Classic Novels Everyone Must Read At Least Once In A Lifetime | Classics All Over The World

[@BooksThatTeachUs]

Thanks for these recs! I loved Middlemarch too although I have to admit, I was disappointed with 1000 years of solitude! Want to check out your Turkish and Russian rec!

[@Merryreads]

I actually want to reread a 100 Years of Solitude because I don’t remember it very well. I do remember that I was confused by who is who because the names of the characters were the same. I did open magical realism as a genre with this book, so it did impress me for that reason. I’ve never seen anything like that before. And I hope you like the Turkish and Russian books I mentioned! They might not be the most commonly read ones but they are very good!

[@annejohnson8890]

Thank you, your analysis is excellent. I am glad you included The Master and Margarita and I hope you do find time to do an analysis of it. You have inspired me to re-read it and to read The Wren.

[@Merryreads]

I am rereading Master and Margarita now! I’m interested to see what’s going to change in my perception of the story. The last time I read the novel, I was 17, so it’s been a while. And The Wren is amazing! I’ve also watched the Turkish tv show (not sure if it was translated into English), but it was also beautiful. The clothing, the interiors, the culture and traditions - it was a great experience!

[@williamward446]

I am getting my reading ability back in the next few weeks, having my final surgery for cataracts next week... I am planning on re-reading "The Canterbury Tales" by Geoffrey Chaucer, "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis, and "Dead Souls" by Nikoli Gogol... three books I have read and love, but it's a good jumping off point to start... Thank you for promoting reading of great literature...

[@Merryreads]

@@williamward446 I love “Dead Souls”! I reread it last year, and will be reading it in the future. I was actually considering putting it in this video but thought that “Oblomov” might be a little easier to understand if you are just getting into the classics. And thank you for the recommendations! I’ve been looking at “The Canterbury Tales” for a while now, and it’s probably time I actually read the book. Hope the surgery goes well and you recover fast and easy :)

[@JimmyYuen-n5n]

Can you name them ... after each book do you do a summary words you learned do you do english litrerature in school do you go for writers all in all i much love old setting not modern times thanks

[@Tolstoy111]

The final image of The Red and the Black is unforgettable.

[@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk]

So many books and so little time. The ever growing and groaning tbr! Best wishes and happy reading.

[@Merryreads]

That’s so true! And thank you! Happy reading to you as well! I love your videos :)

[@suzannebousquet2710]

I am so glad to have found your channel!

[@Merryreads]

Thank you for the kind words☺️ I hope you enjoy the videos!

[@t.k3025]

Showing me some new classics to try. I like your synopsis style.

[@Merryreads]

Thank you! I’m glad you were able to find books that interested you!

[@debbiedrey3482]

Your channel came up on my KZbin feed. I enjoyed your video! Just subscribed.

[@Merryreads]

Thank you so much!

[@rawwwry]

If you like multi-generational stories, two classics of french literature are Honoré de Balzac's La Comédie Humaine and of course Emile Zola's Les Rougon-Macquart, two very famed sagas that we in France study at least one book from each in high school

[@Merryreads]

Thank you so much for the recommendations! I love multi-generational stories, and I will definitely read them! Just out of curiosity, what other French novels do you guys study in school? I realized I haven’t actually read a lot of French classics, so maybe I would be able to find some more from the school curriculum :)

[@timelston4260]

Of those, I've read Of Mice and Men, Great Expectations, and The Master and Margarita. Each one was excellent and is among my favorites.

[@Merryreads]

This is great! They all really are exceptional.

[@maartjedegroot9598]

I loved Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The master and Margarita is on my list. Middlemarch was to slow for me. One hundred years was not my thing also 😢 The wren sounds interesting

[@Merryreads]

Yeah I can see how Middlemarch can be slow. And as for One Hundred Years of Solitude, it definitely wasn’t like anything I’ve read before. I want to reread it one day to see if I still like it. It made such a big impression on me partly I think because it was the first magical realism book I’ve ever read

[@Dawnsbookreviews]

Great video! I just bought the clothbound edition of Middlemarch!❤ I read it years ago and will probably re-read it! I have The Master and Margarita on my shelf- planning to read it in 2025!!!🎉

[@Merryreads]

Thank you! And I will be rereading Middlemarch as well, I really liked the story! Let me know what you think of Master and Margarita!

