Susan's Place Transgender Resources

mine is the grapes of wrath by john steinbeck.  Two themes that i could gather were that everyone is a part of everyone else and that people are interconnected.

Mine is definitely Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley.

I first read it when I was 15, and it really resonated with me. The whole concept of a struggle for self-identity in a society where self-identity does not - indeed should not - exist, rising through the normality and standing alone just so you can be the person that you know you need to be, that really spoke to me. The idea that human emotion cannot be held back by technology and the promise for a "perfect world". When our humanity has been taken away, it does not mean that it cannot return.

I also find it interesting to look at Brave New World in the context of a "modern" adaption of the utopian concepts found in Plato's Republic, with the use of technology to theoretically fix a lot of problems as far as the adaption of that type of society goes, such as: dissolution of the family, surrender of the self for the good of society as a whole, acceptance of a pre-determined social and political role that you are born to and die with, and the destruction of art, music, poetry and religion. The idea that technology, created by humans, could be used to strip us of the things that quintessentially make us human is a concept that intrigues me. Is the "perfect" human society really worth it if we cant really define ourselves as human anymore?

Megan

Don Quixote de la Mancha (which is now spelled Don Quijote by Spanish-speakers  ;D) a novel by the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. I'm sure you have read it, but just in case you haven't, the first part was published in 1605 and the second in 1615; it is one of the earliest written novels in a modern European language and is generally considered the most influential book in the Spanish language and a classic of world literature.

In addition to being a "classic", it is one of the first "modern" novels. Its main focus is love, friendship and dedication to a cause.  The funny thing is that everyone who reads it will get something different out of it, but you always get something; it is a great novel and a must read for everyone.


tink :icon_chick:

P.S.  If you haven't read it, let me know.  I have a few extra copies. :)

I haven't read it Tink!  But I think I have a leather bound copy of it sitting on a shelf just waiting to impress someone with my good taste!  yea... War and Peace is there too.  It hasn't been read either.  I'll get to them one of these days.

The "classics" that impressed me more than the others were those that fell into the Orwellian bucket: Brave New World, 1984, and Farenheit 451.  I read them as a teenager.  I am astounded at just how prophetic they were.  Bush has invented "newspeak".  History has been rewritten.  We are herded, filmed, and watched.  It is amazing.  One of these days we may wake up and see what's really happening.

Cindi

It's "Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac" without question.  This Novel's an adaptation of Shakespeare's play King Lear, a kind of pessimistic study of bourgeois society's ills after the French Revolution. It tells the story of an ambitious, poor man who sacrifices everything for the well-being of his children.  What I learned from it was that family is very important regardless of the circumstances.  When there's togetherness and true love within a family, anything can be achieved.  It teaches us to strengthen and value our family bonds.

The Trail - Franz Kafka
We - Predates 1984, Brave New World, Etc.  First Distopian Science Fiction work.
Anything by Virginia Woolf
The Stranger - Albert Camus
I have so many more.  I love reading. 

Well, not sure what counts as classic, so i went for over 100 years old.

I really enjoyed Moby Dick (even some of the whaling bits)
As well as teaching me about whaling it has given me some interesting insights into the power and craziness of ambition.

I also really enjoyed The Life And Opinions of Tristam Shandy, Gentleman - because it helped me realise the writer is in control of the book and made me laugh.

I also enjoyed Dickens and Shakespeare, it's amazing how some of the ideas are still fresh and readable.

Personally, I'm quite a fan of Huckle Berry Finn.  s a child I read it and it was a great adventure story, but I recently read it again and saw it for its satyrical aspects, and it just adds to the overall goodness of the book.

Orwells 1984, that the world  -if not by now- would turn into a scary scary place where you cant turn round for fear of being watched. Though in Glasgow thats already happened - theres CCTV hidden cameras now to make sure we dont dundundun LITTER. *ahem* Oh and I learned not to watch reality tv.

