Classics you can read in a day | My favourite short classics 

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Your husband kissing you on your forehead might be the most beautiful thing I've seen lately! ❤❤❤

The Picture Of Dorian Gray

Yes!! I love A Room with a View and think it should be a more popular classic. It's a lighthearted read as well which is needed at the moment.

I read Frankenstein years ago for a bookclub and I remember it being interesting, but I had found the language a bit challenging, so maybe I should give it a try in a translated edition next time. Northanger Abbey is such a joy to read, as are all of Jane Austen's books!

Some books I can recommend for non native speakers: Alice in Wonderland + through the looking glass - by Lewis Carroll → I thought they were easy to read and they are both under 200 pages (depending on the editions though) The time machine - by H. G. Wells → short and easy to understand, because I kinda knew the story The Bell jar - by Sylvia Plath → short and modern. Language is easy to understand (I would put a tw though because it deals with mental illness and suic*de) The picture of Dorian Gray - by Oscar Wilde → One of the first classics I've read. The story is amazing and I think we can still learn from it. (A Christmas Carol - by Charles Dickens) → it's quite short, but I haven't read it yet. I wanna read it on Christmas this year. Also: Pride and prejudice which I haven't finished yet. It's a bit longer, but definitely worth it.

I would also highly recommend Lady Susan by Jane Austen! It's very refreshing to have a main protagonist who is the antagonist of the story :)

There is a movie out there somewhere. "Who is Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?"

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is my favourite novel ever. I could never get tired of reading it.

I'm nearly done my first read of Crime and Punishment. It was never on a reading list in any of my English classes at any point, but I felt like I needed exposure to classic Russian literature. I'm just now starting the last part of the book, and I have absolutely loved it. I've taken my time, and read it slowly, and it is just so interesting.

Another idea - could you do one on “Poetry for Self-Isolation”? Your videos are great!

Oh, I do hope you read Frankenstein a second time. It is such an amazing book. It was surprising how much I identified, felt with the monster, and that not it but its creator Dr. Frankenstein seemed monstrous. And there were lots of questions that made me pause and think about humanity, beauty, living and pain. I agree with Ben: it’s great.

I think Virginia Woolf is amazing despite of the fact that I’ve never read a book by her, whether that be a novel or essay, that I found “easy” to read. I love the idea of this video. Do you think you’ll be able to film a bookshelf tour any time soon?

Great choices 😊

I loved this!!!❤ stay safe and thanks for the recommendations!

I just adore your videos xo

"Thank you, Virginia" ❤ This is an eternal Mood!

OMG I love how we have such similar tastes in books! It’s like finding a soulmate haha😉thanks for this sweet and cozy video🧡✨

Thank you so much for this video! :)

Oh my god thank you for this video, I literally wrote down most of these! I struggle finding short classics but this list was amazing and it made me want to reread The Great Gatsby, it’s been maybe four years since the last time I did and I think especially with classics the more you read them, the more you can get a good grasp of what they’re really saying! Thank you so much

Frankenstein might be my favourite classic book! :D

YAY! Exactly what we all need right now to escape! I'm trying to see how many books I finish :) Always love your videos, thank you!!!

The video quality looks so good!

Excellent! Thank you! I've read a few classics but I'm always so intimidated! You with your fiance are very sweet

I really want to get into reading E.M Forster after watching this, so thank you for the recommendations!

Great recommendations! Thanks for creating all this amazing content Claire! I discovered you when I actually lived in London myself and you've always inspired me to read. Now I will give To the Lighthouse a try. You should definitely reread Frankenstein, it's one of the most beautiful and haunting books I know. Hugs and kissed from Austria (in curfew) xx

hi claire, i am a new subscriber and i'm going through your videos like crazy, especially the Classics-related ones. love your channel!Looking forward to new Classics videos from you :)

I really enjoyed this video because I try to read more classics. but I didn't know Jekyll & Hyde is so short! I really should look it up already. mostly I read classic sci-fi which I love (shorter: H.G.Wells, Aldous Huxley, John Wyndham) but for fiction I can recommend The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

0:58 virginia woolf - to the light house and mrs dalloway 2:52 the great gatsby 3:55 dr. jekyll and mr. hyde 5:10 the awakening by kate chopin

Great list.

The only other thing by Fitzgerald that I've read is an early short story "The Winter's Tale." It is said to be an early draft of Gatsby, but it isn't nearly as good. It's an exercise in telling instead of showing. And yes, I am aware there is a Shakespeare play with the same title.

Great video! 😊

Your husband is cute! He’s also a reader, makes him even more attractive. But when he described about Frankenstein, OH MY GOSH!!!!! He’s sooo hottttt!!!

Wow! This was great! Love this! Charmingly presented, in-depth analysis, not just the usual booktube blah blah. Thanks a lot from Germany. So happy to have discovered your channel. Say hi to Ben :-)

Thank you.

I also can relate to Catherine Morland.

I know it's pretty long, but Daniel Deronda is an exquisite read. The philosophical reflections strewn throughout are such a pleasure.

Metamorphosis

lovely list! love classics but book length is a serious consideration for me, been six years reading Moby Dick =P Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is so great, i just wish it was possible to read without already knowing the twist. i always envy those first readers who didn't know....

I enjoyed watching Mary Shelly's Frankenstein film starring Robert DeNiro

Read “Passage To India” for A-level - stunning. How about an Irish author, Claire - “Dubliners” or “Dorian Grey”?

Hope this doesn’t sound creepy but I could listen to you talk or read for hours.💕

But the film on the life of Mary Shelly is interesting too on IFC films

I came because you looked beautiful, i stayed because of the books

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is also very very short!!

After reading Howard's End, you should read Zadie Smith's On Beauty. It uses Howard's End as the scaffolding of her novel, and it's a wonderful homage to Forster's masterpiece.

In keeping with your latest good video on the use of "classics," I wish you would stop using that loaded term and simply call this video "My favorite books you can read in a day." I did read Frankenstein in college and read it in a night. Ah, the energy of youth. I've read The Great Gatsby no less than three times and I don't understand your comment about it being about the failings of capitalism. I must've missed that. It's not much of story, actually, imho. The most interesting thing I found about Jekyll and Hyde was the underlying homosexuality, which is the debauchery Mr. Hyde did at nights. I thought Dr. Jekyll was a closet homosexual and the potion unlocked his taboo desires. If you haven't already read them, I recommend Spring Torrents by Turgenev. A real pager-turner. Also, The Duel by Kleist. Happy reading!

Interesting that you didn’t include Stoner? Helpful though ! Thanks.

Three short and heartwarming books that you will absolutely love (I promise) : 1) '84 Charing Cross Road' by Helene Hanff , 2) 'The Little World Of Don Camillo' by Giovanni Guareschi and 3) 'The Lilies Of The Field' by William Edmund Barrett. These may be hard(er) to find but they are very much worth the effort.

Thank God you included FRANKENSTEIN 🥰

Is that a Diplodocus on the shelf with the candle?

I read Mrs. Dalloway in my senior year of HS and hated the living daylights out of it, but I will say that that is most likely due to my horrible teacher and how she make us look at the book rather than the book its self. Maybe I will give it a second chance some day.

“The world is a little bit scary outside rn” - I had to check the date to see which scary year you are referring to. I wonder what 2024 has in store for us 😫

I hate Virginia Woolf. Couldn't see what the fuss was about with the Great Gatsby. Quite liked Dr Jekyll.

Thanks for this video!

First!