PENGUIN ENGLISH LIBRARY BOOKSHELF TOUR

[@papercupsandpaperbacks]

A booktuber who loves classics! Finally! Hello!!

[@lucythereader]

+Paper Cups and Paperbacks Hi!!!!!!

[@terrystred]

You are lucky to have so many reading years ahead! I have been reading non -stop all my life and there are still thousands of books I would like to read. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell is one of my all-time favourite books, and the hero, Mr Thornton is the man for me. Tall, dark, handsome and repressed until ......Wonderful stuff! I love Thomas Hardy too, but you may be surprised that I have always hated Tess of the Durbervilles. She has always seemed to me such a weak and silly woman who brought on many of her troubles. I know this is a view not widely shared but she just annoys me. But for the beauty of the landscape and a recreation of the time period I highly recommend the Polanski film version starring Nastassia Kinski. It's quite old now but still amazingly good. My favourite Hardy book is the Mayor of Casterbridge. Well worth finishing as a lot happens that you don't expect. Lots more to say but you are probably bored reading this so I'll just say thanks for a great review which has made me want to re-read a lot of books.

[@Fortheloveofclassics]

Theresa Stredder I finished "The Mayor of Casterbridge" last week and loved it! Hardy writes beautifully.

[@elsnewts]

I agree with your opinion on Tess as I find her very annoying too aha, but I love the overall plot of the book!

[@racheldemain1940]

Don't think we will EVER read every book but it's going to be fun trying!

[@solarlola5953]

Wow you're 17? You seem so mature

[@imaginativebibliophile549]

solarlola 9 Yes, she is quite mature and disciplined. I am seven years younger than her and she is my inspiration. She wrote her first book when she was seventeen.

[@BoganBrett]

A Christmas Carol - what a book! I read it last year during the Holly Jolly season of December. Wonderful book.

[@jessicafoster8738]

I really loved the early printing of these editions -- they had a rubbery finish to them that felt nice in he hands and the inside of the cover had a romantic picture of each author. So lovely. Now they're all paper! 😢

[@jessicafoster8738]

Also I seem to be reading and writing essays on every George Eliot book except Middlemarch. I adore her! Mill on the Floss is my favourite book (do snap that edition up before the English Library go out of print!) and so beautiful and tragic. I just see Middlemarch as this beautiful big prize to eventually get to when I can.

[@nadinepinto1774]

I'm currently reading the moonstone and I couldn't get into it, when I started reading the prologue but when you start reading from the first period it's so much better. The third chapter of the first period is where it really takes off. So be persistent and keep reading because it's really an amazing read.

[@christoppi5936]

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall ... one of my fave novels.

[@layma5113]

love love love your channel! It's so rare to find a booktuber of my age or younger who reads classics... Wish you the best of luck with the channel and your book;)

[@lucythereader]

I'm so glad you like my channel, Laima! Thank you! x

[@racheldemain1940]

The Classics are just lovely to go back to. Got a Folio set of 5 of the Thomas Hardy books. Most of my Classics are Penguin black covers with paintings on the front.

[@car5522]

I really like the B&N classic editions in softcover leather. Those are my favorite.

[@someonerandom8552]

I keep forgetting how young you actually are. Like damn, girl. You're so mature, articulate and intelligent. I do so love the English Library editions. Simple but elegant. I do like the bombastic fancy deluxe editions too though.

[@Fortheloveofclassics]

Someone random I am surprised to hear you are 17!

[@charthec]

I finished North and South a few days ago and it's fabulous 💜 enjoy!

[@tachyondecay]

Lucy, I love watching your videos, because no matter how much I already read, your videos always leave me wanting to read more! It's like … I need to go and pick up a book and read it *now* because the way you talk about books perfectly captures how much I love experiencing them!

[@lucythereader]

This comment has made my day. Thank you so much, Ben! This makes making videos so worth it. Really -- thank you!!

[@lizabright8940]

You are a positive delight. Our tastes run very much in common. So glad to have found you and even more excited to see what you will do (and write!) as you get older.

