Reading Classic Books For A Week || One Week, One Shelf Reading Vlog 

So. Russians. They have a patronymics in their names. For example, ''Ivan Ilyich'' means Ivan, son of Ilya. The whole ruassian name works ''First name + patronymic (father's name + ending -ovich, -evich and -ich) + Last name'' :D

I really loved Wuthering Heights...it's the whole tragedy of it all. The ending sentence was so beautiful, I really loved it: "I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."

If you liked russian classic, you have to read "Crime and Punishment" 😃

I click so fast on your videos that you might think I’m unemployed lol

Me, rabid Frankenstein fan, as soon as you picked it up: heavy breathing, ghost of mary shelley materializing in me willing you to like it

I’m HERE for the CLASSICS! Yes!

It's been a long time since I read Frankenstein. i remember being pleasantly surprised. It was one of the college books I enjoyed most. Might possibly reread it this month, cause I want to be picking up 'Frankissstein' next month, so might want to brush up on the original story.

I personally loved Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein. I am still planning to read more classics in general and also foreign language classics. I am in love with this concept for a reading challenge. The period is short enough that it doesn't completely put you into a reading slump if you aren't in the mood for that particular genre. It's amazing that you managed to finish 2 1/2 books in a week.

I was so bored all through Frankenstein haha! My favourite classics are The Picture of Dorian Gray and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Haven't read that many classics but loved "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", so I'd definitely love to hear your opinion about both, if you're interested and got time to read them!

My favourite classic and favourite book of all time is a Clockwork Orange. I would definitely recommend!

I hated Wuthering Heights 😂 BUT I think it’s because I had totally different expectations like my English teacher told us it was the greatest love story ever told and it’s definitely not so I hated it. If she had pitched it like you had as a revenge story then I think I would’ve like it more cause I’d have had different expectations

Oh man, "Lord of the Flies" just broke me. I needed some time to recover. It's so brutal and felt very real. But I loved it. Have fun! ;D

In my early teenage years I loved Wuthering heights, to me it was a deep complex tragic love story - many contrasts. As for now I still think it's great piece of literature but, I guess, I grown out from those cruel types of love "I m hurting you Becouse I love you so much" ... but it's still a good book, especially the atmosphere is written so masterfully:) My old time favourite classic, and I really recommend it to everyone, is from russian writer Bulgakov: Master and Margarita! It's so good, I ve read it like 5 times already and every time I find new things I didn't notice before:) I know you don't like magical realism, but it's not that much of magical realism, it's really fun but also deep and just overall great!

awesome selection, the coolest think about Frankenstein is that mary shelley started writing it when she was 18!

Frankenstein is one of my favorite classics, with Dracula and Anna Karenina! :D

Frankenstein and Lord of the Flies are two of my favorite books. Also, have you officially given up on The Count of Monte Cristo? That's my all time favorite book.

Can you do a video on french classics? I want to add some to my tbr just don't know which are worth the read

Nothing puts me in a reading slump faster than classics . So weird because I read them often in College and never minded . Love these types of challenges !

My favorite classics - Old Man and the Sea, Anna Karenina and the Grapes of Wrath.

Just like you, I like the way classic authors (like Victor Hugo, even if it's a bit harder to read due to the complexity of the writing, Emile Zola, Jane Austen and so on) write and I like to read a classic once in a while for a change. I LOVED Wuthering Heights, mainly because it was my first time reading "gothic" litterature and I loved how dark and complexe the story and the characters were. I also liked Frankenstein. I saw you had Jane Eyre on your shelf. Loved it as well!

this is such a fun idea! I'm currently reading Anna Karenina and loving it :)

y'all... East of Eden!!! In the entirety of school career, it was the only book I *loved* reading and could not. put. down. It's an interest mix of history, biblical allegories (Cain & Abel, the Garden of Eden & the snake), and drama. If you've read other Steinbeck, please don't be deterred lol.

I had the same feelings about Wuthering Heights. The characters were so hysterical. I liked Frankenstein and Lord of the flies. Leo Tolstoy is on my tbr. I want to start with a short one as well.

