My Favourite Classics Authors | Forever Favourites

[@triciam9105]

I’m all about Vic Lit, too!😊 Although Jane Eyre is my all-time fave book, Villette, Bleak House, Middlemarch, Vanity Fair and so many others are right up there for me. Thank you for mentioning Tenant of Wildfell Hall - another great one that doesn’t get a lot of attention (which is too bad!)

[@wickedmusicalmad]

Thanks for vids like this! - I’ve only recently started reading classics and it can be so overwhelming to pick.

[@lw3646]

For me my top novels from the 1800 to early 1900s. 1) Crime and Punishment 2) Middlemarch 3) Les Miserables 4) Tess of the Durberbvilles 5) A Christmas Carol 6) Frankenstein 7) The Way we live now 8) The Vicar of Wakefield 9) Howard's End 10) The Eustace Diamonds 11) Dubliners 12) Far from the Madding Crowd 13) Great Expectations 14) Pride and Predujce 15) Emma 16) David Copperfield 17) The Pickwick Papers 18) Kim 19) Dracula 20) Notre Dame De Paris 21) The old Curosity shop 22) under the Greenwood tree 23) Hard Times 24) Nicholas Nickleby 25) Our mutual Friend 26) Dombey and Son 27) The Gambler 28) Silas Maner 29) Can you forgive her? 30) the adventures of sherlock holmes

[@tom7979]

Great video, as always, although I was quite surprised that George Gissing didn’t make the list. My favourites are: 1. The Brontë’s 2. Henry James 3. Jane Austen 4. George Eliot 5. Thomas Hardy 6. Edith Wharton 7. James Baldwin 8. George Gissing 9. D.H. Lawrence

[@katiejlumsden]

George Gissing is in the next video, because I wasn't sure if I'd read enough by him to put him on this list, but he probably will always be a favourite. I'm also annoyed that I failed to mention James Baldwin in the other video - I've only read Giovanni's room but I absolutely loved it.

[@kschmoldt]

I just wanted to tell you I was at my local public library in my little town in California and I was browsing through the new books area and guess what? Your new book was on our shelf! I already read it and thoroughly enjoyed it but I just wanted to let you know!

[@katiejlumsden]

Oh yay! That is so lovely to know :)

[@kimberlycook5860]

Katie, I just finished reading your novel! Bravo ! I enjoyed It very much…great characters and plot. I won’t spoil the story for others, but let’s just say it was a wonderful read. Thank you.

[@deblawrence8341]

I just acquired a copy of it in the US and am thinking of making it a fun summer read!

[@katiejlumsden]

Thanks so much :) :)

[@juliereadsherbookshelf]

Recently came across Nella Larsen by reputation and was intrigued. Adding that to my list!

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

This was awesome!! Some of my favs are definitely the Bronte sisters! I love their novels almost equally but Jane Eyre being my fav. I fell in love with Hardy last year with The Mayor of Casterbridge and will be reading Jude the Obscure with a friend in June. I love And Then There Were None too!!

[@ReadingNymph]

I agree I love the Bronte sisters so much ♡ I'm currently reading my second Thomas Hardy book, I love his writing and imagery, its fantastic. Passing reminds me of a newer book I believe its called Vanishing Half. So many of these authors are on my tbr 😊

[@katiejlumsden]

Yes, I really want to read The Vanishing Half as I've heard it's sort of a retelling of Passing.

[@buddhabillybob]

Great list! I haven't read anything by Nella Larsen. She is on my list.

[@adayofsmallthings]

Yay! I just happened to watch this video today - lovely to hear you mention A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Julius Caesar specifically. RSC Julius Caesar is on tour at the moment!

[@MartinDSmith]

Dickens's sense of humour and imagination are a winning combination.Oliver Twist is a wonderful novel. Mansfield Park and Persuasion are very enjoyable Austen reads.Charlotte Bronte's novels are deeply felt and thought out,including The Professor.I do hope to read Jude The Obscure at some point this year.

[@deblawrence8341]

Glad to see someone else likes "Oliver Twist"! 😍

[@jam-nc8ut]

@@deblawrence8341 I love Oliver Twist too; I've always been quite surprised by how many fellow Dickens fans aren't fond of it! Prestor John - please do read Jude The Obscure. It is in equal parts brilliant and devastating, and it is one of the best books I have ever read. It is a novel that I feel is always with me. I have reread a couple of times, but I also find myself revisiting particular sections of it sometimes. It's an incredible work.