Quote from: Tink on May 22, 2007, 09:15:10 PM
In addition to being a "classic", it is one of the first "modern" novels. Its main focus is love, friendship and dedication to a cause. 

it can also be interpreted as the pointlessness of chasing after unrealistic fantasies. ;)  yeah, tink, i read it a few years ago.  thanks very much for the offer though. :)

Oh my, I don't know if I can pick just one.  Antigone, Hamlet, Julius Caesar,  Paradise Lost, The Count of Monte Christo, Brave New World, Les Misérables.  I loved all of them but I don't know that I actually "learned" anything from them.  I just love to read.

Quote from: BeverlyAnn on May 23, 2007, 07:32:40 PM
Oh my, I don't know if I can pick just one.  Antigone, Hamlet, Julius Caesar,  Paradise Lost, The Count of Monte Christo, Brave New World, Les Misérables.  I loved all of them but I don't know that I actually "learned" anything from them.  I just love to read.

since you've read all those novels, you could choose one (anyone) and briefly explain what you've learned from it.

   For me, Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels".  Not as old as Tink's choice, but kind of close.
   keenly insightful and very satiric of society and politics of the era. First published in 1726. The satire still applies to today's circus of a world. For those who believe it's a child's book, it is not. The regular adult edition touches on topics that you'd be surprised by.

   I also like the "Brave New World", "1984", "animal farm", "clockwork orange" bunch.

Quote from: Katia on May 23, 2007, 06:41:46 PM

Quote from: Tink on May 22, 2007, 09:15:10 PM
In addition to being a "classic", it is one of the first "modern" novels. Its main focus is love, friendship and dedication to a cause. 

it can also be interpreted as the pointlessness of chasing after unrealistic fantasies. ;)  yeah, tink, i read it a few years ago.  thanks very much for the offer though. :)

   "Don Quixote de la Manch" is also used by the Jungian Robert Johnson (not the blues guy) as being symbolic of the 2nd stage of consciousness in the human mind.  The 3rd stage is "Hamlet". The 4th stage is represented by "Faust". I forget the reasoning behind it all.

Quote from: Katia on May 23, 2007, 06:41:46 PM

Quote from: Tink on May 22, 2007, 09:15:10 PM
In addition to being a "classic", it is one of the first "modern" novels. Its main focus is love, friendship and dedication to a cause. 

it can also be interpreted as the pointlessness of chasing after unrealistic fantasies. ;)  yeah, tink, i read it a few years ago.  thanks very much for the offer though. :)

Yes, Mrs. Smarty Pants, I know  ;D.  That's why I said that everyone who reads "Don Quijote de la Mancha" gets something different out of it. But now that I think about it, we could easily associate it with what we commonly call schizophrenia nowadays. >:D

Quote from: Cindi Jones on May 22, 2007, 10:14:06 PM
I haven't read it Tink!  But I think I have a leather bound copy of it sitting on a shelf just waiting to impress someone with my good taste! 

Leather copy?  Wow Cindi, don't tell me you have one of the old versions of this novel which are very rare to find.  That could be worth millions (I know, greedy me!)  Cindi, if you can't find that leather copy, let me know and I could send you one of the copies I have here.  :)

Quote from: Jeannette on May 23, 2007, 01:27:13 AM
Honore de Balzac"

Do you know that he is very famous in SA?  I read a few of his novels in highschool, and even the Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa created an adaptation of Balzac's Comédie humaine titled La Tia Julia y el Escribidor.  I believe that this adaptation has been translated in several foreign languages, so you shouldn't have any problems finding one in French if you're interested.


tink :icon_chick:

Yes, of course.  Vargas Llosa's very well-known here in France.  Incidentally, he lived in Paris for a number of years before returning to South America.  I also adore Balzac's novels and quotes especially.  My favourite quote is "A woman must be a genius to create a good husband"   lol

