My Favorite Classics & General Fiction Reads of 2020

Lipstick: Extra Saucy by Dose of Colors
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Books Mentioned (all links are affiliated):
UNDER CURRENTS by Nora Roberts -
PNIN by Vladimir Nabokov
LOVING by Henry Green
COLD COMFORT FARM by Stella Gibbons -
PASSING by Nella Larsen -
THE WARDEN by Anthony Trollope -
THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neale Hurston
DIFFICULT WOMEN by Roxane Gay -
NORTH AND SOUTH by Elizabeth Gaskell -
JANE DOE by Victoria Helen Stone -
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[@katieg2449]

i also read North and South this year and loved it! and I also went into it for the romance but stuck around for the class commentary! I think Gaskell was really thorough with her analysis which I enjoyed, nice list!

[@Wats06071]

Favourite calssic I read this year was The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. I also really enjoyed an old BBC adaptation of North & South.

[@opheliawinfrey9501]

So excited to catch up with your 2020 wrap up book videos (I’m a bit behind)! ❄️

[@2_pencil]

The Cold Comfort Farm movie adaptation is a treat I recommend. The cast is wonderful

[@junpi8562]

Loving is one of my favourite books. I love the ending.

[@susanm2128]

Mr. Harding is a wonderful character. He returns in Barchester Towers, so you definitely should read that one. I really liked Their Eyes Were Watching God and would like to read more of her books. I tried reading Cold Comfort Farm and just could not get into it. Ended up DNFing it. I read a lot of classics this year and my favorite was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. For contemporary fiction some of my favorites were The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa, The Reader on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent, Abagail by Magda Szabo, and The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende.

[@katietatey]

I read and loved Passing this year, and North and South is on my TBR. I was assigned Their Eyes Were Watching God in high school, then again TWICE in college and I read it again each time - love that book! I recently bought a LOA volume that has some of her other work in it and I'm excited to dive into that soon. Your copy is so pretty! :) I love it when you talk classics.

[@sashahawkins]

Yay, you mentioned a lot of my classic faves too! Cold Comfort Farm was wild, I really enjoyed it! I want to reread it to see if I get more of the references. And glad you're reading the Chronicles of Barsetshire! I'm also one of the (seeming lol) few who enjoyed The Warden. Barchester Towers is my favorite in the series so far but all the rest I've read, I've really liked! Anthony Trollope is genuinely great.

[@vickief5213]

"Future Me" looks so stunning today!

[@agnesmetanomski6730]

I have Jane Doe on my TBR, and it's definitely been bumped up now!

[@melissasteinman5467]

I loved Jane Doe and have the second book on the TBR for 2021. I also started a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Gaskell titled "Tales of Mystery & the Macabre" which I am very much enjoying.

[@coenraadwalters1990]

COLD COMFORT FARM is so much fun!

[@discoveringknitting8372]

I just purchased Passing for $1.08! I’ve purchased so many books since watching you and book realms channel that I earned a free book. Thank you for the reviews!

[@bookslikewhoa]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@rustiqjoy]

Difficult Women and Jane Doe sound very interesting. My favourite classic so far for this year is the sensation - Lady Audley's Secret. Yea the last part of Passing was a shocker. Never saw that coming.

[@verat3155]

The P in Pnin is not silent. I don't think we really have silent letters in Russian, except maybe in the middle of some words where there are 3 or more consonants in a row.

[@claudias5564]

My favorite fiction book of the year was “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.” It was one of the recommendations I got through book tube. If you liked Passing, you might also enjoy Nella Larson’s Quicksand. It was good and it also had a...memorable ending.

[@anne-marie339]

Your copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God is stunning! I really enjoyed it when I read it a few years ago. I didn't read many classics this year - only East of Eden and 1984 - both of which I really enjoyed. I had a lot of more favourite general fiction novels, including Disoriental by Négar Djavadi, The Glass Hotel, Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, and surprisingly, Where'd You Go, Bernadette!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

"Mired in Church of England politics from the mid 1800's."🤣 This has to be one of the most accurately condemning summaries on could wish to find in a book blurb. I am with you though, the Warden is a fine work. Thank you for the recommendation of Passing. I shall sniff one of those out. And I really must get around to reading North and South too. Wonderful video. I thank you.😃❤🎩

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Quotes of the Day: “Oh, it’s just Florida?” “Technology: It’s a trip!”

[@marklewis8195]

You have a great collection of books I love to read books probably reading general fiction genre is believe is my favorite genre to read and second genre I like to read is romance genre

[@karenbird6727]

I loved the Warden!! I thoroughly enjoyed Barchester Towers, but my favorite is the third book: Doctor Thorne.

[@bookslikewhoa]

Good to know it keeps getting better!

[@carlabrown6849]

I’m on Dr Thorne right now and am loving the Barsetshire Chronicles, including the Warden. The Warden was not boring to me at all. I loved the character building.

[@ludd7929]

Hello. Just finished my first Trollope, "Miss Mackenzie", which was very pleasant to read! I should read "the Warden" (in French, "le Directeur") next year and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. North & South is in my list too! Merry Xmas :)

[@authorgreene]

I've never kept track of what I've read during the year. You've inspired me to try tracking my book consumption in 2021.

