I love Elizabeth Gaskell's book, all her characters are rounded and believable. And then there is non-English literature. Flaubert, Balzac, Tolstoy, Goethe, Fontane - all excellent. War and Peace is more than worth it. I loved it and re-read it many times. There is no problem with the names once you realize that Russians use formal and non-formal names in different settings. It's part of the atmosphere and it helps you realize the setting. Anna Karenina is also wonderful, and probably an easier read than War and Peace. I have a soft spot for Villette, it feels autobiographical and the description of despair and loneliness is powerful.
Thanks for the recommendations! I might start with Anna Karenina and work my way up to War and Peace, it's just very intimidating in terms of length! Thanks for posting :-)
Great video, especially with Victober coming up. So....I love Jane Eyre, but not any of her others. Love both books by Anne Bronte, but Wuthering Heights is a book of revenge with no likeable characters. I re-read it this year and still don't like it, but can appreciate Emily's writing and building of atmosphere. Love, love Middlemarch (worth your time) but Mill on the Floss is definitely a slog. War and Peace is worth it, but read Anna K. first--if you get on with that, then tackle War & Peace (with a character cheat-sheet handy). It's been 40 years since I've read the major Hardy novels, but I do love The Mayor of Casterbridge. I'm slowly re-reading his novels and also the lesser ones I haven't read.
Great job! I don’t usually read these types of books but I do have them on my TBR for January. They seem like the perfect cozy reads. I’ll be reading Jane Austin for the first time. You’re channel is going to come in quite handy.
You picked some very good books. Some I could read again, others, not so much. You can't choose enough Jane Austen books. I love them all. She changed the novel of her time forever. After her, the field of writers improved. If you have read any amount of regency authors, you know. I have read a good amount of Thomas Hardy. He is a realism author and usually his books do not end happily. However, I love his style and the characters. My favorite Hardy book is Under the Greenwood Tree. It ends happy. I say that Hardy and I have a complicated relationship. I like to do deep dives into authors and take a notion and read every book by them. I read The Way We Live Now, by Trollope and loved it so much, I want to dive into his tome of works but there are over fifty books!
Try Wuthering Heights again. I love the Bronte sisters, and it's my favorite. It's not really a love story though. Catherine and Heathcliff and horrible people, but that's what makes it so brilliant. I think Emily was a genius (also loved Jane Eyre and The Tenant of Wildfowl hall by the way). And I have Vanity Fair on order now to read later. Good recommendations.
I enjoyed that! I've been meaning to read the Moonstone for years, but hesitated bc of its heft, but time to do it! As for Dickens, I rarely see/hear, on these lists, the Pickwick Papers. It is, well, absolutely delightful, and funny funny funny, Samuel Weller (Samival Veller!) and his son are the greatest comic characters. ... Very unlike other Dickens I've read. i read Count of Monte Cristo years ago... one of my favorites all time. must re-read (miles better than Les Miserables)..probably the greatest revenge story of all time. Will piss you off..HATE the villain...love the victim, and have a blast rooting for the revenge...As for the Turn of the Screw, I'm quite a fan of Henry James but that one just didn't do it for me. I guess is famous because it's Henry James doing a "ghost" story but it's about as weak a work by him as I've ever read
Hi Jen, love this video! I agree with you on Villette, too much untranslated French in my edition. Wuthering Heights is my favourite Bronte novel and I have Tenant on my tbr - might get to it this Victober
I agree with many of your recommendations and Sense & Sensibility is also my favourite Austen! But I have to say, I adore Wuthering Heights and I think you would change your mind if you were to re-read it, it's a very gothic novel! I also rather enjoy Lady Audley's secret, not as strong as Wilkie Collins but rather fun! Madame Bovary is on my TBR too, happy to join a buddy read if you are inclined to pick it up. My favourite Victorian novel is probably North and South by Gaskell, it's the perfect novel, closely followed by Middlemarch.
Thanks so much - I have added Wuthering Heights to my TBR and will read in in the next couple of months and report back! I think I just read it at the wrong time. I'd love to buddy read! Let me know when you're thinking of reading MB! Also really like North and South too.
@Jennie-O-2023 totally up to you (and maybe depending on your research/ work?). I'm happy to fit it in before Christmas or early in the new year. Exciting!
Er, yes - War and Peace is certainly “worth reading”🙄 And you might enjoy the Audible reading of Wuthering Heights. It’s read brilliantly by Patricia Routledge And Helen does tell her own story in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Gilbert’s is the framing narrative. And it’s Amelia Sedley not Emily in Vanity Fair. I think you might do better to take a bit more care before recording.
