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HEY THERE Y’ALL. So I go through phases where I read nothing but Tumblr and then phases where I devour new books like a ravening wolf. I’m getting to a point where I want to Read Things, but of course the library is not open (and my local library is shite anyway, that’s a separate rant). So I’m basically stuck with Project Gutenberg, and I don’t know where the fuck to start. I don’t even know what genre I want to try.

So! Does anybody have any recommendations? What are your favorite out-of-copyright books? Are there Great Classics that are surprisingly readable? Assume I haven’t read much that’s aimed at adults, but I’m game to try anything. I’m generally fonder of adventure than of romance, but the thing about books old enough to be on Project Gutenberg is that they really don’t fall into the same categories as the mid-century kidlit I grew up reading.

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From:

sovay

So I’m basically stuck with Project Gutenberg, and I don’t know where the fuck to start.

If you like mysteries, I enjoyed Cyril Hare's An English Murder (1951) and Tragedy at Law (1942) very much for the reasons detailed here, and you can always try the rest his series if you do.

From:

mommy

The Count of Monte Cristo and The Scarlet Pimpernel are both fairly good adventure novels. Edgar Rice Burrough wrote the Tarzan books and the Barsoom books (the ones with "_____ of Mars" titles) which are decent adventure stories, although they fall more into the YA range.

From:

finch

I'll second the rec for Scarlet Pimpernel. Jules Verne, Jack London and Alexandre Dumas come to mind for adventure. May I recommend PG Wodehouse if you want something funny?

From:

sovay

I'll second the rec for Scarlet Pimpernel.

Also, as

skygiants has been exhaustively cataloguing, all of the sequels are nuts.

From:

fred_mouse

I was trawling the Project Gutenberg site just last night, but I'm looking for things in Italian and/or French that also have an English version, so that is a bit of a niche. However, I have also spent much time historically acquiring things from project gutenberg, although not as much time recording things that I've read.

From my goodreads list, rated 4 stars or above:
* The Yellow Wall Paper (Charlotte Gilman Perkins) - creepy. cw: possible gaslighting.
* The Mysterious Affair at Styles (Agatha Christie) - earlier Christie, apparently the first of the Hercule Poirot books. Set during war time, relatively light reading for a murder mystery
* Book Of Dragons (E Nesbit) - children's short stories, based on fairy tale tropes. cw: historically acceptable treatment of children looks like mistreatment with a modern eye
* The Moon Pool (A Merritt) - starts out looking to be eldritch horror along the lines of HP Lovecraft, is not. cw: period typical colonial attitudes and racism
* Understood Betsy (Dorothy Canfield Fisher) - from the USA, children's story, but these days I'd recommend it to adults with an interest in children's literature, and wouldn't give it to kids. cw: lots of period typical attitudes, although I don't remember any explicit racism.

I also read 'Flatland' by Edwin A Abbott which I didn't particularly enjoy but was a fascinating read.

Looking at various bookshelves, I've been thinking about checking out

* http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_Book_Series_(Bookshelf) - particularly the Automobile Girls or The Motor Girls (I've had one recommended, but I don't remember which). I liked the Bobbsey twins as a kid, but I haven't reread
* http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_Fiction_(Bookshelf) - If you haven't read 'The Magic Pudding' (Norman Lindsay), I recommend it with caveats (racism, some other details I don't remember). There is more Nesbit there
* http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Children%27s_Literature_(Bookshelf) - this has a lot more of the authors I've read. I can pick a few if you want.
* http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Science_Fiction_(Bookshelf)#M - Catherine MacLean is a name I recognise, although I don't recognise any of the book titles, and there is a C(atherine) L Moore, which I do recommend.

From:

thisbluespirit

I don't know what's on Project Gutenberg for sure, but would definitely second The Count of Monte Cristo. It's a ride, whatever else it is.

Although recs from me might count as sort of instant anti-recs, but OTOH they could just be things that you will def. like but not in the same way as me. Heh.

In readable old classics, Wilkie Collins is good. I don't know if he'd be your thing, but The Moonstone is fun, and he set a few of the detective tropes in place with it.

But anyway, hi!! *hugs you*

From:

melannen

If you like adventure and haven't read Captain Blood, you should!

Other old adventure that I either recommend or have on my to-read: Ivanhoe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Jules Verne, G. Manville Fenn (I think you have to go to Gutenberg Australia for him.)

Edgar Rice Burroughs and H.P. Lovecraft's Dream Cycle are both compulsively readable adventure and very, very racist, so ymmv.

Also if you search "aviators" on Gutenberg you get the Boy Aviators and The Girl Aviators. I don't know that I'd call them good but there are airplanes! Tom Swift is also pretty fun, so are The Outdoor Girls and The Motor Boys.

From:

melannen

More old kids' books: If you haven't read them, Pollyanna and What Katy Did are both pretty good if you like that kind of thing, and my mom has spent lockdown re-reading Five Little Peppers and Gene Stratton-Porter. The "A Little Maid of..." books were very reminiscent of American Girl to me when I found them (at the same age I found American Girl.) Oz is still very fun. Noel Sainsbury writes boys' own adventure about WWI fighter pilots; no promise it's good, but it gets me the same places that starfighter pilots do (and if you like them, there's more of that sort of thing on Gutenberg.)

Any of the Gutenberg-era Knights of the Round Tables and Robin Hoods are fun reads, too.

Great Classics: I never regret digging into Twain. If you've read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, "Tom Sawyer Abroad" is basically a for-the-money sequel where Tom and Huck get abducted by a 19th century UFO, and it is AMAZE. "A Connecticut Yankee" is also fun, yet batshit. Dipping into his short story collections is also usually pretty great. Kipling is also fun, and only moderately racist - start with The Jungle Book if you haven't. And I guess I have to mention Victor Hugo - Les Miserables is a great book, but Han of Iceland is a so-bad-it's-good adventure novel set in Fake Medieval Scandinavia, pick your fighter!