10 Must-Read Classic Novels

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  • Опубликовано: 4 янв 2025

Комментарии • 125

  • @xxMegha33xx
    @xxMegha33xx Год назад +33

    I am always waiting for your videos. You always have just the right books! Love your work. Much love from India

  • @saly4762
    @saly4762 Год назад +17

    I’m happy to say I read 8/10 of these books and I just placed an order for The Castle of Otranto and Monkey King 😊 I can’t wait for you to read Anne Brontë’s books she’s amazing,
    The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is my favorite.

  • @ok-xb1ig
    @ok-xb1ig Год назад +1

    i love and appreciate how you don’t spoil the book while talking about it. the combination of information ab the author and comments on the plot are A1. i’m the type of person i don’t want to know much if anything ab a book before i read it lol. i’m definitely reading most of these. this video was perfect

  • @lihayes5046
    @lihayes5046 Год назад +4

    I just found your channel and I connected with everything you've said about the novels in the video that I've read. You're so interesting to listen to and you've really gotten me excited about reading the rest of the novels on your list that I haven't read yet! I've already subscribed and am off to order some books and binge some of your other videos! Thanks!!!!

  • @bookssongsandothermagic
    @bookssongsandothermagic Год назад +3

    Nice set of books and a great subject to tackle on your channel. You've turned me onto some really interesting recent books - now you've nudged me to keep my copy of Dorian Gray and actually read it! Thanks as always.

  • @Amoscrts
    @Amoscrts Год назад +5

    Oh, I love North and South so much! I was so shocked when I read Frankenstein for the first time to discover the heartbreaking abuse of a “child” in this famous horror novel. Jane Eyre is a force of nature, and so many lines in it overwhelm me with their beauty and fierceness! And Dracula is my absolute favorite classic! I wrote my graduate thesis on it titled “The Sum of all Victorian Fears.” This helps explain why I always love your recommendations so much. We have such similar taste! Thank you, Willow!

  • @nelson6553
    @nelson6553 Год назад +2

    I'm on a little trek to read the 100 Greatest books ever written - I like your list there are several that I've never heard of (Read 4 of your list) - You have a really great way of summarizing your reads; Terrific!! You know, I had been a little confused by how Wuthering Heights gets interpreted, by many [it's the greatest loves story ever written]; I didn't come away thinking that all; your interpretation was spot on- Loved it.

  • @womenwotreads
    @womenwotreads Год назад +6

    Dorian Gray is one of my favourite novels ever . I haven't read Ann Bronte either but plan to rectify that soon . I believe I have North and South on my bookshelf but I don't think I've read it so that's something to look forward to . A great list Willow.

    • @apollonia6656
      @apollonia6656 7 месяцев назад +1

      I love TPoDG. Must have read it at least five times.

  • @marinellamaccagni6951
    @marinellamaccagni6951 Год назад +3

    I've always love classics. When I was 13 years old, I read all jules verne books. What an amazing journey in my teenager years. I enjoyed them so much. Your books' reviews are astonishing. Btw you look gorgeous!

  • @madamevoid1
    @madamevoid1 Год назад +5

    I absolutely agree, Frankenstein is my all time favourite novel and I consider it an immediate "YOU NEED THIS" for everyone ever.
    Soon to follow is The Picture Of Dorian Gray, with similar themes of mortality and morality.

  • @isirlasplace91
    @isirlasplace91 Год назад +2

    I could listen to you talk about classic books all day!!😊

  • @Barryislarge
    @Barryislarge Год назад +1

    God, I LOVE the invisible man. It's one of my favorite cozy winter reads. The settings feel so gothic and romantic. It's the kind of book to read by an open fireplace on a cold and stormy evening ❤

  • @ghanshyamsingh3653
    @ghanshyamsingh3653 Год назад +8

    Dammnnn! Willow, your lists just make me wanna read and done with these pages already...you describe them so deliciously tbh...I kinda drooled over Dorian Grey a little bit there lmaooo! Awesome and really interesting list...can't wait to be done with them all, as I haven't read any of these in it's entirety yet but I surely do own some...sooo thanks for making me wanna pick them up asap! 💙👌💙👍👍

  • @badfaith4u
    @badfaith4u Год назад +1

    Thank you so much for the book recommendations. Your videos are so awesome.

