Mostly Book Depository, Bookshop.org, & Amazon ☺️If folks are interested in finding the Penguin Clothbound Classics, I have some affiliated links with most of them: Here's my affiliated Penguin Clothbound Classics shop at Bookshop.org: bookshop.org/lists/penguin-clothbound-classics-7ecf8706-5180-477b-9005-660667869a8e Or if you want to go through Amazon, my affiliated link is here: amzn.to/32hC969
Had a long hiatus on reading and tried reading a classic. It was Dorian Gray. I was amazed at Oscar Wilde's style of prose. It's not to complicated and not too simple. It just sits in between making it a good page turner. I loved the premise and the story in general. Too sad that his work was not generally accepted by the society during his time (victorian era) because it's too gay and too unvictorian for them. :(
A tip for reading classics: if there is a movie about the book watch it first and then read it that way you know what’s going on if you get confused with the language and it has helped me so much
I think Frankenstein is a good beginners classic. It’s relatively short and the language isn’t too difficult. Also for doorstoppers, I always recommend Les Mis to people who love the musical. It adds so much depth to the story and the characters.
Woah frankenstein has been my first classic! I loved it, moved on to pride and prejudice and now onto little women. I was always intimidated by the thought of the wordiness but so far so good😊
I dont know if you classify this as a classic, but John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men will forever hold a special place in my heart. If you haven’t read it, please do!
I just retired and am reading classics with my daughter. First:was The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Second: The Scarlett Pimpernel and now we are reading David Copperfield
Dracula, Frankenstein, Carmilla, Dorian Grey, the short horror stories of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, or the heroic fantasy tales of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith are usually my recommendations when it comes to the classics!
I'm reading "murder on the orient express" in search of improving my English skill.🙂 I'm enjoying myself watching your video with English subtitle! thank you from Japan.
Hi,🤗 I really love Japan because I grew up watching animes like Pokemon and all. How are things going on in Japan, like How is the pandemic situation there?
Yes, if you don't mind spoilers, I *highly* recommend watching the movie versions before reading them, but I am a dyslexic scholar and have a tendency to get swept up in the story when I mean to study XD Following the story is definitely much easier if you've seen the movie before reading it (not to mention how much easier it is to know the characters)
If someone is TOTALLY intimidated by classics, I always recommend some childrens' classics first. Such as Lewis Carroll - everyone knows the story of Alice and it just eases them into the language gently. Also E. Nesbit is good. I also think Henry James is a great introduction. The themes in What Maisie Knew could have been written today. The Turn of the Screw is a great horror read. And I agree with you on Wilkie Collins - love him!
Henry James is extremely demanding. Points of view, crawl behind the narrator’s eyes and don’t trust the narrator. I recommend Turn of the Screw!! Talk about in our DNA.
The way I got through Shakespeare: they sell editions that have little footnotes or side notes about confusing parts. Made it so much easier and helped me get used to reading his works. By the end, I didn’t even read the notes. I felt MUCH smarter haha.
@@valpaz5802 Personally, I like the Folger editions of Shakespeare, they tend to have a lot of notes and Folger is really well known for their scholarship. Also good are the Norton editions and sometimes the Signet Classic editions.
I read your comment last night and was going to ask you where you purchased yours. Then when I went to the thrift store today, I found a copy of Merchant of Venice exactly as you described! Meant to be!
My intro to classics was A Christmas Carol in third grade and I recall loving it. Skip to Freshman year when we read A Tale of Two Cities and started to really explore more classics. My school taught them fairly well to the point where I ended up asking what "new" classic we were going to read in English hahaha
A Tale of Two Cities has apparently sold 200 million copies, which makes it the best selling novel, ever. All I know is I'm in tears while reading the last 4 pages!
Oh I started with The Picture of Dorian Gray literally last week and I loved it (and tbh the first couple of chapters especially I was just sitting there going this is so gay this is totally appropriate for pride month)
E. M. Forsters stuff is also really gay. One of his books wasn't published until after his death in the 1970's, but he has a lot of gay characters that are disguised with thinly veiled subtext, just like in Dorian Gray. Maurice, of course, gets rid of all the subtext.
There's me think she meant classics as in The Odyssey, The Illiad, Dante's Inferno (which I think I see at the top right of your bookshelf) or any classical plays like Medea or Oedipus. STILL A GOOD VIDEO ❤️❤️
Your list was great, particularly for European/Western culture classics. I would usually start with Frankenstein as the classic I would recommend because it is not too long, the language isn't too difficult, it has some themes that have aged very well, particularly with the sciences and questions on the ethics of certain branches of science, nature vs nurture, etc. Also, so many of the movies are only VERY loosely based on the novel, so it is fun to read the original and see the differences. I did like Dracula, but I think it is harder to get into for most people because a lot of it is written as an epistolary, or journal entries, which can be hard to get into and stay absorbed in the story. For short horror classics, I like Edgar Allen Poe, particularly The Cask of Amontillado or The Black Cat, among the other more well-known stories. If you are looking for more obscure Western classics that are decent to start with, I really liked Moll Flanders by Danel Defoe and Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, both are some of the very first English novels, and I found them very entertaining. If you are looking to get into some more general World Literature, some of the easiest to start with are probably Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe or The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Somewhat harder to get into, I would also recommend Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, which was written in 11th century Japan and may be the first recorded novel in the world. For short horror stories from Japan, I would recommend the works of Rynosuke Akutagawa, particularly Hell Screen or Rashomon. Gah, there are too many great classics to recommend! It is hard to know where to start without knowing someone's tastes! And this doesn't even really touch on the more modern classics (though House of the Spirits is fairly modern)...
Two years after marriage, I was reading John Dracula (he's got Dyslexia). I said, "It's1:00 am. Can we stop and get to bed? He said, "You can't stop now!! It's the most exciting part!"
This is my first time watching one of your videos and I had to stop 3 minutes in to write this comment because I immediately subscribed! You have such an engaging and beautiful way of speaking, and your passion for reading and classics really comes through. Thank you for being amazing 😊
We studied great expectations in school but I only read the first part. Finally, 15 years later, I read it fully over the summer and now I can't get it out of my head now.
