I never read many of the classics apart from the necessary ones when I was at school and I dropped out of uni, confused about what I wanted to do with my life, so i didn't get around to reading many books considered to be classics.

In the last year or so I've decided to have a go, so I read Dostoyevsky's Crime+Punishment (which, inonically, my dog chewed and I hit her over the head with it as punishment) and really enjoyed it, though parts were hard and I probably didn't get all of it, but it's a start at least. I followed it with Thackeray's Vanity Fair, which I found hilarious, the leading character of Becky Sharpe may be manipulative but she's more of an independant and rescourceful woman than many so-called heroines of chick-lit today. I also liked the style it was written in ,with occasional asides by the author to give his own opinion on matters. I find this a lot in older books, but it hardly ever occurs today, it's not considered a good thing to do now, it's become unfashionable somehow, but I like seeing it.

Anyone have a favourite "classic" or have any recommendations on what I should go for next?

i studied a lot of classics at university so its hard for me to actually sit down and enjoy particular genres without analysing them, which is annoying. However, I do love Dracula, the way the narrative changes to include sections from each character and their point of view.
The Woman in Black, by Susan Hill is a great ghost story - although Im not sure whether that was written a long time ago or is contemporary disgiused as classic.
Pride and Prejudice is a great novel, as well as Jane Eyre. Even though I find it hard to identify with the intentions of the characters the narrative on both the stories is excellent.

Black Beauty. Although it's meant to be a kids book it's kinda dark! I still think it's brill now!

I read that years ago but I bet I'd appreciate it more now, I must read it again! Never read any Jane Austen, but I've heard Pride & Prejudice praised a lot, I think there's a copy with the truckload of books I got from my mum recently so I must dig it out. Same goes for Jane Eyre, i heard a lot of good things about the recent BBC adaptation but didn't watch it as I'd like to read the book first

Yep, the recent adaptation was pretty good. They stuck very well to the book and actually chose someone who wasn't stunning to play Jane. I think the thing that bothers me about a lot of adaptations is that they must read the physical description of the character and then just chuck it out and employ a big name to pull in the crowds - Pride & Prejudice film was a prime example of that. Uh oh, ranting again....

It's good to rant sometimes

I get very annoyed at that as well, when a character in a book is so clearly described one way, but it doesn't fit with the description of a celebrity these days so they just ignore it - anyone plump in a book is now played by someone who's a size 12!

You're not a fan of Keira Knightly then? She doesn't seem to have much of a diverse range, shocked, haughty and damsel-in-distress seems to be it. And she's gotten progressively thinner, which annoys me.

I don't have a problem with her generally , it's just she was so wrong for that role, she's so teeny skinny for a start, and her range doesn't tend to extend beyond pouting. I may be wrong beacuse I haven't seen her in many films (actually,she was alright in POTC) but I just thought she didn't have enough character and spark to play Elizabeth Bennett. In my humble opinion

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