  • @lindylouwho550
    @lindylouwho550 Год назад +2

    Great list. My favourite Bronte book is The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - away ahead of its time 📚📚📚

  • @LuxexNihilo
    @LuxexNihilo Год назад +1

    Hello,
    I’m just passing by to say that I love your videos, they are so wonderfully clear and passionate. Thank you for sharing ❤

  • @Weylane
    @Weylane Год назад +5

    I'm from Switzerland and only read Frankenstein last year at the good old age of 33... And daaaamn, it's still my favorite read in the past 5 years with The Picture of Dorian Gray (Also they're super Queer coded and I loved that). As a native french speaker I focused so much on french Classics (Hugo, Verne, Dumas, ...) and I'm now discovering amazing worlds in english ! Definitely adding some new clothbounds classics to my wishlist now.

    • @WillowTalksBooks
      @WillowTalksBooks  Год назад +1

      Yay, I’m so happy to hear that! I’m 33 as well :)

    • @Weylane
      @Weylane Год назад +2

      ​@@WillowTalksBooks oooh That might explain why I find your recs and review so amazing. I'm about to finally read Carmilla to finally compare it with Dracula (That I'm also re reading each year with the Dracula Daily emails)

  • @nilulal545
    @nilulal545 Год назад +1

    Do you know how much i appreciate you!! You know that right ❤ 😊 Thank you you just helped me with classic list of what ive been wanting more off. I've been wanting to read but didn't know where to go or start, especially not modern classic. Ohh you are truly the best.. ❤

  • @ABookFiendNamedMel
    @ABookFiendNamedMel Год назад +1

    I love your editions of these books, so pretty

  • @sylviakanel9766
    @sylviakanel9766 Год назад +1

    💜Lovely journey through these classics. Thank you, Willow.💜

  • @isabelab6851
    @isabelab6851 Год назад +1

    Been absent from the reading world…these are such great choices…not into super dark gothic but love science fiction. Great video. Need to catch up on your videos. As always, great content

  • @micaelagonzalez71
    @micaelagonzalez71 Год назад +2

    I love Frankenstein. It was my favorite classic when I first read it, but in my second read it became my favorite book period. It is so heartbreakingly beautiful. It broke me and it's a great book on violence and vengeance. Del Toro is working on an adaptation and I really hope he will make a movie that respects the themes of the book, all the feelings, and won't just make it a monster movie. The best adaptation I've seen up to now is the one in the TV show Penny Dreadful.

  • @maudieicrochet9491
    @maudieicrochet9491 10 месяцев назад +1

    I love ❤ your reviews, Willow. Love you, love your sweater…❤

  • @robyn3943
    @robyn3943 Год назад +1

    I read Frankenstein for the first time this year and I adored it!!!! It is definitely one of my favourite books of all time

  • @YonatanGelfand
    @YonatanGelfand Год назад +1

    Great stuff! Thank you

  • @xyw8383
    @xyw8383 Год назад +1

    Growing up on Monkey King TV series and cartoons, so happy to see the story is brought up here. Jane Eyre was the very first English novel I've ever read. The romance in the book feels so soothing at times. I read Wuthering Heights in translated Mandarin. I was young and wasn't able to fully appreciate it back then. I remember there was one creepy scene that involves Catherine and a window that traumatized me 😅But looking back, I totally agree with you that the book is not really about romance. I think it's more about revenge. Great video!

  • @Иблис96
    @Иблис96 Год назад +5

    Hey, I just wanted to say that Ive silently watching your videos for s couple years now. Without a doubt youre one of my favourite channels. I will be transparent that I used to be very trans/homo phobic(lived in islamic country long time) however this channel made me realize and now support rights sctiviely. Thank you.