Hi Maura! I think many of the books on your bookshelves have gorgeous bindings. I am currently reading a movie-tie-in paperback edition of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens that I bought from the Barnes and Noble bargain bin for $2.00 USD; and yes: his plots are male ice cream sundae without the ice cream bonkers. I've read Wuthering Heights; while I loved the atmosphere and sense of place, I believe that the characters all deserved to undergo live autopsies.
The poet Gabriel Rossetti said the action of Wuthering Heights takes place in Hell, where all the characters mysteriously have English names... As for Charles Dickens, I agree with John Updike in that the reason academia looks down on him is that Dickens tries to move readers primarily through their emotions rather than intellect.
For those wanting to get into Russian literature, I recommend starting with something light that sets the tone for Russian culture. A collection of short stories by Pushkin is good
I would reccomend Fathers and Sons, it's very short and easy to read, even if Turgenev is a Westernizer as compared to the much more famous slavophiles Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Also, if someone were into satire I would reccomend Dead Souls by Gogol.
I didn't know people like you existed anymore in our "I read the back of cereal box" culture. Almost all the books you talked about I've read and enjoyed. Back when I was 11 I would've quoted Mark Twain if I knew the saying "A classic: that's a book people praise without reading it." Then at the age of 12 in elementary school I was given Jane Eyre to read. By the time I finished it, it changed my life in so many ways. For one, I read a whole lotta classics: American, British, but also German, Russian, French, etc. I have an obsession with the Ancient Greeks and the Classical World, but that's another story .( My husband on my exposing him to Greek Tragedy: "Colleen! It's so passionate!") One Victorian book you left out would be "The Pickwick Papers." I didn't think I would like it, but I found myself laughing loudly on the bus while reading it. It's Dickens' funniest book, but a doorstopper. It's also Dickens' first novel, written at age 24, that made him famous. I read Harold Bloom would read The Pickwick Papers every year, because it was so hilarious. God Bless You!
I recently started wanting to get back to reading some classics-I own so many that I haven’t read yet! This was so helpful and really kind at helping people get into reading classics. Thank you! 💖
I'm 15 years old and I just got into classics and reading more and I decided to go with pride and prejudice. Honestly it's really nice and the language is very beautiful. Sadly, english is not my first language and since I wanted to read the book in its original form, I'm having a little trouble understanding some parts. Reading out loud as you mentioned in shakespeare really help!
my favorite classic of all time and one of my favorite books is the count of monte Cristo. it's easy to read and understand it's just long edit- oh hey you mentioned it! I'd love to re re re read it.
I would recommend watching Shakespeare, not reading it. It was meant to be watched and heard. The visuals can help you keep all the characters straight, and the actors’ inflections and moods can help you interpret the language. (Try to find anything directed by Branagh, though of course there are other good directors.) I love classic literature. Favorites are ‘Frankenstein’ (Shelley), ‘Tess of the Dubervilles’ (Hardy), ‘Paradise Lost’ (Milton). And for English translations: ‘Ficciones’ (Borges), ‘Justine’ (deSade), or even stuff like ‘Confessions’ (St. Augustine) are over the top decadent and edifying. I’ve tried reading ‘Pride and Prejudice’ twice now and never cared enough to finish it- which is wild, bec I’m a masochistic follower-through. I’ll have to try it again-again.
Director Franco Zeffirelli's movie Romeo and Juliet was filmed in the 1960s with a 15 year old Juliet and a 17 year old Romeo. And it was filmed on location all over Italy, in spots specially chosen by Zeffirelli. Many think it's the greatest Shakespeare film, ever. When it came out, there were lines around the block.
It's often said that Shakespeare's plays were meant to be watched, which is obviously true, but it's just as true that they were meant to be read. Plays were published in quarto before Shakespeare started writing, and Shakespeare doubtless read many of his contemporaries' plays while writing his own. In fact, we can even trace Shakespeare's borrowings from some previous playwrights, such as the Gad's Hill scene in _Henry IV, Part 1_ being based on an episode in _The Famous Victories of Henry V_ (an anonymous play most likely authored by Samuel Rowley). Shakespeare would have expected his plays to have both a theatrical and a literary life. Besides, reading Shakespeare is good preparation for seeing the plays. Unless you're an Early Modern expert, a lot of the references and wordplay might pass you by. And it's good preparation for reading plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries, which are often just as good as the Bard's, but which you're less likely to be able to see because Shakespeare overshadows almost every other author from his era. The only feature film I know of that is based on a play by any of Shakespeare's contemporaries is _The Revengers Tragedy_ , directed by Alex Cox and starring Christopher Eccleston and Derek Jacobi. Other than that, there's very little except for old made-for-TV recordings from the _Play for Today_ series on BBC that are incredibly difficult to source.
@@luiza7453 It is about a dystopian futurist (even though 1984 was long algo) society in which people are constantly controled. It mainly follows the life of Winston Smith, a man who works for the goverment until he starts realizing that something bad is going on, and that obviously produces loads of problems on his life. I highly recommend it, it's a great book.
I honestly think that little women is great to it’s an easy read, and it just has a great plot. And altogether I loved the book, and when I say I loved the book I mean I lovvved the book
I think Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs is a great choice for people who read a lot of memoirs. It’s brilliantly written and deals with the topics like domestic violence and resistance in a way that still resonates today. A really underrated book.
Thank you for acknowledging how white, cis, Christian and straight most classics are. This is my first video of yours and as a black girl, I felt so alienated from the book recommendations at the beginning of the video, although I think that are good recs. I'm so happy we live in a time where people are more cognisant of how minority groups might feel about mainstream media. You just earned a subscriber!
Hello, I'm 16 and I just recently started reading more. My goal was to read my first english book. I'm from germany so english is not my first language. Anyways, the first english book that I read was Time Machine by H. G. Wells. I wanted to choose a book of which I kind of knew the story. This way I was able to understand everything (except a few words here and there). I really loved the feeling when I was reading the last page. I already ordered new books that I can read. I plan on reading at least two books before the end of the year. by the way, those penguin clothbound classics look incredible. Maybe I'm getting one or two for christmas this year.
In 2020, I learned that Alexandre Dumas was a French black man. It blew my mind. I was a French literature major and I never once hear anyone talk about it in the late 2000s.
he was part black, AND there are many theories that suggest Pushkin is Alexander Dumas. They were both part black. Both spoke fluent Russian and French, AND this is creepily exciting, the person who killed Pushkin in a duel is Georges D'Anthes. Now, the Count of Monte Cristo is called DANTES, and its all about assuming a different character... lol just a super cool theory.
