About a week ago I had a strong desire for some pleasure reading. Unfortunately, all I (or anyone else on the team) had was Bibles and Christian books. Yesterday I wandered into a small book store in downtown Galle. Most of the books weren't in English, or even written with an alphabet I can read. I spotted a section of English books, but it was all books about Sri Lanka (history, language, tourist guides, etc). Fortunately I found another small section of English books, and they were novels! Looking through it nothing much caught my eye. Then I noticed one shelf containing classics. In general I have this idea that classics are old, boring books, but for the most part they were authors I have never read. They were all pretty cheap too, about $2.15 each. I picked out two of them, brought them home, and started reading.
I'm currently reading Around the World in Eighty Days, and I'm really enjoying it. I only started reading it yesterday, and I'm already on page 190. When I get a chance, I definitely want to read some more books by Jules Verne. The other book I picked out was Treasure Island. I figure that a book about pirates should be entertaining, and really that's all I'm looking for. If I finish these two before leaving Sri Lanka on Friday, I'll probably grab a couple more. Any recommendations on old classics that I should read? Chances are that any book you mention won't actually be there, but if you know of a really good classic, it's worth a shot.
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I like Faulkner's works, but those are more of an acquired taste I think. Hmm, more generally liked books: A Tale of Two Cities, Three Musketeers (other Alexandre Dumas is good too). Not sure you'd like the "girly" authors, like Jane Austen or anything by either of the Brontes. The Brothers Karamazov!
Thanks for the suggestions. I don't think they have any of those there, but I'm about to go buy a couple so I'll keep those in mind. I know a guy in Kolkata that just finished reading The Brothers Karamazov and loved it, so I'll probably borrow that from him once I'm back.
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