Classic books that won't take you forever to read!!!

hi everyone and welcome back to my channel recently i've been talking a lot about big books i did a video about how to read big books how not to fear big books and then the biggest books on my tbr and now i thought it would be a good idea it would be nice to talk about some shorter books and books that i think would be a great way to introduce yourself to classics i know a lot of classics are seen as being really long and really daunting but there are so many classics that are short and great introductory books to get you into reading classics and i tried with this stack there are about i think 16 here and i tried to give you guys a really great variety of different authors from around the world different kinds of stories different themes different genres and different lengths so i hope that you find something here that piques your interest and that might be a good gateway to classic literature if you're new to classic literature or if you've been reading a lot of classic literature but maybe you haven't heard of any of these these are quite popular i tried to pick some books that i thought maybe were lesser known but i feel like sometimes the popular books are popular for a reason and if you need inspiration to pick up a book that you've been meaning to pick up for a while then maybe that that this could be that i'm gonna go by publisher i don't know why i just feel like that makes sense to me so the first publisher that i want to highlight is pan mcmillan the collectors library not all of their books are short but there are a few short ones and the phone is ringing as i was saying not all of their books are short but there are a few short ones that i wanted to highlight for you guys and i will tell you the page numbers for each one i tried to have these books be less than 300 pages some of them are even less than 200 pages some of them are even less than 100 pages which is awesome um so first we have the secret garden by francis hodgson burnett i just bit my lip while saying hodgson francis hodgson burnett this is one of my favorite classics one of the first classics that i picked up and read because i love the movie adaptation from years ago i don't know what year it came out but i grew up watching the movie adaptation and then of course i wanted to read the book this is one of my favorite books to read especially in the spring and summer because the environment of the secret garden is just so magnificent and beautiful this is 278 pages so on the longer side of all of these books you will just be completely captured and taken into this setting and the story itself so highly recommend the secret garden the next one is one of my favorite books ever and that is the little prince by antoine this one exuberant this is a french classic this is 120 pages and quite a few of them are illustrations this is a book that i will never shut up about because it is just one of my favorite books if not my favorite book in the world and it is it almost feels philosophical because it says so much about life it says so much about the human condition and love and friendship and loyalty and what is essential and the aspect of growing up and growing older and keeping your youth and so many things that i think are so important not only for children because this is considered a children's classic but also for adults as well and i just adore it so so so much and i think this is a fantastic book to read at any time anywhere any age anyone and it's it's quite short so i can't recommend it enough and it's just it's not intimidating at all you don't have to be a genius to read it and i just think that it is brilliant so i will always recommend it especially for shorter classics that will get you into reading classic literature so i think this is a great one then i have pinocchio by carlo colotti i am italian my family is italian and this is an italian classic and i keep saying this in my videos but i really want to read more italian literature so if you have any recommendations or suggestions please let me know um but i loved this some aspects of it especially the food that's mentioned in this story really touched home for me made me feel so connected to the story because i could relate to certain things that they were eating because my grandmother always made those things for me when i was little and anyway this is how many pages not very long at all and it does have illustrations 214 pages so quite approachable and again it's a children's classic these first three are actually children's classics and i think a great thing that i also mention in my beginner's guide to reading classic literature is if you're intimidated by classics in general i would gear you towards children's classics because they are a bit more approachable for beginners to classic literature because of the language and the writing style but also they i feel like children's books i always say this are just as impactful or even more impactful if you read them as an adult and that's how i feel about all of the children's classics and children's books that i love and then the next one is a christmas carol by charles dickens this was the first charles dickens book i read and i highly highly highly recommend everyone begin their charles dickens journey with a christmas carol and then i read a great expectations which i thought was a fantastic way to get into his longer books it's one of my favorite books ever but we're talking about a christmas carol a christmas carol i think is quintessential dickens it is dickens at his best um also in great expectations his later works is just him at his best i haven't been loving his earlier work so i hope that there's going to be a shift as we read more of his books also i think something that could be really helpful for beginners to classics is when they have an adaptation that a lot of people are familiar with then you already know what's going to happen in the story and you have faces to put to names and it's somewhat familiar to you so i think that that's always really helpful as well the next ones are from random publishers this one is the great gatsby by f scott fitzgerald one of my favorite books ever a classic that so many people have read so i kind of feel silly recommending it because it's like well duh it's only 180 pages it is one of my favorites because it's set on long island one of my