I absolutely LOVE Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein. Two of my all time favorite books! Russian Lit is also a beloved genre of mine. The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky is tied for my favorite book ever and it is a masterpiece. However, it is veryyyy long! And there are a billion Russian names in there 😂. There is a Russian book called We, though, that I think you would really enjoy!! It is classic sci-fi/dystopian and inspired 1984, but never gets the credit. It is by Yevgeny Zamyatin and it is amazing 😊!

I'm trying some classics this month myself... I've already read Animal Farm and I'm half way through Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Classics I like - 1984, Animal Farm, Lolita, Dracula, The Divine Comedy, The Art of War, To Kill a Mockingbird, Julius Caesar

I Love Wuthering Heights and Frankenstein! Glad you read them 😍

A lot of the classics have multiple versions of audiobooks - I completely understand finding a narrator/narration jarring, it can often just be not gelling with the narrator, or just just a bad narration. I like to hunt around for a version with a narration that just sounds enjoyable to my ears. Audible is really good for seeing a lot of versions and hearing samples

I love lord of the flies. It's the only book I had to read in high school I liked.

I’ve read all the books you mentioned here last year and I loved them all. Wuthering Heights is now one of my favorites of all time! It’s so beautifully written and I thought that although the characters were flawed and unlikable you can’t help but sympathize with them Next time hope you will read Jane Eyre and any of Dostoyevsky’s novels! I would love to hear what you think of them

definitely finish Frankenstein! i loved the ending

oh i saw one of my all times favs on your classic shelf!!!! East of Eden is really good!

Dracula is one of my favourite classics as its dark, suspenseful and has amazing themes and brilliant characters. Its so so good. It is up there with Les Miserables. I need to read more classics as well that is an area I am not well versed in. I think I may try a tale of two cities when I get a lull in my current tbr. I couldn't finish wuthering heights I may re attempt it at some point. We will see.

Lord of the Flies is one of my all time favorites

Hello Emily... I had the same experience with Wuthering heights when I first read it, I thought it was boring and confusing, and then I DNF it. After a year or so I tried reading it again slowly, and oh my was it good!!! It’s one of my classics favorites. I would recommend you giving it a second chance, and read physically and slowly, and hopefully you will like it this time!

I used to read almost only classics when I was younger ( odd kid I know). I really loved Frankenstein, as wella s anything from Jack London and Charles Dickens.

Reading 1 genre a week is such a great idea for reading outside your comfort zone and getting through your tbr, i might try this! also Jane Austen is definitely a classic favourite. I also need to push through and read all her books though lol

I love Wuthering Heights. It's one of my favorite dramatic, twisted revenge sorry, thought many people call it a love story (which in my opinion it is not)

I agree - the narrator for Wuthering Heights sounds aggressive 😂😂 I'm gonna read it physically when I get the chance to read it. Also my favourite classic is A Christmas Carol. I really need to read more classics as I don't read them that often.

Love this series of vlogs!!! 🤩

Librivox does/has free audiobooks of classics, you can find many of them on RU-vid or generic audiobook apps. Some are not the greatest quality but others have been brilliant, plus there’s often two or three versions to pick from. Wuthering heights has three options I think? One with a cast. So yeah, worth checking out - plus it’s free!

a classic i'm currently reading is Dracula and enjoying it so far

Frankenstein was not at all what I thought it would be, crazy how adaptations that were made have shaped how we think of the original source material. I struggle with classics but would say I enjoy them, it’s probably why I love when they’re made into film or television because it takes all the hard work out haha.

Wuthering heights is my fav classic 😍😍😍 I'm not a big classics fun but this dark, gothic background gets me every time

i spy peter pan 🥺🥺 my absolute favourite book ever, it's been surprising being on booktube and seeing a lot of people not like it and not really give much of a reason why. the only thing i can think of is a lot of the characters act very selfishly but?? they're children?? i personally think that adds to the story as it's exactly how those children in that position would act, especially from that time period! omg the audiobook made me laugh, it sounded so blunt?!

Emily, I'm loving this challenge. I keep looking forward to the next week and what you gonna be reading.

