Classics Reading Challenge Wrap Up 2019

[@thomasthompson6378]

You're quite right about the opening essay of Didion's "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." It's called "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream," and in it Didion did something quite new: she used the techniques of fiction to tell a very non-fictional story. Thanks for including this as one of the books you liked.

[@NeetuSingh-eo4iu]

I loved reading North and South this year, it is a wonderful read

[@KQXT1]

Read it this year as well. An amazing piece of literature that is way underappreciated!

[@caolila181]

💕 Northanger Abbey 💖 😁

[@godslittlestidiot2984]

Ahh Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorites of all time (in my list it's my 4th favorite of all the books ive ever read!) I think I might make a list of classic books to read in 2020. I love classics.

[@Angel666Anne]

30 minute video yaaaaasssss 🙌🏼

[@krakentoagoodbook]

The Count of Monte Cristo and Dracula are definitely among my top classics! I think those are actually the only ones I've read of the books you mentioned. That's super cool that Armenian classics are getting new translations!

[@avasisx]

I've got so many new classics added to my TBR from this video! I've only started to read classics since I started watching your channel, they're so daunting for some reason but hearing how much you love them makes me want to join in. Hope 2020 is a great reading year!!!

[@jacquielousbookqueue]

I so agree with you on David Copperfield. I thought I was the only one that didn’t enjoy it. To me, David is constantly getting taken advantage of and we have to keep reading! I’m not afraid of big books but this one could not be finished.

[@colleencupido5125]

The first, say, third of David Copperfield is not just slow but very depressing. So I put it aside for a few months. Then I came back and finished it. So glad I did! It's the only Dickens - I've read 6- that I highlighted in yellow sentences that meant a great deal to me personally. And for those posting they avoid Dickens in general, my Bucket list is to read all 14 novels! Hint: DO NOT start with Bleak House, try The Pickwick Papers. Probably the only Dickens in which the highest priority was to make the reader laugh out loud.( It was also Dickens' first novel, written at age 24 and made him famous)

[@jenniferbrooks]

Northanger Abbey is my favorite Austen! That could be because it was the first of hers that I ever read but I have really fond memories of it. Now to tackle Emma in the new year! I adored The Moonstone but I’ve never been the biggest modern mystery reader so I wondered how it would read to you. I hate when a book you’ve hyped in your mind really disappoints you! Can’t wait to see your goals for 2020!

[@bookslikewhoa]

YES, hope you enjoy Emma!!

[@colleencupido5125]

I also have read all of Austen except Mansfield Park. Everytime I read Pride and Prejudice, I always say, the Best Austen! But Northanger Abbey was my first Austen, and by far the funniest! I liked Tilney, but Isabella was crass beyond belief and her brother was obnoxious extremise. And the heroine was not super intelligent or super witty like Elizabeth Bennet, but had an innocence combined with an obsession for the then new Gothic Romances, so she keeps putting her foot in it, yet never loses our sympathy. And possibly the greatest "character" was the voice of the narrator who told the story. I bet the real Jane Austen would be so much fun to have tea and scones with!

[@colleencupido5125]

@@bookslikewhoa In writing about her novel Emma, Jane Austen wrote that " nobody but myself will.like the heroine much." Even the great Austen can be wrong!

[@jennylovesbooks5591]

I agree with you on Northanger Abbey (& Henry Tilney)... you definitely need to read North and South 🙂

[@sklakamp1]

Great wrap up! I am excited to see your Classics list for 2020 🙂

[@coolerthanyoo]

I loved the bits of the Hunchback that had story in it. The chapters and chapters of random architecture was a little much for me though. I thought it was a style thing but then I read les miserables and realized it’s a Huge thing

[@Karmonr]

I read Northanger Abbey in college, and the professor showed a film version as an accompaniment (www.pbs.org/show/northanger-abbey/). There is a scene in the movie where they take the waters in Bath, and it was such an eye-opener. Great fun.

[@bonnaedavis8679]

I read and loved Stoner this year. Brideshead Revisited is a long time favorite. Next year's TBR will include The Count of Monte Cristo.

[@gaildoughty6799]

Great back story on Hunchback. Oh, Brideshead. An amazing book, and very different from Waugh’s other work. Although it does have a degree of bitterness to it. I thought it was a beautiful book. The Good Soldier is another of my favorites of all time, but I certainly understand how your feeling about the conflict could put you off. ETA: omg Coming back to say how much I love your recounting of reading Dracula. Hilarious and true.

[@sandylewis1459]

I ordered an exclusive edition of To Kill A Mockingbird and plan on reading it January 2020. First foray into classic books for me

[@bookslikewhoa]

Yay!! Good luck :)

[@paraplyen]

What an awesome reading list! I loved the Count of Monte Cristo. Also, Brideshead Revisited is one of my favourite books.

[@resa_reads]

The video I've been waiting for 😍😍😍 loved your impression of Dracula's protagonist

[@meggy8868]

Do biographies and autobiography sometime

[@pleasepleasethebees]

I agree about Dickens. I do wonder how relevant or interesting his work is going to be to future readers. I feel like A Christmas Carol might be the only thing worthy of the time commitment he requires... I'm not expressing this well. I just wonder if his relevancy is ticking down, you know? I wonder that about a lot of classics, to be honest. But as you say - some are still holding up well and those are gems!

