered by Walking Man 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1984 by George Orwell..
I found it to be extremely interesting.
2007-02-27 21:04:59 · answer #9 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