A few of my favorite older classics are The House of Mirth, A Room With A View, A Passage to India
As an aside.
The Philbrick historical account of historical Nantucket and Moby Dick is very interesting. If you like his, David McCullough or Doris Goodwin type reads.
Y’all must not be from the South. Faulkner is a hero. 
@katliamom, I was forced to read Il Giottopardo in Italian by a sadistic high school teacher. The book burning was a group event. It’s possible it had more to do with the circumstances than the work, but I don’t think I can ever revisit it.
I love Shakespeare but I can understand why a lot of people don’t. Too many students are forced to approach it as literature when it’s meant to be seen on the stage, plus some teachers avoid all the fun bawdiness of Shakespeare. Imagine if your only exposure to “The Hangover” was reading the script without a good understanding of the cultural context (Mike Tyson, anyone?), none of the visuals (a naked Mr. Chow) and with all the dirty jokes stripped out. It wouldn’t be anywhere near as fun.
Never liked “Catcher.” When I read it teachers seemed to think it was fun lit. but I found Holden insufferable.
I made it through Moby Dick comfortably after a college professor explained that the technical sections on whaling were meant largely as filler to let the reader catch their breath between the more action-filled scenes. That gave me license to read them with less attention.
I hated Atlas Shrugged. The mulri-page John Galt speech almost killed me
I love this John Rogers quote "
There are two novels that can change hange a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."
LOL, Sue! UNDERSTOOD 
I would have enjoyed book burning in those years. The first to go into the fire: John Brown’s Body, by Stephen Vincent Benet. An epic poem largely forgotten today but considered a classic by my own sadistic high school teacher. (Maybe it was the same guy?!) It was, however in English. More or less.
I loved most of the authors people have posted here (Shakespeare, Austen, Chaucer, Wharton, Dostoevsky, the Brontes, et al), but I don’t love Tolkien. Sorry. The Hobbit was excellent, then things went downhill. The movie adaptations are highly quotable, though.
Henry James was a bore (except for The Turn of the Screw.) He could have learned a thing or two from Edith Wharton, who could write about the subtlest moment and make you care.
And I enjoyed all of Ayn Rand, but understood that she was a shallow, pretentious, hose nozzle. Hose nozzles can be entertaining, though.
Regarding Thackeray, Vanity Fair is a dreadful book and no one should have to read it.
Depending on how long I’m quarantined for coronavirus, I might make a project of reading those Harvard Classics we picked up at a tag sale.
Or…not…
@Massmomm hose nozzle. That’s really good. Lol.
Oh @stradmom, you can’t just drop the word “quarantined” into your post and not give more detail.
Are you sure you’re not having a thing with my husband? That’s his line.
I’m sure many of you already know this but I learned today - quarantine is based on an old time Italian (?) maritime rule that when a ship infected with a dreaded disease was required to moor off port and wait four weeks before disembarking. Those who made it were assumed to be ok.
Old world solutions.
Finished.
You guys are making me feel better about my struggles with Faulkner. As I Lay Dying. I have absolutely no idea what was going on.
Gatsby. Greatest novel ever? Come on.
Catcher In The Rye. Maybe it was something special when first released but it seemed tame when I read it in 1980.
Didn’t finish
Infinite Jest. Tried three times. Lots going on and nothing much going on. I’ve never taken notes while reading for pleasure. I wasn’t about to start to with this.
Ulysses. Read Dubliners and thought some of the stories were good but this is just a chore.
All The King’s Men. Really enjoyed it but left it on the subway. Should buy another copy.
I have read and enjoyed Moby Dick. It moves slowly but it drew me in and kept me interested.
I dislike reading plays in general, and Shakespeare is harder than most to read. But I’ve loved every play I’ve actually watched. I’ve seen Twelfth Night a half dozen times at least and will see it again whenever it’s in my vicinity.
The year after I graduated from college I had a grant to travel across the country photographing American fire houses. We took the two volume Norton Anthology of American literature with us. I read it in chronological order and my partner in geographical order. I did read Faulkner’s “The Bear” which is just a longish short story and is still the only thing of his I have finished. There was a lot of horrible stuff in that anthology, but at least I can say, that between it and whatever random stuff I read in high school, I’ve covered the basics.
The Great Gatsby.
BA and MA in literature.
Moby Dick is the first one that comes to mind that I just couldn’t get through.
I could not name a single book by Faulkner – what does that imply??
Great thread!
I’m surprised at how many hate Dostoyevsky. I’ve loved every one of his books I’ve read, and Crime and Punishment is one of my favorite books of all time. I also loved Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying.
The two so far that I’ve found very hard to get through are the Great Gatsby and Moby Dick. They were painfully slow and uninteresting.
@romanigypsyeyes and the rest of the Holden haters–can we just keep in mind that it’s (spoiler alert) about a boy whose little brother had recently died of leukemia? Tough crowd! I mean, sure, dislike the book, but at least go a little easier on the guy. 
To be fair, many of these classics make more sense when viewed as part of the times/culture. Reading Dostoyevsky/Tolstoy is less enjoyable without knowledge of Russia in the day. Faulkner is classic Southern literature, but best viewed in context of the South.
And for those wondering if, for foreign authors, something is lost in translation into English - nope. The Divine Comedy was 9 circles of hell whether read in Italian or English.