[@WildeBookGarden]

I've had Cold Comfort Farm on my TBR for a while and the way you talk about it has me so excited to finally pick it up! also, I'm one of those weirdos who actually quite likes Wuthering Heights so I'm really intrigued by the parody elements! Oh I hadn't heard that the Barchester Towers series has to be read in order! I was just planning to jump right into Barchester Towers but now I'm reconsidering it... Okay wow the focus for Jane Doe sounds very interesting and that may partly be because I have been listening to No Body, No Crime on repeat 😂 Fave classic read this year: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens Fave historical fiction: The Magnolia Sword by Sherry Thomas (technically this might be marketed in the fantasy category but I think it reads much more like a historical - also I think that genre confusion might be part of the reason why it's so underhyped :/ )

[@marianalopezgonzalez4892]

I have Cold Comfort Farm on my TBR for the Reading Women Challenge 💕 I was so glad to hear it was one of Mara’s favorites! 😍 My favorite classic (and general fiction) read of the year was The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which I read thanks to your classics book club! ❤️

[@bookslikewhoa]

Yessss, we stan Sherry Thomas!!!

[@BeckaBella1]

“Passing” is such a short novella that is so brilliant and that ending! I still find myself thinking about it! Such an underrated classic, read it this year as well 😉 one of my favorites, Nice to see you enjoyed North and South, I picked it up earlier this year, it’s on my 2021 Tbr

[@MarilynMayaMendoza]

I want to read passing very much. I'm bi cultural and from New York in the fifties. Since I saw the movie Imitation of Life with Susan kohner I've been interested in the subject and my own experience of traveling between two cultures

[@jaimeehingerton2397]

I really enjoyed me reading experience with Their Eyes Were Watching God. Passing and Cranford are on my 2021 TBR. Cranford will be my first Gaskell.

[@bookslikewhoa]

I love Cranford-- I hope you enjoy it!!

[@susanl5590]

First book premise reminds me of The Prince of Tides. Amazingly heartwrenching story.

[@nilulal545]

This is one of those uploads im so excited about. 🥰 I got to know u because of your classic videos which encouraged me to get into more classics and of course your beautiful collections. Nora Robert's In Death series!! This is absolutely a treat and definitely I came across some books i havent heard, or read is now on my next tbr.. Awesome review!!😊

[@bookslikewhoa]

Wonderful! Happy reading :)

[@greymyers4087]

Jane Doe was a lot of fun. I was kind of disappointed by the sequel though because the whole revenge motivation wasn’t there.

[@bookslikewhoa]

I definitely prefer her in revenge mode

[@SloanePaoPow]

Cold Comfort Farm is the best! Highly reccomend

[@rhughes2962]

Whoops - I read Barchester Towers without reading the Warden, I had no idea it wasn't the first one. May go back and read the Warden retrospectively.

[@bookslikewhoa]

It's a fun little character study - hope you enjoy!

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I want to recommend ’Paradise Towers’ by Shweta Bachchan, ‘Daughters of the Sun’ by Ira Mukhoty and ‘The Women who forgot to invent Facebook and other stories’ by Nisha Susan.

[@v.mishrasart43]

Very nice

[@LiterarilySmitten]

Passing really resonated with me as a white-passing POC. I totally agree about the ending! I feel like more kids should be reading it in school.

[@SloanePaoPow]

Loved the way you said "soupçon" 😁

[@thepinstripemaster]

I read this comment before hearing the word and was curious about this soup convention.

[@bookslikewhoa]

😀

[@mlibbym]

My favorite literary fiction (and my favorite book of the year) is The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. I might be the unpopular opinion here, but I definitely think that book is literary fiction with lots of magical realism. The writing was so wonderful, best reading experience for me and a clear stand out from everything else I read.

[@bookslikewhoa]

it seems to be a divisive one, so I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@Victoria-pt4io]

I didn’t know the author of Jane Doe was Victoria Dahl 🤯 - I want to read it even more now

[@MarilynMayaMendoza]

And I always learn a new word from you

[@heliab4112]

Seth is supposed to be compared to Heathcliff?! I hadn't known..No wonder I disliked him then. In Cold Comfort Farm I mean. Will you give the movie a try, Mara?

[@PokhrajRoy.]

WISHING YOU A SAFE FESTIVE SEASON!

[@bookslikewhoa]

same to you!

[@asdfghjklasdfghjkl321]

I'm biracial myself so that sounds interesting! 😃 Also! The audiobook of their eyes were watching God definitely helps! 😆 It was still a bit difficult to get into but it's worth it!

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I read a biography on Parveen Babi, a famous actress by Karishma Upadhyay. Beautifully researched!

[@adrianaadonetsi1565]

Hey can I ask you something ? I heard some rumours about the book "Lord Edgware Dies" and they were kina weird for a Poirot book. Um is it true that this book includes sadistic or gay characters or anything else ?

[@locutusdborg126]

I read it a long time ago. Is this the one that occurs around the theater? If so, there may be a lightly disguised gay person, as back then being in the theater, for men, was considered slightly disreputable and an area where the fringe of society could congregate.

[@srnc]

I liked Mr Thorthon but not really Margaret Hale in North and South ahah she has an annoying holier-than-thou attitude that, gurl. Honestly. Tone it down. My favourite general fiction/classic I read this year is an Italian one, Sorelle Materassi by Aldo Palazzeschi-- it has really beautiful prose, very poignant depiction of lower class spinsters in the Tuscan countryside at the beginning of 20th centruy. (Basically, middle aged spinsters that are renowned lace-makers and have dvoted their lives to their work, take in their newly-orphaned nephew, and he's as charming as much as he's trouble-- my synopsis really is lacking ahah) It's kind of an obscure-ish classic in Italian, I don't even know if it was ever translated into English.