I asked my favorite English teacher a while back. What are some great ways to improve my grammar/sentence structure. He told me reading. At first I was thrown back because I already read books. But I realize I probably wasn’t reading the right books and thought.... Reading classics seems to be a good place to start. 🤞🤞🤞
I have recently discovered your channel and I’m loving your content. What an incredibly helpful video. I was making notes throughout the whole thing, and can’t wait to make a new bookshelf on Goodreads with your recommendations. Off to binge watch a few more of your videos before bed.
I love Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing. I’m a slow reader so the short stories are great, and also there aren’t huge sections of the books that just drag on which I find in some other classics (the one exception is a study in scarlet where there is a large section about Mormons? Still a good story though). Also the character of Sherlock Holmes (and Watson too actually) is so much more interesting and enjoyable in the original stories than in many adaptations so don’t be put off by whatever your current understanding of him is
Lewis is underrated as a writer, philosopher, and generally good human. Thanks for spreading the word on him! If you haven’t yet, try “Planet Narnia,” a book by a Lewis scholar about the hidden themes in the Narniad. It’s pretty neat.
Tried out on the first attempt to read the classics “War and Peace”, couldn’t finished. Trying Dickens and Dostoyevsky now, later go back and try Tolstoy with Ana Karenina. It was like I tried running a marathon on my first outing.
Wow i literally just wanted to start reading classics by War and Peace first, now this makes me afraid haha, let alone when english isn't my first language and i cant find the book version in my language :(
Hi if you didn't have appreciate war dnd peace i would strongly discourage Dostoevsky's nooks...they are more eccentric...would suggest Anna Karenina as its a tragic love story....check out my videos on Russian classics if u want more details elee let me know...oug of Dostoevsky's books if you want to pick take crime and punishment
Just with Tolstoy. The books are actually translated anyway. So if you are starting to read them and English isn't your first language, it's actually quite likely that a translated might be available in your native language.
@@LL-ub9tz The author is a religious fanatic who sets up the structure and narrative to demonstrate God, who rationaliists know is imaginary. Insecure people claim to love the book without reading it. I don't blame them. It is garbage.
Best to start with short books and work your way to the bigger stuff. My favorites: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (all-time fav); stories of Edgar Allan Poe; A Christmas Carol; The Old Man and the Sea; Animal Farm; The Metamorphosis; stories of Ray Bradbury
Theater is one of the best genres to get into classics. Complex and normally short with really easily approachable plots, which makes the process of reading not boring at all! Most classic theatre plays have been uploaded on youtube represented by different actors which helps to understand more what's written and also makes it more interesting and vivid. After that, you could get to know more the writers of these classics: most of them besides theatre have written novels. For example, Oscar Wilde has amazingly witty and entertaining theater plays (like "The importance of being Earnest") alongside with unforgettable novels like "The picture of Dorian Gray". Classics are diverse and play a huge role in our modern culture!
I remembered after reading Frankenstein (it was good tho) I used to get little annoyed that some people think Frankenstein is a monster but actually that's a Doctor
I'm just picturing my dad's face, as I ask him if he'd like to read Shakespeare out loud with me. 😁 Thanks for the recommendations. I've just started reading classics with P&P and Great Expectations. Both are easier to read than I'd feared they would be, but I'm having to look up a lot of words. I'd still understand them without doing that, but I like to know what everything means. Still having nightmares from school about Shakespeare's plays, so might give them a miss, for the time being, at least. 👍
I jumped right in and got halfway through 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' yesterday for my first classic. That was a terrible idea as its hard to read and stay on track, but its really good and I love the intro sentence.
A great video! If people like Jane austen or the bronte sisters, I would also suggest elizabeth gaskell. Cranford, and north and south are accessible reads with great characters.
I saw another comment below suggest this but Frankenstein is a good place to start but I also think To Kill a Mockingbird is a good book to start with as well. These are the only two I’ve read besides Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet (all four for school by the same teacher) so there’s that (hence why I am here lmao) but I definetly think those were two books that are good places to start. I loved both of them and it’s the reason I want to get into classics more
Robinson Crusoe, Moby Dick, A Day in the Life of Ivan Donisovich, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Count of Monte Cristo, Huckleberry Finn, The Call of the Wild, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Bible, Profiles in Courage, The Grapes of Wrath, The Good Earth, Gulliver Travels, Jane Eyre, The Odyssey. All good reads, worth repeat readings. All are concerned with the human condition, and bring light to bear on this most fascinating subject, us.
The only one of these that I haven't read is Dorian Gray. And I'm a Christian so i love that a lot more Christian themes! The first one i read was an old copy of pride and Prejudice that my grandmother gave me!
Additional reason why you should read Emma. If you've lived through the 90s. You may have heard of a chick-flick movie Clueless staring Alicia Silverstone. It's a cult classic at this point. If you didn't know, the movie is a loose modern retelling of Emma. So it falls into: read what you know/like already.
I’ve been trying to catch up on my classics in adulthood. As a youth I had a very difficult time reading a book, no matter how good, if I felt it was being crammed down my throat. I’ve scratched the surface over the last few years, but struggling with certain ones, wuthering heights is one example. Others I tried but couldn’t get into are Huck Finn, Little Women & catch 22.
If you like Mystery I’d recommend The Moonstone I’m currently reading it but the plot is really intriguing and the language is easy enough to understand
The Count of Monte Cristo is a favorite along with The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask. Loved Anna Karenina, Moby Dick, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Happiest when I see a young person put down their phone and read.😄
I started classics with pride and prejudice and Emma then pet sematary I finally read the diary of Anne Frank, now I have Tom Sawyer and the outsiders and I'm excited to read it and I also have the complete plays of Shakespeare the next time I try to read it I'll read out loud
I know, it's heresy: S E Hinton's The Outsiders is like Hamlet-lots of variety. S E Hinton's That Was Then, This is Now is like King Lear- overwhelming devestation
what's unfortunate is that when we studies Jane Eyre, Great Expectation and Macbeth in school I didn't appreciate literature or feel enthusiastic about the books. Wish i was more excited - holding a bit of a grudge against GE and Macbeth since those were my (what would've been) GCSE texts whoops
One of Shakespeare's three witches' in Macbeth Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble! --Very young schoolgirl in production of Macbeth for parents: Bubble, bubble, toilet trouble.
