Book suggestions please

[Friederike in Persia]

I'm bored (not that there isn't lots of homework to do:eek:) and figured that this might be a good time to "pre-read" some of those classic books that my dcs will read later on. I've read some, but quite a lot of them not in English,...
The list in the WTM is so long, could you suggest 5 or 6 of your favourite ones?
Oh, and do you figure it's worth while to buy SWB's book on how to self-educate yourself?

[Karen in CO]

I like the Well Educated Mind as a starting point for re-reading the classics. It has different reading strategies for each genre and a list of good books to read. I resisted buying it for a long time with the assumption that it wasn't much different than other similar books I have read. I have now had it out three times from the library, so I think I should probably give others in my neighborhood a break and buy it.

I am working through British Lit right now with my son. We are finishing Paradise Lost and starting Frankenstein I have Dickens novels coming up soon on the list.

[Lorna]

I would be tempted to read good adult books which deal with the subjects you will be studying together in the future. For example, Rebecca Fraser's 'A People's History of Britain', which your children won't read (until perhaps much later) but would give you a great background for answering questions on 'Our Island Story' and subjects such as the Tudors (as I see you are loosely following the British National Curriculum).
Laura in China's suggestion of 'The Canon' by Nathalie Angier, where a New York Times science journalist asks the leading scientists of the day to say what they wished the public knew about science, is another excellent read (thanks, Laura!). Another one for science is Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'.
Shakespeare's plays would be great to study too for familiarity and future discussions.
These sorts of books help give one confidence and equip one for all those inevitable questions.
I love to read biographies of people I admire, such as C S Lewis. I concentrate particularly on their childhoods to try a glean what made the difference in their lives.

[Beth in Central TX]

Here are the ones that I would recommend:

Homer's Iliad
Homer's Odyssey
Vergil's Aeneid
Dante's Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatory, & Paradise)

It seems that an allusion to any of these 4 works has come up many times in our literature studies.

[Nissi]

Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas, Chosen and other novels by Chaim Potok, Shakespeare, Austen, Dickens, and Chesterton.

[Friederike in Persia]

sounded like a load of quotes lined up after one another. Could you suggest a specific book?

[Julie in GA]

Have you read Orthodoxy? It's definitely not light reading, but gets you to look at worldviews in a new way.

[Julie in GA]

Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation)
Jane Eyre
Moby Dick -- this one is worth sticking with!
Pride and Prejudice
Crime and Punishment

Don Quixote would also be a good choice, but I have to admit I only got halfway through and moved on.

So many good novels, and so little time!!
:o

[Nissi]

Try "Father Brown"- English Mystery series featuring a priest as the detective. Different from Sherlock Holmes but equally stimulating!
Enjoy!
Nissi

[Lori D.]

For Chesterton's fiction:
- Father Brown mysteries
- Club of Queer Trades (tongue in cheek poke at Sherlock Holmes)
- The Man Who Was Thursday

For Chesterton non-fiction, a collection of his essays can be nice -- they are so short you could read one a day.

Warm regards, Lori D.

[Soph the vet]

Beowulf and Don Quixote are two favorites.
Anything Shakespeare or Mark Twain.