What a genius to come about with a classic quote such a this.  He surely makes a good point, as I'm sure that a woman who is not supportive of her husband's efforts might bring him down, but that is not to say that some have survived having chosen a wife who did nothing but cause them stress and managed to make out like a bandit, no? ;)

What I have learned from reading the "classics" is that I hate fiction. I only read it when forced to. Made up stories that are improbable, fantasies of someone else, just don't have meaning for me. I become so annoyed picking them apart, I just can't enjoy them. Most of them bored me to tears. Still being in college, I continue to be forced to read this stuff and continue to consider it a huge waste of my time. I prefer to read non-fiction. What really happened is what is relevant to me. Truth really is stranger than fiction.

Love always,
Elizabeth

Quote from: Katia on May 23, 2007, 06:41:46 PM

Quote from: Tink on May 22, 2007, 09:15:10 PM
In addition to being a "classic", it is one of the first "modern" novels. Its main focus is love, friendship and dedication to a cause. 

it can also be interpreted as the pointlessness of chasing after unrealistic fantasies. ;)  yeah, tink, i read it a few years ago.  thanks very much for the offer though. :)

I never finished it, I got too bored of the Duke or whatever he was who sent Sancho Panza to his own special island...but I thought the intended interpretation was that Quixote was a mad and misguided man and that the ending was a happy one for having him die recanting his fantasies. It is only recentish that we find his pointless quest noble, and view his death caused by recanting the fantasy. Something in our culture has risen fantasy up quite a lot higher than it ever was.

Or maybe it hasn't maybe the difference is in the elevation of personal fantasy instead of group fantasy.

Quote from: Pica Pica on May 24, 2007, 02:17:02 PM

Quote from: Katia on May 23, 2007, 06:41:46 PM

Quote from: Tink on May 22, 2007, 09:15:10 PM
In addition to being a "classic", it is one of the first "modern" novels. Its main focus is love, friendship and dedication to a cause. 

it can also be interpreted as the pointlessness of chasing after unrealistic fantasies. ;)  yeah, tink, i read it a few years ago.  thanks very much for the offer though. :)

I never finished it, I got too bored of the Duke or whatever he was who sent Sancho Panza to his own special island...but I thought the intended interpretation was that Quixote was a mad and misguided man and that the ending was a happy one for having him die recanting his fantasies. It is only recentish that we find his pointless quest noble, and view his death caused by recanting the fantasy. Something in our culture has risen fantasy up quite a lot higher than it ever was.

Or maybe it hasn't maybe the difference is in the elevation of personal fantasy instead of group fantasy.

Stop fantasizing and get back to work, You.     :police:

Hey Man!

I'm being hassled by the pigs. What'll-I-Do? What'll-I-Do?

I Know! :icon_idea:

I'll make some slogans, that'll teach him.

"Work is for Jerks! Dreamers should be Leaders!"
(Yell that enough and the pigs will be history)


---God Hippies are silly.

Plutarch's Lives. - self - explanatory. Don't know if I've really learned anything from it - but i love it.

One of my favorites-

The Metamorphosis by Kafka.  I identified with the main character in many ways, and there isn't just one way to read that tale.  A man wakes up and is a giant "disgusting" insect, enough said!

One of my favourite books as a child was Laurie Lee Cider with Rosie. It is autobiographical, about his participation in WW2, but he looks after his increasingly senile mother.  The line I (vaguely) recall as my favourite is...

She saw shades, spoke to visions, and then she died.
We buried her under the oak tree next to my father

Its just so eloquent and beautiful, and paints a thousand images in a few words.  Another of my favourite lines comes from A Passage To India when Forster is describing the unfamiliar landscape, particularly the mountains...

The earth lies flat, heaves a little, then is flat again

You can just picture them! But my all time favourite is Samuel Beckett -Waiting For Godot.  Its so full of time frittered away doing the routine and mundane, yet its so full of humour, almost slapstick at times, and Im sorry not to be able to narrow it down to one example as there are so many.

