Tristan, you make reading difficult for me. Because every time I watch you describe great classics, I want to read them all and I don’t know which one to choose first! LOL
@@tristanandtheclassics6538 awwwwwww.....why thank you sir. I have read ROTN, C & P and MacBeth. I love all three....I am currently reading Henry IV and I love it. My 13th play by Shakespeare and. plan to read his oeuvre. I am not great at understanding Shakespeare without some interpretation but I fell in love with his language and style. ROTN is a massively underrated book. It represents all that I love about Hardy and his opening chapter about Egdon Heath literally made my jaw hit the floor. The word stunning does not do it justice. C & P is a book that will always stay with you. Can't possibly go wrong with it. The one I noticed you love that I never connected with is Dickens. I know I know....sacrilegious in the world of literature but......, I always love watching your videos and I appreciate all of your work. 📖🫖
@janebailey, I agree with you 100% Tristan is the best when it comes to books.. classic books and his enthusiasm is so catchy. His verbal synopsis of a novel is trustworthy and his choice of book recommendations brilliant. Best channel ever for those who love worthwhile readable books. 🙂
I have been watching/subscribed to your channel for about a year now and want you to know that listening to you discussing the classics is a joy. I am a big reader of them for many years now and it is so entertaining and enriching. Thank you.
East of Eden is an absolute masterpiece of brilliant writing... you nailed it - the evocation of atmosphere is almost physical.. His other book 'Mice and Men' also has the same qualities, and I would recommend it before East of Eden.. as it's way shorter - the reader will then be 'set up' for the adventure that is East of Eden
Steinbeck is one of the best writers of the 20th century. His stories are eternal regardless of era. His writing skills are outstanding and his characters are enviously rich in depth. I've read well over 1000 books in my life and East of Eden is only one of 37 that I feel warrant a five star rating. The Grapes of Wrath is also one of those 37 evidencing my respect for JS.
I would love to see you do an audio selection of classics especially for those of us with poor vision. I love to listen to libravox and have found some wonderful readers like Karen Savage ( Austen, Baroness Emma Orczy) and Mil Nicholson ( Dickens ) to name just two. Although I am lucky to be able to see enough to read but listening is more restful for my vision problems.Thankyou for all you do..love your channel!
i love livrivox but mostly just for karen xD i’ll have to check out mil nicholson. have you tried libby? they dont have every book on there but ive had a few sucesses with audiobooks and its free with a library card (which ive learnt you can apply online now xD)
Thankyou so much! Thought my library only had hoopla but it does have libby…. Wouldn’t have checked if you didn’t message me! I have found some other really good readers on libravox but can not remember their names! Thankyou again!
The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), Library of Congress, administers the braille and talking-book program, a free library service for residents of the United States and its territories and American citizens living abroad whose low vision, blindness, or physical disability makes reading books impossible or impractical.
I agree that resurrection is a fantastic read! Like you said, it’s not for everyone but it has interesting characters and a fascinating story. I am a huge Tolstoy fan and have read almost everything he’s written (except for “what is art?” and Cossacks) and I am surprised that this book doesn’t receive more attention. Maybe because Anna Karenina and war and peace are among the best books ever written?
What a fabulous collection! I especially love The Return of the Native (my second-favorite Hardy), East of Eden, and Tender is the Night. I really must read Crime and Punishment…
Thank you for yet another wonderful video. Your enthusiasm for literature is infectious. I got back into reading recently and my reading list just got even longer. Thank you for your fantastic work and best wishes for 2024. Greetings from Germany :)
I read the Hans Fallada book in Canada under the name "Every Man Dies Alone", which I think might be the US title as well. I would highly recommend this book, I loved it and how it deals with how regular people deal with living under a repressive and authoritarian government. Great list! I've read 8 of the books, great to remember about them and re-read plus new ones to check out! Thanks!!
I adore The Scarlet Pimpernel. Like you said, it’s not the best written book, but it is such a fun story that you can’t help enjoying it. I’ve never finished Villette 😬 I’ve tried but I get lost in the story about 1/3 of the way through. I’m currently reading Silas Marner for the first time.
