Welcome to the Book Nook! The weekly thread for all book nerds on The Avocado. This is the place to talk about books you’re currently reading, discuss genres, ask for recommendations, and post serious literary criticism.

This weeks (recycled) prompt: The classics. Which classics (feel free to use your own criteria as to whether a book qualifies or not) are must reads and which are non-essential?

Suggestions for prompts are always welcome!

Posting pictures is fine as long as they are book related, but I would like this thread to continue to be a NO GIF/YouTube/social media embed zone. Thanks, and happy commenting!

Today’s literary birthdays:
Luís António Verney (1713), Portuguese philosopher and theologian (RIP 1792)
Salvador de Madariaga (1886), Spanish novelist, poet and historian (RIP 1978)
Raymond Chandler (1888), American mystery writer (RIP 1959)
Daniel Cosío Villegas (1898), Mexican historian (RIP 1976)
Julia Davis Adams (1900), American writer of historical novels for children and mysteries (RIP 1993)
Virgil Finlay (1914), American illustrator (RIP 1971)
Gavin Lambert (1924), British novelist and biographer (RIP 2005)
Alain Decaux (1925), French historian (RIP 2016)
Ludvík Vaculík (1926), Czech novelist and essayist (RIP 2016)
Hubert Selby Jr. (1928), American novelist (RIP 2004)
Danielle Collobert (1940), French poet (RIP 1978)
John Nichols (1940), American novelist (RIP 2023)
Christopher Andrew (1941), British historian
Rene Ricard (1946), American poet and art critic (RIP 2014)
Gardner Dozois (1947), American science fiction short story writer, novelist and editor (RIP 2018)
Robin Simon (1947), Welsh art historian and critic