[@sherrirabinowitz4618]

The Time Machine, Villette, Howard's End and A Room With A View are four of my favorites. I love them all so much. I took a class on the Bronte's including Branwell's poetry. I really loved it. So I have read them all and I adored Villette. The Time Machine was my first science fiction book and I loved it, (which pleased my Dad since he was a huge fan of science fiction,) it is my favorite of all of Well's books. And A Room With A View is just sparkling, I truly loved the story, the characters, Italy, and just how difficult it is to be a woman. In fact I saw a version a few years back on stage that was a musical version. I loved Howard's End, it is really a snapshot of the time period, beautifully written it is my favorite E.M. Forester novel. Just my two cents.

[@glennmiller1029]

Lucy you have overlooked Anthony Trollope! He has written some of the very best Victorian novels. Start with The Warden.

[@claramaria6679]

Trust me, when I started The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins I thought it was really boring but after about 40 pages i couldn't put it down!! the mystery actually gets very exciting and gripping so you just kinda got to get through the first 40 or so pages! I just recently discovered your channel and I love it! I've been binge watching your videos haha!

[@SuperDeut4]

Yes! The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is an awesome read! I loved it!

[@mithunsharma7920]

I bought and read the 18 books you mentioned, all the books are very good and I read them daily Everyone gets the award for having more subscribers on KZbin. But in my opinion the real reward should be given to you, because you are a good teacher who is distributing free knowledge along with All books. 😊😊😊😊I will pray to God and wish you well soon you will get more than a million subscribers ❤️❤️😊

[@BooksMichelle]

I love these editions! I only have three of them, and Wuthering Heights is my favourite, but you really inspire me to read more classics ^^

[@hannahwebster5606]

I love the Penguin Classics with the black covers the best.

[@racheldemain1940]

Those are the volumes I have my Classics in. I even have a Toy Penguin called Me. Darcy as My Jane Austen's are,in the black back with painting on the front.

[@NatalieCotterill]

So glad to find someone else who's not keen on Frankenstein - I didn't particularly enjoy the writing and the story was nothing like I expected (a lot less happened than what I had anticipated). Great Expectations is one of my favourites, I absolutely love Dickens, especially in the winter! I'd highly recommend The Scarlet Letter too.☺️

[@lucythereader]

I'm hoping to read Great Expectations by the end of the year -- making this video made me realise how much I want to read it!

[@Fortheloveofclassics]

This video made me so happy! I can't believe you are 17! You have read so much! I love "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall", and can't wait to read "Shirley". I finished "The Mayor of Casterbridge" two days ago. And it was a very happening story.

[@Fortheloveofclassics]

I need to reread "Wuthering Heights". I hated it when I read it as a kid.

[@Fortheloveofclassics]

Read "Middlemarch"! It's a beautiful book and Eliot is my favorite author!!

[@sashahawkins]

Congratulations on 12k subscribers!!! Much-deserved! And omg Penguin English Library books are so gorgeous; was beyond ecstatic to see this video on my subs!

[@lucythereader]

Thank you, Sasha! So glad you enjoyed the video -- I was so excited to share my favourite books!

[@ellenesposito368]

WOW! YOUR AN INSPIRATION TO ME. I'VE ONLY STARTED READING AND REALLY ENJOYING CHILDRENS CLASSICS MYSELF. BUT SOME OF THE ONES LIKE FRANKENSTEIN AND OTHER FRANKENSTEIN AND OTHER PENGUIN BOOKS YOU MENTIONED I WOULD LIKE TO READ. THANKS FOR SHARING.

[@Chareads]

I absolutely love The Moonstone! And I'm not usually crazy about Victorian literature. It's like a cross between a Victorian Gothic and a Sherlock Holmes book, super engaging once you get into it.

[@lucythereader]

I think I need to try and again and give it some more time then. I need to push myself out of my comfort zone!

