1. Poetry of Thomas Hardy, Tess of D'ubervilles and others 2. Emily Brontë- Wuthering Heights 3. Charles Dicken's Christmas Novels 4. Mary Shelly- Frankenstein 5. Henry James- Turn of the screw 6. Oscar Wilde- The picture of Dorian gray 7. Samuel Richardson's- Clarissa 8. Jane Austen- Persuasion 9. George Elliot's- Middlemarch 10. Wordsworth 11. Marcel Proust- In search of lost time 12. Victor Hugo- Les miserables And a few others
@@BenjaminMcEvoy All thanks to you Benjamin, Your videos are really informative, comparing several translations of a books like Don Quixote, Anna Karenina or Dostoevsky really reduces all the procrastination on our side and after watching your video on Proust I really wanna pick In search of lost time up, cheers to you!
Ah Benjamin, wise beyond your years. Since I am in the Autumn of my life, these recommendations are both reminiscent, as well as needed refreshers. This is the perfect weather for such atmospheric literature. Of course, any person who highly recommends Les Miserables, has a special place in my literature heart. All such lovely, moody recommendations. Cheers to you!
Thank you, Elizabeth :) I’m so happy to hear you love Les Misérables too. Flipping between Hugo, Hardy, and Thoreau the last few crisp mornings has been a sublime experience!
I'd say the novels of all three Bronte sisters meet your criteria -- Emily's "Wuthering Heights," Charlotte's "Jane Eyre," and Anne's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall." I've never read that last one, but the title speaks for itself, doesn't it? I'll have to check it out!
I currently live in Florida with its perpetual sunshine and heat. Growing up in Michigan I loved the change of seasons when nature makes its rotation. I enjoy classic books like Wuthering Heights because there are descriptions of wearing bundled clothing, warm homes with candles and fireplaces. Books can give us nostalgia which is sometimes very melancholy.
I love books like Wuthering Heights for that very same reason, Carroll! I'm currently moving between the worlds of George Eliot and Thomas Hardy, and have been loving their autumnal passages (especially in this heat wave) and long descriptions of rural life. And nostalgia is a strange feeling - definitely a strong sense of melancholy running through it!
I like how when you talk about great books and literature it is always a Classic ... I know there are some great novels out there nowadays, but there is something about the language of the classics that makes them special
Thank you, Ellan :) I do love a classic - works that have endured and still resonate with us today. You’re right, there is something special about the language!
I just started The Overstory by Richard Powers. It's lovely. Very nostalgic. This man in the 1800's moves west across America and plants some chestnuts collected from his home in the eastern U.S. One survives and at a point he begins photographing it every month from the same vantage point, for years and years, as his family farms the land. He imparts his love of this tree and photographing it monthly to his kids and then grandkids. One of the grandchildren likes flipping through the photos and seeing the tree stand through season after season, as a kind of time lapse old movie. We have giant sequoias here in northern California that are up to 3 thousand years old and with the heating climate are burning down in unprecedented numbers. It makes you go quiet pondering these magnificent stationary silent things witnessing our noisy comings and goings. But I also want to read or reread your classics list, just not in book form because of trees right now. Joking?
I really agree with the Hardy recommendations; recently finished Far From the Madding Crowd, it was beautiful and a perfect introduction to autumn! I am currently about to take the journey into Anna Karenina and I can’t wait to experience it for the first time especially coming into the autumn season I think it will be truly amazing. Great recommendations Ben!
Thank you, Mina! Far from the Madding Crowd is great, isn’t it? I have it next on my bedside table for a reread after Tess. I love the Wessex world that Hardy paints. You have a real treat waiting for you with Anna Karenina - tremendous novel :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I've just finished the book. I enjoyed it, but also found it very depressing and thought that Oak's character was a bit one-dimensional. Also I think that Hardy's prose style is sometimes brilliant and sometimes overdone.
Not so much an autumn read, but a favourite winter read of mine is Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. I’m in Australia so autumn & winter don’t align with Christmas for me. Doctor Zhivago has a large chunk of the novel set in winter - lots of snow and cold. There are some rather bleak emotional beats that seem fitting for a cold, rainy winter, as well as some hopeful and romantic moments bear enjoyed by the fire. The selection of poetry at the end of the novel is also beautiful and perfectly wintry. I find the Pevear & Volokhonsky translation (published by Vintage) to be excellent.
Wonderful recommendations, Ben! I’m off the the second hand bookstore. Don’t want to be greedy but would love to see similar videos from you for winter, spring, and summer reads! You are cultivating my love of the great books by the day. Cheers 😊
Yesterday I bought Tess of the D’ubervilles since you highly recommended it! It would be my first Thomas Hardy book! I would start it when the autumn begins this year. Thank you so much for these beautiful recommendations!❤️
What captures Autumn best for me is Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes. I also love Dickens, but thought right away of Great Expectations, and any of Poe's short stories.