Wuthering Heights is one of the three novels that I have not finished (I'm 50 and I love to read). I started again and again at different periods of my life (because you know, you feel differently about a novel as you accumulate life) but I was not able to get past one third of it in any of my attempts. And revenge is one of my favorite things in fiction, and I love English literature (have read for instance Jane Eyre multiple times and loved it differently each time) but for some reason this novel eludes me. I'm very happy that you liked the writing of Tolstoy and I highly recommend Anna Karenina as your second Russian classic, it is one of those novels that I read again and again (and Levin is one of my favorite literary characters) and you have worded it so well, with Tolstoy you feel what the character is going through. And I have to mention Dostoyevsky here because his novels are the same (but with very different writing) the only problem is that so many of his characters are miserable miserable miserable (yep once is not enough for these characters) that I go between loving and enjoying the literary virtues but at the same having nightmares because I get the feels. Crime and Punishment was like I have committed a crime choosing that novel to read and I have been punished with the constant whiplash of great writing/nightmarish feelings. All the novels I have read of his are heavy but Crime and Punishment is the heaviest of all (for me of course) As for the audiobook and happy to say that I often win. And sometimes it helps to keep listening, for instance I got really turned off by the reader of The Priory of The Orange Tree (currently reading) but after an hour in I caught her vibe and now I'm enjoying it very much.

Ok but lord of the flies is so good and you should definitely read it in the future!

Gone With the Wind is not only my favorite classic, but it’s also my favorite book of all time. I wish you’d picked it up. It’s a time commitment but SO GOOD.

I'm a French student and we actually had to read Wuthering Height for one of our class. I would have never understood so much about the book without it. It's not so much about revenge but more about life/death relationship, about the nature of humans and love in general. Revenge was to seek that link that united Catherine and Heathcliff so deeply ("I am Heathcliff" as said Catherine) the two can't be separated and that bond is so strong that... well as you saw, it goes beyond death ! I was quite confused by the narrative structure but I overall enjoyed the story !

I read roadside picnic last week, it was my first russian classic, and I agree with what you said, I did feel the emotions of the main character, and the translation was amazing

Did I wake up at 3 in the night just to watch this? Might've.

I was torn too with Wuthering Heigts. Hated it while Reading it And the more I thought about it after the more I started to see How complex it really was. Still thinking About it a lot, even after Reading it like 6 years ago.

I don't know what happened to me and I've been reading classics for the past month or so. My favourites are definitely anything by Jane Austen, The Count of Monte Cristo (cough) and The Mayor of Casterbridge...so far. I have Gone With the Wind, Frankenstein, Dracula, Heidi, The Scarlet Letter, The Invisible Man and Tess of the D'Urbervilles on my TBR (among other non-classic books).

I personally hated Wuthering Heights, but I really enjoyed Frankenstein! I had to read it for a class in CEGEP and was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying it.

I've read Frankenstein for class last year and LOOOOOOVED IT! especially the monster's POV (idk if its a unpopular opinion).

Best way to wake up 🙌 I really need to read more classics. I started a few last year, but had the most horrible readingslump in a long time. I should pick them up again.

Instantly yells CREATURE every time Emily calls him a Monster. I have *feelings* on Frankenstein (esp after studying it) and I will write endless treaties on the defence of the creature and Frankenstein's fuckups

I am trying to read Les Mis right now, because its Tome Topple, and it reminded me, that I wanted to read Les Mis for at least 12 years now. 20% in, going strong so far

I recently read "une vie" by guy de Maupassant. it's a very short classic novel and in my opinion one of the best!!

omg I love Frankenstein! I'm actually doing an audiobook re-read right now! And the monster's POV is my favorite section RIP xD

omg Frankenstein is one of my favourite classics (or books ever haha). Definitely push through, its one of the OG Sci fi genre novels. I didn't enjoy Wuthering Heights, I read it a couple of years ago and felt very eh about it.

I love Anna Karenina for the drama.

For audiobooks of classics I always check Librivox first. And for example it has three versions of "Wuthering Heights" so you can choose!

I feel like the thing that makes Frankenstein so great is all of the allegory comparing Victor and the monster’s relationship to God and Adam (hence the emphasis on the monster learning to understand his situation by reading Milton’s Paradise Lost) Which is great, except there’s so much prior knowledge required to reach that next level of appreciation that a lot of people don’t have nowadays, especially as media becomes less Euro-centric.

