Holy cheerful reading lists, Batman!

[primsong]

My college age daughter was saying she felt she needed to read more classics so she could be better versed in what 'everyone' is supposed to have read.  We looked up a number of those 'top 100' reading lists that are published online and going through them one thing was very evident:  they were horribly depressing!  Seriously, anyone who sat down to read through these lists would delve into the depths of cynical depression by the time they were halfway through.  "Why," I asked, "don't any of these lists have a genius like P.G. Wodehouse on them?  Why do they have multiple titles by Depresso-Man Steinbeck but nothing featuring Bertie Wooster?"

So, after seeing multiple depressing, dystopian, cynical and dysfunctional title lists being thrust at tenative exploratory readers who then conclude they "don't like the classics" and wander off to youtube videos how about a list of GOOD books for a change? 

I'll start it off with pretty much the entire works of P.G. Wodehouse, add some Dorothy Sayers and C.S. Forester and say - tell me more!  Classic writers that are witty and funny and upbeat?  yes!!

Also, if any of you happen to know the whereabouts of a reading list that isn't half 'oh no, we're all gonna die' and the other half horrible titles people are forced to read in school programs because the reading lists were assembled in the 50s and never updated, please please show me the way.

Comments

[ex_2d96]

I couldn't agree more about P G Wodehouse, but even he admitted, in the preface to one of his books, that, as a writer of "light" fiction, he was looked down upon by some people. Presumably these were the literati, the nerglers who decide what ought to go on these lists.

There's also Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, but reading plays is not everyone's cup of tea. Acting them out with friends would be fun, though.

[alouzon]

"Great literature" is pretty horrible. We were warned about it for Grade 13 English - "the most depressing course in the school" - Hamlet, Animal Farm, 1984, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Far from the Madding Crowd, and all the Margaret Atwood they could cram down your throat. And it didn't get any better when I went to university: Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, Great Expectations, Wuthering Heights. It's why I switched my major from English to History. ;p

I don't think you'll find an "undepressing" list either, unless you make up one yourself. And I admit, I sometimes find books amusing when they are not necessarily intended as such (or at least are not devoted entirely to humour)

I would suggest:
The Lord of the Rings
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Anne of Green Gables (I've never read it myself, but I did read Emily of New Moon, and I'm given to understand they're very similar


I would also say looking at what Monty Python chose to make fun of would be a good way of determining if maybe a book is worth attempting to read for the context. I loved Fraiser reading Dickens on Cheers, which isn't nearly as funny if you don't know the stories, or at least the way Dickens wrote. Your daughter could probably get away with reading the Coles Notes versions of the classics she thinks she might need. Or just read the summaries on Wikipedia. Also, most of the classics are free in digital form at the Gutenberg Project, and through Google Books, so if she wants to take a bash at them, she need not shell out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWTCDYvhcIQ

[everchangingmuse]

Baroness Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel books are good, fun reads, and I know at least the first is considered a "classic". There is a bit of the "we all may die", but it's derring-do in the middle of the French Revolution, so it makes sense. But they're engaging (I've read 4 of the dozen or so that she wrote). And, all of them are online, since they're no longer under copyright, so you can download them to an ereader or read on the web if you have trouble finding the books in print. The Scarlet Pimpernel itself is pretty widely available, but the sequels are print-on-demand, from what I've seen (although they're lovely editions).

Also, I don't know of she's on there, but Anne Brontë. Both Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall I found very enjoyable. I know her sisters' books end up on those "classic 100" lists, but hers have been overlooked in the past, and they're really nice reads.

[primsong]

We're firm Pimpernel fans already, lol - I've ferreted out I think 7 of the titles as 'real books' thus far and enjoyed them thoroughly. Sir Percy Leads the Band, for instance, has that marvelous point where Percy grabs Chauvelin and bodily carries him down flights of stairs crying "A spy! A spy!" so the whole crowd surges with him, lol... they're full of fun stuff like that, even if Marguerite is a pathetic Mary Sue for most of them.

Hm, you have an excellent point on Anne Bronte - I don't think I've read anything by her myself - Will have to look up some of her works. Thank you!

[primsong]

Ah yes, the nerglers. I've never understood the stuffy assumption that in order for something to considered seriously good, it has to be serious and depressing. Yes, we do realize reality includes things not always having happy endings, but to deliberately take moodly, impressionable adolescents and force them to read works about insanity, pointlessness, rape and murder without relief? Pbbbt!

Oscar Wilde can be good fun, not a bad idea, really. Thanks!

[primsong]

Oooh! A Monty Python Litmus Test! That's a grand idea. I hated Wuthering Heights but their semaphore version of the same is a favorite. ;-D

She gave Dickens a try and bogged down in all his extended dialoguing, though she managed The Count of Monte Cristo so long/thick/complex isn't an issue. Notes aren't a bad idea, a bit like watching the movie trailer before deciding if you want to watch the movie.

[everchangingmuse]

I keep forgetting who on my list loves the Pimpernel. That scene in Sir Percy Leads the Band is one of my favorites! That novel was one of my favorites, not only because it clipped along so well, but because Marguerite was in it so little.^^ She almost annoyed me more in The Elusive Pimpernel than she did in the original novel. I'd much prefer the League and their exploits to her attempting to outwit Chauvelin, only to walk right into his trap. Cleverest woman in all Europe? I feel bad for Europe if that's the case.

There are only the two by Anne, so hopefully they won't be too hard to find. I found both of mine at a used bookstore in good condition.

[ex_2d96]

I agree with the Conan Doyle. All of the Holmes stories are ripping. I read Dumas' The Count of Monty Crispo a few years ago and was appalled at how dull it was.

[telegramsam]

Aaaah Sherlock Holmes! I love those stories. Definitely good reading, for anybody at any age.