I have just recently found your channel and I am so grateful. You give such a refreshing presentation of the classics....so joyful! I want to read them all either again or for the first time. Thank you💕
Tristan, you are brilliant! I wish you had been my English teacher when in high school. I always enjoy reading but watching your channel has re-enthused my hopes to expand my reading interests. I’m in a phase of renewal and want to detox from the disease of “Excess Tech Syndrome”, but make exceptions for your channel while I’m on the treadmill at the gym. You may become a one man show to revive what’s best in Western literature. Keep up the excellent and valuable work!
I'm vision impaired so there's definitely no such thing as excess tech. Even when I wasn't vision impaired, if someone told me I watched too much TV I just told them I was learning. Never stop a person from learning.
New insights pop out every time I read East of Eden. I’ve never heard anyone mention the third Biblical story which is key to completely appreciating the closing scene of the book, and that is the story of Caleb and his entering into the Promised Land. I won’t spoil anything, but, to me, it’s every bit as important as the Garden of Eden and Cain and Abel stories. Tristan, am I overthinking this? I appreciate all your guidance through the complex classics world 🙂
Were you a fan of Jennifer Brooks’ Booktube contributions? She passed away January 3rd unexpectedly. Her contributions to the world of books will definitely be missed by me.
Jennifer was lovely. I was so sad to hear of her passing. I was fortunate enough to be involved with Jennifer for the Febregency readalong last year and got to spend time talking with her. She was a delightful person. It's so tragic 😥
I’m sorry I never knew her other than through her videos. She provided some very enjoyable book presentations. I have been depressed ever since finding out.
Hello, Tristan. I've watched your channel off and on since you first started on RU-vid. These days I don't watch you with any degree of regularity. I don't watch any BookTuber with regularity anymore. Your channel, to your credit, is more of a teaching channel rather than an egotistical opinion channel which is how I see most all other BookTube channels. Let me explain myself. I encountered BookTube back in 2017. My go to channel was Mementomori with Adam. What made his channel so outstanding was he offered personal opinions without trying to influence viewers to agree with him. Today, the vast majority of BookTube channels are fronted by people caught up in the small celebrity they feel from having viewers who watch their channels. If they present their ideas correctly, their viewership will increase, as will their "celebrity". The ideas may or may not be their own. The ideas are formed around what they think is the prevailing interest of their viewers at any particular moment. This is where the concept of influencing comes into play. Sadly, the viewers that cling so tenaciously to particular sites do so because they have transformed their way of thinking (if any thought occurs with them at all) to fit what they see on the channels they watch. Obviously, this dynamic of exchanging opinions is not healthy. The channel provider capitulates his or herself to the demands of popularity. Literature is, therefore, judged according to popular opinion and not to any sort of informed study. This is where your channel is different from most others. You concentrate on the classics that have a reputation that has withstood the vagaries of popular opinion. On BookTube I hear people dismiss The Great Gatsby as not being an interesting book or as a book whose ideas they do not find appealing. The ideas a book contains do reflect the current state of affairs when it was written for the most part. But, what distinguishes it and allows it to achieve the status of being a classic is the words used and the manner in which they are arranged. This does not mean the manner in which an object is described. The words will come from inside the author, reflecting a thought that does not live in time. It will be timeless. There are examples of this throughout The Great Gatsby. The ending sentences are extraordinary in their implication: "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter-tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning-- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." When I read these words I was profoundly touched. They made me cry. The idea contained in these sentences expresses the state of humanity's existence in a simple connection to the story of the character of Gatsby. We all, whether we live in the United States or not, long for something better in our lives. If we did not believe in something, we would drown in our sense of powerlessness. And, yet, as Fitzgerald writes, we go on even in the face of adversity. This defines the greatness of The Great Gatsby. How many BookTubers are capable of delving this deeply into the psychology and purpose of the books they read and talk about? It cannot be done when the reason behind their channel is the chance to be popular and to have hundreds of viewers who believe in their opinions. But, the nature of literature is the process of going deeper into the material in order to learn something that can change our lives, our way of seeing the world around us. Literature is not a popularity contest to see who can get the highest number of subscribers. A BookTube channel should attempt to explain the author's ideas as best they can, not to clothe them in the ragged garments of their personal opinions. You are doing a great service to your viewers with your channel, Tristan. I've never seen you arrange what an author has written in order for it to fit your own thoughts or beliefs. You, also, have the intellectual ability to grasp the layers of the various books you study. In a couple of months I will turn seventy-five. I have entered a period where my reading is mostly done for pleasure. I want to be happy in my latter years. If I learn something new, I'm delighted. But, there's something to be said for being comforted by what you read. Take care. You're doing good work with your channel.