[@Dawnsbookreviews]

@ OK!!😍📚

[@lisadavis9535]

A warning for those reading John Steinbeck... he kills all of his characters, all of the ones I have read have had very tragic endings. Not stories to read if you are struggling.

[@Kjt853]

An acquaintance of mine, who is a professor of American literature, once told me something about Dreiser that I’ve found to be true. He said that, though their styles are wildly different, Faulkner and Hemingway can be read “by the sentence”; Dreiser, on the other hand, should be read “by the chapter” - take a deep breath, read the entire chapter, then exhale!

[@Merryreads]

This is so interesting! I will keep it in mind next time I’m reading their works!

[@rahman73854]

Hey Mary! I've been really enjoying your channel! The topics you cover and the quality of your videos are awesome. You can take your channel even further if you want. But there are some important issues in your channel that will not grow your channel easily if not solved. Thank You:)

[@joebartone606]

10. The Count of Monte Christo 9. Remembrance of Things Past 8. Of Mice and Men 7. The Odyssey 6. War and Peace 5. Crime and Punishment 4. The Lord of the Rings 3. One Hundred Years of Solitude 2. Don Quixote 1. The Brothers Karamazov This was a painful exercise. The list of honorable mentions would be…lengthy.

[@Merryreads]

These are all great! And I agree, it’s so hard to only list 10 books, there are many more great ones. When I was making my list, I kept trying to add more. I think one day I’ll have to make a part two for this video. I haven’t read Lord of the Rings yet though. I remember not being super excited about the movies, and that made me less interested in the books unfortunately. But I loved The Hobbit when I read it so maybe I should read The Lord of the Rings sometime soon!

[@joebartone606]

@ Of all the books that I considered for my list, there is one that is actually haunting my thoughts, so, for my mental health, I simply had to come back to write… 11. Anna Karenina. WHEW! That’s a load off my mind. No more top 10 books lists for me. Top 200…maybe. :) I think what would be fun (I opined about this on a different KZbin video) would be a list of dear favorites we would never argue were great literature. Childhood’s End, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Under the Net*, Interview With the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Godfather, The Collected Works of Conan-Doyle, The Princess Bride, A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, about a bazillion others… (*I might actually argue this one is great literature.)

[@Merryreads]

@ I loved Anna Karenina. I think I liked it even more than War and Peace, but I read War and Peace when I was 17, so I think I just didn’t understand all of it and wasn’t able to appreciate the details. I want to reread it at some point, though first I’m reading and rereading Dostoyevsky and then moving to Tolstoy. And that’s a great idea! I like it! I’ll make a video about that one day :) there are a lot of books I could include in that list!

[@fishjj76]

Have you read all of "In Search of Lost Time" or just "Rememberances of Things Past"? (No judgement here. I haven't read either).

[@fishjj76]

Great list. Not the same as mine but very credible. I love all of the books on your list.

[@dad102]

Thank you.

[@CyberneticOrganism01]

The Master and Margarita has a graphic novel version ☺️

[@Merryreads]

Oh I didn’t know that! Have you read it? Was it good? I’ve only heard about Orwell’s “Animal Farm” being made into a graphic novel, but it’s good to know there’re other classic books too.

[@CyberneticOrganism01]

@Merryreads I did not read the original the story was complex to begin and the graphic version rendered it reasonably well I had to re-read it to figure out who is who but I am happy to have discovered this book otherwise I would not have known this classic Bulgakov lived in the repressive Stalinist era but sadly Russia today is still very much like that time

[@lisadavis9535]

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens is excellent.

[@Merryreads]

I’ve been planning on reading it for a while, and I’m super excited! I think I’m gonna read David Copperfield this winter.

[@maartjedegroot9598]

As a classic, read To kill a mockingbird!!!

[@Merryreads]

I love To Kill a Mockingbird! Did you read the second part? I haven’t read it yet but I heard that it’s not as good as the first one

[@JayAr709]

Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

[@katpaw1785]

They are not called “classical books’’…. 2:09

[@Merryreads]

Yeah, I misspoke. Happens to all of us :)

[@christine6059]

I found Master and Margarita to be unreadable.

