10 Classic Book Recommendations! | 3000 years down to 10 books? Easy!

[@KDbooks]

You are now committed to doing the Modern and Contemporary classic list now

[@somebenfen]

Oh man... well contemporary will just be Ducks Newburyport 10 times so that's simple 😁

[@KDbooks]

Proust literally side eying you throughout this is a metaphor and a half

[@somebenfen]

In Search of Lost Place in the List

[@Shellyish]

Ha! I noticed Proust too.

[@cayt23]

Due to scheduling clashes in highschool, I read Macbeth while sitting in a remedial English class that was watching Remember the Titans. All I can say is Denzel is a lot more tempting to a 16 yr old girl than Macbeth was. I got through it, but it will forever be associated with American football.

[@womenwotreads]

A very interesting video. I have all these early texts on my shelf unread! My brother who studied classics at Oxford and became a philosophy lecturer in Edinburgh, died of covid last year. He left lots of books in his flat and I took them home. He was a great expert on Homer and I bought a leather bound beautiful edition in his memory. I am very motivated to read this and many others now but I think the fact I can't discuss them with him has stopped me. I wish I hadn't left it too late to follow this interest with him to help me

[@somebenfen]

So sorry for your loss. That's amazing you have all those books of his to remember him by. Thank you for sharing.

[@Shellyish]

Like you, I’ve been watching this series/conversation with great interest. Great list, Ben!

[@somebenfen]

Thank you!

[@ashleycaulfield1823]

This is a great list! What a treat to have an extra video from you. Also, thank you for mentioning the other videos where this list of classics must-read has been compiled. I've now discovered a few new booktubers that I didn't know were out there. Happy holidays!

[@somebenfen]

Thanks for watching! And their vids are fab!

[@joannezhu2604]

One of a kind. Very entertaining 😂 thank you!

[@somebenfen]

Thanks for watching! ☺️

[@jaimeharris2569]

You are so entertaining to watch. Love the books too. 😉

[@somebenfen]

Thank you!

[@silviaserra7989]

This was an excellent idea for a video. I really appreciate your recommendations.

[@somebenfen]

Thank you! Glad you liked! Check out the others in the description too :p

[@NerdyNurseReads]

I’m loving all these lists KD inspired people to make. I have my classic favs but after cracking the lid on the classics booktube space I’ve realized how little I know and have read.

[@patriciapendlbury2603]

Have you tried Pushkin? Very overlooked but amazing Russian authors!

[@BrandonsBookshelf]

So glad to see you do this! You were more thought out than myself and I really appreciated your approach here. Also loved to see our overlap!

[@somebenfen]

Thanks Brandon! I've been really enjoying your top 10 vids! Had to get involved 😄

[@spottydog7143]

Ahh it's nice to come back to this channel! Your videos do make me chucke aha - i study classics at uni and I like your classical choices! Personally I would have gone for the Iliad but then I'm an Achilles/Patroclus stan (also all my homies hate the Aeneid) and I never finished Jane Eyre (I've started it twice). Will add to Olaudah Equiano to my tbr!

[@somebenfen]

Achilles + Patroclus 4 eva 💙💙

[@squalloogal]

Hi 👋 The best thing about you is your personality and ability to entertain. I saw a tiktok of you comparing Pride & Prejudice performances. Please can you post those here as shorts? Perhaps create new ones? It was brilliant. Being perfectly honest, that’s why I subscribed. I live in hope (and appreciation) Thanks 😊

[@somebenfen]

Aw thanks so much! ☺️

[@ashappyasiget140]

I'll join you as well.... My top ten classic books 1. Villette 2. Far from madding crowd 3. Tenant of wildfell hall 4. Pride and prejudice 5. Hunchback of Notre Dame 6. Jane Eyre 7. North and South 8. Woman in White 9. Wuthering heights 10. Picture of Dorian gray Noooo...ten already. I've more 😶

[@somebenfen]

I still need to get to Hardy, and Notre Dame! Would love to read that!