Thanks for the delightful video. I’ve had a bit of a reading slump for almost 2 years now and made a NY resolution to get back to the classics and your video has inspired me Can’t wait to watch more of your content! Btw, just picked up Crime and Punishment and East of Eden 😊
Ressurection.the only Tolstoy novel i have read.Bought the Oxford classic edition in 1963 after watching the Russian film on the BBC tv.(17yrs old) Still think about it.Have it on my bookshelf with original green cover...
Just discovered your channel, your passion about classics is infectious.. I agree about Crime and punishment, Macbeth is one of my favorite Shakespeare, you planted a seed to read Tender is the night and East of Eden, thank you for your thoughtful list. Fresh and non generic, looking forward.
I finished reading Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich, I just started reading Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany and now I discovered your channel. Subscribed.
Happy new year! I have read Macbeth with my students (in English) they absolutely fell in love with the story and the characters, I was so pleased and amazed..
The way to really appreciate Shakespeare is to watch a first class theatrical production, especially live. This past fall we went to a production of King Lear at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. It was a weekday matinee and we were at first dismayed to discover that half the audience comprised young teenagers -about 500 of them. We expected a lot of distracted talking and texting and, basically, a a group of sullen, bored adolescents who wished they were anywhere else. It was so gratifying to witness the most rapt audience I've seen in long time, culminating in a long standing ovation.
I just finished The woman in white 3 days ago. I love Wilkie Collins, but didn‘t read The Moonstone yet. At the moment I „discover“ the Victorian era which I‘m very fond of. East of Eden I read decades ago but I still remember the contents. I also know Crime and Punishment, MacBeth and as a woman from Germany I love Fallada (the accent is actially on the first syllable 💕). The other books you recommend are now on my list TBR, they sound wonderful. I discovered your channel only one week ago and am so excited. I love how enthusiastically you talk about literature and already learnt a lot by listening to your videos. I want to watch them all within the next weeks and months and am looking forward to every new video of you coming in the future. Many greetings from Germany, only 13 kms awayfrom the town where Hermann Hesse was born. Also Schloss Liechtenstein is not so far away (2 hours ago I watched your video about German authors and their books 😉).
As soon as I've watched this vídeo a few days ago, I started Reading The Moonstone. What a great book, I've having só mucho fun Thank you so much for your videos!
Just discovered you, and you're a delight. I'm recovering from a number of health issues and have decided to read one fat and two skinny classics per month this year while I laze around at home. Just finished East of Eden last week. Some wonderful elements and moments, but I find Steinbeck a bit self-important and overly symbolic. Very problematic non-Caucasian character. Fat classic for Jan: Dostoevsky's The Idiot; skinny classics are Austen's Northanger Abbey and Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Thanks for helping inspire me!
Thanks for your excellent reviews Tristan. If you have not done so already, please read Jan Valtin's OUT OF THE NIGHT, published in 1941. I discovered this book recently and must say it's one of the best books I've read in recent years. It's an amazing, well-written true account by Jan Valtin (Richard Krebs) of the chaos in Germany during the 1920s and 30s. What a story! Also please read 'Picasso's War', by Hugh Eakin, another modern classic published just a few years ago, this book is exceptionally well-written, and tells a true story which any nonfiction reader will deeply love. My third top book of this year's 100 books I've read so far must be 'A Gentleman in Moscow'. Sublime writing, superb tone and theme. A 100% wonderful book.