    • @WillowTalksBooks
      @WillowTalksBooks  Год назад +3

      Wow, I’m very touched! Thank you so much for your support 💜

  • @lyndaross4617
    @lyndaross4617 Год назад

    Thank you Willow, new subscriber and loving all your book reviews and recommendations. x

  • @SuperStrangSshadow
    @SuperStrangSshadow Год назад +2

    I read Frankenstein for the first time a few years ago and loved it. I learned a lot of new things about the story and you just feel sorry for the creature.❤

  • @ArchiduquesaMA
    @ArchiduquesaMA Год назад +3

    I read the portrait of dorian gray for the first time this year and I can confirm, i had to stop reading to take in the incredible monologues, the characters are so charming

  • @margaritabetancourt1167
    @margaritabetancourt1167 Год назад +1

    Love this channel ❤

  • @fiktionbuchlichkeit9238
    @fiktionbuchlichkeit9238 Год назад +1

    Such a wonderful video, thank you so much! 🥳🤗

  • @genteelblackhole
    @genteelblackhole 11 месяцев назад +1

    This is making me want to reread the ones I’ve already read, and try most of those I haven’t!

  • @katiejlumsden
    @katiejlumsden Год назад +1

    Many excellent books here! Three cheers for North and South.

  • @hellobookworm
    @hellobookworm Год назад +1

    This is a great list! I read Monkey King a few months ago and found it highly entertaining, especially the first half. I'm happy to see it on your list, as I feel most people in the West haven't heard about it.

  • @awebofstories
    @awebofstories Год назад +3

    Anne is my favorite Bronte. I consider her the "sane one," which may or may not be fair. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is my favorite of all the Bronte novels.

  • @Tutankhamun18Reads
    @Tutankhamun18Reads Год назад +1

    Such a good list. Ive read all of these and think they are all great!!

  • @SM-vr8dz
    @SM-vr8dz Год назад +1

    Love these kinds of videos:listicles!
    I would love to see a fiction list of pieces critical of empire, just in case you’re looking for ideas, lol.😂🎉

  • @MiruMSO
    @MiruMSO Год назад

    Such beautiful editions 😍😍 so glad and proud that you visited my country or a part of it. (Romania) The Transylvania land/ areas are so beautiful. ❤

  • @David-sg1yi
    @David-sg1yi 2 месяца назад

    Your copy of Frankenstein looks amazing. Wish I could get that cover.

  • @jennyrbaker
    @jennyrbaker Год назад +1

    I LOVE The Picture of Dorian Gray! I'm heartbroken that he never wrote any other novels, but I still can read his short fiction. You've got me wanting to reread it along with Frankenstein, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and finally read Jules Verne and Anne Bronte.

  • @aye.p
    @aye.p Год назад +1

    Such an amazing taste!! 💜💜

  • @ansk6850
    @ansk6850 Год назад +1

    Hey, thanks for this. Awesome.

  • @bhashamewar
    @bhashamewar Год назад +1

    Some amazing recommendations! I love the gothic novel so this is right up my alley❤

  • @rachel1021
    @rachel1021 Год назад +2

    The Castle of Otranto was a fun reading experience. I'm going to reread that and some of my other favorite classics, and check out the ones I haven't read. This is a nice list. 🖤🩶❤️

  • @p5meo
    @p5meo Год назад +5

    i love your videos

  • @angelaholmes8888
    @angelaholmes8888 Год назад +1

    I'm planning on reading jane Eyre soon

  • @NotGhostCaos
    @NotGhostCaos Год назад +1

    I haven't read any of them, but thanks to you I'll give them a go :)

  • @tyghe_bright
    @tyghe_bright Год назад +1

    Most of these I've read and love, but this is making me want to seek out beautiful special editions of them, especially Dorian Gray and Frankenstein. I never much cared for Jane Austin, who so many seem to love, but LOVE Charlotte Bronte.