For me Christmas is the only time that makes me want to read special books - the rest of the year it's just all over the place - At Christmas I always read Dickens Christmas Carol and I gravitate to novels that have the kind of atmospheare that you describe here.
That’s amazing. You must know the story inside out now. I wonder does the story change with each passing year, or does it simply serve to rekindle feelings of nostalgia for you? I reread it the last two years and will certainly read it again this year :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Yes it certainly has changed but a big part of the rereading is of course nostalgia, the story had such a big impact on me when I read it first, I think when I was 10. Later I bought the annotated version which is full of interesting facts about the book and the society it depicts.
Hi Ben!! Yes, the nostalgia factor is a must, and a gloominess. Poe makes perfect sense. Things that are dark and depressing, the phase i'm in now which feels like it will be like this for awhile is for the disturbing stuff, for testing the limits, looking in the abyss of human nature, a bit of a true crime aspect, at least with the one i recently finished Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, what a well written story that will crush your soul! Have a wonderful Autumnal reading time.
Poe definitely makes sense - nice choice! I recently descended into the dark crypt of Poe to reread his short stories with a view to rank them. The stuff of my childhood! And thanks for the recommendation, Jeff, I’ll check that out :)
I enjoyed this video and it gives me the desire to read such books as you suggested. I’m just surprised you didn’t mention John Keats. Keats’ melancholic spirit, considering he had tuberculosis, charges his poetry with a sense of mortality that makes him perfect for Autumn, especially his 1819 Odes. I think of Ode to Melancholy, Ode to Indolence, and To Autumn. Keats is a perfect pairing for this time of year.
Thank you, Michael. I’m surprised too! How on earth could I have left Keats out? I’m always reading him, so I think it was a case of him being right under my nose. As you say - he is perfect for autumn for so many reasons!
Background music felt a bit incongruent with your voice. Appreciate the recommendations: picked up Tess of the D'Ubervilles on a whim two days ago, so glad you mentioned it.
I love Autumn too; I love what you said about this time of year. And, yay, I've never yet read Hardy but this very book is here with me, primed and ready to read this month. 😊
Some fine recommendations but not up to Middlemarch or Persuasion again. I am reading Gaskell and plan on reading Anthony Trollope, both neglected by the earlier me, except I did read North and South in the long ago.
Very nice - I’ve earmarked Trollope for the future. Many have told me that he is great fun. I must also give Gaskell a read - I studied her North and South but it was so long ago I’m afraid I can’t remember it!
Excellent video Benjamin. I have on my list for Autumn/ Winter Wuthering heights by Emily Bronte. I've lost count of how many times I've read this book. Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens which will be my eleventh book by him, and I love A Christmas Carol and read it every year. I also have Dracula by Bram Stoker and The Way we live now by Anthony Trollope which will be my first by him. I will pick up a volume of poetry also, I have Wordsworth so possibly Tennyson.. I also have a re read of Les Miserables by Victor Hugo which is one of my favourite books on my radar at some point Thank you for your passion for these incredible books.
Thank you, Tracey :) You have a tremendous reading programme here - wow! All great stuff.. Brontë, Dickens, Stoker, Trollope - all the big autumnal reads are there! I’m also thrilled to hear you’ll be rereading Les Misérables! My first read took a long time and required some wading, but my rereads were incredible - definitely a great one to return to often!
I enjoyed this video very much. I think it's really interesting what you believe makes a good autumn read. Personally, however, I'm not much into relating what I read with the seasons. Something about me, though not entirely necessary to say, is that I'm very interested in Russian literature, and I particularly liked your videos on how to read Crime and Punishment and Anna Karenina. But that's going way off topic from this video lol. Anyways, love your insight into literature; it's always a pleasure for me to watch your videos!
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Russian Literature is a treasure trove when it comes to insights into suffering and the human condition, so completely understandable why you love it! Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Turgenev, Pushkin - who could argue with this line-up? Thank you for watching. I've got some more Russian-focused videos on the way!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Awesome! I'd love to see you make a video on maybe Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago. It took me about a month to get through all three volumes. I try to read at least 100 pages a day in any book I'm tackling. I've also read A Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich and August 1914 by him as well. I have In the First Circle and November 1916, and I plan to read those soon.
@@scoutdarpy4465 incredible book. I actually have a podcast out on the Gulag Archipelago you may enjoy :) benjaminmcevoy.com/gulag-archipelago-podcast-aleksandr-solzhenitsyn/
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Just finished watching it. Fantastic! You really touched on the subject of suffering in the book. Suffering comes in many forms, so does evil. I have witnessed and lived with both of these things, and it's scary to think how depraved I truly became during my years when I was first diagnosed with schizophrenia at seventeen, some six years ago. Like Solzhenitsyn says, the line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man, so does clarity and insanity, I think. But! We're all about the joys of reading here, and it's not my place to ramble on about myself. Lol. I would say more regarding the podcast, but I don't want to go on for too long here on RU-vid, and I don't like typing on a phone all that much. Really enjoy the content! Keep it coming!
