10 *actually good* classic literature books for *actual* beginners

good morning how are you it's such a nice day today i wish i could be in it welcome back to my channel i suppose um i'm dakota i'm 22 i'm from melbourne australia and i talk about books that's all there is to it i've had like no motivation to film anything recently because lockdown blues but then i was suddenly like perhaps talking to a camera will be nice anyway here are 10 actually good classic literature recommendations for actual beginners because i am so hyper aware of how beginners don't have those preconceived notions that everybody seems to think they do we've all been beginners these are all varying degrees of genre you will definitely see a theme amongst my favorites i'm not going to recommend an absolute beginner dostoyevsky or shakespeare i think when it comes down to classic literature for beginners there's a few aspects that need to be considered like the length of the book because if it's quite wordy and in older english or more advanced english it's a lot to deal with especially in big chunks so and captivating i think that captivating is an imperative aspect nobody wants to read a classic that just drags on that's gonna turn you off classics forever first few classics that somebody reads in their classic journey sets them up for their classic taste in life new drinking game take a shot every time she says classic you will also notice that i saw second hand wherever i can and that's very attainable for classics so the covers for these books will be interesting i get a lot of messages asking where i got that edition from and where people can find it and that it was 600 on amazon and that's because i got it from savers for a dollar fifty i'm sorry but covers don't matter it's what's inside the counts and without further ado onto the books the first book is very dear to me and that is lewis carroll's alice in wonderland slash through the looking glass whatever you will we all know what this book is about i don't need to detail it too much but a young girl falls down a rabbit hole and is exposed to a world of marvel and wonder and ore and bizarre adventures it's written eloquently it's wise it's humorous it's captivating from the get-go as a 22 year old i'm still captivated by this book it's also a very fast-paced read and you can get through it quickly a because you're captivated and b because it's short i also find that it helps reading classics when you're in unfamiliar territory that you already have an idea of the plot try and look past the fact that it's a children's book and consider it to be a fantasy book with some deeper meanings and some hidden themes try to ignore the constantly changing lighting the sun is tucking itself beneath the new cloud every minute so it's going to be a journey the next recommendation they have is more so an author than a book itself and that is none other than edgar allan poe one of the most influential writers for me in my entire life father of the modern detective story not so much the father of the short story though he definitely helps that gain momentum not so much the father of gothic horror though he definitely helped that gain momentum just a very influential figure in literature itself i'm in love with his mind he's a genius his writing is eerie it's creepy it's spooky it's gruesome it's raw but it's not terrifying like it's not the stuff of nightmares that's going to keep you up awake i recommend this book to anyone that asked me for recommendations whether it be classics gothic lit gothic horror detective stories mysteries anything everyone i've ever recommended poe has thanked me with their life and so i will recommend poe to everyone until the day i die it's very easy to find his works in collections i got this one at a bookstore and i got this one second hand they have a collection of his short stories and his poetry and i think that it's great because you can power through them and you have that sense of accomplishment and achievement as you're powering through and you're finishing stories and so you can tuck all of these books under your arm at the same time my favorite short story of pose is called the telltale heart and it is essentially the story of an unnamed narrator who is trying to convince you the reader of his sanity whilst he is describing to you the reader of the crimes he committed the poetry in prose is magical and the man is a genius the next book where you love some vampire fiction ha ha just joking it's camilla sheridan left venue carmilla bram stroker's predecessor and inspiration when it came to vampire fiction i think it came out 26 years before dracula we love some gothic romanticism this is a classic victorian vampire novella and i think that is such an amazing starting point for classics perhaps my affinity for gothic literature is showing through in these recommendations this is a very important book in a historic sense it's also written very easily it's written beautifully but very easily to follow and it's a very quick read and a great one to say that you've actually read also an absolute moment in homo eroticism we love some lesbian literature sappho would be both proud and terrified in this novel the next one is very commonly on the lists of classics for beginners which is the first book i've seen that rightfully so owns its place on that board picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde oscar wilde is also a genius for your information it is about a seemingly good-natured young man who discovers the power behind his exceptional beauty it really explores the relationship between beauty and morality oscar plays a lot with the presumption that gorgeous people are inherently morally good and that ugly people are therefore bad but it's a fascinating book it's considerably short and it's written in a very nice easy to understand way for a beginner the next genre is exciting because it's a philosophical classic and that is albert kamis's the stranger the outsider it is the exact same book it has two titles this was published in 82 this was published in 2021 i'm not sure if it depends on the translation or just the year of publication but it's the same book oh god book smells so good it's about the alienation of an individual from society entirely self-inflicted because he refuses to conform to social norms the first opening line of this book his mother dies and he refuses to acknowledge his feelings let alone show them to uphold the expectations of those around him and that sets up the novel in a perfect way it's written simply enough to grasp a good understanding of but it's very fast paced too and it will leave you feeling dare i say enlightened after i read this after i read anything by chemist i feel more mature more intelligent more philosophical more spiritual more cynical i think that it's an amazing way to cross off philosophy and the classic in the same book it's raw and it's real and it's honest and i think it's a super book