Frankenstein is my all time favourite book!

excited to hear your thoughts about madame bovary when you get to it. im almost finished it (in english, my french is so rusty that i gave up as soon as i tried to read the first page lmao i cant comfortably read french that old anymore 😔) and i dont.. dislike it but i dont quite love it like i hear a lot of people do

for classics, you can always get the free audiobook through librivox.org. They're all free to download and read by volunteers, some of them with full casts! There's often multiple versions so you can pick a voice you like -I can bet there would have been a less aggressive Wuthering Heights experience.

I'm definitely hoping to start getting into Russing classics soon starting with "Crime and Punishment", but my current favorite classic is "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I remember having to read it for high school and being so captivated that I finished it way ahead of our schedule

My favourite classic (and also favourite book of all time 😋) is Jane Eyre. Also, Persuasion by Jane Austen is no. 2. Wuthering Heights is a great story, but I found it so confusing when I read it for the first time! English is not my first language and when I read it I was just getting into reading in English, so it might have been a bit too challenging for me at that time 🙈 might have to reread it one day 😅

I LOVE Wuthering Heights! Its so dramatic and sad! I really like sad love stories so this one was for me. For more modern classic 1984 is my all time favorite. Honorable mention to Sherlock Holmes and anything by Poe

I have not read Wuthering Heights, but I love Frankenstein. I have also read The Death of Ivan Illych, not that crazy about it myself.

I haven't read any of those yet but they are on my tbr. Little Women is without a doubt my all time favorite classic.... it's even pretty far up on my all time favorite books overall

Yeah, Mary Shelley kinda demands total concentration. As for Tolstoy, there are so many good things you might just go with the Portable Tolstoy. Hearing your review of Ivan Ilych reminded me of Hugo's Last Hours of a Condemned Man - tho I'm not sure that's how the title translates into English. Thx

Out of your list, "Lord of the Flies" is my favourite. "Frankenstein" is okay... "The Island of Doctor Monroe" is way better. It's a short book and the entire time you feel like you're in a fever panic. It's a fun read.

Hi Emily! I love your channel! I found a free app with some British classic audio books. So far I've listened to A Tale of Two Cities two 🌟 and The Time Machine 5 🌟 I'm rethinking Whitherling Heights now lol. Frankenstein is on the list to read! I loved Robert Dinero (I know I spelled that wrong) version, I watch it every Halloween.

If you want a modern classic recc The Birds by Daphne duMaurier is a short read and such good horror.

I love Wuthering Heights, it’s one of my favorites because they are all so terrible and dramatic. I love to hate them. Some favorite classics: A farewell to arms-Ernest Hemingway (he writes so beautifully, it’s simple and concise but you can picture everything) The great Gatsby- F Scott Fitzgerald

I haven't read any of these, but I want to get around to Frankenstein at least this year. I think The Picture of Dorian Gray is probably my favourite classic so far, but it's been so long since I read it, probably around 10 years by now, give or take, so I should definitely reread it (I especially want to read the uncensored version). I also enjoyed Animal Farm and Carmilla, both of which are really short and easy to read. Then there's quite a few childrens classics I really enjoyed, like The Jungle Book, Peter Pan and The Secret Garden :) I really want to read more classics though, it's something I've pretty much just dipped my toes in.

Perfect timing! I've started The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway for a book club ...and I like it. But classics are so slow paced, I need some Emily motivation to keep going 😂

I'm only reading classics in 2020! I figured I needed to read those before reading anything else. I thought it would be hard but I'm really loving it! Do you plan on reading more classics?

Lord of the Flies is one of the few books we were forced to read in school that I actually finished (I liked to read but got lazy when people asked me to do it). I still think about that book sometimes, it's horrifying but I remember liking it a lot

I would recommend y for your next classic Jane Eyre (loved it), Anna Karenina, Great Gatsby

I dnf'd Frankenstein and Lord of the flies. I just wasn't in the mood for it. I loved the Bell Jar and East of Eden. You should read those if you haven't.

I read Wuthering Heights in 7th grade for fun but honestly don't remember much of it. It didn't quite capture my attention like "Pride and Prejudice" or "Watership Down" did. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one who disliked Frankenstein. Not sure exactly what it was but I just have very strong memories of hating it. It is one of the few books for school I read mostly by sparknotes because the thought of wasting my time actually reading it made me want to rip my hair out.

I actually DNF'ed Frankenstein. I'm sort of glad you said you found it boring, because I wasn't even at that part and disliked it. My favorite modern classic is The catcher in the rye. And my favorite classic A christmas carol.