I've only just seen your 12 suggestions for 2023 and added to my reading list. And here come more mouthwatering presentations! Thank you so much! I'm glad I am commuting so far - lots of time to explore books.
Macbeth!!!! I lhave oved it since I first studied it in year 9 - which was many, many, many years ago. Best read aloud to oneself I find. Just masterful. ❤❤
You should do one on the great Asian classics, including India, China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand. Many of these are available in English translations, and it would help to open up a whole new world for your audience. Maybe just start with "Journey to the West" as that one may already be somewhat familiar to a Western audience through cartoons, Anime, and manga?
Hello Tristan. Your scope is amazing and your presentations are gripping. Thank you! If you haven't already, could you do a program devoted to sagas? I also would like to share my love for 2 historical novels set in the European middle ages , not quite sagas, but in that vein: Kristen Lavrensdattar, by Nobel prize winning Sigrid Undsett, and The Greenlanders, by Jane Smiley. They both manage to evoke the fascinating mystery of that time period.
Thank you so much for recommending Villette. I just finished yesterday and I'm blown away. So complex, twisty and the ending... I was stunned. Instant favourite for sure.
I absolutely adored "Villette. " I found it to be a magnificently haunting, dreamlike, original book. It's probably my favorite of all the Bronte novels.
Happy New Year. I've recently discovered your channel and love it. Have read a few classics. Currently reading Silas Marner. Enjoying the story but finding some parts very long winded and tricky to completely understand. Can't decide whether to read 'The Woman in White' 'Northanger Abbey' 'Agnes Grey' or 'Far from the Madding Crowd' next. Any thoughts or advice would be helpful. Thank you.
Far from the Madding Crowd is my favourite Hardy -- and I have read them all, and I do mean all -- I studied Hardy in graduate school. But there isn't a dud on that list.
Tender is the night ❤ such a beautiful story, you really have the right words to talk about it 😍 I'm gonna read east of eden this year, (my 4th steinbeck) can't want ! Euh ..... Crime and Punishment 450 pages ?? 😮 I read it last year, in french this book is more like 900 pages 😅
I think I'll check out "Tender is the Night" next. I just finished "The Paris Bookseller" & Fitzgerald is one of the characters that frequents Shakespeare and Company & Joyce, Hemingway, Stein, etc. are all wondering about the new boy-wonder writer. Thanks for the hot tips. I just happened upon your channel about 2 months ago. But, I have a suggestion for you: "Frankenstein in Baghdad" by Ahmed Saadavi. It's got an, obvious, gothic element to it, as well as magical realism, but set in modern day Iraq.
I am truly excited to hear your list and learn that I am already on a path that looks promising for the year. I just started The Moonstone yesterday, and I purchased Villette and The Return of the Native while on vacation this past week. I had also checked out Macbeth on audio from our library so I can read along with a fluid rhythm in my ear. That might not be the best approach, but I wanted all the help I can get. Now I must watch your Shakespeare videos and see if I change my mind.
Perhaps I should’ve watched this video prior to your list for 2023! I commented on that video as well, but unsure how far back you receive notices. No worries…happy to add these books to to that list as well. I will review your playlist and pick up the proper order. 😂 I will also search for your video on Shakespeare. I read Hamlet last year, but don’t feel I got all I could from the reading.
For anyone desperate for a great adventure story, I have to recommend The Worm Ouroboros, by E.R. Eddison. You aren't likely to find it in your local bookshop, though. It's most easily found online.
Thanks Tristan! I’m a pretty new follower but I’m a huge classics fan & love your list. Quite a few have been on my TBR list for a long time; now they all are! A Chekhov is my fav writer. I’m not a huge fan of Dostoyevsky (partly due to AC’s influence; he wasn’t D’s fan either) but will read C&P prob this year bc it’s so popular & I want to be able to discuss it semi-intelligently. 😊 I think Macbeth is the only one on your list I’ve read. It’s my fav of WS. Question for you: Was Macbeth an existentialist?
