I'm Currently Reading 1984 And Considering Trying To Read More Classics. I Haven't Read Any Classics

I'm currently reading 1984 and considering trying to read more classics. I haven't read any classics since high school and did not enjoy any of the ones we were required to read. But people enjoy them and they're classics for a reason, right? I mainly read fantasy and/or romance, but I'd like to get over my avoidance of classic literature, and I'm sure literally no one will see this but by chance if any opinionated classics-lovers scroll by this then please please please what would you recommend I read next? (Under cut are the books I read in school.)

Middle school (what I can remember anyways):

Beowulf

The Pearl

The Giver

The Illustrated Man

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

High school:

Romeo and Juliet

Of Mice and Men

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Odyssey (...part of it)

Animal Farm

Lord of the Flies

Julius Caesar

All Quiet on the Western Front

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Great Gatsby

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Hamlet

Brave New World

I did read The Hobbit this year, which I loved on account of being a fantasy lover, and I'm excited to read Lord of the Rings at some point.

Excuse the heck out of you, me of the past, where do you get off on leaving your last sentence of a story incomplete?

He wondered if perhaps he was getting too used to this, that this,

That this what??? What did I do to deserve this disrespect. How am I supposed to know where the sentence was supposed to go. Why have you done this to me. Whyyyyyyyy. (╥ᆺ╥；)

Go read an old fic.

There’s such recency bias in fandom. As an author you post something, get a few reactions, and then it goes off into the bin. As a reader you check the tags, see what’s new, and move on. But a lot of old stuff is really good. It’s just sitting there, gathering dust, waiting for someone to take a peek.

So go on. Treat yourself.

Read an old fic.

I have recently started delving into Hannibal fanfiction (have never watched the show and never will, though I did traipse through the episode guides for the entire show eons ago and got mentally scarred for my efforts), and this year I've been making an attempt to leave more comments, but with Hannigram fics... how am I supposed to put into words the expressions on my face when I finish reading, staring down into the abyss, wondering how I ended up here (in a good way), smile frozen on my face, hanging head in hands. It's been a trial. Anyways I know literally three characters and next to zero plot and most of the time I have no idea what's going on but I'm having a good time over here.

my friend's book comes out today!!

[ID: a lavender book cover with two white women in Victorian gowns giving each other side glances and holding hands. The title reads "Don't Want You Like a Best Friend" and the author is "Emma R. Alban." end ID]

A swoon-worthy debut queer Victorian romance in which two debutantes distract themselves from having to seek husbands by setting up their widowed parents, and instead find their perfect match in each other—the lesbian Bridgerton/Parent Trap you never knew you needed!

I'm so proud of Emma!! If you like queer historical romance like The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, you should pick up this book.

Reading 1984 for the first time and I think I'm in way over my head. Took four days to read the foreword. 😨We'll see how this goes.