It’s amazing hearing a person talking about his/her passion for anything at all! You’re radiant with joy talking about Victorian literature, I’m quite in love with this era too.
When I finally read Pride & Prejudice and when I finished it, I went right back to Chapter 1 and read it all again, and then once more. Each time I gained more understanding of Jane Austen's nuance and subtlety in her writing. She is HILARIOUS and such an observer of human behaviour and psychology. Your list gives me more to put on my TBR, but it also made me think about what a classic is; age, popularity, book sales? Hmmmm . . . The Narnia books are one of my favourite series from childhood that I read over and over. When I get a cold, I will pull out the box set and sit in bed with tea and tissues and read again. I guess you could call them my comfort books . . . and classic. Ha! Also, you make me want to read Dickens again, which I've not done in a v. long time!
So, who knows what makes a classic a classic! I usually use the word 'classic' to refer to any books that were published in the past (often I vaguely use 'classic' for pre-1980s in general, or just for pre-1914 and 'modern classic' for 1914 to 1980s if I'm being more specific) but I'm aware that's not how everyone uses it.
I'm currently re-reading "Our Mutual Friend" and know that I am becoming increasingly lachrymose in my old age but Book 3 Chapter 8 - "The End Of A Long Journey" - brought tears to my eyes! Thanks - as always - for the fascinating video, ideal Monday morning breakfast viewing!
It’s so inspiring hearing you talk about books Katie! I love how passionate you are. It’s contagious! What fabulous favorite classics you have ☺️📚I love many of these authors and books as well. Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Jane Eyre is my favorite book of all time! The Count of Monte Christo was such a fabulous surprise for me when I read it.
Oh I love sooooo many of these.. North and south is probably my favourite Gaskell book.. I definitely knew your favourites and I share quite a few of them 😊
Oh, you do have some great ones on here. Mine (in no real order) are Count of Monte Cristo, Wives and Daughters, Northanger Abbey, Wuthering Heights, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, A Chirstmas Carol, The Invisible Man, and The Phantom of the Opera. I have yet to read North and South, but I do ow it, so that's the first step. Eventually I will try Our Mutual Friend. Every time you talk about it, it makes me want to read it more.
Katie, this series may be tough on my pocketbook! I kept pausing the video and running back and forth to Amazon and other sellers. I settled on Pride and Prejudice, annotated. Enjoy your week of fun!
I love your list! I just read North and South earlier this year and loved it. Our Mutual Friend was a gift from my son years ago and I want to reread it. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate your insight to these books.
Thanks for promoting good literature! I am happy to see Bleak House, my favorite Dickens, on your list. Chapter two is my favorite passage of fiction, nothing else quite so moving.
I'm hoping to get to Our Mutual Friend in the new year! Favourite classics would be; Pride and Prejudice, North and South, Persuasion, Frankenstein and Black Beauty.
This is wonderful! I totally agree with your review of Wuthering Heights plus you have convinced me to re~read Mansfield Park as it is my least favorite Jane Austen. My favorite Dickens is Bleak House but I have not read Our Mutual Friend yet….I could go on and on, but, I won’t…….such a good video. Looking forward to tomorrow
My favorite classic (and favorite book) is Jane Eyre, but Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park come close. I have reread them all many times. I also love A Christmas Carol which I reread each Christmas. I love your list and am adding some of them to my list to read.
Great video, Katie. I was just watching it late night here in the U.S. while doing some stretching and I smiled whenever you included one of my favorites. I am with you on many of them-Dickens, Austen, Brontë, Hardy-to name a few. I would also add Howards End, A Room With A View, Northanger Abbey, and Moll Flanders to the list. I am probably missing a few, but it’s 2:40 am.
Thank you so much for these recommendations and your passion for these novels really shows! I've never heard of Olive and only marginally of Villette but now I know I must absolutely read them :)
I love Bleak House, it was my first Dickens and well worth the long time it took me to take it on! Glad to see Mansfield Park and Jane Eyre in here too. Lots I still need to get to, I'm currently listening to the Our mutual Friend audiobook and loving it!
My favourite classic is definitely Jane Eyre! I also really like Wilkie Collins’ books. I’ve struggled in the past to read Charles Dickens but currently enjoying Little Doritt on audiobook. I’m inspired to give our mutual friend a try!
I have only read Jane Austen's first three novels and genuinely believe each one represents a leap in writing and subtlety,so I would have Mansfield Park above Pride And Prejudice.Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,for the nature writing alone, would have to feature.And though it will be some time before I get to it, Dickens is indeed our mutual friend.
