I just have to say how happy I am that I discovered your channel! I love hearing your thoughts about classics and for some reason I feel like we would be friends if we actually knew each other hahaha anyways Happy Thanksgiving!
I had issues with Augustine, being that I'm not a particularly spiritual or religious person, and Augustine's constant swooning just grated on me. That may, however, have been partly down to the translation (the one I have is 19th century), and like you I want to try it again in another version\. There's a more recent one by Sarah Ruden that I'll probably go for. I want to read the Vasari book but I hate that the only easily available versions are abridged. Give us the whole thing, damn it... I gather Wilkie Collins' books from the 1860s are the ones to stick, after that he apparently goes downhill a fair bit. But I've only read Woman in White so don't know how accurate that judgement is. I liked Vanity Fair a lot more than you seem to have done; I read it just before the 2004 film version came out and much preferred it to the film. Haven't read Anna Karenina cos I've generally had a poor experience with Tolstoy, including two unsuccessful attempts (two different translations) of War and Peace. Still, I suppose I'll get there eventually.
Extremely enjoy your reflections on classics! I love Emma for the same reason as yours. Her relationship with Mr Knightley is established on the basis of economic equality. And I think her bickering with Mr knightley is so sweet
Just started listening to the audiobook of _Sense and Sensibility_ . Thomas Hardy and I don't get along. I've tried, but he just isnt for me. I think a lot of people who read Dickens (more than I have) have mixed feelings about _A Tale of Two Cities_
New subscriber. Enjoy your channel and reviews. Recently finished Emma and loved it. But I had a couple of spoilers before I read it which dampened the enjoyment.Wish people were a little more careful in this regard.
So many great classics. I think Emma is my favorite Austen too, though Persuasion comes in a close second. Liking Mary Barton more than North and South! I love Gaskell, and so far I have only read Cranford and North and South. Mary Barton was on my stack for this year. I also want to read The Divine Comedy before the end of the year.
Oh, I hope you enjoy the Divine Comedy! I really want to reread it this year too but I feel like I'd just get lost in it all over again, lol. I should probably reread North and South to give it a fair shot, lol. I think you'll like Mary Barton if you liked North and South. It plays with similar themes but the romance is not nearly as swoony, unfortunately.
Oh, I hated Mary Barton. I know that it is partly because I also read the back of the book before I started it and was mad that the event wasn't at the beginning. It just seemed to me to take forever to get off the ground. It just wasn't my thing. The only other book of Gaskell's I have read is Wives and Daughters, which I adored...so I was really disappointed that I did not like this one. I am looking forward to trying North and South. For that one I need to get past people comparing it constantly to Pride and Prejudice, which I love and am afraid comparing the two constantly would ruin the reading experience for me.
North and South is often compared to Pride and Prejudice and I do think they're quite similar but North and South has a little more grit, which I like better. I hope you enjoy it when you pick it up! I think knowing something was coming kept me going through Mary Barton--even when it was feeling slow, I knew it was leading to that. But it's an odd book--almost feels like two books in one.
I *love* this! I'm so happy to hear you thoughts on _A Tale of Two Cities_ because I'm trying to decide what Dickens to read next (I've only read A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations). This year, I have read: The Hobbit, The Age of Innocence, The Way We Live Now, The American Senator, Cranford and 6 Christies (One was a re-read. I mean...I'm assuming Dame Christie's books are Classics!). Oh, and I'm currently re-reading Emma. 🤓
Such an enjoyable and interesting video! I'm still debating whether I want to make the commitment and pick up Vanity Fair... The same goes for The Woman in White!
So sorry Law and the Lady was spoiled for you. I loved the plucky lady detective aspect. I finished Hard Times last week. Not a massive Dickens fan but I enjoyed it. He definitely had an agenda however it was short and a quick read. I needed the experience of North and South to fill in the spaces. The women were better than the average Dickens and one character has a huge change of heart at the end. There’s justice for most and some surprises. I would recommend reading it soon while Mary Barton is fresh in your mind. Deb
I'll have to pick up Hard Times soon then! I can't believe how much I enjoyed the industrial aspects to Mary Barton and North and South--maybe I should give Hard Times a try while I'm feeling positively about it, lol. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it.
Pity you didn’t like any of the characters in Sense and Sensibility! I have always found Elinor very endearing in her reserve and good sense. You have encouraged me to search for an audiobook version of The Return of the Native and when I saw that there is one read by Alan Rickman I realized I simply have to buy it. I’m sorry that you DNF’d Vanity Fair, it seems that quite a lot of people have a hard time with it but I really enjoyed it, especially its humour. I must say that I never saw it as a Gone with the Wind retelling, both stories don’t seem that similar to me although it’s true that Becky and Scarlet have a lot in common. I’m really, really curious to read A Tale of Two Cities after hearing your thoughts on it. It’ll probably not be my next Dickens but I hope to read it in the near future. So far this year I’ve enjoyed Shirley by Charlotte Brontë (great heroine), No Name by Wilkie Collins and Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, was a bit disappointed by The Landleaguers by Anthony Trollope, and reread Wives and Daughters and The Three Musketeers, both amazing books.
I've stopped reading introductions too because they will often inexplicably contain spoilers. Don't understand what they are thinking. Also glad I'm not the only one who forgets much about a book after it's done. I've given up on ever being truly well read because even if I was I couldn't remember.
I love these classics. Villette is my least favourite bronte book and am reading north and south in August. I have read so many amazing classics so far this year 😊
It is a far, far better thing to have read “A Tale of Two Cities” than to have not. For the tear inducing closing lines of that novel alone I have always thought it to be a remarkably romantic story. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on “Villette”. For me, there is a through line from Charlotte’s own life to “Jane Eyre”, to “Villette” and to “Shirley.” In Shirley, my least favorite, I think there is a little bit of Charlotte in each of the two main female characters. Happy reading 📖👀!
Yes, I have to agree. Weeks on, I still reflect on that final chapter and the final sentence. I'm excited about Villette and Shirley but I just get the sense that Shirley won't work for me. Hopefully that won't be the case!
I need to reread A Tale of Two Cities soon and that was one of those times when i would have welcomed a love triangle. I have read O Pioneers, LOTRS, The Warden, Age of Innocence, Great Expectations, Mansfield Park, Jude the Obscure, Barchester Towers, Tender is the Night, and Jane Eyre for the third time. I'm currently reading David Copperfield and The Magnificent Ambersons, and I did start The Pickwick Papers. I want to try to get both the Dickens done before October, so I can focus on Bleak House for Victober. I keep trying to get back into The Count, but he's a big boy. Oh, and I'll be listening to Emma in 6 weeks.
Lovely video Jennifer. This year in classics I’ve read two Trollope novels that I really enjoyed. I abandoned The Return of the Native for similar reasons to yours.I know I’ll pick it up again this year. I’m looking forward to more videos about your thoughts on Percy Shelly.
Jennifer Brooks Try Barchester Towers. I know it’s book 2 in the series, but I think it’s a great book to see what Trollope can do. Or a shorter book such as Dr Wortle’s School is a good way to start.
I have heard Augustine’s confessions was super good so i definitely am curious to read it, especially as a Christian myself. My favorite Jane Austen is pride and predjudice. I like sense and sensibility and Emma also, but just love pride and predjudice.
I've started reading classics and so far, I've been liking it. The language used is so beautiful, Im starting with Emma, it's such a good book, better than Pride and Prejudice so far, After reading Emma for a couple days, I continued reading a Dan Brown but the feeling I got was not the same. Classics are such beautiful pieces of work