[@Merryreads]

Where did you stop reading it? When we were reading it in school, for a lot of us it was hard to get through the part about Pontius Pilate. But if you get through it, it gets more engaging.

[@Buffaloc]

War and Peace?

[@Merryreads]

That’s definitely an amazing novel! I want to reread it at some point. I feel like it’s the type of book you can reread at different ages, and you will find something new you haven’t noticed before every time

[@BrokenneckYgor]

I ain’t readin nothin

[@roccobogi154]

20:59 aw thank you THANK YOU for this because this book changed my life❤️‍🩹

[@Merryreads]

It’s such a great story! I loved it!

[@willieluncheonette5843]

" Just a single man, Fyodor Dostoevsky, is enough to defeat all the creative novelists of the world. If one has to decide on 10 great novels in all the languages of the world, one will have to choose at least 3 novels of Dostoevsky in those 10. Dostoevsky’s insight into human beings and their problems is greater than your so-called psychoanalysts, and there are moments where he reaches the heights of great mystics. His book BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is so great in its insights that no BIBLE or KORAN or GITA comes close. In another masterpiece of Dostoevsky, THE IDIOT, the main character is called ‘idiot’ by the people because they can’t understand his simplicity, his humbleness, his purity, his trust, his love. You can cheat him, you can deceive him, and he will still trust you. He is really one of the most beautiful characters ever created by any novelist. The idiot is a sage. The novel could just as well have been called THE SAGE. Dostoevsky’s idiot is not an idiot; he is one of the sanest men amongst an insane humanity. If you can become the idiot of Fyodor Dostoevsky, it is perfectly beautiful. It is better than being cunning priest or politician. Humbleness has such a blessing. Simplicity has such benediction."

[@Merryreads]

Dostoevsky is a great writer!

[@willieluncheonette5843]

@@Merryreads :Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, a small but immensely beautiful novel. I like all kinds of things. Anna Karenina is one of my most loved books. How many times I have read it I can’t remember. I mean the number of times - I remember the book perfectly well, I can relate the whole book. If I was drowning in the ocean and had to choose just one novel out of all the millions of novels in the world, I would choose Anna Karenina. It would be beautiful to be with that beautiful book. It has to be read and read again; only then you can feel it, smell it, and taste the flavor. It is no ordinary book. Leo Tolstoy failed as a saint, just as Mahatma Gandhi failed as a saint, but Leo Tolstoy was a great novelist. Mahatma Gandhi succeeded as - and will remain forever - a pinnacle of sincerity. I don’t know of any other man in this century who was so sincere. When he wrote to people ‘sincerely yours’ he was really sincere. When you write ‘sincerely yours’, you know, and everybody else knows, and the person to whom you are writing also knows, that it is all bullshit. It is very difficult, almost impossible, to really be ‘sincerely yours’. That’s what makes a person religious - sincerity. Leo Tolstoy wanted to be religious but could not be. He tried hard. I feel great sympathy with his effort, but he was not a religious person. He has to wait at least a few more lives. In a way it is good that he was not a religious man otherwise we would have missed Resurrection, War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and dozens more beautiful, immensely beautiful books Nobody is more worthy of a Nobel Prize than Leo Tolstoy. His creativity is immense, he was unsurpassed by anyone. He was nominated, but refused by the committee because of his unorthodox stories on Christianity. The Prize committee opens its records every fifty years. When records were opened in 1950, researchers rushed to see whose names were nominated and cancelled and for what reason. Leo Tolstoy was nominated, but never given the prize as he is not an orthodox Christian. Tolstoy is one of Russia’s wisest men of the 20th century and his ideas on non-violence deeply influenced Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology. Mahatma Gandhi declared three persons his master. The first was Leo Tolstoy, the second was Henry Thoreau, and the third was Emerson. Onco Tolstoy was asked - How many experiences did you have of divine ecstasy in your life? Tolstoy started crying. He replied - Not more than 7 in my life of 70 years, but I am grateful for those 7 moments and miserable too. In those moments it was evident that it could have been the flavor of my whole life but that didn’t happen. Those moments came and went on their own. But I am still grateful to God that even without any conscious effort on my part, once in a while He has been knocking at my doors"".

[@akaisenpaitsubakihiganbana6706]

Very unconventional.

[@CyberneticOrganism01]

Middlemarch too thick... looking for an abridged version 😅