  • @vortexvibes5944
    @vortexvibes5944 Год назад +1

    I like your style!

  • @e_mmmme
    @e_mmmme Год назад +1

    Amazing vid as alwaysss

  • @sapnasarfare2920
    @sapnasarfare2920 Год назад +2

    Quite interesting to hear about classics from someone else. Had read The Picture of Dorian Gray in college and i still love it...

  • @myonstrauss
    @myonstrauss Год назад +2

    Frankenstein🖤 when you read it and get it’s not a horror story about a monster, rather it’s a horror story about human nature. Dorian Gray is one of my favourite books of all time❤️

  • @Calcprof
    @Calcprof Год назад +1

    Anne B is wonderful.. I'm looking forward to your take on her 2 (IIRC) novels.

  • @aldakendall4921
    @aldakendall4921 Год назад +1

    Monkey King is now on the list!! Now I am inspired to reread these delightful treats!!

  • @vitareads
    @vitareads Год назад

    I've read all but three of these! Planning to read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre this year. Thanks for putting Monkey King on my radar, it sounds one I will love. 🖤

  • @isirlasplace91
    @isirlasplace91 Год назад +2

    I love your copy of Jane Eyre!!! It's stunning!!🤩

    • @WillowTalksBooks
      @WillowTalksBooks  Год назад +3

      Thanks! That and my Wuthering Heights are both from the Chiltern Classics collection :)

  • @ericapoe
    @ericapoe Год назад +1

    Ugh you’re so luck to have gone to Transylvania.. always been my dream to go and visit Brahms castle. I also have the same copy of Frankenstein as you.

  • @loudoy1
    @loudoy1 Год назад +2

    Lovely to see two Irish authors in this list 🙂

  • @Jimbodisfan
    @Jimbodisfan 11 месяцев назад

    Good afternoon! I have most of the gothic novels mentioned in this video in an ebook omnibus called 60 Gothic Classics. I agree that the characters in Wuthering Heights deserve to be autopsied while still alive.

  • @potatosocreepy7778
    @potatosocreepy7778 Год назад

    I have purchased Frankenstein, Dracula, Crime and Punishment, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre to read in this fall

  • @ranjanarawat4336
    @ranjanarawat4336 11 месяцев назад +1

    Jane Eyre is an absolute favorite. ❤

  • @erinh7450
    @erinh7450 Год назад

    Monkey/Journey to the West! 🥰🥰🐒🥰 I was introduced to that book in a college course, read the Arthur Waley translation years later, now you say there is a new one? I think I'm going to have to read it again!

  • @whatshername369
    @whatshername369 Год назад +1

    It's a long, long read but I loved THE PROFESSOR by Charlotte Bronte. Definitely worth a try.

  • @barbarablonsky7521
    @barbarablonsky7521 Год назад +1

    I love The Picture of Dorian Gray! I would read passages out loud because of the sumptuous language. I recently read Wuthering Heights and I was so surprised and shocked! I had always thought it was a romantic tragedy ( Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff!). Reading it and experiencing the monster that is Heathcliff astonished me. I loved the gothic tone of the book.
    And I have read Dracula three times. Iconic. Absolutely haunting. And when I would read it alone at night it was damn scary!
    Now looking forward to reading Jane Eyre.

  • @missjenny1953
    @missjenny1953 Год назад

    Wow you look really nailed Wuthering Heights with your review

  • @bookofdust
    @bookofdust Год назад

    In your Dracula research, have you heard the story about Stoker being in Highgate Cemetery and seeing people moving around in an underground mausoleum through the windows that allowed light into the crypt and that being part of the inspiration/impetus for writing the story? It was the story told to us in a 90s cemetery tour about a particularly unique underground mausoleum. I feel it was near the Rossetti grave and the story of Dante having his wife’s tomb interred to retrieve the only copy of his poetic manuscript that he buried with her. But rethought when he wanted to publish them.

