Congrats on "Silas Marner," though. One of the truly uplifting books. George Eliot's best. (Also her shortest.) I've read them all except "Felix Holt the Radical."
Anna Karenina is also on the first on my winter classic list! I haven't read Jude The Obscure yet. But I love Hardy. I love the introduction to Jude The Obscure because he talks about how he never wrote another book because of the backlash. 'Jude began it's life being burned by a bishop in his disappointment at not being able to burn me' (paraphrase).
My winter classics recommendation are The Wind in the Willows, The Picture of Dorian Gray, anything Dickens, Middlemarch, and North and South. In general I agree that Russian lit is great during the winter. Also victorians.
Excellent excellent list. The Brothers Karamazov is the best book I've ever read-there is something so special about its exploration of human nature. I'm planning to read Crime & Punishment this winter. I tried to read it earlier this year but was expecting something more similar to The Brothers Karamazov and it was an entirely different tone.
Thank you! And I agree, there definitely is something special about it. Crime and Punishment is very very different, I hope you enjoy it when you pick it up again!
I haven't read A Winter's Tale yet and know little about it but you are making me want to. 'I have visited his grave. So it's not all bad blood' 😆 I have read Civil Disobedience and I have been meaning to read Walden.
I'm a huge admirer of Hardy - it's the combination of naturalism and something very distinctively British in his writing for me. In that sense I've always seen a lot of parallels in his novels to Emile Zola's 'Rougon-Macquart' cycle, which gives a very naturalist picture of French society. In contrast to Hardy, Zola does not focus on countryside life only, though in 'La Fortune des Rougon' the story starts off in the fictional Provence provincial town 'Plassans'. But in later Novels of the 'Rougon-Macquart' cycle, the story shifts more towards politics, corruption and Paris - parallels to today's world are astonishing and sort of frigthening. Is Zola on your bookshelf, too?
I haven’t read any Zola and don’t have any on my bookshelf at the moment but this made me very intrigued! Hardy is one of my favorite novelists, there’s something special about his writing.
I just started "MiddleMarch" this week.... I'm barely 100 pages in, and very curious to see where Dorathea goes in the story. I just couldn't get in to Tess Of The D'Ubervilles, maybe I'll try it again some time in the new year, but for now it's a nope for me.
Dorothea was one of my favorite characters! Her story was so interesting. And that makes sense, it’s definitely a very specific kind of book and I can see how it wouldn’t work.
Congrats on "Silas Marner," though. One of the truly uplifting books. George Eliot's best. (Also her shortest.) I've read them all except "Felix Holt the Radical."
Anna Karenina is also on the first on my winter classic list! I haven't read Jude The Obscure yet. But I love Hardy.
I love the introduction to Jude The Obscure because he talks about how he never wrote another book because of the backlash. 'Jude began it's life being burned by a bishop in his disappointment at not being able to burn me' (paraphrase).
That’s so interesting! I haven’t read the introduction but I think I’ll pick it up now. Anna Karenina is a great one for winter!
My winter classics recommendation are The Wind in the Willows, The Picture of Dorian Gray, anything Dickens, Middlemarch, and North and South. In general I agree that Russian lit is great during the winter. Also victorians.
Thank you for these recommendations! I have yet to read The Wind in the Willows but I would like to.
I hope to get to Jude The Obscure and to some of Gogol next year.I am delighted to have recently read Middlemarch.💝
Hope you enjoy both!
Thanks. I'll be reading most of these in the coming year. Really like your channel.
Thank you for watching! 😊
Excellent excellent list. The Brothers Karamazov is the best book I've ever read-there is something so special about its exploration of human nature. I'm planning to read Crime & Punishment this winter. I tried to read it earlier this year but was expecting something more similar to The Brothers Karamazov and it was an entirely different tone.
Thank you! And I agree, there definitely is something special about it. Crime and Punishment is very very different, I hope you enjoy it when you pick it up again!
I haven't read A Winter's Tale yet and know little about it but you are making me want to.
'I have visited his grave. So it's not all bad blood' 😆 I have read Civil Disobedience and I have been meaning to read Walden.
I hope you enjoy it if you end up picking it up! I need to read Civil Disobedience 😆
I'm a huge admirer of Hardy - it's the combination of naturalism and something very distinctively British in his writing for me. In that sense I've always seen a lot of parallels in his novels to Emile Zola's 'Rougon-Macquart' cycle, which gives a very naturalist picture of French society. In contrast to Hardy, Zola does not focus on countryside life only, though in 'La Fortune des Rougon' the story starts off in the fictional Provence provincial town 'Plassans'. But in later Novels of the 'Rougon-Macquart' cycle, the story shifts more towards politics, corruption and Paris - parallels to today's world are astonishing and sort of frigthening. Is Zola on your bookshelf, too?
I haven’t read any Zola and don’t have any on my bookshelf at the moment but this made me very intrigued! Hardy is one of my favorite novelists, there’s something special about his writing.
I just started "MiddleMarch" this week.... I'm barely 100 pages in, and very curious to see where Dorathea goes in the story. I just couldn't get in to Tess Of The D'Ubervilles, maybe I'll try it again some time in the new year, but for now it's a nope for me.
Dorothea was one of my favorite characters! Her story was so interesting. And that makes sense, it’s definitely a very specific kind of book and I can see how it wouldn’t work.
"All happy families are alike"--but he forgot to add: "they don't exist."
Jude the Obscure is a beautifully written book. But it is also one of the most depressing. Makes most of Dostoyevsky look like a tea party.
I purchased a bunch of classics last year.. haven’t gotten around to them yet 😂
I always purchase a lot and the same happens to me 😂
PLEASE not the levin slander only two minutes in
IM SORRY 😭 it just slips out I can’t help it