favorite things about this story is the setting because i can relate to it i live on long island and i've grown up on long island and he takes us into the valley of ashes which is queens and then we go on the long island railroad which is the train that i take into the city or just on long island at all if you travel on long island you will be taking the long island railroad um and this is set in east egg and west egg and that is the gold coast of long island and it's beautiful and i just i love that i can picture everything so clearly in this story and i think the characters are fascinating and i think it's written so poetically and but also very sharp very sharply and i just love it so if you haven't read the great gatsby highly recommend it's very short it's a great introduction especially if you don't love american literature i know this is kind of a love it or hate it book i love it um so do with that but you will the next book i read this year and i loved it and it's going to be the start of i think an author journey for me and that is kurt vonnegut's slaughterhouse5 i can't wait to read more from kurt vonnegut i read slaughterhouse5 this year and adored it and this is only 215 pages slaughterhouse 5 it is an anti-war novel it is fantastic it has sci-fi elements it has historical fiction elements um i love war stories this is a fantastic war story the writing is just something that i have never experienced before it's so unique to kurt vonnegut and i loved it i think that this is a great introduction to kurt vonnegut's work again i haven't read any of his other works but i am so glad that i started with slaughterhouse five so i feel like if you are interested in kurt vonnegut or starting your own kurt vonnegut journey i would recommend starting with slaughterhouse five and it's not very long at all so that's good the next book i have is another children's classic and that is mary poppins again we have a children's classic so it's approachable and we have a book that has an adaptation that a lot of people are familiar with this was one of the first books that i read as well trying to get into classics or i guess reading the books that i grew up watching the movie adaptations for this is about 200 pages and it does have spot illustrations and i think some full page spreads as well a wonderful classic uh to read and approachable checking all those boxes then the next one i have i recently just read about a week ago and that is flush by virginia woolf a lot of virginia wolves are pretty short even mrs dalloway i have up there the waves is pretty short a room of one's own is pretty short flush is about 100 and 15 pages and it's a a fake biography or i guess a half real half false biography about elizabeth barrett browning's cocker spaniel flush and we are following flesh's perspective when elizabeth barrett browning is courting robert browning and flesh's experience in their life his role in their life it is fantastic the ending made me very emotional as all dog stories do and it is just a fantastic read and it's quite short and that's the whole point of this video of course it's short and i love this edition this is the vintage classics edition we can't get them in the us but someone actually sent me this book so thank you so much and i kind of want to collect more of virginia woolf's books in this edition the next one i have my very good friend emma just read when i read flush she read a room of one's own not a room of one's own a room with a view by ian forster this is one of my favorite classics ever it is about 230 pages and it is a fantastic fantastic story perfect for the spring and summer his writing is just so enchanting and you really feel like you are in the setting with the characters and this is said partially in italy and partially in britain and it is a love story it is kind of a love triangle in a way but a classic love triangle where it doesn't feel corny you're rooting for a certain outcome i just think that this is a fantastic place to start also with em forster it also has a movie adaptation with helena bowden carter that i love so much now we are getting into the penguin publisher so this is also a penguin great loves edition and this is kind of a smaller edition um it's i forgot they had a thomas hardy one they had a few in this collection i picked up giovanni's room obviously and i love this cover design i think it's so beautiful giovanni's room written by james baldwin so devastating but in such a beautiful way i always talk about giovanni's room i love the title because giovanni's room as a room plays a really really great role as a as a setting and as i guess another character and the way that it influences the character's relationship is really beautiful and poetic and i love it so much um so highly recommend you reading giovanni's room this is about 150 pages um yes it is 150 pages and it is just all of the emotions in one so good a lot of heartbreak and betrayal and hope and a loss of hope and finding yourself and finding what is right for you and it's just a fantastic book the next book i have is shirley jacket shirley jackie's oh god shirley jackson's we have always lived in the castle this is a penguin modern classic with the mint spine i also love these editions and we have always lived in the castle is perfect for the autumn season and we are following two sisters that are quite outcasts in their community and um and why they are that way and what has happened in their family history it is quite it's not too suspenseful i can be quite a chicken and a crybaby and a child when it comes to scary things but this is really it's more i guess of like a mystery suspense rather than um a thriller or something that will really scare you um i think that it's fascinating the way that shirley jackson describes what has happened with these girls and their mental states and i guess kind of revealing things slowly and not telling you not giving you the whole picture of course and giving it to you in pieces and you kind of having to put it together it's a brilliant story i really loved it it is 146 pages so very approachable and also a great introduction to shirley jackson i actually haven't read anything else by her um the haunting of hill house i watched the haunting of hill house um and then the hunting of blind manor is not we have always lived in the cap no that's henry james the turn of the screw yes anyway