I just read "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn." You should read it! So good.

[Lex]

I guess I missed reading it in high school and college. I've been going back and reading some classics that I missed because now I recognize them for the absolute jewels they really are.

For instance, a few months ago I read My Antonia by Willa Cather and fell in love with it.

Really, the first and second generation of immigrants trying to "make it" over here in the US and crowded in places like Brooklyn--they really had it tough. Tough in an entirely different way than Antonia's family had it in My Antonia out on the open prarie--but tough nonetheless. They were all working so hard and just scraping by in hopes that their next generation would really have a chance at the American Dream, whether they were toiling in a dangerous factory 16 hours a day or trying to break the prairie into farmable land.

I'm so glad I've gone back and started reading a few of these classics that I missed in high school and college. It's been well worth it to fill in the holes with such wonderful books.

I've recently read books by Willa Cather, Eudora Welty, Edith Wharton. Excellent, excellent reads.

[pop goes the weasel]

1. it's one of my all time faves n/t

[flordehinojos]

2. Eudora Welty has a short story called "Why I live at the P.O."

which is, a masterpiece. I think.

[cedahlia]

3. It's my favorite book

My mom gave it to me when I was thirteen, telling me it was one of her all-time favorites. I'm so glad she did...I really identified with Francie, and have re-read her story many times since then.

Lex, I think we might be kindred spirits of some sort...I too have been trying to catch up on the classics that I have yet to read. I just recently finished "The Good Earth" (which I loved.) And "My Antonia" and "O! Pioneers" are on my "want to read next" list. Also, Wharton's "Ethan Frome" is right up there with "A Tree..." as one of my all-time favorites.

[Lex]

4. Pleased to meet you, cedahlia!

You just gave me a great new recommendation---"The Good Earth." I don't think I ever read that one either. Now I'm going to put it on my list to read.

Feel free to PM me anytime, or post in the forum, if you are reading a classic and are enjoying it. I may need to add it to my list!

Shoot, I had a liberal arts college education and still managed to have big gaps in my classics reading. Oops.

[peacefreak]

5. It is such a good book for young girls.

I just re-read Rebecca by Daphne D'Mauier, another one from my reading youth.

[artemisia1]

6. It's a great book. I read it long after college and fell in loved with it.

"Ethan Fromme" is great also.

While "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" touched upon WWI, I would love to see a well written novel about the Influenza of 1918. What a great story that would be. I know, however, that the generation that survived it rarely talked or wrote of it, though, so it would be a harder to research than most subjects.

[LWolf]

7. A childhood favorite.

I read it and re-read it throughout my teens; my old copy finally fell completely apart, and I haven't replaced it. 2-3 decades later, I still relate to Francie.

[shrike]

8. Try Edna Ferber, too

"Giant" is good, but "So Big" is my favorite. Just loved that book.

"Showboat" is so-so, 'cept for the powerful scenes with Julie, the mulatto.

Edith Wharton is one of my faves. Try "House of Mirth," if you haven't read it yet. Haunting. One of those stories you don't forget.

[bertha katzenengel]

9. That's my number one favorite ever. Remarkable, isn't it?

I'd like to find a first edition. Read another of Smith's, Joy In The Morning. Not nearly as broad in scope, but very good nonetheless.

I too read My Antonia recently. Excellent.

:hi:

[MaineDem]

10. It's one of my favorites

I haven't read it in a few years. Thanks for the reminder to go get it again.

[Bullwinkle925]

11. Have you read "The Jungle" by Sinclair Lewis?

A book that started me on my path of 'Liberalism'.

[Momgonepostal]

12. Upton Sinclair wrote that one

I get those two authors mixed up, too.