List of classics books – some recommendation

These are in no particular order some of the classics I like. Making this list for a friend who wants some of the non-Indian classics I like.

1. Don Quixote – Miguel De Cervantes: When I read Quixote the first time, I didn’t like it. It is a book that can be very easily dismissed. A man who is a knight want to fight for honor of others though however lame the reasons are. The point is, the lameness of the reason isn’t the question here. Its Quixote and his willingness to fight for causes that are clearly lost causes. There is a lot of humor. There is willful seriousness. But underneath it all, its about doing the right thing. Being a greater fool.
2. Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkein: I grew up with this. I watch movies of this all the time. Its comforting.
3. Middlemarch – George Elliot: I know most people don’t get why many people like this. A good reader friend of mine asks this as she is surprised always that I rank this higher than Austen and all the Bronte sisters. Simply put, the complexity of a story is not always in extraordinary circumstances, but making simple circumstances – extraordinary. Middlemarch does that in spades.
4. Mansfield Park – Jane Austen: This is my favorite Austen primarily because she addresses that the wealthy men she has been writing about is because their monies is coming from slave trade.
5. Meditations – Marcus Aurelias: The quintessential book on stoicism. Had a great impact on me.
6. Henry V – My favorite Shakespeare. We get to Hank in Henry IV but his transformation from previous play to this is absolutely remarkable. The dialogues are stunning and I go back to this play all the time. Now that hollow crown is out, Tom Hiddleston plays Henry V and this adaptation plays out one of my favorites dialogs as a voice over. And its stellar.
7. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy: Bananas. 1500 pages of awesomeness.
8. Sapho poetry – Sappho – Plato called her 10th muse. Everyone was a fanboy/fangirl of hers.
9. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov: It got banned in multiple countries, still gets brought up all the time. An entire sub-genre derived the name from this. A book written from the view of a pedo.
10. Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov: I love Russian literature. This is one of my favorites. A clever satire, politics clearly masked as fantasy, and a sure winner for the characters.
11. Crime and Punishment -Dostoevsky: If you want to write endless essays on moral conflicts, read this.
12. Pillow book – Sei Shonagon: A courtesan from 10th century Japan maintained a diary that survived…a lot, lets say.
13. The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas: Old fashioned murder mystery. Pretty fun.
14. Essays – George Orwell: This might not go well with many, with the man critiquing the people of sub-continent, but for what its worth, he was also fighting wars that were pointless and the crown was fucking over itself with the government to be relevant.
15. Faust – Goethe: A man makes a wager with the Devil. Its one of the earliest stories that had a definitive moral and this is pretty good. One of my favorite classic German literature.
16. Bleakhouse – Dickens: Super depressing but super well written. Favorite and only Dickens I can tolerate.
17. Little Women – Alcott: Pretty good story
18. North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell: Its lovely. Critique of working class British vs, aristocracy, southern and northern British, self made and gentile folks, ah, its lovely.

What are your favorites non-Indian classics?