My Top 10 Favourite Classics

hello everyone and welcome back to my channel I recently did a video which was a top 10 of my favorite literary fiction because I think that a lot of people connect me and my channel with the genre of literary fiction some people commented that another genre or another kind of books that they connect my channel to is classics so I thought that was a great idea and I believe they're right because I do read a lot of classics more towards autumn and winter than in the summer but I still love a classic now and then so I have come up with 10 classics that I consider my absolute favorite and I have put them in chronological order in contrast to the other video I did about literary fiction which I didn't put in order I think but this time I believe I have managed to do just that so let me start with place number 10 the least of my favorite classics and that has to go to Mariana by Monica Dickens Monica Dickens is the niece of Charles Dickens I'm not the hugest fan of Charles Dickens but Monica Dickens that's a whole other story this book surprised me it was beautiful it's a coming-of-age story about this young girl and her childhood and how she grows up and establishes these friendships it's about her experiences as a child and I can't really tell you what else it's about because when I read it I devoured it I was enraptured in this beautiful world and once I finished it I was like what was it really about but it is a really beautiful story and as I said I was surprised I've since then read another book of Monica Dickens and loved it almost equally as much and that was the winds of heaven but this one has to be my favorite of the two and Fred of hers at number nine I have nothing a happy by Jane Austen I think this is my favorite book of Jane Austen's even though it's hard to choose but I like this because it's Victorian and it is macabre we are set in a castle and everything is very mysterious the main character is told that she might hear some disturbing noises during the night but not to worry once again this is a book about a female protagonist and it's a coming-of-age story about her being sent to some friends to spend some time something like that I must admit it's been a few years since I've read this but what I remember is that I was amazed at how much it touched me and how fun I was of this set in this gothic setting I loved it a lot and it's one of the smaller classics out there so if you want to get your nose dive into the world of classics then maybe this is the way to go however the next classic is one I remember fondly because it's one I've read several times and that is the Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde this is a book that plays with the macabre it's about our main character called Dorian Gray who is a young man and who one day finds himself with an artist the artist agrees to paint his portrait this portrait turns out to affect Dorian Gray in some way I'm not going to spoil it and tell you how that is but as I said it's a macabre story it's another Victorian I believe and it's definitely gothic I love my Karthik tales and this one is definitely one of my favorites at number seven I have a book which is less macabre and that is I capture the castle by Dodie Smith this one is just a very feel good book about Cassandra our main character and her family who are living in this castle it's a coming-of-age story we follow Cassandra as she writes in her diary and tells us about her everyday life and her siblings and her father and everything that's going on in and around this castle it's a book that I read over Christmas and I believe it's the best time of the year to read it because it has this wintery atmosphere to it although it also does take place a little bit in the spring and in the summer it was a book that made me feel happy and good and I loved it for that so definitely a book I had to have in this list I believe this is also more of a children's fiction so it was pretty easy to read and it was just a beautiful story I also made it dent in my book because I had to do a thumbnail and I dropped all of the books and I hate myself now but nevertheless here we have this book at number seven at number six I have a dystopian and that is 1984 by George Orwell I'm sure you know of this book this is the novel that inspired Big Brother the phenomenon of Big Brother it is about this society in which you are observed at all times no matter where you go no matter where you live and no matter who you talk to you are observed and everything you do and say can be held against you so you have to be very careful and you have to respect the laws of big brother who is the power of the society you could say this is a book that makes you feel very claustrophobic while reading and it also makes you wonder about the parallels between this book and all well today in which we have so many ways to observe each other and we have to be careful when we are in public when we go out there will be cameras everywhere we have our social media whenever we go to a job interview the people at the interview are able to find information about you online so it's a book that scares you because it was written in 1948 but nevertheless it plays with a lot of things that are actually happening in our society today at number five I decided to go for Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy which is another classic I have read several times this is a love story about an affair our main character is married but she falls in love with another man and this is about that experience of hers which is very hard to get through and to live with because lives in an H in Russia in which Affairs are obviously forbidden and looked down upon she risks losing her social life and her husband obviously so she is in a dilemma but she just can't help falling in love with this man it's a very heartbreaking story it's a story that it's