I have really been getting into reading classic novels lately. I have found a lot of classics written by women that I enjoy, but haven't had much luck when it comes to classics written by men (or more like the ones I have tried just leave me wanting to have some choice words with them and leery to try other male authors). I understand that given that I am reading books written at a different time, and how society viewed men and women wasn't always great and that can show up in the books, but what I can't stand is when the author's bias of being chauvinistic comes through in the book with how they write their female characters.
Any suggestions of male authors, and which of their books, who wrote great books with well rounded characters?
Pretty much any genre is welcome, although I am not into war/military books, and the less gory the better.
by Sisu4864
12 Comments
Charles Dickens.
CS Lewis
JRR Tolkien
Robert E Howard
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Steinbeck. I’ve only read east of eden but I’ve heard the rest of his work is also very good
Oscar Wilde is incredible and I generally avoid everything written by men…especially white men.
All the following, I’ve read, and were great
– Anna Karenina
– The Picture Of Dorian Gray
– Brave New World
– 1984
– Crime And Punishment
– Moby Dick (not finished this one yet so no spoilers please!)
– The Illiad and The Odyssey
– Catch-22
– The Narnia series
– Animal Farm
– Of Mice And Men
– The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy
– The Lord Of The Rings (and The Hobbit)
And here are some suggestions that I’ve either not read, myself, or don’t really remember because it’s been so long:
– Hard Times, Great Expectations and other Dickens novels
– The Count Of Monte Cristo
– The Wind In The Willows
– Ulysses
– East Of Eden
– Lord Of The Flies
– Catcher In The Rye
I think this is the best book I have come across recently.The Influencer’s Guilt
[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYVJF13M](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYVJF13M)
Its worth reading
I just read ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck and it was upsetting and hard to put down.
Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea
– William Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair,
– Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’Urbervilles”,
– Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s “Love in the Time of Cholera”
Try Charles Dickens (Great Expectations), Thomas Hardy (Far from the Madding Crowd)
Tolstoi, Dostoievski, Victor Hugo, Balzac
Some of these suggestions are not it. My favourite classic male author for well rounded women is E M Forster. He was gay so didn’t view women as his sexy baby makers. Try a Room with a View or Maurice.
Wilkie Collins does great female characters. Thing to be aware of with Collins is when you hear the attitudes of his male protagonist toward “the fairer sex” Collins is not on their side. Earliest call out of predatory “nice guys”. Well rounded female characters. Plus he’s a good read.