What are Great Books? Our Favorite Books! 

That's a great way of looking at it!

Yes, Kevin, that is essential, but in the great expanse of time, a great book should do that to generations of lifetimes. Otherwise, it's just an opinion.

Glad you like them! Thanks for letting us know!

Hey Natalie! Thanks for reaching out. We actually have a collection of courses from Memoria College that are just that! We've created online classes comprised of reading and organized dialogue oriented around a study of the Great Books. Check them out here! -> memoriacollege.org/classes/

@@memoriapress Awesome I will check them out! Thanks for the reply.

Hey Manases, absolutely not too much to ask! Here's a comprehensive list: > Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (01:21:05) > Julius Caeser by William Shakespeare (02:47:21, 17:23:13) > The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri [we recommend the John Ciardi translation] (04:10:02) > Dorothy Sayer's commentaries on The Divine Comedy [contained in the introduction of her translation of the book] (06:11:20) > Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (08:52:21) > The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (12:13:01, 22:30:19) > Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (23:36:21) > Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (24:07:16) > The Bible [we recommend the King James Version] (27:00:09, 34:11:16) > The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain (27:55:00) > Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray (30:52:15) > The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare (31:23:16) > Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by "Gawain Poet" (31:37:01) > Beowulf by "Beowulf Poet" (31:39:20) > Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (32:25:00) > The Iliad by Homer (33:14:20) > The Odyssey by Homer (33:15:10) > The Aeneid by Virgil (33:16:02) > The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (33:22:04) > King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table by Roger Lancelyn Green (34:09:02) > Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (37:56:23) > Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving (38:47:15) > Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh (45:01:13) > Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (46:15:02) > Bleak House by Charles Dickens (46:50:23) > Daniel Deronda by George Eliot (47:32:01) > Silas Marner by George Eliot (47:35:04) > Hard Times by Charles Dickens (47:57:14) > Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (48:00:05) > The Pearl by John Steinbeck (48:02:06) > The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (48:06:00) > Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (48:08:08) > A Preface to Paradise Lost by C. S. Lewis (50:31:14) > Perrine's Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry by Greg Johnson and Thomas R. Arp (50:49:08) Tanya's Ending Recommendations: Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry (42:08:17); The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinback (49:14:20) Martin's Ending Recommendation: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (42:33:09) Paul's Ending Recommendation: The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (43:35:02) Shane's Ending Recommendations: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (49:31:02); Paradise Lost by John Milton (50:02:02)

@@memoriapress Thank you!

I generally have one book going on my Kindle and one in print. Sometimes I'm tempted to begin more, but I know I'll find it hard to finish if I try reading too many at once!

Ms. Tanya had said in a previous video that one ‘can’t read Dickens at the beach’ :). I’m overseas so most of my books have to be on my iPad (kindle app) so the screen is bigger which helps.I like to have a few going at a season and it depends on where I am (at the playground or after kids are in bed!). I like to be able to have a few to pick up where I left off - spiritual/classic/entertaining. I especially love the ability to send a ‘sample’ of an interesting book to the kindle so you can read the first chapter or so. Have fun!

Hey Paula, We recommend the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Hope this helps!

I would read samples from different translations and see which one you like the most

@@memoriapress Thank you for your reply. I ordered the cloth bound copy which arrived yesterday. What a beautiful book! I know that is not the reason you recommended it, but it is certainly a bonus. I guess the “best novel, by the best author” deserves nothing less!

I always get sad when I have to read a great piece of literature, mostly poetry, in translation. I always have this feeling that I'm missing out on something beautiful that only works in the original language.

@hollowmen5934 Yeah, it's upsetting, but, unfortunately, we can not learn every single language. I wish I could, hahaha.

Yeah but they stated a few times that it doesn't have to be an "enjoyable" endeavor for it to be valuable.