The algorithm seems to think your channel will resonate with me. I'm very well read. I have two published novels. I read them with sound effects and b-roll. I can see right away that you have the enthusiasm that I love.
Classics are like food. If you don't like coconut, for instance, you don't like coconut. Period. You can't talk someone into liking something, but you can't tell you might like it until you try it. For instance, "Pride and Prejudice" and "David Copperfield" were books that made me wish I was illiterate. On the other hand, I loved "Great Expectations" and the unabridged "Les Miserables," all 1200 pages of it. What can help is audio books. There's a collection of some of Shakespeare plays called "Shakespeare Appreciated" which give background sketches of the stories, the time in which they were written, and then there's a nearly line-by-line explanation of the play, followed by the uninterrupted play in total.
The Count of Monte Cristo is fantastic, and some of the more recent English translations are excellent. That would be my go-to recommendation if you want to read a classic. It's very fun, not a chore to get through (e.g. Moby Dick).
Definitely walking away with a few recommendations here! Thank you! I've read most of the most obvious ones at this point. I'm going to have to give Dorian Gray another shot. I've never been much of a reader until the last few years, when I started giving myself a book challenge and I've been mostly focusing on classics and modern classics that I've just never read before and felt like I was missing out on. The Picture of Dorian Gray was one of the first "classics" I tried and I hated it, and never finished it I could not stand the way they spoke about women. I think now I'd have no problem with it now since its so short. Currently making my way through Emma... it's my final Jane Austen novel to read and I have to say.... it has been challenging. Once I got about 1/3 of the way through I started reading along with the audio book which helped a lot. So far.. definitely my least favourite Austen novel. I'd recommend Persuasion instead alongside Pride and Prejudice since its also so short!
I had this "game" on my Nintendo DS called 100 classic books. (Or 100 books that are so old we can put them in for free. ) It gave like half a page on two screens and was a nice precursor to an eReader! Read the picture of Dorian Grey on there. What a story, waayyyy gayer than I thought you could get away with in those days! And the karakter evolution was so interesting!
where do you find all those beautiful copies?
Mostly Book Depository, Bookshop.org, & Amazon ☺️If folks are interested in finding the Penguin Clothbound Classics, I have some affiliated links with most of them: Here's my affiliated Penguin Clothbound Classics shop at Bookshop.org: bookshop.org/lists/penguin-clothbound-classics-7ecf8706-5180-477b-9005-660667869a8e
Or if you want to go through Amazon, my affiliated link is here: amzn.to/32hC969
Barnes and Noble have a lot of beautiful classics also. That's where I got mine.
bookslikewhoa thank yoy❤️🌸
Von White thank you so much💕🦋
waterstones in the uk produced the copies like that :)
The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my favourite books. I challenged myself to read more classics this year and its rekindled my love for books!
Author Oscar Wilde's last words on his deathbed in a cheap rented room: "Either this wallpaper goes, or I do."
I love Dorian Gray, and when I get into the classroom to teach high school ELAR, I want to teach it
Oh I have a book report on the picture of Dorian Gray
Had a long hiatus on reading and tried reading a classic. It was Dorian Gray. I was amazed at Oscar Wilde's style of prose. It's not to complicated and not too simple. It just sits in between making it a good page turner. I loved the premise and the story in general. Too sad that his work was not generally accepted by the society during his time (victorian era) because it's too gay and too unvictorian for them. :(
its sexist but interesting for sure.
A tip for reading classics: if there is a movie about the book watch it first and then read it that way you know what’s going on if you get confused with the language and it has helped me so much
I think Frankenstein is a good beginners classic. It’s relatively short and the language isn’t too difficult. Also for doorstoppers, I always recommend Les Mis to people who love the musical. It adds so much depth to the story and the characters.
booluther yes but les mis is a very big book so that’s putting me off but you are right about Frankenstein that was the first classic I read.
Yeah I read it in high school
Couldn't agree more!
Woah frankenstein has been my first classic! I loved it, moved on to pride and prejudice and now onto little women. I was always intimidated by the thought of the wordiness but so far so good😊
I tried reading Frankenstein recently and I really couldn't get into it. Might give it another go!
I dont know if you classify this as a classic, but John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men will forever hold a special place in my heart. If you haven’t read it, please do!
Oh yes, its incredible sad, but still one of the best books, I've ever read.
It’s a modern classic
I definitely enjoyed reading it in school.
Steinbeck is my absolute favorite. I love all his books
I used to hate reading, but this book changed my mind! I love it so much.
I just retired and am reading classics with my daughter. First:was The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Second: The Scarlett Pimpernel and now we are reading David Copperfield
This sounds like such a cozy and fun thing to do with your family. I wish my mother would do this with me. 🥰
Dracula, Frankenstein, Carmilla, Dorian Grey, the short horror stories of H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, or the heroic fantasy tales of Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith are usually my recommendations when it comes to the classics!
I just finished Carmilla today and that is one I wish people talked about more. It’s really excellent.
If u like Carmilla, have u read the vampyre. It’s weird that even though they’re the first vampire novels Dracula is more famous
SAME!
I agree. I got copies of most of those sitting in my shelf
Dorian gray is one of my favorite books rn
You absolutely won my heart when you mentioned The Count of Monte Cristo ♥️
After reading Huckleberry Finn, hard to take it seriously because of Twain’s biting satire. I still love the plot but terribly overwritten.
I'm reading "murder on the orient express" in search of improving my English skill.🙂
I'm enjoying myself watching your video with English subtitle!
thank you from Japan.
That's awesome- welcome!!
Hey i did that too with murder on the orient express!
-supporting you from germany
Hi,🤗 I really love Japan because I grew up watching animes like Pokemon and all.
How are things going on in Japan, like How is the pandemic situation there?
@@harikrishnan2713 Viruses have running rampant in Japan I want to go abroad as soon as possible:(
@@かかし先生-i3k Oh🙁. Here in India, the situation is dreadful as hell. Anyways good luck with your ambitions pal.👍
I watched Pride and Prejudice before I read the story. The language was easy to follow along with because I already knew the story.
Hannah Faires yes, I agree. I’ve done this with a few classics.
I did too and it made it easier while reading because I could visualize it and know where I was. The same with Emma
I watched Jane Eyre before reading it and I regret it because it ruined the mystery. Still really enjoyed it though. Masterpiece.