I dont mean to sound bleak, but there you are. A few of my favourite pieces of literature.

So hard to choose but a really great question. From childhood I would say Robinson Crusoe was my favourite book , closely followed by Enid Blyton's Magic Faraway tree.
As an adult I would have to say anything by Terry Pratchett (Is that literature Har de har!) 'cos he makes me weep with laughter and I love A Prayer for Owen Meany and Life of Pi. I have been considering this but it is too hard to choose just one because as soon as you think of one others come to mind and it is impossible!

One Hundred Years of Solitude by the Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  I love Marquez's creativity and sequencing the most, and it kind of puts me in the mind of "Pulp Fiction". You have this story that is told through a mixture of flashbacks and present tense narratives and at the end you have this magical ending that blows you away, and adds a sense of unity to all of the disjointed parts. At times the book contains too many unimportant details that make the storyline drag, but the overall story was entertaining and I really loved the ending.

You can never go wrong with Cervantes, Tink.  He is, too, one of my favorite authors.

I do like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I'm trying to do the whole magical realism thing myself, but make it more English in style...it's getting some interesting results, I'm not there yet though.

I could never pick a favourite one but I can mention a few decent writers and great novels.

For pure fun and laughs you cant go wrong with a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett or the farcical, P.G Wodehouse, Jeeves and Wooster series.

For wonderful story telling and charactures the Pickwick Papers by Dickens is, probably, his best and funiest work. Marcel Proust In Search Of Lost Time is Epic and grand and quite beyond imagination.

Bill Bryson is unmissable as a writer and so is Alan Coran.

U once told an interviewer that PG Woodehouse is one of my favourites (though whether it is classic yet, i am unsure). They laughed at me! They didn't understand that well written comedy is double the difficulty of tragedy.

Quote from: Pica Pica on May 27, 2007, 01:35:35 PM
U once told an interviewer that PG Woodehouse is one of my favourites (though whether it is classic yet, i am unsure). They laughed at me! They didnt understand that well written comedy is double the difficulty of tragedy.

Are you following me, Pica Pica?  ~laugh~ Joke!  for anyone to understand Woodehouses comedy, they have got to understand his style and satirical jokes. ;)

and his phrasing, that's what i like best. The small descriptive capsual, that actually makes me laugh out loud.

Well it appears the classical label went by the boards some time ago in this thread, so I am going for
Huit Clos (No Exit) by J-P Sartre.

The theme is: Hell exists where you get more than two people in a room.

(I am not advocating that philostophy, but it is a brilliant play)

N

I just realized that I screwed up the difference between 'classic' and 'classical'.  In order to make amends, I will shout ELECTRA by Sophocles. Maybe I'm confusing it with MEDEA by Euripides?

Am I insane? Why can't I recall the difference?   Why do you look 67 feet tall and have horns on your elbows?

Hmm, classics, I guess that is left open to interpretation. I have a degree in English Lit, I've always enjoyed reading and writing so much.

I think one of the most life-changing books I've read would be Kerouac's "On The Road." Might be a little cliche to a younger person trying to find their way in society, but I really found his journies liberating. Just the idea that you can be so unbound and just explore. The writing style was extremely loose as were his journies. I read it in my early years in High School and it really kind of opened me up to a lot of different experiences.

I also read a lot of poetry and was really drawn to confessional poets like Plath, Sexton and others in that style.  Something about the honesty of emotion, raw, that I was drawn to, but I'll leave that to Tink's "Favorite Poems" section :) Meghan

Quote from: Pia on May 27, 2007, 11:30:32 AM
One Hundred Years of Solitude by the Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  I love Marquez's creativity and sequencing the most, and it kind of puts me in the mind of "Pulp Fiction". You have this story that is told through a mixture of flashbacks and present tense narratives and at the end you have this magical ending that blows you away, and adds a sense of unity to all of the disjointed parts. At times the book contains too many unimportant details that make the storyline drag, but the overall story was entertaining and I really loved the ending.

i'm a little put off by the way he weaves reality and surrealism on the same strand. i often felt like telling him, "just four beats to the bar, please." his Autumn of the Patriarch was more accessible.