Currently reading: The complete sherlock holmes, 'salem's lot, The Borrowers, almost done with The Scarlet Letter (which is a perfect autumn read), and Soul Music by Terry Pratchet Love your videos!
So many great ones here, too bad you can't just read all of them. I remember reading The Woman In White last autumn, quite the fitting atmosphere. I gotta ask though, how do you find Emily Brontë's poetry?
Very nice choice! I hadn’t gone into her poetry in any depth since university, but my current volume of Wuthering Heights has some of her poems in the back, and I’m so happy for it. I’m enjoying it - she isn’t an Emily Dickinson or Christina Rossetti, but still poetically gifted!
Hi Ben, great vid as always… I’ll be sure to pick up some of these sometime. Just a question… as I’m getting back into reading, I thought reading some short stories would be a good and dauntless way to do this… so I’ve picked up Borges Ficciones which you recommended in past videos. My question is, do you go into short stories totally blind, or would you look up what the premise of the story is before hand, as in, what the book entails. Thanks!
Thank you, Chris! Nice choice with Borges. I must say, he is one of those writers who give me a headache (along with Emily Dickinson). But I do love him. We did a short story masterclass on his Library of Babel, which left me exhausted but fulfilled - quite a spectacular one with a lot crammed into such a short space. To answer your question, I typically go in blind, but you may very well want to look up the premise for Borges in particular just because he is so exceptionally difficult!
Great line-up! Thank you for sharing. I find myself endlessly rereading Ovid (the Arthur Golding translation), Chaucer, Proust, and Dickinson. I’m sorry to say I have yet to read Stendhal’s work, but I can’t wait to get around to it!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Stendhal is one of my favorite authors despite him only writing two well known works. His works surge with a vigor and energy that are unmatched. His books kind of 'glow' with a natural narrative genius. Definitely recommend him.
Listening to your lovely description of autumn but being in bed sick with a cold I cannot bring myself to read the melancholy autumnal books. Need some Austen to cheer me up, then hopefully I will embark upon Wuthering heights.
Great video, Ben. Thank you for the recommendations. I definitely need to familiarise myself with Thomas Hardy’s work. I am currently reading The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Would that count as a good autumn read?
Thank you! If you do read Hardy, let me know your thoughts. I absolutely love his works. The Hound of the Baskervilles would 100% count as a great autumn read - it has that atmosphere pervading it, doesn’t it? Sherlock Holmes is terrific good fun.
Any anthology of short stories is great, especially ghost stories like those by Edgar Allan Poe. Also the Innocents by Henry James. And I think ‘Howard’s End has an autumnal feel.
I think the books you mention are fabulous autumn reads. Maybe also, as mentioned below, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, The Remains of the Day by Kazou Ishiguro, Under the Skin by Michel Faber and ALL of Dickens..Macbeth…now who wrote that? 😝.
Brilliant selection here :) Macbeth, of course! How did I leave this one off? Autumn and winter vibes for Shakespeare’s tragedies. I’ve wanted to read Under the Skin for a while, I’ll have to pick it up soon!
Hi Benjamin, is it possible for you to do a video where you go through an ELAT paper? I think this would be really useful, I'm sitting the ELAT on the 4th November.
Hey Tom, I've got a whole series of these videos called the ELAT Masterclass which has helped quite a few students do well on the paper :) I have my fingers crossed for you for the 4th of November - well done on getting this far!
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving Frankenstein - Mary Shelley Anything by Edgar Allan Poe The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Dracula - Bram Stoker The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins Poetry of Robert Frost
Hi Ben, I recently watched your videos and am very glad to have found them. I don't have a post-secondary education and am not well-versed in English literature, so many of your videos have been incredibly helpful to me in beginning this journey. One topic that I wasn't able to find on your channel was marginalia, do you have a video explaining this method? Thank you!
I usually don't mach my readings with the seasons, my mood is the only guide I follow, but I absolutely can't read christmas books outside christmas time. Anyway, I'm reading The Brothers Karamazov and it seems perfect for the autumnal vibes. Next on my tbr are North and South, Far from the madding crowd, The Mysteries of Udolpho, Bleak House, Othello and maybe some Cechov... Happy reading!
Mood is always a great guide! Dostoyevsky is a powerful one for autumn - I can’t believe I left him off. Anne Radcliffe too - nice choice! You have a very impressive reading programme. You’re in for a wonderful autumn of reading with these writers :)
My favorite for autumn is David Copperfield. Then more into the winter I like Crime and Punishment. Also 'To Autumn' by John Keats on the first day fall begins.