Yes, if you don't mind spoilers, I *highly* recommend watching the movie versions before reading them, but I am a dyslexic scholar and have a tendency to get swept up in the story when I mean to study XD Following the story is definitely much easier if you've seen the movie before reading it (not to mention how much easier it is to know the characters)
Recommended! While there's loads of humour in the book, and top class writing, there's also a lot of ... words.: )
If someone is TOTALLY intimidated by classics, I always recommend some childrens' classics first. Such as Lewis Carroll - everyone knows the story of Alice and it just eases them into the language gently. Also E. Nesbit is good. I also think Henry James is a great introduction. The themes in What Maisie Knew could have been written today. The Turn of the Screw is a great horror read. And I agree with you on Wilkie Collins - love him!
Great advice!
Oh I just read The Turn of the Screw and I couldn’t agree more. It was excellent!
Henry James is extremely demanding. Points of view, crawl behind the narrator’s eyes and don’t trust the narrator. I recommend Turn of the Screw!! Talk about in our DNA.
The way I got through Shakespeare: they sell editions that have little footnotes or side notes about confusing parts. Made it so much easier and helped me get used to reading his works. By the end, I didn’t even read the notes. I felt MUCH smarter haha.
Anna Jo I need that because I struggle with fully understanding Shakespeare 😅 if you don’t mind me asking, what books did you purchase to help? 😊
@@valpaz5802 Personally, I like the Folger editions of Shakespeare, they tend to have a lot of notes and Folger is really well known for their scholarship. Also good are the Norton editions and sometimes the Signet Classic editions.
I agree! I like the Norton editions
I read your comment last night and was going to ask you where you purchased yours. Then when I went to the thrift store today, I found a copy of Merchant of Venice exactly as you described! Meant to be!
Critical editions are always more expensive, but I just ADORE the Arden Shakespeare Editions.
My intro to classics was A Christmas Carol in third grade and I recall loving it. Skip to Freshman year when we read A Tale of Two Cities and started to really explore more classics. My school taught them fairly well to the point where I ended up asking what "new" classic we were going to read in English hahaha
A Tale of Two Cities has apparently sold 200 million copies, which makes it the best selling novel, ever. All I know is I'm in tears while reading the last 4 pages!
@Cheesy Helmet if I could, I would totally do a trip there!
Oh I started with The Picture of Dorian Gray literally last week and I loved it (and tbh the first couple of chapters especially I was just sitting there going this is so gay this is totally appropriate for pride month)
E. M. Forsters stuff is also really gay. One of his books wasn't published until after his death in the 1970's, but he has a lot of gay characters that are disguised with thinly veiled subtext, just like in Dorian Gray. Maurice, of course, gets rid of all the subtext.
Looking forward to a 'Where to start with modern classics' video!
While I liked some of the other classics I had read in school, I fell in love with The Count of Monte Cristo 😊 I still adore it to this day
I’m 3 minutes in and already love you haha. I love hearing the way that you frame reassign and these books and also you are stunningly beautiful.
Haha, thank you
There's me think she meant classics as in The Odyssey, The Illiad, Dante's Inferno (which I think I see at the top right of your bookshelf) or any classical plays like Medea or Oedipus.
STILL A GOOD VIDEO ❤️❤️
Elizabeth Adejumo yep same lol, waiting to see what she would say about my bbys
Your list was great, particularly for European/Western culture classics. I would usually start with Frankenstein as the classic I would recommend because it is not too long, the language isn't too difficult, it has some themes that have aged very well, particularly with the sciences and questions on the ethics of certain branches of science, nature vs nurture, etc. Also, so many of the movies are only VERY loosely based on the novel, so it is fun to read the original and see the differences.
I did like Dracula, but I think it is harder to get into for most people because a lot of it is written as an epistolary, or journal entries, which can be hard to get into and stay absorbed in the story. For short horror classics, I like Edgar Allen Poe, particularly The Cask of Amontillado or The Black Cat, among the other more well-known stories.
If you are looking for more obscure Western classics that are decent to start with, I really liked Moll Flanders by Danel Defoe and Tom Jones by Henry Fielding, both are some of the very first English novels, and I found them very entertaining.
If you are looking to get into some more general World Literature, some of the easiest to start with are probably Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe or The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. Somewhat harder to get into, I would also recommend Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, which was written in 11th century Japan and may be the first recorded novel in the world. For short horror stories from Japan, I would recommend the works of Rynosuke Akutagawa, particularly Hell Screen or Rashomon.
Gah, there are too many great classics to recommend! It is hard to know where to start without knowing someone's tastes! And this doesn't even really touch on the more modern classics (though House of the Spirits is fairly modern)...
Great recs here!
Two years after marriage, I was reading John Dracula (he's got Dyslexia). I said, "It's1:00 am. Can we stop and get to bed? He said, "You can't stop now!! It's the most exciting part!"
Frankenstein and Dracula were my favorite classics in school. I love a lot of Paranormal themes. Excellent video!
This is my first time watching one of your videos and I had to stop 3 minutes in to write this comment because I immediately subscribed! You have such an engaging and beautiful way of speaking, and your passion for reading and classics really comes through. Thank you for being amazing 😊
Welcome aboard!
We studied great expectations in school but I only read the first part. Finally, 15 years later, I read it fully over the summer and now I can't get it out of my head now.
My favourite classic is The Great Gatsby. I could read that book for the rest of my life♥︎
Yes!!! It's a really great book
I got half way through and wanted to end mine.
Hi Maura! I think many of the books on your bookshelves have gorgeous bindings. I am currently reading a movie-tie-in paperback edition of Great Expectations by Charles Dickens that I bought from the Barnes and Noble bargain bin for $2.00 USD; and yes: his plots are male ice cream sundae without the ice cream bonkers. I've read Wuthering Heights; while I loved the atmosphere and sense of place, I believe that the characters all deserved to undergo live autopsies.
The poet Gabriel Rossetti said the action of Wuthering Heights takes place in Hell, where all the characters mysteriously have English names... As for Charles Dickens, I agree with John Updike in that the reason academia looks down on him is that Dickens tries to move readers primarily through their emotions rather than intellect.
For those wanting to get into Russian literature, I recommend starting with something light that sets the tone for Russian culture. A collection of short stories by Pushkin is good
I would reccomend Fathers and Sons, it's very short and easy to read, even if Turgenev is a Westernizer as compared to the much more famous slavophiles Dostoevsky and Tolstoy.