[@alejandragarciagonzalezmez5046]

Hi, Katie. I would like to recommend Daphne Du Maurier's short stories. I have only listened to a few of them: The Birds; Kiss Me Again, Stranger; The Apple Tree; The Little Photographer. They are all excellent, in my opinion. I plan to read/listed to more in the near future. On the other hand, I am following the Mega Dickens Readalong and I'm really enjoying it! Your calendar pushes against my laziness. Also, inspired by the invitation to the Dickens Readalong, I decided last month to read a Shakespeare play a month for the next two years. I already read "The Merry Wives of Windsor" and "Macbeth", which are the only ones I had read before. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, Katie.

[@katiejlumsden]

What a good idea to have a Mega Shakespeare Read - I hope you're enjoying it! I definitely need to read some Daphne Du Maurier short stories.

[@MLLatUtube]

Jane Eyre is my favorite novel of all time followed very closely by Pride and Prejudice. I do agree with you about Mansfield Park too. Anthony Trollope and Wilkie Collins as well as Elizabeth Gaskell would be on my list for sure as well. I have trouble thinking of Agatha Christie as classic, although of course she is. She may be my favorite author - I have read all of her novels.

[@acratone8300]

1) I have read uncountable crime / mystery novels. I think it's fair to say Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White was the first. I also think it is still the best. 2) Every great novelist is standing on Jane Austen's shoulders because she got there first.

[@MLLatUtube]

@@acratone8300 I agree with both of your comments! I have a soft spot for The Moonstone too.

[@mathequation8544]

Thank you for this great video! Wuthering Heights is my favorite book of all time. I wish Emily Bronte lived for a million years -- she's a total genius! Also: I love that Agatha Christie made your list. I think she has never been replaced. The lightness of her writing, her humor & wit --- I am having a blast and smiling the entire time I am reading about crimes & murders. She is a gem!

[@juliequick5526]

A very timely video as I’ve just been thinking I’ve not read any classics this year so far. Shock horror! I’ve lots of ideas now and am looking forward to the 2nd part later this week. Thank you for another brilliant video 🤓

[@alicialozano2802]

Wonderful Katie, my 4 favorites authors are the same than yours, but Austen is my first. Wives and daughters is my favorite Gaskell too. Yesterday I bought Howard's end, is my first time with Forster😊😊, totally enjoyed your video.

[@KierTheScrivener]

I love this list. I don't even know where I would start with favourite authors. I have so many and they are all so varied. Lucy Maud Montgomery is my chosen favourite as she introduced me into literature. I was later to the Jane Austen party but I do love her work so much. One of my friends has given to calling me Austen because I always talk about her which is the highest compliment.

[@katiejlumsden]

I think that's an excellent nickname :)

[@jimsbooksreadingandstuff]

Great rundown, I have added Passing and Anthony Powell to my want to read list.

[@karenbird6727]

Titus Andronicus, is just brutal. I read it last month.

[@Dinadoesyoga]

Thank you for the video. I adore classics. Unsurprisingly, many of your favorites are my favorites, too. Forester, Hardy, Gaskell, the Brontes, Larsen. I will see how I feel about Dickens after your read-a-long. 😅

[@negimanu8362]

Love your ⭐vlogs ..

[@chloelauryn4773]

Loved this video, and saved many of your book recommendations! cant wait to read some new authors:)

[@GenWivern2]

Austen and Hardy are obvious ones for me, Henry Fielding too ... but it's tricky. I'd tend to regard "classic" as pre-Modernist (thus ruling out Powell), but if we're including that lot a whole bunch of authors come into play who don't sit at all well with the earlier ones. Which is to say that there's room for a standalone video on your favourite 20th century authors as well, Katie. Anyway, I'll chuck in Conrad and Conan Doyle for good measure, and await the next episode. 🙂

[@deblawrence8341]

Adored this video and looking forward to Thursday's! I never even heard of Trollope until you (live in the US, though that's hardly an excuse). I've purchased "The Warden" - found it in a used bookstore, so that will probably be my introduction to him. If you advise starting elsewhere, please do so. Also, just recently stumbled upon a 1900 illustrated edition published in Boston, Massachusetts, of “Oliver Twist and Hunted Down” and I have to admit, I've never even heard of "Hunted Down" and wondered if you have, Katie. This is what I love about used bookstores - you never know what you'll find! I've also recently purchased your book and am looking forward to reading it this summer! 😍 Am currently reading Colette's "The Vagabond".