[@jennaostroff6742]

Can we like be best friends!!!! I'm 17 and I love classics too!!!! You just earned a new subscriber!!! My favorite classics are Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and any Edgar Allan Poe short stories! I've recently picked up a few Sherlock Holmes stories and they make me wish I lived in England!!

[@BoganBrett]

Frankenstein is a masterpiece! Shelley wrote it extremely well. Been meaning to read more of her. :-)

[@rosie1397]

These have got to be the prettiest books ever !!

[@LilacDaisy2]

I'm so happy to know know that these Penguin books have orange stripes on the spines. I never would have known to shun them if I'd only seen the cover on Amazon or BookDepository. Bullet dodged, haha!

[@lucythereader]

They did take a bit of getting used to! I don't like them individually, but stacked together they look great.

[@racheldemain1940]

You won't notice how many pages are in Middlemarch once you start. I loved it and found it a lovely easy read!

[@racheldemain1940]

So did I. Middlemarch is my favourite too.

[@laurengent8362]

These editions are just beautiful. I highly recommend Great Expectations, The Portrait of a Lady and Ethan Frome they are some of my favourite books ever. Awesome video by the way too :)

[@Fortheloveofclassics]

Lauren Gent Ethan Frome is on my TBR.

[@marthabookdragon8857]

I love these editions so much ❤️

[@lucythereader]

Me too!

[@kristinclark8843]

I had to read Ethan Frome in high school, and I really enjoyed it! Since it's so short it was much easier to keep up with my assigned reading, and it really paid off.

[@SunFlower-xb3gf]

Ethan Frome, for me and my sisters, was unbelievably depressing. Just to warn future readers. Try a chocolate afterwards, as they do in dementor recovery. Or a comedy: The Reivers by William Faulkner.

[@joychalaby]

Please give "North and South" by Elizabeth Gaskell a go - it's not a difficult read for a classic, and so so good! The characters are absolutely wonderful, and the theme too.

[@majdoulineelaasemi1559]

You are only 17 !!! Wow you come across so mature. Your love for classics at such a young age is refreshing .

[@lucythereader]

Thank you!!

[@Books_Anime_92]

I have only five of the Penguin English Library volumes. I would love to own more.

[@lindaharrison3240]

Such pretty collections

[@elisabethb5558]

I cannot believe you are only 17! I have been watching you for a few months and love your educating and inspiring videos. I'm a 30-year-old English teacher from Austria and I wish my students were a bit more like you - interested in history, reading, education...

[@Emma-mv2no]

YES I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS LUCY!!!! And congrats for 12k you deserve it so much! xxx

[@lucythereader]

Haha I'm glad you liked it!! Thank you!!

[@arlena3297]

I just stumbled over your channel and immediately fell in love with it. It's absolutely amazing to see such a young person so enthusiastic about reading and literature. Keep it up! xxx

[@tharuniahsubramaniam1010]

Congrats Lucy , love your recommendations ... Love your work . Keep it up !

[@stec1616]

The war of the worlds is a fantastic book, still gave me chills reading it now, Dracula was not what I expected. It was a bit hard in the middle, but worth it

[@TomesAndTravel]

These are definitely my favourite editions of classics and you have so many of them! 😍 I'm a really clumsy person though, so I wouldn't be able to pile them up like you do - they'd probably fall over every time I wanted to pick one up.

[@lucythereader]

It is like a massive game of Jenga when I have to take one off the bottom. I have to be very careful!

[@emilytreads]

Nice editions!! I had to read great expectations for school and I hated it. I think I'd like it more if I read it on my own time.

[@bloomtv5620]

Love this video Lucy, these editions are probably my favourites, and there are so many great books in this video! Middlemarch is absolutely amazing - so worth it. I didn't really enjoy Vanity Fair and found it a bit of a slog, but I hope you enjoy it more! North and South is one of my favourites, I think you'll love it - the dichotomies in it are fascinating. Also, E.M. Forster is fabulous.