Also, if someone were into satire I would reccomend Dead Souls by Gogol.
I personally started with Anna Karenina, best decision I've ever made 😍
hmm notes from the underground might be good to start with
@@Ariana-vc3df it’s too long but is it really worth it ?
Russia sucks !!!
I didn't know people like you existed anymore in our "I read the back of cereal box" culture. Almost all the books you talked about I've read and enjoyed. Back when I was 11 I would've quoted Mark Twain if I knew the saying "A classic: that's a book people praise without reading it." Then at the age of 12 in elementary school I was given Jane Eyre to read. By the time I finished it, it changed my life in so many ways. For one, I read a whole lotta classics: American, British, but also German, Russian, French, etc. I have an obsession with the Ancient Greeks and the Classical World, but that's another story .( My husband on my exposing him to Greek Tragedy: "Colleen! It's so passionate!") One Victorian book you left out would be "The Pickwick Papers." I didn't think I would like it, but I found myself laughing loudly on the bus while reading it. It's Dickens' funniest book, but a doorstopper. It's also Dickens' first novel, written at age 24, that made him famous. I read Harold Bloom would read The Pickwick Papers every year, because it was so hilarious. God Bless You!
I recently started wanting to get back to reading some classics-I own so many that I haven’t read yet! This was so helpful and really kind at helping people get into reading classics. Thank you! 💖
I'm 15 years old and I just got into classics and reading more and I decided to go with pride and prejudice. Honestly it's really nice and the language is very beautiful. Sadly, english is not my first language and since I wanted to read the book in its original form, I'm having a little trouble understanding some parts. Reading out loud as you mentioned in shakespeare really help!
my favorite classic of all time and one of my favorite books is the count of monte Cristo. it's easy to read and understand it's just long
edit- oh hey you mentioned it! I'd love to re re re read it.
I would recommend watching Shakespeare, not reading it. It was meant to be watched and heard. The visuals can help you keep all the characters straight, and the actors’ inflections and moods can help you interpret the language. (Try to find anything directed by Branagh, though of course there are other good directors.)
I love classic literature. Favorites are ‘Frankenstein’ (Shelley), ‘Tess of the Dubervilles’ (Hardy), ‘Paradise Lost’ (Milton). And for English translations: ‘Ficciones’ (Borges), ‘Justine’ (deSade), or even stuff like ‘Confessions’ (St. Augustine) are over the top decadent and edifying.
I’ve tried reading ‘Pride and Prejudice’ twice now and never cared enough to finish it- which is wild, bec I’m a masochistic follower-through. I’ll have to try it again-again.
Director Franco Zeffirelli's movie Romeo and Juliet was filmed in the 1960s with a 15 year old Juliet and a 17 year old Romeo. And it was filmed on location all over Italy, in spots specially chosen by Zeffirelli. Many think it's the greatest Shakespeare film, ever. When it came out, there were lines around the block.
It's often said that Shakespeare's plays were meant to be watched, which is obviously true, but it's just as true that they were meant to be read. Plays were published in quarto before Shakespeare started writing, and Shakespeare doubtless read many of his contemporaries' plays while writing his own. In fact, we can even trace Shakespeare's borrowings from some previous playwrights, such as the Gad's Hill scene in _Henry IV, Part 1_ being based on an episode in _The Famous Victories of Henry V_ (an anonymous play most likely authored by Samuel Rowley). Shakespeare would have expected his plays to have both a theatrical and a literary life.
Besides, reading Shakespeare is good preparation for seeing the plays. Unless you're an Early Modern expert, a lot of the references and wordplay might pass you by. And it's good preparation for reading plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries, which are often just as good as the Bard's, but which you're less likely to be able to see because Shakespeare overshadows almost every other author from his era. The only feature film I know of that is based on a play by any of Shakespeare's contemporaries is _The Revengers Tragedy_ , directed by Alex Cox and starring Christopher Eccleston and Derek Jacobi. Other than that, there's very little except for old made-for-TV recordings from the _Play for Today_ series on BBC that are incredibly difficult to source.
I would recommend 1984 by George Orwell it’s a great classic if you’re into dystopian settings
Handmaidens tale isn’t classic buts it’s good dystopian
@@marksuckinbgber yes well let's just chalk it up that we both have different definitions of "classic" lol
What is it about
@@luiza7453 It is about a dystopian futurist (even though 1984 was long algo) society in which people are constantly controled. It mainly follows the life of Winston Smith, a man who works for the goverment until he starts realizing that something bad is going on, and that obviously produces loads of problems on his life.
I highly recommend it, it's a great book.
I've been reading The Scarlet Letter and found it enjoyable, surprisingly.
It’s absolutely brilliant!!!
My favourite classical books are: "Forsyte saga", "Gone with the wind" and "the count of Monte-Kristo"❤️
Jekyll and Hyde is such an approachable book! It's a novella and the language isn't too hard, it's what I always recommend!
my favorite book ever is the picture of dorian gray
I honestly think that little women is great to it’s an easy read, and it just has a great plot. And altogether I loved the book, and when I say I loved the book I mean I lovvved the book
I think Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs is a great choice for people who read a lot of memoirs. It’s brilliantly written and deals with the topics like domestic violence and resistance in a way that still resonates today. A really underrated book.
Great rec!
Thank you for acknowledging how white, cis, Christian and straight most classics are. This is my first video of yours and as a black girl, I felt so alienated from the book recommendations at the beginning of the video, although I think that are good recs. I'm so happy we live in a time where people are more cognisant of how minority groups might feel about mainstream media. You just earned a subscriber!
Phantom of the opera, little women, Oliver twist, good earth are must read for beginners
The Great Gatsby is my ultimate favourite of all the times 🎶🎶🎶
I started with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Dickens's Great Expectations. 😊😊
Thank you for the great video. 😊😊
Hello, I'm 16 and I just recently started reading more. My goal was to read my first english book. I'm from germany so english is not my first language. Anyways, the first english book that I read was Time Machine by H. G. Wells. I wanted to choose a book of which I kind of knew the story. This way I was able to understand everything (except a few words here and there). I really loved the feeling when I was reading the last page. I already ordered new books that I can read. I plan on reading at least two books before the end of the year.
by the way, those penguin clothbound classics look incredible. Maybe I'm getting one or two for christmas this year.