[@katiejlumsden]

Yes, I read Hunted Down, which is a Dickens short story, last year, I think. I enjoyed it. I hope you enjoy Anthony Trollope! I often recommend starting with Doctor Wortle's school, as The Warden can be a little hit and miss for people, but I love it very much.

[@deblawrence8341]

@@katiejlumsden I will look for Doctor Wortle's School then - thank you!

[@jelenatanic8741]

I was reading the Slave from Singer and I like that writer. Than Henrik Sjenkjevič. Tolstoj,Dostojevski,Emili Bronte.... Branko Ćopić,Desanka Maksimović.

[@krc5210]

So excited to buy/read your book but the US cover is not for me. I will be in London next month so picking it up there. :>)))

[@viviennehayes2856]

Thanks Katie - I like your happy enthusiasm. Owing to problems in my life I can't read very traumatic or very sad books, so that influences my choice quite a bit. My favourite author is Jane Austen, and second is Anthony Trollope. I do also like very much Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy and Charlotte Bronte but I try to pick books that are reasonably happy or light.

[@anasky00]

i read the 3 clercks because you suggested it and really liked it! I can't wait to read your book, I've ordered it, but it's taking so long to get here!

[@katiejlumsden]

Thanks so much!

[@novellenovels]

You know I love wuthering heights but otherwise I think my top two classic authors are Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell but I’m not sure which is first place. Love seeing your list and did think I could guess your top three 😊

[@JasmineReads]

It's all about Forster, Austen, Gaskell and Hardy for me. Also Wilkie Collins is a new fave!

[@jodihowe7274]

Great video, I love it! My favorite author of all time is also Dickens and how I discovered you. I think Charlotte Brontë is above Jane Austen, but that can change and does change. Like my favorite Dickens, it depends on which novel I am reading (except Oliver Twist, I agree with you there) Thanks again☺

[@fredericonerkis3804]

Thanks for your great enthusiasm and your list of authors. I am into my seventh decade and I have rediscovered how much I enjoy reading classic authors. I decided last year to start reading Dickens and I have just finished his 14 novels. It took slightly less than a year and was well worth it. The advantage with all these books is that you can download them free and I have read all of Dickens' 14 novels as well as Tolstoy on my smartphone! I wonder what Dickens would have thought of that? I note you make no mention of Conrad. I must go back and re read some of his works just to see how he compares as I read a lot of Conrad some 30 or 40 years ago and it will be interesting to see what I think now. Like Dickens he was not all that good with his women characters.

[@katiejlumsden]

I've only read Heart of Darkness, but I would like to read more by Conrad in the future.

[@booshkoosh7994]

Thank you, Katie! You really have an all-encompassing knowledge of the works of these writers: it's truly inspirational! I've been making my way through Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov", and you've given me the motivation to finish it! I've been reading a book a week this year, and I wanted to ask you if you had any recommendations for my first victorian novel (I never realized, but I haven't read a proper Victorian novel yet). I do love philosophy and themes, but I can afford to sped too much time on a long narrative just because of all of the books I've got planed (as well as the plays, poems, and essays; all of which I, too, read weekly if not daily). What would you suggest as a first victorian novel? I really want to start in on Middlemarch, but I decided to read it serially according to its original publication dates; so I've got to wait until December. What do you think? George Eliot? Bronte? Thanks again! Happy reading!😄👌

[@katietatey]

George Eliot didn't make the cut? Teasing, only teasing. :) I am really getting into Trollope. I started with He Knew He Was Right and now I'm on Dr. Thorne in the Barsetshire chronicles. I really love his writing and I agree with you totally about how you trust him as an author. I love how he does some little asides where he addresses the reader. I also find him so witty. My first Dickens was A Tale of Two Cities, which I love (I had a children's book edition when I was little), and my 2nd was Our Mutual Friend based on your recommendation. I did like Our Mutual Friend but I didn't find it as much of a page-turner as I sometimes do these classics... it took me a long time to finish it. I have several of his other books that I already bought patiently waiting to be read. I am still hopeful I'll fall in love with him after reading a few more, especially since you and I have very similar taste. I was really surprsied that you said Squire Hamley was your favorite character in a book. I'm not good at picking a favorite but it seemed like an odd choice to me. I did love Wives and Daughters. I was just reading The Castle by Kafka and it is an unfinished book, I guess I was expecting something like Wives and Daughters where you kind of know what's going to happen. The book ended in the middle of a sentence! It was very shocking to me and I'm still a bit discombobulated. Anyway, I love your videos about classics, I have really no one in my real life to share my love of classics with so it's nice to feel like I'm discussing them with you! :) I have a few more books to read on my TBR before I am allowed to buy anything and then I am very excited to read YOUR book!!