I like reality and surrealism together, especially if reality is slowly stretched to allow the surrealism in.

A Confederacy of Dunces, anyone?

Quote from: Ell on June 22, 2007, 12:21:22 AM

Quote from: Pia on May 27, 2007, 11:30:32 AM
One Hundred Years of Solitude by the Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  I love Marquez's creativity and sequencing the most, and it kind of puts me in the mind of "Pulp Fiction". You have this story that is told through a mixture of flashbacks and present tense narratives and at the end you have this magical ending that blows you away, and adds a sense of unity to all of the disjointed parts. At times the book contains too many unimportant details that make the storyline drag, but the overall story was entertaining and I really loved the ending.

i'm a little put off by the way he weaves reality and surrealism on the same strand. i often felt like telling him, "just four beats to the bar, please." his Autumn of the Patriarch was more accessible.

i just finished reading this book last night.  in all honesty, though, i was expecting something completely different going in. i wasn't quite sure what kind of book i was reading when it's called One Hundred Years of Solitude, yet had me laughing out loud within the first ten pages. i think i was expecting something more melancholic, philosophical, introspective...i'm not sure what i was expecting, but that certainly isn't what i got. which isn't necessarily a bad thing all the time, don't get me wrong; quite on the contrary, i really enjoyed marquez' nobel prize-winning classic. and i suppose that the fact that i was taken off guard right from the get-go was part of the whole illusion.

Gossip:  *giggling devilishly*  Did you know that Gabriel Garcia Marquez refused to go back to Spain when the Spaniards implemented visa requirement laws for Colombians?  I don't think he has visited Spain since then.  He's still upset about it.  ;D

tink :icon_chick:

I like Metamorphosis by Kafka. I like the fact that the author strenuously denied that it was metaphorical; it's about a guy, woke up one day as a bug, period.

:)

Quote from: None of the Above on June 23, 2007, 04:27:51 PM
I like Metamorphosis by Kafka. I like the fact that the author strenuously denied that it was metaphorical; it's about a guy, woke up one day as a bug, period.

:)

I like that one too. That actually happened to me. I woke up and I was a giant ant. Unlike the guy in Kafka's story, I was able to get out of my room, but I couldn't find anything to eat because there were no giant crumbs. Fortunately, the next day I awoke as a tiny elephant and had no problem finding food.

 :D :D

Rebecca, have you seen the film A Scanner, Darkly (from the Phil K Dick story Through A Scanner, Darkly)?

Quote from: None of the Above on June 23, 2007, 06:26:49 PM
:D :D

Rebecca, have you seen the film A Scanner, Darkly (from the Phil K Dick story Through A Scanner, Darkly)?

No Ma'am, I haven't

Quote from: RebeccaFog on June 23, 2007, 10:54:27 PM

Quote from: None of the Above on June 23, 2007, 06:26:49 PM
:D :D

Rebecca, have you seen the film A Scanner, Darkly (from the Phil K Dick story Through A Scanner, Darkly)?

No Ma'am, I haven't

I've seen scanners though, when his head blows in...brilliant!

Quote from: RebeccaFog on June 23, 2007, 05:43:48 PM

I woke up and I was a giant ant.

I hate it when that happens.

Quote from: RebeccaFog on June 22, 2007, 04:52:15 PM
A Confederacy of Dunces, anyone?

i started it, but couldn't get interested. though, i've heard some say it was the funniest thing they've ever read.

Quote from: Ell on June 24, 2007, 05:32:39 PM

Quote from: RebeccaFog on June 22, 2007, 04:52:15 PM
A Confederacy of Dunces, anyone?

i started it, but couldn't get interested. though, i've heard some say it was the funniest thing they've ever read.