In 2020, I learned that Alexandre Dumas was a French black man. It blew my mind. I was a French literature major and I never once hear anyone talk about it in the late 2000s.
he was part black, AND there are many theories that suggest Pushkin is Alexander Dumas. They were both part black. Both spoke fluent Russian and French, AND this is creepily exciting, the person who killed Pushkin in a duel is Georges D'Anthes. Now, the Count of Monte Cristo is called DANTES, and its all about assuming a different character... lol just a super cool theory.
@@AyaAndTheOddities mindblown! Haha! Thanks for sharing this!!
I asked my favorite English teacher a while back. What are some great ways to improve my grammar/sentence structure. He told me reading. At first I was thrown back because I already read books. But I realize I probably wasn’t reading the right books and thought....
Reading classics seems to be a good place to start.
🤞🤞🤞
I have recently discovered your channel and I’m loving your content.
What an incredibly helpful video. I was making notes throughout the whole thing, and can’t wait to make a new bookshelf on Goodreads with your recommendations. Off to binge watch a few more of your videos before bed.
Oh yay, well, welcome!! Thanks for joining the journey
I love Arthur Conan Doyle’s writing. I’m a slow reader so the short stories are great, and also there aren’t huge sections of the books that just drag on which I find in some other classics (the one exception is a study in scarlet where there is a large section about Mormons? Still a good story though). Also the character of Sherlock Holmes (and Watson too actually) is so much more interesting and enjoyable in the original stories than in many adaptations so don’t be put off by whatever your current understanding of him is
Read, dive, float on those classics really nourish the souls. Thanks to all who were here, enjoy
this is the first video I've watched from your channel, and like.... I love you already
The first book i've ever read for leisure was Les Misérables. A Romanticism Classic.
Lewis is underrated as a writer, philosopher, and generally good human. Thanks for spreading the word on him!
If you haven’t yet, try “Planet Narnia,” a book by a Lewis scholar about the hidden themes in the Narniad. It’s pretty neat.
Tried out on the first attempt to read the classics “War and Peace”, couldn’t finished. Trying Dickens and Dostoyevsky now, later go back and try Tolstoy with Ana Karenina.
It was like I tried running a marathon on my first outing.
Wow i literally just wanted to start reading classics by War and Peace first, now this makes me afraid haha, let alone when english isn't my first language and i cant find the book version in my language :(
Hi if you didn't have appreciate war dnd peace i would strongly discourage Dostoevsky's nooks...they are more eccentric...would suggest Anna Karenina as its a tragic love story....check out my videos on Russian classics if u want more details elee let me know...oug of Dostoevsky's books if you want to pick take crime and punishment
I am currently reading Anna Karenina. Was blown away on the story line.
Just with Tolstoy. The books are actually translated anyway. So if you are starting to read them and English isn't your first language, it's actually quite likely that a translated might be available in your native language.
Tarni M thanks! English is not my first language but I do have the books in Spanish and English 😁
Just recently finished reading Jane Iyre.
One day I will surpass you in reading and maintaining a book collection.
Thanks
Lack of Dostoyevsky really hit me 🥺
Andjela Kostic ah, yes. Nothing like a little Dostoevsky to get into classics hahaha I’d say.. don’t start with Dostoevsky 😅
He is awful. RELIGIOUS NUT.
True🖤
@@locutusdborg126 if that's what you get from Dostoyevsky then you have serious problems as a human being.
@@LL-ub9tz The author is a religious fanatic who sets up the structure and narrative to demonstrate God, who rationaliists know is imaginary. Insecure people claim to love the book without reading it. I don't blame them. It is garbage.
You matching your eyeshadow to the Pride&Prejudice cover is just awwwwweeeesome 😀
Best to start with short books and work your way to the bigger stuff. My favorites: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (all-time fav); stories of Edgar Allan Poe; A Christmas Carol; The Old Man and the Sea; Animal Farm; The Metamorphosis; stories of Ray Bradbury
All the introduction book she mentioned I have read 😂 This for sure makes me want to continue to expand my classical collection!
Theater is one of the best genres to get into classics. Complex and normally short with really easily approachable plots, which makes the process of reading not boring at all! Most classic theatre plays have been uploaded on youtube represented by different actors which helps to understand more what's written and also makes it more interesting and vivid. After that, you could get to know more the writers of these classics: most of them besides theatre have written novels. For example, Oscar Wilde has amazingly witty and entertaining theater plays (like "The importance of being Earnest") alongside with unforgettable novels like "The picture of Dorian Gray". Classics are diverse and play a huge role in our modern culture!
I remembered after reading Frankenstein (it was good tho) I used to get little annoyed that some people think Frankenstein is a monster but actually that's a Doctor
Although I would definitely say doctor Frankenstein was a monster considering how he treated his "child"
@@july3817 You know what? I agree.
I thought the monsters name was Frankenstein I was surprised while reading that it was the doctors name 😭
Same! And sadly, I related A LOT to the monster the moment I read it. Now I don't.
I started off with Sherlock holmes, it took me three months to finish the whole series.
This video is so helpful, thank you so much. I'm trying to get into classics but didn't know where to start so this video is perfect.
A retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray with social networks.
Yessssss
I'm just picturing my dad's face, as I ask him if he'd like to read Shakespeare out loud with me. 😁
Thanks for the recommendations. I've just started reading classics with P&P and Great Expectations. Both are easier to read than I'd feared they would be, but I'm having to look up a lot of words. I'd still understand them without doing that, but I like to know what everything means. Still having nightmares from school about Shakespeare's plays, so might give them a miss, for the time being, at least. 👍
Haha, yeah, probably know your audience on the read aloud suggestion :)
I hope Penguin Press is giving you a royalty for the wonderful advertising you gave them with those covers.
I jumped right in and got halfway through 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' yesterday for my first classic. That was a terrible idea as its hard to read and stay on track, but its really good and I love the intro sentence.
I love The Scarlet Pimpernel! Read it three times. need to fine more books from the series.
your shelves look soooo beautiful 🥺
A great video! If people like Jane austen or the bronte sisters, I would also suggest elizabeth gaskell. Cranford, and north and south are accessible reads with great characters.
“Middlemarch” my favorite book! Yes! Yes! Sooo worth your time! It will also open the door to so many other works.
