My number one recommendation for a classic, if one counts it as a classic, is Brideshead Revisited. (Narnia/Damerosehay/Brideshead – my Magical Trinity of Christian fiction with Special Places that mean very much to me.) If it's too modern – then, if one counts it, Goodbye, Mr Chips. (My favourite little book... very little in its size, very big in everything else!) If that's too obscure to be a classic – then, The Phantom of the Opera. A silly choice, perhaps. A silly book, but a very enjoyable one. Because, you see, most of the classic novels I'd usually recommend have already been mentioned. (Bonus: Oscar Wilde's fairy tales!)
I'd count all of those as classics. As a very rough definition, I'd consider anything published in 1950 or earlier as a classic (and I'd be willing to stretch it to 1960). There's a very different culture before and after those dates.
I've read and enjoyed The Phantom of the Opera. And I've been meaning to tell you that I read Goodbye, Mr. Chips about a month ago--it's a very sweet little story. I've also read and enjoyed a couple of Oscar Wilde's fairy tales and would be interested in more.
Brideshead Revisited is one of those Catholic classics that always stay on my radar as something I ought to read someday. I've been scared away by its solemn and...for lack of a better word...modernistic reputation, but seeing you mention it so often in the same breath as Elizabeth Goudge does make it seem somewhat less intimidating.