  • @bex262
    @bex262 Год назад +1

    have you read any wilkie collins? he is the king of epistolary,, especially the woman in white which is so campy i just think you'll love it

  • @Bessie-On-Wheels
    @Bessie-On-Wheels Год назад +1

    I adore North and South and have just finished Frankenstien and I did wonder whether she wrote it because she was angry at Percy

  • @Emy-fh1zn
    @Emy-fh1zn Год назад +1

    I read Frankenstein for school and I loved it so much, I felt a lot for the monster 😢now it’s one of my favourite classics along with the count of Monte cristo. I clearly love revenge novels 😂

  • @SheWasOnlyEvie
    @SheWasOnlyEvie Год назад

    The lens I’ve always read Frankenstein through is it being a novel of grief and depression-so I’m intrigued to re-read it with the parenthood view in mind!
    Calling Wuthering Heights even a tragic romance is a little bit of a stretch; it’s underrated as a revenge tale. Though, I’d say, it’s the failure of romance as well as the failure of revenge.
    Anne Brontë definitely deserves more love! It’s been a while since I read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but I remember loving it. Agnes Grey is, I dare say, the better version of Jane Eyre (I have a complicated relationship with Jane Eyre).
    I was so surprised by Dracula when I read it last year! It was so compelling, I could not put it down!
    If you haven’t already read it, Don Quixote is one of my favorite classics: I was blown away with how compelling and easy it was to read (I read the Edith Grossman translation), especially considering it was written in the early 17th century. It’s hysterical and, simultaneously, sad with its depiction of Don Quixote’s “madness”.

  • @apollonia6656
    @apollonia6656 7 месяцев назад

    I have always found Frankenstein a sad novel even as good as it is.
    North and South is waiting for me, after finishing "Cranford".
    As for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, except the ending....but I don't know why !

  • @knitty781
    @knitty781 Год назад

    A great list of Classics. And I love how you feel bad neglecting Anne Bronte. There are so many gothic books pre-20th century that are amazingly disturbing and many young people don't read them. They are also books that reveal completely different ideas as you age, so are good books to read throughout your life.

  • @ChicaneryBear
    @ChicaneryBear Год назад

    Thought I posted on this, but must have forgotten. I’d recommend the 1818 version of Frankenstein over the later revisions. The text is a lot rawer and the LGBT subtext comes through a lot clearer.

  • @bookofdust
    @bookofdust Год назад

    Knowing your love of Asian literature have you read The Pillow Book before? I’m about to read it after reading all the supporting material to help contextualize the story and give me a better sense of the cultural and political setting of the story. I haven’t seen any Booktubers talk about it, though there’s a group about to start Tales of the Genji on the 15th, but I became completely intimidated when I saw the length. I might read the truncated version myself and see how it intrigues me to read the full version.

  • @TanaChiarantano
    @TanaChiarantano Год назад +2

    Willow: apologies to Dostoievski, Tolstoi..
    Me, a russian-classics girlie: oh no

  • @camilakessler8888
    @camilakessler8888 Год назад

    Thank you

  • @MarivoneAraujo
    @MarivoneAraujo Год назад

    The picture of Dorian Gray is my favorite. Even though the story line is a copy of The Portrait, by Gogol, still the whole content - and what he did to Gogol’s original idea - is of impeccable greatness.
    .
    Frankenstein comes right after it. As a black person, I was reading it and realizing how much of how people always treated me is so similar. Foreigners must feel the same way. And so on… She wrote that one for the outcast for sure.
    .
    Agnes Grey, by Anne, hit me really hard because there are parts way similar to my life. “Wuthering Hights” is so heavy, and amazes me that people still portrait Heathcliff as a white man. It’s just an insult the her story.
    .
    I’m gonna read the first one you mentioned. I had never heard of it!