[@deanblanton6804]

I really hope you get the time to read Dracula soon. I read it last year and I absolutely love it!!!!!!

[@italoferrante6330]

I have just fallen in love with this beautiful channel! I adore those Penguin editions :) I am looking forward to reading most of them. Yesterday I ordered Silas Marner by George Eliot. Let's see if it will encapsulate me ;)

[@celestecastro2778]

I just dicovered your channel and it's so incredible i loved all the videos i saw so far especially the classic books. tbh i just watched all the classic videos and it was really good 💖 i think you need to do more of those classics videos bcs i love it 😍

[@lucythereader]

I'm so pleased to hear you've enjoyed my videos! Thank you

[@malloryanderson724]

the moon is down by john steinbeck lesser known but a favorite of mine :)

[@frankhardyjr1213]

It’s a beautiful sight to see someone who talk so good. And you keep it real. About things you are talking about too. Just asking, can you talk more about English major, how can you get better at reading books and writing too?

[@Marie11Miss]

Congrats on 12k subscribers!! And I hope you enjoy Lady Audley's Secret,I had to study it this year and I thought it was great xx

[@lucythereader]

Thank you, Marie! So glad to hear you enjoyed Lady Audley's Secret!

[@sprinkledwithwords2835]

I really enjoyed this video! A Room With A View is great :)

[@natashahassan3948]

I love these editions! I wish I'd started collecting them earlier since they're going out of print now :(

[@sprinkledwithwords2835]

Are they? Can I ask where you found this out from? I don't want them to go out of print! D:

[@natashahassan3948]

When you buy them they come with a piece of paper listing all the other published books. There's quite a few of them that they don't sell anymore. I haven't seen Emma or Sense and Sensibility (among others) in stores, but I think Amazon still sells a whole bunch! I looked after I posted this comment :)

[@sprinkledwithwords2835]

Ah yeah, I love the papers that they come with! I hardly see any of them in stores, there are 100 I think? So perhaps you just don't see them! Yeah Amazon sells loads though (also check out AbeBooks!). :D

[@jeffreykaufmann2867]

The Woman in White is a great book. I didnt like the 1st chapter of Moonstone either but the story gets much better as you continue reading. If you have doubts about Wilkie Collins start with "The Dead Secret". It's less than 400 pages.

[@patriciabuuck5277]

Love your classics. I need to continue with them. You give great book reviews. Just found you because I am reading Jane Austin right now and found that review so I confused to watch this

[@evelyng9351]

classics r my faves!! I was named after Evelyn Waugh :)))

[@lucythereader]

Ahh that's so cool!

[@sherrirabinowitz4618]

PS I am so very envious of your huge collection of Penquin books. I have just received one of them so far. You're a lucky girl!

[@LeanneRose]

I love love love PEL books! They're utterly beautiful and I'm on a hunt to get as many second-hand as possible :) Lovely video, Lucy! :)

[@BookswithBrandieShanae]

I love your collection!!!!! It is amazing :)

[@rachelboole55]

Congratulations on 12,000 subscribers!! 🎉😀 I've just borrowed the audiobook of "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" from my library on Overdrive after watching this video. Recently I started listening to more classics as I found them quite daunting to get into but I've been loving Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice/Northanger Abbey & Emma) and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and look forward to trying out different authors 👍🏻

[@lucythereader]

Thank you, Rachel! I hope you enjoy The Tenant of Wildfell Hall! It's so exciting that you're trying out lots of different authors -- let me know if you need any recommendations!

[@marier7082]

you have so many! I'm slightly jealous. I've wanted to buy a couple of these for a while now, especially the H. G. Wells ones! Also the spines look amazing together :)

[@martafrancesca3]

If you love Thomas Hardy you should definitely read "the well-beloved"! I personally loved it... maybe even more than Tess :)

[@lucythereader]

Thank you! I don't have a copy yet, but I'll add it to my list!