[@bookslikewhoa]

Yes, it's definitely interesting to see how the "canon" itself evolves over time

[@locutusdborg126]

Great Expectations is the only Dickens I could make it through. And I am an English Lit major.

[@skeletonkeybooks]

I'm a big fan of medieval French architecture, so thanks for the recommendation! :-) We were actually talking about Hunchback as a potential selection at The Book Was Better Book Club tonight.

[@Laurel210]

I read the Readers Digest Condensed version of David Copperfield and loved it but then a few years later I tried to read the long version and could not get through it. The BBC adaptation is great. Maggie Smith is hilarious. I loved Gabriel Betteridge in the Moonstone and how he is always consulting Robinson Crusoe on important matters🙂. I liked No Name and The Haunted Hotel by Willie Collins as well.

[@MaryAmongStories]

I also read Northanger Abbey this year, it was so good! but then again it's Jane Austen, so of course it was :D great video!

[@catcreme]

I loved reading North and South this year, if you decide to pick it up for 2020 I think you'll like it.

[@JudieTroy]

I am not a classics reader but I'm challenging myself to read one per month next year. I'm going to follow your advice from your "where to start with classics" video and start with Pride and Prejudice and some more "genre" classics.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Yay!! Good luck :)

[@marlenecabada8731]

A book I read this year that won the Booker prize, and is included in the everymans library is The Remains of the day by Kazuo Ishiguro. It started out slow, but then had an even pace that took it to the end, and was very enjoyable.Very spot on, describing typical Englishmen and their servants.

[@bookslikewhoa]

One of my all time favs!!

[@84degreesnorth88]

Lol @ Pound, Pound, Coins!

[@debralavoie9095]

Well done! I've bought some collections of classics I need to get to.

[@karabrynn]

i am trying to read more classics so thanks for this video! i think dracula will be the next one i read

[@reginalemoine5809]

Haha. Two of my all-time favorite novels are on the lower tier (Waugh and Ford), but I can see how those are not for everyone. I highly recommend Brideshead read by Jeremy Irons if you go forward with Waugh. I really need to get to Ford’s tetrology, Parade’s End, but the length is daunting. I’m always surprised by how many people dislike Northanger Abbey. I think it’s great fun, while still touching on many of Austen’s more serious themes. You might want to try The Castle of Otranto for that same campy, trope-originating experience you had with Dracula. It’s widely considered the first gothic novel and it’s a lot of fun.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Haha I feel this so hard!! :D :D

[@melinadorado1458]

I feel legit reader shame DNFing a classic.... it just makes me feel like I'm the problem For example, I quite enjoy the Brontës but I've had the Tenant of Wildfell Hall "on pause" for around 3 months now because I wasn't enjoying it and I don't want to admit that I DNFed it lol

[@gaildoughty6799]

Mel Dorado Oh, I hear you. I’ve been reading The Bostonians by Henry James for about two months. I’m determined to finish, but I’m not sure if I’m a bit masochistic or just strong.

[@reginalemoine5809]

Shirley. I’m stuck at about the 50% mark.

[@bookslikewhoa]

OMG I feel that energy so hard! :D

[@DianaSFNg]

I have “A Better Man” by Louise Penny as my TBR. Presently, I’m listening to “The Way of Kings” by Brandon Sanderson in my Audible with the Stormlight series in my TBR as well. “The 7 1/2 deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” and “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” are in my sight to read, hopefully as early as during the holidays, if not, after the New Year.

[@BeautifullyBookishBethany]

I would be interested in reading Udolpho with you!

[@bookslikewhoa]

Noted!!

[@AlejandraFloresAcaboDeLeer]

I've discovered E.M. Forster this year with A room with a view and Howard's End and I liked it a lot. I am hoping to read A passage for India next year. Have you read it?

[@bookslikewhoa]

Not yet! Maurice is my next Forster

[@pamelalivengood8356]

I want to read some classics in 2020. Not sure which ones yet. I joined Goodreads but am overwhelmed. How do you decide on your challenges? Join one of the thousands of groups? Join one from Overdrive or Libby? Do you figure out your own?

[@bookslikewhoa]

I mostly look at what I want to get done in a reading year & make a challenge from there :)

[@FS-qi1kj]

WHO DOESNT LIKE MR TILNEY HES SUCH A BABE

[@bookslikewhoa]

haha preaching to the choir!

[@Katie-ug3ep]

Just discovered your channel! Love it. Subbed :)

[@bookslikewhoa]

Welcome!!

[@danecobain]

There's a good chance that Stoner is going to be my book of the year, so cheers for the buddy read :D

[@bookslikewhoa]

A very worthy choice!!

[@Imaginetheday1967]

I read shorter classics this year. Some Christie (loved), The Time Machine (okay, bordering on dislike), Frankenstein (loved), Gilgamesh (hated), and The Maltese Falcon (loved). Next year I'm going to tackle more Bronte sisters (I've only read Jane Eyre), including Wuthering Heights, which I fully expect to not like, but believe I should at least give a chance. Oh, and wanted to mention than I loved Northanger Abbey. It was so funny. Mr. Tilney and his snark was great. I"m a fan of his.

[@KristinMomentsOfSanctuary]

Agree Dickens is brutal to read- I have set him aside for a long time.