[@ashappyasiget140]

@@somebenfen hardy is great. He does amazing female characters

[@ksotikoulamarie5452]

I love your having Villette there! And Far from the maddening crowd. Another favourite of mine is The house of mirth.

[@janethansen9612]

I love Shakespeare, I think I was the one weird kid in the class who was all oh yes more Shakespeare please. I would select the Scottish play as the one for the list. I would like to include Dickens, either David Copperfield or Great Expectations for their portrayal of the industrial revolution and poverty and class and all that. I am also thinking of the group of French classics from around that time, Madame Bovary by Flaubert, Germinal by Zola and Les Miserables by Hugo but which to choose? Perhaps the Hugo. Oh this could be quite the dinner table discussion!

[@somebenfen]

I know, it feels weird to exclude dickens, I LOVE Great Expectations! I still need to get to Hugo and Zola.

[@marcpaters0n]

Not sure what books I've read are deemed classics but a list of "old" books I've read are: Alice's Adventures/Looking Glass Great Expectations Heart of Darkness Sherlock Holmes (pretty much all of it) I have tried more than once to read James Joyce's Ulysses and failed. Maybe I should try an audio version. I've seen plenty of Shakespeare and own the complete works, but I'm ashamed to say the only ones I've read were what I did in school (Romeo and Juliet, Misummer Night's Dream) EDIT: Oh, Dracula as well. And Frankenstein. And some Edgar Allen Poe.

[@somebenfen]

Oh blimey I've yet to attempt Ulysses.... I may try next year. There's a bunch of major Shakespeare I've never read as well!

[@marcpaters0n]

@@somebenfen I think the key to enjoying Ulysses is just to bathe in the language and the imagery. I'm two hours in to an audio edition (further than I ever got by reading. This is my top tip).

[@TheGerbita]

Hi Ben! I think this has been my favorite list so far. I have added Olaudah Equiano to my TBR. Frederick Douglass’ memoir is also brilliant. My first encounter with Shakespeare in high school was not intimidating at all, as my first language is Spanish. The language was not daunting (as it was a translation) and we could just really focus on the fantastic plots (ghosts, witches, murder!). I know it sounds counterintuitive, but for 16 year olds I think it worked pretty well. As an adult I approached the original texts with excitement. However, my bête noire was/is Don Quijote. I’m still traumatized by that experience, and haven’t been able to return to it (it’s one of my goals for 2023!). I see so many English-speaking BookTubers reading and loving that book, and I suspect they’re experiencing what I had with William…Anyway, great video!

[@somebenfen]

Bête noire! Hadn't heard that phrase before! Agreed with Shakespeare! The plots and charcoal are just amazing. I loved the first half of Don Quixote, the second.... not so much. Thanks for watching!

[@johncrwarner]

Like "Desert Island Discs" where the Bible and Shakespeare as givens I think to an English speaking audience you don't need to include them as they are books you MUST read to get the gist of English literature.

[@CoynieReads]

6:13 I know it’s coming every time you talk about this book… and yet it gets me EVERY TIME!! 😂😂😂

[@somebenfen]

😏😏😏

[@ludd7929]

WE should, we must but we dont have to ? 😅😊 I'm very keen on 19th century literature (mainly British and French) but quite interested in this 18th century memoir of your list.. Nice video, merci 🙏✌️

[@somebenfen]

Thanks for watching! Yes, you absolutely maybe should or should not read these books, or other books, definitely, if you want, indubitably. 😄

[@ludd7929]

@@somebenfen I read Jane Eyre years ago and loved it like most Brontë's... Hardy, Trollope, Dickens... Balzac ✨🤗🇫🇷🇬🇧💓

[@suemay88]

I dropped my phone at 0:20😂

[@TK-kf8zc]

Excellent list. If you had chosen Dostoevsky, The Idiot.

[@somebenfen]

😊📚

[@somebenfen]

STILL haven't read The Idiot! That needs to be rectified very soon

[@loloanna7836]

You're the son I never had 😁

[@augustuspickhall9924]

P r o m o S M