Top Ten Classics I Love

1. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. I adore the characters. They're all so wonderful and memorable.

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Because duh.

3. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I love it almost as much as Pride and Prejudice. Almost.

4. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Beautiful and haunting.

5. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I love the guts out of Jane and yes Rochester makes me swoon.

6. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. Anne Shirley is one of my favourite characters of all time and her story makes me happy (except when it makes me really really sad).

7. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It's such a lovely story about growing up and grieving and healing.

8. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie. Magical. Sad. Scary. Fun. The best.

9. The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. It's a fantastic decade-spanning story of the morally grey and always compelling Forsytes.

10. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. A wonderful mystery that's just a lot of fun to read.

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. 

Top Ten Most Intimidating Books

These are the books I want to read, mainly because I feel like I should, but man, they look like so long/hard/a helluva lot of effort...

1. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. 

2. Crime and Punishment by Fyoder Dostoyevsky.

3. Moby Dick by Herman Melville.

4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.

5. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

6. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes.  

7. Ulysses by James Joyce.

8. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

9. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

10. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.

Have you read any of these? Tell my which ones I should man up and read!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Five: Underrated Classics

Everyone has heard of (and many have read) the likes of Dickens, Austen and the Brontes. But there are a lot more amazing classics out there that just don't get the same level of attention. So I've decided to give them a little more. Obviously, this list is limited to my personal reading experience, so if I've missed any (and I'm sure there are many), feel free to rant about it in the comments. 

Meme created by Hyperbole and a Half

1. Anything by Elizabeth Gaskell
If Dickens and Austen’s books had a baby, this would be it. Meshing romance and strong female characters with social commentary and serious issues (even death!), Gaskell’s stories are often heart-wrenching, frequently hilarious and always awesome. Definitely worth a read – and a viewing, if you haven’t already seen the amazing BBC adaptations of North and South, Wives and Daughters and Cranford. 

2. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
OK, I know The Moonstone is his most beloved work, and here I am writing a list of underrated classics without having read that one. Awkward. But I HAVE read The Woman in White, so I’m going to rave about that instead. I originally picked it up after reading the blurb on the back about Dickens mentoring Collins – and I was completely blown away by the contents. It’s a beautifully constructed mystery that was hard to put down (not always the case with the classics!). 

3. Evelina by Frances Burney
Written and published at a time when it was unthinkable for a young woman to read much, let alone write, Burney’s epistolary novel is a charming, funny and touching account of life in 18^th century aristocracy. Evelina gets herself into so many awkward situations, she's easy to relate to - even 200+ years on! Plus, her love interest, Lord Orville, is totes book boyfriend material.
 
4. The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy
There's been a bunch of adaptations of The Forsyte Saga, so I'm always surprised at the number of people I speak to who haven't read it or even heard of it. Spanning three novels, and multiple decades and generations, Galsworthy's masterpiece both satirises and humanises the British middle-class with the money-obsessed, eccentric Forsytes. There are so many amazing characters to love - and love-to-hate.
 
5. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Thanks to the musical, everybody has heard of The Phantom of the Opera. Plenty have seen it. But not too many seem to have read it. Which is a shame, coz it's an awesome book! And way creepier and more heartbreaking than anything the musical has to offer (and I LOVE the musical).


Which classics do you think get neglected?

Bookish Buys: Vintage Classics

For a bit of a different Bookish Buys this week I thought I'd focus on actual books. More specifically, the Vintage Classics collection from Random House. There are so many unique covers and even though I've already got a few of the books, I'm tempted to buy doubles just for the design! These are some of my faves...

 

The Vintage Classics are available online from Fishpond, Booktopia and Readings.

Bookish Buys: Spineless Classics

I love these pieces by Spineless Classics. They use the full texts of books in their designs and it's so effective. These are my faves:

See the full collection here.