I saw another comment below suggest this but Frankenstein is a good place to start but I also think To Kill a Mockingbird is a good book to start with as well. These are the only two I’ve read besides Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet (all four for school by the same teacher) so there’s that (hence why I am here lmao) but I definetly think those were two books that are good places to start. I loved both of them and it’s the reason I want to get into classics more
Robinson Crusoe, Moby Dick, A Day in the Life of Ivan Donisovich,
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Count of Monte Cristo, Huckleberry Finn, The Call of the Wild, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Bible, Profiles in Courage, The Grapes of Wrath, The Good Earth, Gulliver Travels, Jane Eyre, The Odyssey. All good reads, worth repeat readings. All are concerned with the human condition, and bring light to bear on this most fascinating subject, us.
I love Emma! She needs supporters. :-)
i LOVE pride and prejudice oh my i flew threw, my fav of 2021 for sure 🙈
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY is literally my far favorite book I've ever read...
🇧🇷 I love books, I love literature, and I'm learning to speak English on my own. So I've already subscribed to your channel, success!
Welcome aboard!
The only one of these that I haven't read is Dorian Gray. And I'm a Christian so i love that a lot more Christian themes! The first one i read was an old copy of pride and Prejudice that my grandmother gave me!
Pride and Prejudice was one of the first classics I read (I’m a big classic reader) and its my favorite book of all time.
Wonderful classics collection
People will pay you just to visit your home library just to see those covers they are absolutely stunning
Unfortunately those penguin cloth covers designs(which are gorgeous) rub off as you read them. So sad to see the designs disappear as you read.
I'm so glad you recommended Middlemarch. I'm more a fan of The Mill on the Floss but close enough. 😉👍
My favorite door stopper is gone with the wind. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING BOOK.
Ben Parrish I agree wholeheartedly! One of my absolute favorites!
I loved Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier if you are a mystery/ Wilkie Collins fan!!
Additional reason why you should read Emma. If you've lived through the 90s. You may have heard of a chick-flick movie Clueless staring Alicia Silverstone. It's a cult classic at this point. If you didn't know, the movie is a loose modern retelling of Emma. So it falls into: read what you know/like already.
I’ve been trying to catch up on my classics in adulthood. As a youth I had a very difficult time reading a book, no matter how good, if I felt it was being crammed down my throat. I’ve scratched the surface over the last few years, but struggling with certain ones, wuthering heights is one example. Others I tried but couldn’t get into are Huck Finn, Little Women & catch 22.
If you like Mystery I’d recommend The Moonstone I’m currently reading it but the plot is really intriguing and the language is easy enough to understand
The Count of Monte Cristo is a favorite along with The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask. Loved Anna Karenina, Moby Dick, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Happiest when I see a young person put down their phone and read.😄
Karyn Kerndl young person here, I mostly read by using my phone 😂
Thanks for sorting these all out...helps a lot! Will try some of these this year.
Great recommendations. For those who like mysteries and want to read more Dickens, Bleak House is excellent.
Doorstoppers. Love it.😂
Her eyeshadow exactly matches the pride and prejudice book 👌🏻
I started classics with pride and prejudice and Emma then pet sematary I finally read the diary of Anne Frank, now I have Tom Sawyer and the outsiders and I'm excited to read it and I also have the complete plays of Shakespeare the next time I try to read it I'll read out loud
I know, it's heresy: S E Hinton's The Outsiders is like Hamlet-lots of variety. S E Hinton's That Was Then, This is Now is like King Lear- overwhelming devestation
How did you feel about Tolstoy's Anna Karenina? This is one of my favorites too! Thanks for the recommendations!
A magnificent book.
Nice selection. Very exciting to get back to the classics.
what's unfortunate is that when we studies Jane Eyre, Great Expectation and Macbeth in school I didn't appreciate literature or feel enthusiastic about the books. Wish i was more excited - holding a bit of a grudge against GE and Macbeth since those were my (what would've been) GCSE texts whoops
One of Shakespeare's three witches' in Macbeth Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble! --Very young schoolgirl in production of Macbeth for parents: Bubble, bubble, toilet trouble.
The algorithm seems to think your channel will resonate with me. I'm very well read. I have two published novels. I read them with sound effects and b-roll. I can see right away that you have the enthusiasm that I love.
I love her she is so smart and cool and real! Mara rocks. Thanks for doing these!
Treasure island, Robert Louis Stevenson. Great read.
My summer plans are to read the Count of Monte Cristo before I go back to university in September
Classics are like food. If you don't like coconut, for instance, you don't like coconut. Period. You can't talk someone into liking something, but you can't tell you might like it until you try it.
For instance, "Pride and Prejudice" and "David Copperfield" were books that made me wish I was illiterate. On the other hand, I loved "Great Expectations" and the unabridged "Les Miserables," all 1200 pages of it.
What can help is audio books. There's a collection of some of Shakespeare plays called "Shakespeare Appreciated" which give background sketches of the stories, the time in which they were written, and then there's a nearly line-by-line explanation of the play, followed by the uninterrupted play in total.
The Count of Monte Cristo is fantastic, and some of the more recent English translations are excellent. That would be my go-to recommendation if you want to read a classic. It's very fun, not a chore to get through (e.g. Moby Dick).
Definitely walking away with a few recommendations here! Thank you! I've read most of the most obvious ones at this point. I'm going to have to give Dorian Gray another shot. I've never been much of a reader until the last few years, when I started giving myself a book challenge and I've been mostly focusing on classics and modern classics that I've just never read before and felt like I was missing out on. The Picture of Dorian Gray was one of the first "classics" I tried and I hated it, and never finished it I could not stand the way they spoke about women. I think now I'd have no problem with it now since its so short. Currently making my way through Emma... it's my final Jane Austen novel to read and I have to say.... it has been challenging. Once I got about 1/3 of the way through I started reading along with the audio book which helped a lot. So far.. definitely my least favourite Austen novel. I'd recommend Persuasion instead alongside Pride and Prejudice since its also so short!
I had this "game" on my Nintendo DS called 100 classic books. (Or 100 books that are so old we can put them in for free. )
It gave like half a page on two screens and was a nice precursor to an eReader!
Read the picture of Dorian Grey on there. What a story, waayyyy gayer than I thought you could get away with in those days! And the karakter evolution was so interesting!