You introduced me to Gaskell and I am now on my third book by her--loving them! My master's is in English so not sure how I was never introduced to her (or Trollope who I have yet to read). Added a few more to my list with this video. Thanks!
I was surprised to see id only read 8 of these, having followed you for quite a while. I have a seedling of a plan to create a 2022 reading plan form your top 20 series. Looking forward to seeing your other videos and thanks again for your fab work!
Your love for “The Small House at Allington” is good news since it will be the next Barsetshire I will read in 2022. I was surprised to see “Villette” is still in the top 20 and sad to see “Persuasion” didn’t make the cut. Thanks for this fun list.
I'm surprised you like Jude The Obscure. I read the book twice. At the time I read Stephen King's The Dead Zone, and found both rather tragic. I found the themes in a weird way a little similar.
I admire your restraint in not just listing all of Dickens and Austen. 😂 I can give you my top 10 favourite classics because they're basically my top 10 favourite books (except for one non-classic that made it up that far): 10 The Phantom of the Opera 9 Our Mutual Friend 8 Wives and Daughters 7 Rilla of Ingleside 6 The Iliad 5 Crime and Punishment 4 Tess of the D'Urbervilles 3 Les Miserables 2 Jane Eyre 1 A Tale of Two Cities
@@katiejlumsden Thanks! Rilla of Ingleside is #8 in the Anne of Green Gables series, and arguably the best thing L.M. Montgomery ever wrote. It's set during WWI and shows the women's side of the war from back in Canada. I think you'd enjoy it! You can probably read it out of sequence and get just as much out of it.
well, I suppose Balzac's Lost Illusions always makes the list as does ofc War and Peace I guess we could add Moby Dick too and maybe idk Don Quixote. Hamlet, Crime and Punishment, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Old Goriot, and what the heck it's the holidays Beowulf.
I really should reread The Count of Monte Cristo. It is one of the first classics I can remember falling in love with. I imagine I read an abridged version because we studied it in school but I remember just being swept away by it.
Read the unabridged Penguin version translated by Robin Buss. Makes all the difference! I just finished it in September and I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of myself!! 😂 LOVED IT!
@@jillwhitney-birk5876 Thanks for the tip! I think I have the Word Cloud edition on my shelves. I’m not sure who the translator is. I’ll have to look into it. Thanks again.
I am so glad Wuthering Heights made your list! It’s my favorite book of all time!!!! I have been meaning to read Thomas Hardy for so long and haven’t yet. Is Jude The Obscure a good place to start?
Ha, no, absolutely not - Jude the Obscure is definitely not the best place to start with Hardy, as it's quite a miserable one. I usually recommend Far From the Madding Crowd as a good starting place but actually if you love Wuthering Heights then I think you might like The Return of the Native.
@@katiejlumsden haha! I love this response! I will pick up Far From The Madding Crowd & level up my misery to Jude! Thank you for sharing your recommendation!
My top 5 classics are Emma by Jane Austen, Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis, A midsummer’s night dream by Shakespeare, The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
@@katiejlumsden Im Brazilian, if you ever need recomendations on Brazilian literature count on me! Machado loved Dickens, so im sure you will like the style. Love your channel 😍
It’s amazing hearing a person talking about his/her passion for anything at all! You’re radiant with joy talking about Victorian literature, I’m quite in love with this era too.
yes it absolutely is!! what are your favorites not mentioned here?
Finally Mansfield park finally getting some love!
It's wonderful!
Thank you so much for your recommendations :)
When I finally read Pride & Prejudice and when I finished it, I went right back to Chapter 1 and read it all again, and then once more. Each time I gained more understanding of Jane Austen's nuance and subtlety in her writing. She is HILARIOUS and such an observer of human behaviour and psychology. Your list gives me more to put on my TBR, but it also made me think about what a classic is; age, popularity, book sales? Hmmmm . . . The Narnia books are one of my favourite series from childhood that I read over and over. When I get a cold, I will pull out the box set and sit in bed with tea and tissues and read again. I guess you could call them my comfort books . . . and classic. Ha!
Also, you make me want to read Dickens again, which I've not done in a v. long time!
So, who knows what makes a classic a classic! I usually use the word 'classic' to refer to any books that were published in the past (often I vaguely use 'classic' for pre-1980s in general, or just for pre-1914 and 'modern classic' for 1914 to 1980s if I'm being more specific) but I'm aware that's not how everyone uses it.
So many great novels. I definitely need to read more Bronte and Dickens.