   It is seriously hilarious. The writing is beautiful too somehow.

Quote from: RebeccaFog on June 24, 2007, 05:48:41 PM

Quote from: Ell on June 24, 2007, 05:32:39 PM

Quote from: RebeccaFog on June 22, 2007, 04:52:15 PM
A Confederacy of Dunces, anyone?

i started it, but couldn't get interested. though, i've heard some say it was the funniest thing they've ever read.

   It is seriously hilarious. The writing is beautiful too somehow.

I started it too, found the lead character too irritating to continue.

Quote from: Pica Pica on June 25, 2007, 11:33:40 AM

Quote from: RebeccaFog on June 24, 2007, 05:48:41 PM

Quote from: Ell on June 24, 2007, 05:32:39 PM

Quote from: RebeccaFog on June 22, 2007, 04:52:15 PM
A Confederacy of Dunces, anyone?

i started it, but couldn't get interested. though, i've heard some say it was the funniest thing they've ever read.

   It is seriously hilarious. The writing is beautiful too somehow.

I started it too, found the lead character too irritating to continue.

   The book revolves around a self centered & selfish fool whose point of view concerning the world is that everyone else is beneath him.  As you read on, the circumstances surrounding his perspective become as silly as the Marx Brothers in 'Monkey Business'.

Wow...  THis is hard.

I would have to add Henry V.  If for no other reason than for two quotes:

The sum of our answer is but this:  We would not seek battle such as we are.  And yet, such as we are, we will not shun it.

Harold.  Save thee thy labors, gentle harold.  Come no more for ransom.  You shall have none save these my joints!  WHICH, if they be as I leave them, shall yield ... little.

Chaunte

Quote from: The Middle Way on June 23, 2007, 04:27:51 PM
I like Metamorphosis by Kafka. I like the fact that the author strenuously denied that it was metaphorical; it's about a guy, woke up one day as a bug, period.

:)

I like authors who write and think that way.  J.R.R. Tolkien and Vladimir Nabokov, two of my triumvirate of favorite authors (the third is Ayn Rand), said similar things about their work.

My favorite classic?  Among books that are widely considered such, 1984 by Orwell, Moby Dick by Melville, and Invitation to a Beheading by Nabokov.

1984 scared the hell out of me at 14, and probably was the first push at really getting me into politics, although my basic views were the same then as they were as long as I've had political views, and as they are now.

I learned absolutely nothing from Moby Dick -- it was just a great story, even if Melville did feel compelled to insert a lot of essays on whales.

My two favorite books, though, are ones which are probably not considered classics by most academics, but which will outlast their critics: The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien and Atlas Shrugged by Rand.  They (along with all Tolkien's other work, in his case, for it is all connected) are drawn on two of the greatest scales ever conceived in literature.  The stakes are the same: ultimate victory against ultimate defeat.  Both make clear, among many other things, the terrible danger of seeking power over others, even with intent to do good.

What I learned from both is too long to type right now.  I'll leave you with two quotes, the first from LoTR, the second from AS, that say so much more than is apparent at first about each -- and if you want to know the whole story, you'll have to read them -- which I highly recommend you do (read Anthem by Rand before Atlas Shrugged, though.)

"Many that live deserve death.  And some that die deserve life.  Can you give that to them?  Then do not be too quick to deal out death in judgment.  For even the very wise cannot see all ends."

"So you think that money is the root of all evil?  Have you ever asked what is the root of money?"

Hmm, classics. How about Mahabharata and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice? I always love rereading One Hundred Years of Solitude and Vargas Llosa's War at the End of the World.

All of Patricia McKillip's fantasies as well as those of Ursula LeGuin. I recall my first read of The Left Hand of Darkness totally astounded me. A world where people lived normally molting gender every-so-often.

Quote from: Nichole W. on November 17, 2007, 07:33:51 AM
Hmm, classics. How about Mahabharata

do you think there could have been a pre-historic nuclear war or maybe something extraterrestrial hit the earth?