russian literature is my favorite my absolute favorite due to its darkness really but much of it is not for beginners except for the death of ivan ilyich by leo tolstoy you can see how small and short this is which is another great fast-paced read this book is one of the most profound books i've ever read because of its nature as the title suggests the book is about death a man learns he's dying and the entire novel is about him coming to deal with that and face the reality of that and work out what that means to him and the world around him it is perhaps one of the greatest tales of redemption and forgiveness i have ever read i can't give much away but the last 10 pages of this novella you have to read it it leaves you feeling sad and scared and pensive it's just an all-round great book to read due to the writing style the fast-paced nature the context the substance and also the fact that it's from tolstoy who is an incredible writer but much of his literature is really really long the next book we have a psychological thriller and that is john fowler's the collector this is a genius book it's so unsettling it makes your skin crawl it's basically about to grossly condense this man who is considered to be a reject of society he collects butterflies he's obsessed with butterflies he dedicates everything to butterflies until he comes across a beautiful woman an art student and he decides he's going to collect her like one of his butterflies by any means necessary it's been dubbed as one of the most disturbing books ever written and that's not because of the way it's written in a graphic sense it's the way that it gets under your skin and the way that it creeps into your mind you think about it for a long time after you finish the book and i think that's the make up an amazing book it's not too long but it's not short either but it's so captivating that you're not going to want to put it down regardless of the length of the book i think if you're looking into psychological thriller or just books that get under your skin this is an amazing recommendation for classics the next novel also pops up on a lot of the classics for beginners lists and this one's actually warranted george orwell's 1984 you would have heard of this you might not have i shouldn't assume how to condense this plot a lot happens uh residents of this super state oceana are under this constant government surveillance this omnipresent dooming government surveillance called big brother there's a war manipulation and a lot of truth truth to the year it was written 1949 truth to the year was intended to be written about 1984 and truth theory is now 2021 it's a dystopian novel and it's terrifying but it's not frightening in the way of it being gothic horror psychological horror or thriller this is also discussed a lot amongst literature it's referenced a lot discussed a lot studied a lot it's in a lot of set texts it's really helpful to just have a grasp on this book when i tell you the next recommendation is shakespeare i don't want you to panic and think i'm recommending you hamlet or macbeth or anthony and cleopatra i want you to panic because i'm recommending you poetry for kids this is starlet and moonshine poetry of the supernatural and it is essentially just a compilation of extracts from plays that can be gorgeous poetry and prose maybe i'll read you one i'm going to read you love song from a midsummer night's dream act four scene one come sit thee down upon this flowery bed while i thy amiable cheeks do coy and stick musk roses in my sleek smooth head and kiss thy fair large ears my gentle joy i just think it's so pretty reading shakespeare in shakespearean language in the very particular way that his plays are constructed is a lot especially for a beginner but when you take extracts and put it into nice neat poetry stanzas that have one main focus it becomes really easy to grasp and it's an amazing gateway into shakespeare and shakespearean type plays and language hamlet's soliloquy chef's kiss to be or not to be that is the question where there is no blood in the mind to suffer this slings and arrows are outrageous fortune or take arms against the sea of troubles and by opposing end them to die to sleep no more i did thrift this book and i am unsure how easy it would be to find a duplicate copy but i did take the liberty of looking up shakespeare poetry and there is an abundance of various forms of shakespeare poetry for kids it doesn't even need to be for kids but i just like the kids i feel safe and nice i must say whoever's idea was to create plastic slips should not have had that idea if anybody ever recommends me a plastic slip book they will remove the day the last book you guessed it you're probably wondering where it was mary's shallows frankenstein i said this is the text in my book club for august and it got some mixed reviews a lot of people are definitely in classics for the first time and said that it was drawn out and lengthy and a lot of people said this was such an amazing introduction to classics and i think that very much depends on your patience because it is a mid-length book and there are multiple chapters that it's just him rambling on about his journeys and his melancholy i talk about this more in depth in my first video i believe about books that i'd sell myself all to read again so that very much says enough about this book but it's such an essential imperative read in the world of classics it's such a common misconception that frankenstein is the monster frankenstein's a scientist it's also such a common misconception that frankenstein kills the monster or frankenstein builds the monster a wife this really clarifies the plot for you and most people love it if you hate it you only have to read it once to say you have and to recap here are the 10 classic literature books that are actually good for actual beginners and these all for me i know i say this a lot and dare i say it again god tear i suppose now it's time to conclude the video which is kind of sad because this has been the most social interaction i've had in two weeks follow my social media i'll have that all linked down below i talk about books a lot more frequently on them because youtube is a drag in a very lovable way thank you so much for the unmatched love and support it's incredible it's so gorgeous i love every single one of you i don't want to be one of those people that says like and subscribe but

Channel: dakota warren

Views: 141,748

Rating: 4.9750061 out of 5

Keywords: classic literature, classics, literature, literature student, book recs, book recommendations, beginners, Edgar Allan poe, lewis carrall, shakespeare, 1984, dorian gray, Leo tolstoy, frankenstein, Mary Shelley, bookish, booktube, booktok, John Fowles, carmilla, English major, philosophical books, Albert camus, gothic horror, gothic literature, psychological thriller

Id: Jw7kdOK2qUM

Length: 14min 47sec (887 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 24 2021