I'm currently re-reading "Our Mutual Friend" and know that I am becoming increasingly lachrymose in my old age but Book 3 Chapter 8 - "The End Of A Long Journey" - brought tears to my eyes! Thanks - as always - for the fascinating video, ideal Monday morning breakfast viewing!
So glad you're enjoying it!
It’s so inspiring hearing you talk about books Katie! I love how passionate you are. It’s contagious!
What fabulous favorite classics you have ☺️📚I love many of these authors and books as well. Jane Austen and Charles Dickens. Jane Eyre is my favorite book of all time! The Count of Monte Christo was such a fabulous surprise for me when I read it.
Oh I love sooooo many of these.. North and south is probably my favourite Gaskell book.. I definitely knew your favourites and I share quite a few of them 😊
Thanks Emily :) North and South is so good!
Oh, you do have some great ones on here. Mine (in no real order) are Count of Monte Cristo, Wives and Daughters, Northanger Abbey, Wuthering Heights, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, A Chirstmas Carol, The Invisible Man, and The Phantom of the Opera. I have yet to read North and South, but I do ow it, so that's the first step. Eventually I will try Our Mutual Friend. Every time you talk about it, it makes me want to read it more.
Great choices! I hope you like Our Mutual Friend some time :)
Katie, this series may be tough on my pocketbook! I kept pausing the video and running back and forth to Amazon and other sellers. I settled on Pride and Prejudice, annotated. Enjoy your week of fun!
Very well done. Thanks very much.
Great video! I love Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as well as Frankienstien
Great video. Thank you.
I just recently read Maurice and I loved it. I want to watch the movie and compare it to the book.
I love your list! I just read North and South earlier this year and loved it. Our Mutual Friend was a gift from my son years ago and I want to reread it. Thanks for sharing, I appreciate your insight to these books.
wuthering heights over jane eyre-love it, love it!
for me Bleak House is my favorite classic of all time ☺
Thanks for promoting good literature! I am happy to see Bleak House, my favorite Dickens, on your list. Chapter two is my favorite passage of fiction, nothing else quite so moving.
Can you do a video about famous books you haven't read or don't want to read.
Oooo interesting idea. Thanks!
I'm hoping to get to Our Mutual Friend in the new year! Favourite classics would be; Pride and Prejudice, North and South, Persuasion, Frankenstein and Black Beauty.
Kind of surprised Jude the Obscure wasn’t higher on the list … but agree it is my fave Hardy novel. Little Dorrit in the top 10 👏👏
I love Jude the Obscure - but there are just so many books I love!
This is wonderful! I totally agree with your review of Wuthering Heights plus you have convinced me to re~read Mansfield Park as it is my least favorite Jane Austen. My favorite Dickens is Bleak House but I have not read Our Mutual Friend yet….I could go on and on, but, I won’t…….such a good video. Looking forward to tomorrow
I hope you enjoy Our Mutual Friend :) I think you will if you love Bleak House!
My favorite classic (and favorite book) is Jane Eyre, but Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, and Mansfield Park come close. I have reread them all many times. I also love A Christmas Carol which I reread each Christmas. I love your list and am adding some of them to my list to read.
Excellent choices!
I read Jane Eyre for the first time this year and I absolutely loved it ❤
Great video, Katie. I was just watching it late night here in the U.S. while doing some stretching and I smiled whenever you included one of my favorites. I am with you on many of them-Dickens, Austen, Brontë, Hardy-to name a few. I would also add Howards End, A Room With A View, Northanger Abbey, and Moll Flanders to the list. I am probably missing a few, but it’s 2:40 am.
Thank you so much for these recommendations and your passion for these novels really shows! I've never heard of Olive and only marginally of Villette but now I know I must absolutely read them :)
I love Bleak House, it was my first Dickens and well worth the long time it took me to take it on! Glad to see Mansfield Park and Jane Eyre in here too. Lots I still need to get to, I'm currently listening to the Our mutual Friend audiobook and loving it!
My favourite classic is definitely Jane Eyre! I also really like Wilkie Collins’ books. I’ve struggled in the past to read Charles Dickens but currently enjoying Little Doritt on audiobook. I’m inspired to give our mutual friend a try!
I have only read Jane Austen's first three novels and genuinely believe each one represents a leap in writing and subtlety,so I would have Mansfield Park above Pride And Prejudice.Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,for the nature writing alone, would have to feature.And though it will be some time before I get to it, Dickens is indeed our mutual friend.
You introduced me to Gaskell and I am now on my third book by her--loving them! My master's is in English so not sure how I was never introduced to her (or Trollope who I have yet to read). Added a few more to my list with this video. Thanks!