  • @ujjyaini332
    @ujjyaini332 Год назад +1

    Just a random thought - the Monkey King do remind me of Hanuman who was also like a Monkey King in the epic Ramayana and Ramayana did travel east of India and their are different versions of it in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia etc and Hanuman is adapted very differently. Now to think about it maybe this is the Chinese adaptation it's hard to say. But there are too many myth of the Monkey King in the east for it to be too random and not be connected to Ramayana

  • @heatherbocks
    @heatherbocks Год назад

    Had to read Wuthering Heights in high school and hated it. May need to revisit it now ten plus years later

  • @nightcorebjork6576
    @nightcorebjork6576 Год назад

    Have you read the uncensored Picture of Dorian Gray

  • @ArchiduquesaMA
    @ArchiduquesaMA Год назад +1

    Jules Verne books are great

  • @isoney
    @isoney 10 месяцев назад

    I followed when you said Dragon Ball. I wouldn’t have put Monkey King on my list, but thank you.

  • @derrickcox7761
    @derrickcox7761 Год назад

    Not bad.

    • @WillowTalksBooks
      @WillowTalksBooks  Год назад

      I’m so glad I got your approval. Had me sweating for a moment!

    • @derrickcox7761
      @derrickcox7761 Год назад

      @@WillowTalksBooks not bad is not the same as approval...it's was a compliment...but feel free to be a snot about it.

  • @mikemason746
    @mikemason746 9 месяцев назад

    I read Frankenstein recently just for curiosity. Very readable and compelling, but quite ridiculous.

    • @WillowTalksBooks
      @WillowTalksBooks  9 месяцев назад

      LMAO indeed

    • @mikemason746
      @mikemason746 9 месяцев назад

      @@WillowTalksBooks I wondered at the part where Viktor in a little boat is blown by a storm from the Faroes to Ireland, where the creature just happens to find him and dump his friend. I looked at a map and laughed.

  • @krisprepolec5616
    @krisprepolec5616 Год назад +1

  • @MriInterocitor
    @MriInterocitor Год назад

    Given your favorite book, would you say that this video is a sort of trunk containing not just three but ten volumes for the edification of all us outsider princesses hiding in the forest? Does this make you the (apparently prematurely aged) beloved guide to the ways of life? Or is it just that I need breakfast?
    Also, I’m now picturing all the gothics infused with science fiction, and vice versa.

    • @WillowTalksBooks
      @WillowTalksBooks  Год назад +2

      I don’t understand a single word of this :)

    • @MriInterocitor
      @MriInterocitor Год назад

      @@WillowTalksBooks I was thinking of the books traveling with the Arabian princess and her trusty companion that the monster learns from.

  • @estefaniaarellano3997
    @estefaniaarellano3997 Год назад

    You lost me at wuthering heights, but I appreciate the variety.

  • @dragonrealmer4851
    @dragonrealmer4851 8 месяцев назад +1

    Queer erasure isn't a thing, but queers seeing gay relationships in every male to male friendship of the past (and contemporary as far as fiction is concerned) is hilarious. Literally every historical pair, real or fictional, has had the homosexual label applied by the rainbow community.

  • @apollonia6656
    @apollonia6656 7 месяцев назад

    Deleted comment re: " Monkey King' ! 🤔

    • @WillowTalksBooks
      @WillowTalksBooks  7 месяцев назад

      I don’t know what that means 😊

    • @apollonia6656
      @apollonia6656 7 месяцев назад

      I left a pretty long comment re: Monkey King and now it is gone.
      Maybe the comment was long and that is why it was deleted.
      A!as, it doesn't matter anymore.

  • @Scrubjay001
    @Scrubjay001 11 месяцев назад

    Something is wrong here

    • @WillowTalksBooks
      @WillowTalksBooks  11 месяцев назад

      Oh no! Well, please let me know what it is and I’ll see if I can get myself to care enough to fix it!

  • @fashionearrings
    @fashionearrings Год назад

    I hate hate hate Jane Eyre. Hate.