I am currently reading The Outsiders with a group of people. 🙂 The one i am most interested to read on here is East of Eden. Resurrection has been added to my tbr. 🙂📚
Fallada is pronounced like "dull" at the beginning, but instead of d you start with an f. The stress in the name is on the first syllable. At the moment I'm reading "Little Man, What Now?" by the same author. The latter book has a light-hearted tone to it but you can feel the desperation beneath it. So good!
I agree with THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (especially the scene in the opera-house during a performance of Gluck's ORFEO AND EURIDICE which is one of my favorite operas), and with CRIME AND PUNISHMENT (although I have a bias because I lived in Leningrad for a semester; I don't usually like Dostoevsky, whom I consider clunky and heavy-handed), and with anything by Hans Fallida (although I have only read EVERY MAN DIES ALONE and WOLF AMONG WOLVES.). Five terrific books I read in 2023: GREENMANTLE by John Buchan, THE CHEMISTS' WAR 1914-1918 by Michael Freemantle, and THE BURGLAR WHO COUNTED THE SPOONS by Robert Block, and THE AMATEUR CRACKSMAN by EW Hornung.
I finally read Macbeth (for the first time) last year and I *loved* it! I read Hamlet shrotly after and it was good, but Macbeth is perfection! Love the Brontës, but I have yet to read Villete. So glad to know that your wife likes it and I will look forward to reading it. 📚 Great video, thanks so much.
I've just ordered The Moonshine 😊 Loved The Lady in White. Gosh, I want to get the complete works of Wilkie Collins but cannot find book(s) just Kindle on Amazon and I do not !one Kindle ! Anyway, one more to add to my TBR list......it really is getting out of hand 😂 Thank you Tristan 🙂
Great one, Tristan. "Our Man in Havana" sounds fun. I'm floating down the Fitzgerald tributary--just finished "Tender . . ." and loved it. I'm going to get "This Side of Paradise" in a few days. (Read Gatsby several times.) Thanks and God bless, from chilly sunny Colorado.
Aside from Gatsby and the unfinished The Last Tycoon, I find Fitzgerald's novels to be pretty much jumped-up pulp. But don't miss his short stories. The Pat Hobby Stories are really fun, and the miscellaneous stories are good too -- The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, The Hotel Child, Bernice Bobs Her Hair and others.
I think since I’ve heard you talk about it more than once ( just found your channel and am binging) I think I might like to start with A Room with a View. I never thought I could read the classics thinking I wasn’t intelligent enough to understand them but maybe I could try. I watched your list of children’s classics and I have read many of those as a kid and even an adult so maybe, just maybe I could get into an actual adult classic. Moonstone also sounds like a fun read. What do you think about listening to audio versions? Or which classics are easiest to listen to? I listen to many audio books during my commutes. Are there some that should be read instead of listening?
Room With A View is an unadulterated joy! Once you’ve read it watch the 1987 merchant and ivory film which captures atmosphere, character and tone in a way precious few adaptations manage.
@@zenocrate4040 No real argument, but for anyone a little daunted by adult literature, maybe Howard's End is an easier intro to Forster. It's a page-turner.
I loved the video and I really want to get into Shakespeare this year. Your playlist on reading Shakespeare has convinced me I can do it. Thank you so much and I have been meaning to say for ages I love the picture you have as your backdrop. ❤❤❤❤❤
So happy to find you and the list! Already read many and most but chose two for my new year, to reread the Moonstone and to read East of Eden the first time!
I just subscribed to your channel and have only seen a few of your videos. Don’t know if you’ve ever covered ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ by Toole. The characters and sense of place (New Orleans, mid last century) will stay with one like few other works of fiction will. The author’s peculiarities and death, and how the book saw the light of day, are stories unto themselves. Great videos on your channel.