QuoteGurkha,
flying a swift and powerful vimana
hurled a single projectile
Charged with all the power of the Universe.
An incandescent column of smoke and flame
As bright as the thousand suns
Rose in all its splendour...
a perpendicular explosion
with its billowing smoke clouds...
...the cloud of smoke
rising after its first explosion
formed into expanding round circles
like the opening of giant parasols...
..it was an unknown weapon,
An iron thunderbolt,
A gigantic messenger of death,
Which reduced to ashes
The entire race of the Vrishnis and the Andhakas.
...The corpses were so burned
As to be unrecognizable.
The hair and nails fell out;
Pottery broke without apparent cause,
And the birds turned white.
After a few hours
All foodstuffs were infected...
...to escape from this fire
The soldiers threw themselves in streams
To wash themselves and their equipment

the description sounds to me that a large meteorite had hit the earth at the time of the battle, which by that ancient culture, would have been perceived as a projectile sent from a "god" to exterminate all involved and would also be considered a punishment. If you look at the topography of the map in India and to the east and north east of the country you will notice a "hole" of sorts where a possible impact may have happened in the 14th c BCE. If a meteorite did fall and cause the described catastrophe, it would look like a nuclear blast with radiation destroying most living organisms within a 100 to 500 mile radius of the impact and causing sickness and bleaching of land animals and landscapes in the area. i believe that is what they witnessed.

Quote from: Katia on November 18, 2007, 12:07:34 AM


do you think there could have been a pre-historic nuclear war or maybe something extraterrestrial hit the earth?

It's been said that nothing new exists "under the sun." Perhaps. Although the things I like in Mahabharata really are not the battling. I prefer the interplay of the characters.

Draupadi was my favorite. She's strong and capable. And had a harem of the strongest and manliest men in India!! haha 

As for the guys. I suppose I should prefer Arjuna, except that I was attracted to Karna, his nemesis.

In Ts terms I would still go with Left Hand of Darkness. I read it when it came out in '69 or '70 and was simply astounded that the people on Winter were ambisexual, partook of either human sex alternately. I remember just being very desirous of having at least been born that way instead of the frustrating way I was born. A real eye-opener for a pre-college TS. 

Louise May Allcott's Little Women.  Jo March was everything I aspired to be, including a girl.
--- what I learned - you can play with gender and still get what you want

Will's top plays - R&J, Hamlet, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew
-- I learned a lot about what it is to be human

Charles Beard's An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States
-- I learned the Golden Rule, those that have the gold, get to make the rules

Alice's Adventures Through the Looking Glass
-- Turns out I'm not the only one lost down a rabbit hole

George Orwell, Animal Farm and 1984
- All animals are equal, some are just more equal than others.  In other news, 1984 was NOT supposed to be the instruction manual many in power seem to view it as.

Other Thoughts:

A Confederacy of Dunces - good, but not a classic.  (not yet at least)

Tolkin was a highly respected academic, a true scholor.  He was an Oxford professor of Anglo-Saxon language from 1925 to 1945, and Merton Professor of English language and literature from 1945 to 1959.  I don't know anyone who dismisses LotR.

Ayn Rand has trouble in academic circles, largely because even if you agree with her political conclusions,  her arguments do not justify them.  A big problem for those who would defend her.  Moreover, I think her take on the strength of America being one of rational egoism and individualism is a mis-reading of the notion of 'enlightened self-interest' stressed by the Founding Fathers.

"So you think that money is the root of all evil?  Have you ever asked what is the root of money?"
-- largely, its imagination and a collective agreement that its real, when in fact, its not.

  Beowulf is one of my favorites, although a slow read. I find it interesting to look through the eyes of someone with a narrow understanding. To see monsters and heros only because one does not have the perspective to see reality and embrace it.
  But to force me to pick just one 'classic', now that's just rude  ;).