[@micaelasecada5613]

Love your content! Really inspires me to read! Where can I buy these editions, they are goegeouss

[@racheldemain1940]

Wow, what a collection. I am going to treat myself to my Favourite book, Alice in Wonderland in this volume and the Cloth bound books as it's my 50th next year. Perfect collectors books. May not get all of these though! Do you have other copies just for reading. ?

[@phoebealicekibble141]

Love this ❤️ could you do an a level advice video next? X

[@lucythereader]

+Phoebe alice Kibble I have an English Lit specific A Level video coming up at the start of September!

[@phoebealicekibble141]

lucythereader it would be awesome if you did just general advice for all topics too in that video💗 love your channel it's my fave x

[@Lewa3]

They are also available as Audiobooks, here: kzbin.infovideos

[@giuliapelassa6825]

Amazing Video! Thank you so much Lucy 😘

[@lucythereader]

You're welcome, Giulia! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@hannahwebster5606]

Middlemarch was soooo long and takes a while to get into but it is so worth the effort.

[@curehead9877]

MsMeow Have you ever read Gone with the wind?

[@HollyTheBookLover]

Your books are gorgeous! I keep telling myself I'm going to buy some of these editions but I just never seem to get around to it!

[@emilyemilyyyyyy]

Ah!!! I saw you posted a picture on twitter of your Penguin English Library editions and was so so hoping you were filming a tour!! Now let's just hope that after these 20 minutes I don't go and buy a load of them (they are my favourite editions and they are very reasonably priced!) 🙈

[@lucythereader]

I wouldn't blame you if you did go out and buy lots -- they're very hard to resist!

[@GraemeBell9864]

You like 'Wuthering Heights'. I KNEW you were a Kate Bush fan. Absolutely 100% per cent knew it!!!

[@racheldebner1955]

I am 17 and would love to start a booktube channel. I love classics too! If anybody could give me some tips on how I can start that would be great! Lucy, you are my favorite booktuber!

[@racheldemain1940]

Alice in Wonderland is my favourite Book which I read twice a year!

[@HannahCassieBooks]

These are my favorite editions too, I own only Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities and Northanger Abbey but I want to eventually get all of them, they are also great to read. Also I haven't read Thomas Hardy and I don't know if he is of my taste but what book you think would be best of his to read and see?

[@pollylolly1895]

P.S. I love that book! The only one of his I've read was tess of the d'urbevilles and I definitely want to read more of his if that helps :)

[@HannahCassieBooks]

Polly James Aha, tbh your passion with classics is very inspiring so I'll go put that one on my asap tbr:)

[@lucythereader]

I would recommend Tess of the d'Urbervilles or Far From the Madding Crowd!

[@ashleylesiak4114]

You should watch the Alastair Sims version of A Christmas Carol.

[@MissMymooReads]

OMG congratulations again Lucy for reaching 12K, this is AMAZING! Your videos are always a pleasure to watch. I wish we had such beautiful editions of our French classics like the Penguin ones. There are some, in a collection published by Gallimard called La Pleiade, but they are outrageously expensive (around 60€ each), and let's face it, with nothing like those lovely covers! By the way, can I ask you what lens are you using to get this perfect blur and image? Thanks and xxx -Myriam

[@avrilgloworm518]

Hellur, please watch the muppet christmas carrol, it is my favourite adaptation

[@kathale967]

As someone who is 20 years old and looks 13 I am jealous of your mature looks XD 17! Lovely video, just what I was looking for

[@SuperDeut4]

The Woman in White is fascinating. It is an absolute must for everyone who loves these classics. I couldn’t put this book down, Read it!

[@UltimateKyuubiFox]

In fairness to Mary Shelley, her work was heavily edited by her husband Percy Shelley to make it sound more ‘literary’. In other words, needlessly obtuse in word choice. And sometimes even changing her intention. Here is Mary Shelley on Frankenstein’s fascination with supernatural phenomena: “Nor were these my only visions, the raising of ghosts or devils was also a favorite pursuit and, if I never saw any, attributed it rather to my own inexperience and mistake, than want of skill in my instructors.” And here is Percy Shelley’s revision: “Nor were these my only visions. The raising of ghosts or devils was a promise liberally accorded by my favorite authors; the fulfillment of which I most eagerly sought; & if my incantations were always unsuccessful, attributed the failure rather to my own inexperience and mistake, than to a want of skill or fidelity in my instructors.”