[@katiejlumsden]

Thanks :) Anthony Trollope is so great! Dickens, too - his books are all quite different, so see what you think of different ones. So, with Squire Hamley, it's not that I love him as a person exactly but I feel like he is just completely believable and realistic, like Gaskell has created a flawed, complicated but entirely real character, if that makes sense?

[@LedgerAndLace]

OK, I LOL'd when you said, "You've probably heard of her," about Jane Austen. "Pray tell, who is this Jane Austen of whom you speak?" If there were a BookTuber office pool, we could have all predicted Dickens as your Number 1! You light up whenever you talk about him. On another topic, are you shopping your book for movie options? Or a series? Pleeeeeease? We need a movie now. ;-)

[@katiejlumsden]

Ah, I wish. We'll see but it's pretty competitive to get a film/TV series made!

[@ryanwoo4347]

Hello Katie! This video is a great introduction for me and I think I still have a lot to catch up😂 Recently just reading Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence, I'm intrigued to know what do you think of him and his works.

[@katiejlumsden]

I've only read Lady Chatterley's Lover, and that was probably a decade ago. I need to pick up something else by him!

[@ratherrapid]

Top 10 1. Shakespeare 2. Goethe 3. G. Eliot 4. Robert Musil 5. Pynchon 6. Dostoevsky 7. Dickens 8. Tolstoy 9. Chancer 10. Ecco

[@kimm.7116]

Thanks for the list - I've added a few new authors to my "to read" list! But where is Wilkie Collins? I love The Woman in White so much! And The Moonstone is so hilarious!

[@katiejlumsden]

I love The Woman in White and The Moonstone, too, but Wilkie Collins is a sort of hit and miss author for me. I made a whole video about this at some point previously if you've interested: kzbin.info/www/bejne/faGVe5ebjKadj6c

[@kimm.7116]

@@katiejlumsden I'm very interested! Thanks!

[@louisewagenknecht6140]

Have ordered your book, and okay, you really really REALLY need to read The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett, because a) you have a heroine named Margaret Lennox (!) and b) are into messy family stories.

[@katiejlumsden]

Another protagonist called Margaret Lennox! I ought to read it!

[@louisewagenknecht6140]

My bad: I meant to say character (mainly off-stage), but NOT the heroine, she's an antagonist of the hero.

[@lizlittle1641]

I agree with you on your top 2 favorite Victorian authors. Jane Austen is 2nd best and Charles Dickens is the number 1 best.

[@travismiddleton8218]

Great video. Awesome list. My favourite classic authors would be Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Tolkien, Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming, Bran Stoker and Oscar Wilde.

[@jamesduggan7200]

Yes, Titus is unusually gory. Nevertheless, the play works without shocking the audience, if you can believe that. Possibly because it's set so far off in Western history, you never become attached to the characters and the excessive violence hits like a comic book. However, the trigger warnings are genuine, in particular that warning of depiction of sexual violence against women. Well, I suppose you'll see it when it's produced again and likely read it then too. There are features of it which certainly belong to Shakespeare. Therefore, it is necessary if completion is important to you, as it was for me. Btw - I expect to read Larson's Passing this Spring, along with The Human Stain and the Better Half. Thx - enjoyed.

[@katiejlumsden]

Yeah, I'm divided - I'd like to see all of Shakespeare's plays, but I feel like Titus is not going to be one for me. Passing is amazing - I hope you like it!

[@launchedathousand]

You pretending like we don't know who #1 is 😂Austen and Gaskell are my 2 top favourite classic authors, but that may change as I still have a ton of Dickens and many other classic authors to try.

[@melissahouse1296]

🤓👍😊

[@michaelldennis]

Aside: “…we all know it is dickens….” Lol

[@aab-el9bd]

Twain is superior to all the limeys