It was my new year's resolution to read at least 15 of the "Classics" this year. It's mostly been a crapshoot thus far, and I've chosen books with no real reasoning.

So far I've done The Scarlet Letter, War and Peace, Walden, 100 Years of Solitude, and I happen to have East of Eden lying around, so that is next. I also tried to read Ulysses, but wanted to hang myself by about page 400, so I'll have to try that one again later.

Anybody have any recommendations from personal experience? I want to tackle The Brothers Karamazov, but I think I'd like a lighter read next. Has anyone read this? Or have a better suggestion?

It's nice to see someone tackling some serious literature. For Dostoyevsky, I'd recommend "Notes from the Underground" to start with then "Crime and Punishment" next. Brothers Karamazov is good, but those other two are my favorites (Notes from the Underground is a novelette, so a much easier intro to his writing). As for Joyce, I'd recommend reading Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man first--makes Ulysses so much easier, but still hard. I'd pass on Finnegan's Wake. If you want a light book, try Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, Huck Finn by Twain, or Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Other classics I like of the top of my head:

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (inspiration for Apocalypse Now)
Anything by Franz Kafka (start with The Metamorphosis)
1984 by Orwell
The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner (very hard--almost Ulysses-like; might try Light in August first)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo (the original magical realist)

Anyway--all of these are great books. Let me know if you need any more suggestions.

Vouch Crime and Punishment & Heart of Darkness, one of my favorite books.

My recommendation would be to go to Barnes and Noble and just start reading from their own "classics" series. They are very cheap (average price for a book would be around $6.95) and they cover a broad range of authors, genres, etc.

Moby Dick!

Machiavelli "The Prince", is a very good book, it blew my mind, although you might think its better to read an interpretation of the book since it will be an easier to understand read.

Get Harvey Mansfield's translation, and The Prince is easy enough.

Yes it is easy enough, maybe Ive should put it another way. Some interpretations show you some interesting aspects of his writings.

Good point--Mansfield (a Harvard professor) provides a useful intro. Otherwise, I'd still recommend reading the original before commentaries. You'll get a lot more out of it that way.

A Confederacy of Dunces....I consider this a modern classic. It's one of my favorite books, and really funny. It will be fun to read after something heavy.