i was terrified by those adaptations on netflix absolutely terrified especially the haunting of hill house i don't know if i will ever read that book because the the show just traumatized me my sister and brother brother-in-law kind of forced me into watching it because they were watching it and i was over their house and it was it was bad i could not sleep anyway uh on to the next book i have ethan from by edith wharton this book i just i look at this book and i think of the ending and i just want to reread it because that ending is incredible and i remember listening to the audiobook while i was crocheting for a rory gilmore readathon that i was doing and i remember crocheting and then getting to the end of the book and just being like what like did i just hear that correctly and i haven't physically read it yet so i really really want to um i don't really want to tell you anything about this book because i feel like i didn't know anything going into it and i was so just shocked by it edith warden i read for the first time i read her the age of innocence and i really didn't love it and so i thought maybe edith wharton's not for me but then i read um ethan from and i was blown away so i do want to try to read more from her i don't know how i'm going to feel about her work i know house of mirth is supposed to have quite a twist as well but i was entirely hooked and entirely engaged in this story 99 pages so very short and will keep you on the edge of your seat i think the whole entire time especially at the end then the next one i have i actually haven't read yet but i have been meaning to read for so long and that is nella larson's passing it says claire kendri is living on the edge light-skinned elegant and ambitious she is married to a racist white man unaware who is unaware of her african-american heritage and has severed all ties to her past after deciding to pass as a white woman claire's childhood friend irene redfield just as light-skinned has chosen to remain within the american african-american community and is simultaneously allured and repelled by claire's risky decision to engage in racial masquerade for personal and social gain it just sounds fascinating i i want to read this so badly i know so many people have been reading it and loving it in the past year or so and it's not long at all it's about 120 pages so i'm hoping to read this one very soon then the next book that i have of course i have to talk about some russian literature and the one i have to recommend is the heart of the dog by mikhail balkakov or bogakov the heart of the dog is a wacky it is a wacky story it is so strange and bizarre but in the best way possible i read this in one sitting and it was just a wild ride it's basically about a doctor and a professor transplanting the pituitary gland and the testicles of a dog and a man a recently deceased man and a dog and this dog man that becomes their creature i guess kind of like mary shelley's frankenstein but i didn't love mary shelley's frankenstein when i read it and this i feel like is exactly what i wanted from frankenstein that i wasn't given um i know so many people love frankenstein so apologies if you love it i don't know why it just didn't hook me i was expecting this and i didn't get it from frankenstein but i got it from heart of the dog so if you love frankenstein i would say pick a part of the dog it is 128 pages it's just so crazy but in the best way possible and i love it and it's a great introduction to make out bulkakov so that is a highly highly recommended book then the last two that i have are little black classics the first one is emily bronte's the night is darkening round me what i love about the penguin little black classics is they are a great way to introduce yourself to a writer if you are a bit intimidated by their longer works so if you really want to read wuthering heights but you are unfamiliar with her writing style because the narrative the narrative structure of wuthering heights is quite interesting and it's quite difficult i found when i read it the first time to get into and to get used to so this is a collection of her poetry they're also quite inexpensive so it is a great way to introduce yourself to something that maybe you would like to get into but aren't sure of yet so love emily bronte as well love wuthering heights um but that's a bit longer oh and these are about 50 pages um this one is 55 and but it's poetry so you fly through it pretty quickly then the last one i have is fear dostoevsky's white knights this is not only white nights this is also beaubach i am most definitely pronouncing that incorrectly but white knights is one of my favorite stories by dostoevsky it may be my favorite story it is about unrequited love and passion and heartbreak and hope it is about 86 pages i think i read it in maybe one or two sittings and it blew me away his writing is phenomenal um i just i love i love peter josevsky as a whole as a whole um but if you are new to him want to get into russian literature want to read your first dostoevsky i highly recommend white knights i have not read the second story beaubach i'm most certainly pronouncing that incorrectly um but on the back it says two devastating russian stories of solitude unrequited love and depravity from beyond the grave um which is just such quintessential dostoevsky and i love it so anyway these are all of the short books that i highly recommend you look into reading so i hope you found something that maybe piqued your interest or that sounded like it was a good fit for you if even if you love reading classics do you love any of these do you have any of your own recommendations for shorter books that are good either even if you are a an avid classics reader but you want to read a classic but not a huge one you just want a quick classic read if you're in between longer books or anything so yeah give me any and all suggestions and recommendations me and everybody in the comments anyway so thank you so much for watching this video i hope it was helpful and enjoyable and you got something out of it i hope you're having a fantastic day reading some amazing books i will see you soon in another video happy reading [Music] [Music] you

Channel: CarolynMarieReads

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Id: GQ-9At9o-qA

Length: 20min 49sec (1249 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 30 2022