Watched the russian film on the BBC as a teenager awesome! Bought the book for 8 and sixpence (oxford worlds classics)so will read it again.Love your podcasts
I order 2 books while watching this video, alone in berlin and tender is the night.. EAST OF EDEN is one of my favorite book I have ever read so amazing every word just reached my soul.
Thanks for recommending Resurrection. I read it in my teens and think it shouldn’t be so overlooked. I mean to reread it. And you are absolutely right about Shakespeare.
I was forced to read East of Eden. On night, many years ago, I caught the movie with James Dean on the Late Show. Watched the whole thing, enjoying it immensely, until what must have been the last reel. Movie cut to commercial. When it came back, it was in German! I don’t understand German. Had to read to find out how the story ended!
Hello Tristan! I hope you are doing well. I really enjoyed your video. While I have read several of the books on your list, I have not read all. I think I would like to give EM Forster a go sometime, Alone in Berlin and Return of the Native. Finally, I keep putting it off (probably b/c it is the last of all the Bronte books left) and need to read Villette. I really enjoyed Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, so I need to stop procrastinating and sit a down and read it. I look forward to your next video! Have a great weekend!
I was delighted to see you put one of Fallada’s works on the list. His novels are outstanding and it’s rare that booktubers read from the German canon. You pronounce his last name with the stress on the first syllable: FAllada (you said it correctly once). 😊 We read Macbeth in English class back in my school days at a German school. These last couple of months I dug out my old notes and reread most of what we read back then. It’s an interesting experience to say the least. (Somehow we managed to misread Truman Capote’s The Diamond Guitar which baffles me to no end … but I digress) Macbeth is still on my list and 2024 is the year to tackle him for sure.
I read Fitzgerald’s “The Beautiful and the Damned” in ‘23 and it almost threw me. Then, the last part straightened out and convinced me to try “Tender is the Night”
I found your channel a few days ago and I really love your content! =) Your enthusiasm and depth of knowledge makes your videos extremely interesting, and you've already taught me a lot. Plus you've inspired me to get back into Shakespeare. So thank you!
I read The Moonstone and Resurrection many years ago but the best book on your list is definitely Alone in Berlin. I started Our Man in Havana last summer but thought it was awful and gave it away. The Hardy and Forster I don't know though the latter's Howard's End is a great read and I recommend it. Have you done Trollope in your videos?
i hve read the death of ivan illych. it is the only think of tolstoy i have read. i have read Crime and Punishment. I have read a couple Graham Green novels such as "The Power and the Glory." I have also read "no name" by wilkie collins. thans for the additional titles.
Resurrection is excellent, the characters are masterful. well worth a read. Return of the Native is atmospheric and you are willing the protagonists not to make certain choices/decisions. Crime and Punishment is thought provoking and has fascinating insights on morality, society, class, punishment and the judiciary. East of Eden is still on the tbr list - hopefully this year
Great List! Love Forester and Greene. East of Eden is a great book and, even though it’s long, it flies by as you become engrossed in the lives of the characters. I think that fans of Thomas Hardy (love him, too!) will enjoy this book a lot. And I love that you picked Macbeth, because East of Eden and Macbeth have at their core the same central theme, are people born inherently good or inherently evil and is there even such a thing as free will? Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are the obvious moralists on your list, but Steinbeck and Shakespeare are up to the task as well!
Hi Tristan, you are my favourite book tuber, after each of your videos i usually end up buying a book. this time its going to be Ressurection. Thanks a lot!
I have never heard of Resurrection by Leo T. East of Eden is a favorite of mine and Steinbeck is a favorite author of mine. I plan on reading In Dubious Battle next month. I will try to read at least one of the 12 you have suggested. I will probably read The Moonstone because I loved The Woman in White so much.
I was supposed to read The Return if the Native in high school. Last year I made a list of all the books I remember reading in school. It’s been 30 years so my recollection of some of them is quite fuzzy. One of the books all I could remember was the word “heath”, probably because there was a boy in my grade named Heath. I vaguely thought it was written by a man and that it was a classic. Eventually a friend and I found a list with Thomas Hardy on it. There it was.