very big there are a lot of pages to this one but whenever I read it I feel like I fly through it in a matter of days because it's well-written it's a lot of story that captivates you and it's just beautiful from beginning to end so it had to be on my list I consider it one of my absolute favorite classics of all time and also this edition is absolutely stunning don't you think spot number 4 I have obviously Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte which is just such a beautiful story this is another coming-of-age story about Jane Eyre who we meet when she is a child her parents are there and in the beginning of the book she is placed with some relatives who do not treat her very well these relatives also come with two children who basically terrorized our poor Jane the story sticks out from that experience and as I said it's a coming-of-age story so we do get to follow Jane from she's a child until she is in her late 20s she goes through so many things during these decades all I can tell you is that this is also a love story and it's a heartbreaking book that comes with surprises I have also read this one several times and every time I read it I rediscovered my love for it and it just had to be on this list I actually thought it was going to be at the top of my list but there are some other books that I had to put there but this is definitely up there I have now made it to the top three of my favorite classics and at number three I have The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck this is a book that I read pretty recently and I haven't reread it yet but I'm looking forward to doing just that this is a book about a family who lives in Oklahoma they live on this farm and they are doing just fine until the Great Depression of the 1930s America this depression forces them to leave their farm and go seek jobs and a better life in California and the only way to go to California is to go buy a truck they have so they have to carry everything they own with them on this truck needless to say this is going to be quite a difficult journey both mentally but also physically this is a book that will definitely break your heart it's definitely not for the faint-hearted the ending is one of the best fictional endings I've ever read I was surprised I was shocked but I also felt like that ending played really well with the rest of the story and the message as well at number two I have another book by John Steinbeck because he just writes such amazing fiction and that is East of Eden now this one is also set in America but I believe this is my favorite of Hills just because this one place with a lot of my favorite fictional characters of all time for instance we have Kathy who is a and she is the meanest character you will ever encounter at least in a Class A I believe we also have a set of twins who are adorable to read about we get to know them as they grow up with their father and a server and whom they consider their uncle in America and this uncle is also one of my favorites he is knowledgeable he is intelligent and he brings a lot from his old culture with him that he shares with these twins I haven't even touch upon the plot of this book but I think it's one that you have to experience for yourselves I will say that this is a novel divided into the first part of the book we only not only but we get familiar with Kathy and the father and then it's not until the second half of the book that we encountered the twins but I love this two pieces I've read it twice I've loved it deeply both times and I can't wait to read it a third time hopefully pretty soon now if you know me and if you have fun of my channel regularly I think you know what the book at the top of my list is if not that's perfectly okay but I think a lot of you out there know what it is I am obviously talking about The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger I cannot explain to you how much I love this book this is a book set in December over Christmas in New York City it's a book of rebellious Holden Caulfield who keeps getting kicked out of colleges and schools so he finds himself alone in New York City over some days in Christmas and he decides to not tell his parents that he's actually all alone because he wants to take some time off for himself and I think think a little bit about what is happening and how he dislikes everything and everyone he's a very pessimistic character who finds everyone to be phony he is not very agreeable company that's for sure and a lot of people don't like this book for that reason but I loved it for that reason amongst others I find Holden Caulfield to be a very typical teenager and I find that the way we are inside his head and the way we experience what he thinks and how he sees the world it's pretty accurate when it comes to a teenage boy not that I would know I've never been a teenage boy myself but I loved the tone of voice in this book I also loved the setting of New York City during Christmas and I love how this book comes with a message that is pretty unbelievable but nevertheless it's a message and I appreciate that so beware this is at the top of my list but it's a book that splits the waters and even though I love it to pieces you might not like it at all and that's perfectly fine as long as you don't tell me I'm fine with that and that is it for this video I hope you enjoyed my top ten classics have a great day everyone and until my next video have a reading

Channel: Helene Jeppesen

Views: 64,830

Keywords: John Steinbeck, Jane Eyre, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, Tolstoy, East of Eden, 1984, George Orwell, Oscar Wilde, Anna Karenina, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Monica Dickens, Northanger Abbey, I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith

Id: xFWrhOha9DE

Length: 12min 58sec (778 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 19 2018