[@norazimdars7124]

I am currently reading North and South and it is soooooo much better than Cranford. I watched both of the BBC series Cranford and North and South and I highly recommend them, but when it comes to the books, North and South is way better than Cranford which makes me soooo happy because I was kind of disappointed by Cranford I hope you will enjoy the book as much as I did :)

[@christinacascadilla4473]

Students in England are obviously better educated that students in the USA. I’m wondering how many of these books you read on your own initiative and how many (and which ones) you read because they were required for school. Here in America (at least in my school) they hardly have us read anything- like four novels each year. I guess if we read more it might require our teachers to work. I go to a school full of slackers...teachers, administrators, students... I can’t wait until I can escape to college. Anyway, what do they have you read in school in England?

[@stephanierobb4486]

do you have info on the psephanie books please?

[@tinkerspell4850]

I'm sorry you don't like Cranford - I always tell people to start with Cranford, because it's the most lighthearted of Gaskell's work, despite all the death. I absolutely love it. I don't like these editions because I don't like the spines. Just my opinion, of course - as they say, no one ever reads the same book - and sometimes, I think we all look at them differently. What one person thinks is gorgeous, others think is just meh. also - If you want to read more sci fi from this era, E.M. Forster wrote a novella/short story called The Machine Stops. It's fascinating! It predicts the internet, even steampunk, a little bit. It's so fascinating and forward thinking and tragic. I loved it, and found it so timely and prescient!

[@duffypratt]

Daisy Miller is a much better book to start with James than A Turn of the Screw. Two on a Tower is good, but not at the same level as his really famous books. For lesser known Hardy, I prefer A Pair of Blue Eyes. For Wharton, Ethan Frome is not representative. Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth are her best. And for George Eliot, read Middlemarch before Silas Mariner. It’s a fantastic book, and length only makes a good book better.

[@brookieb.blingitorloseit9293]

Yo comment section where do you buy your classic books at

[@BoganBrett]

Any bookshop that I come across or Booktopia, an Australian book website.

[@kat-gz5ki]

book depository is good ive heard , havent tried it tho

[@kit3725]

congratulations on 12000 subscribers!!

[@lucythereader]

Thank you!!

[@lucysnow3592]

my name is lucy snow so villette is at the top of my list haha !

[@sophiaikonyak1449]

You need to read jekyll and Hyde

[@frankhardyjr1213]

How can you get started with your KZbin channels?

[@zaftra]

Wildfell hall is more akin to Hardy then Bronte

[@btsrvtwice2944]

We're the same age and you sound 10× more mature. 👏👏👏

[@mithunchakrabortymovies1883]

I watch all your videos

[@emrmch]

I had to read Silas Marner for my Leaving Cert and it's been 10 years since I sat my exam and I've still yet to pick up another George Eliot book, and don't think I ever will! Probably one of the worst books I've ever had to read.

[@HIDXY]

I find that the continuous flow of your talking to be quite overwhelming. It's really clear, but at the same time, there is no spaces between sentences, which sort of intensifies the whole thing. I think perhaps you should give each sentence a breathing moment?

[@donnanevins1442]

The Time Machine was a bit of a disappointment for me so I would say don't rush to read it. On the positive side, it is short.

[@e-4airman124]

warning time passes quickly

[@genevievefairley6797]

I've said it once and I'll say it again, WUTHERING HEIGHTS IS NOT A LOVE STORYY

[@vaigaputri4867]

i likeeeeee

[@mithunchakrabortymovies1883]

Your voice is very sweet

[@racheldemain1940]

Vanity fair damn near finished me off as did Tristan Shandy.