I love Jane Eyre and Little Women! Absolutely hated Moby Dick. Was doing a challenge last year where I was reading a classic a month, but I haven't done it yet this month hahaha kinda in a slump. I've read Wuthering Heights ten years ago in a Twilight frenzy so I really don't remember it. I'm planning to reread it.

wuthering heights is one of my favorites and i reread a couple of years ago, it's definitely worth giving it a try without the audiobook! and also i'm reading frankstein right now and im in the exact part you stopped at, and i'm loving it! i think it's interesting to see the monster point of view but it's definitely slow paced.

Out of the ones you picked, I've read only Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights. Frankenstein was a bit underwhelming for me personally, although I appreciate what it did for the whole horror/sci-fi genre. I quite enjoyed Wuthering Heights. Even tho most of the characters made me angry, I couldn't put it down. And I think it's meant to be read as you mentioned, as a revenge story and not a romance.

Iv'e read several of the Bronte sisters' books and just recently read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I really liked it. This work of Anne Bronte's was attempted to be suppressed by Charlotte after Anne's death, because it portrayed a character that was an alcoholic and gambler in a very negative light (thought to be inspired by their brother in real life). As a result, the book never achieved the status that Emily and Charlotte's work did. However, I really liked it and found it comparable. I've also read Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre (if you love Jane Eyre you should read the "prequel" Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys) and Villette, another one which doesn't get as much recognition. Of those 4, I think Tenant was my favorite...

I actually enjoyed Frankenstein, but Victor after awhile annoyed the crap out of me. I don't want to spoil anything, but I actually liked the Monster better than Victor. I think this book opens up a lot of good discussion about good and evil and the fine line between the two on a spectrum. I personally found the parts with the Monster to actually be more interesting than anything else believe it or not, but we all have different tastes in reading :). I really hope you do finish it some day. I don't regret reading it. Also Lord of the Flies is still my favorite classic along with To Kill A Mockingbird so I recommend!

Weathering Heights, is so dark and intense and vengeful, so you either love or hate it, for me I read it aged 13 or 14 because the author is the sister of my beloved novel of all time Jane Eyre, so I expected the same vibe but there was no comparison between both but I can say about Weathering Highest that once you read it you cannot unread it , it will be there in your mind.

I read Frankenstein a long time ago but I remember loving it! I didn’t like wuthering heights either, and I liked lord of the flies. I recommend Jane eyre if you haven’t read it already!

I've read Frankestein and it was really good. About russian clasics, I read Anna Karenina by Tolstoi which was AMAZING, it was long but it didin't feel difficult or anything.

Wuthering highs was the first "adult's" book I read and I read it when I was 12, and I couldn't really understand everything, a few years later I re-read it and I could finally get the whole thing... So dark and angry... But I really like it. Same as Frankenstein

I have read all three of this books and have to admit didn't care about any of them :D But I have recently seen the movie Mary Shelley with Elle Fanning and have been thinking ever since about rereading Frankenstein. It gives quite an interesting perspective on how she expressed her life struggles through this book. I have quite a lot of favorite classics especially the modern one. The Lost Generation is probably one of my favorite if not my favorite era: short stories of Ernest Hemingway (but I really don't care and don't understand the fuss about The Man and the Sea), novels of Richard Aldington, John Steinbeck and my soul mate Erich Maria Remarque :D They are quite dark obviously but in the same time they feel the world very deeply. I would say they write about loving and hating the world in the same time to which I can relate very easily. Obviously not an every day read but still recommend them very much. Considering Russian classics I recommend A Hero of our time by Lermontov a lot. It is quite short, it has an unlikeable main character and some things are still quite accurate and isn't it the point of classics? :)

Way-hay, Classics! I'm actually going through some classic French literature at the moment, about to start Verne's 20,000 Leagues under the Sea having just finished Journey to the Centre of the Earth which was so much fun it brought out the kid in me! As much fun as it was though, being a lover of satire Candide, ou l'Optimisme still remains my favourite piece of French literature. Did you have a favourite after studying French Lit ?

I enjoyed Jane Eyre and Little Women. I need to try more classics.

Dorian Gray was really interesting! I struggle with classics, generally.