So glad you're enjoying Gaskell - she is amazing!
I was surprised to see id only read 8 of these, having followed you for quite a while. I have a seedling of a plan to create a 2022 reading plan form your top 20 series. Looking forward to seeing your other videos and thanks again for your fab work!
Thanks, I hope you enjoy some of these!
This is a really great top 20, I agree with you, but where is my David Copperfield!!!!!!! Hahahahahahahhaha, no preasure
Ah I love David Copperfield very much. Probably in the top 30!
You’re listing all my favorites too! 😍 📖
The only one on this list that I haven’t read yet is Olive.
I think you'd like really Olive!
You're almost making me want to read Charles Dickens haha, maybe one day. For now, I'll definitely look up more Bronte and more Gaskell!
Give him a go! :D
Oh I do love your commentary
I must get to Our Mutual Friend after I finish Dombey and Son in December.😎💜📚
I hope you like it!
Your love for “The Small House at Allington” is good news since it will be the next Barsetshire I will read in 2022. I was surprised to see “Villette” is still in the top 20 and sad to see “Persuasion” didn’t make the cut. Thanks for this fun list.
I reckon Persuasion would be in the top 30!
Great Video Katie! How difficult the rank them all, I admire how consistent you are.
It is quite hard to rank them, but I do love a ranking!
I'm surprised you like Jude The Obscure. I read the book twice. At the time I read Stephen King's The Dead Zone, and found both rather tragic. I found the themes in a weird way a little similar.
I like a tragic book every now and then.
I admire your restraint in not just listing all of Dickens and Austen. 😂
I can give you my top 10 favourite classics because they're basically my top 10 favourite books (except for one non-classic that made it up that far):
10 The Phantom of the Opera
9 Our Mutual Friend
8 Wives and Daughters
7 Rilla of Ingleside
6 The Iliad
5 Crime and Punishment
4 Tess of the D'Urbervilles
3 Les Miserables
2 Jane Eyre
1 A Tale of Two Cities
A good top ten! I haven't heard of Rilla of Ingleside, so will have to look that up!
@@katiejlumsden Thanks! Rilla of Ingleside is #8 in the Anne of Green Gables series, and arguably the best thing L.M. Montgomery ever wrote. It's set during WWI and shows the women's side of the war from back in Canada. I think you'd enjoy it! You can probably read it out of sequence and get just as much out of it.
Merci!
well, I suppose Balzac's Lost Illusions always makes the list as does ofc War and Peace I guess we could add Moby Dick too and maybe idk Don Quixote. Hamlet, Crime and Punishment, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Old Goriot, and what the heck it's the holidays Beowulf.
(Melanie here) I've read 14 of these 20 so I am going to decide which recommended one to read now :)
I actually just re-read North and South last week. Then I re-watched the wonderful 4 part series with Richard Armitage - so delightful.
North and South is so good :)
I really should reread The Count of Monte Cristo. It is one of the first classics I can remember falling in love with. I imagine I read an abridged version because we studied it in school but I remember just being swept away by it.
Read the unabridged Penguin version translated by Robin Buss. Makes all the difference! I just finished it in September and I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder of myself!! 😂 LOVED IT!
@@jillwhitney-birk5876 Thanks for the tip! I think I have the Word Cloud edition on my shelves. I’m not sure who the translator is. I’ll have to look into it. Thanks again.
I am so glad Wuthering Heights made your list! It’s my favorite book of all time!!!! I have been meaning to read Thomas Hardy for so long and haven’t yet. Is Jude The Obscure a good place to start?
Ha, no, absolutely not - Jude the Obscure is definitely not the best place to start with Hardy, as it's quite a miserable one. I usually recommend Far From the Madding Crowd as a good starting place but actually if you love Wuthering Heights then I think you might like The Return of the Native.
@@katiejlumsden haha! I love this response! I will pick up Far From The Madding Crowd & level up my misery to Jude! Thank you for sharing your recommendation!
My top 5 classics are Emma by Jane Austen, Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis, A midsummer’s night dream by Shakespeare, The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, The three musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
I really need to read Dom Casmurro; I really liked The Alienist by Machado de Assis.
@@katiejlumsden Im Brazilian, if you ever need recomendations on Brazilian literature count on me! Machado loved Dickens, so im sure you will like the style. Love your channel 😍
Are these the books that I need to read before your book comes out? I have only read "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Les Misérables" so far.
Ha no. Possibly only Jane Eyre :)
Wohoo!! First 😂❤️