My Top 10 Favorite Victorian Novels |
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Books Mentioned (Not in Order):
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy
Adam Bede by George Eliot
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
Middlemarch by George Eliot
Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
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so many books here ive had on my tbr forever. this made me want to reread anne bronte's books!
They’re all so great!
Ten brilliant novels. The one that wouldn't get into my top ten or twenty is Vanity Fair but I think I was too young when I read it and I have never gone back to it. I probably should.
I can completely understand Vanity Fair not quite working for people, but I think if you go in expecting the satire and comic characters it helps 😊
Everyone seems to hate their first time reading Wuthering heights and here i am the one who fell in love whit the book from the very first time 😂 it was like a love at first sight, i feel so weird while almost every person i know thinks is not worth reading or have to re read it 2 or 3 times more to like it.
Me too! I adored it from the first and still read it every few years.
@@carolaustin3785 me too, i have the need of re read it again and again and again lol
I love Thomas Hardy! And Tess of the d'Urbervilles is my favourite book by him. I did not like many of the books I was required to read in high school, after reading The Mayor of Casterbridge, I was hooked on Hardy. Tess was the first of his books I read of my own volition, but in the years since, I think I have read all of his books in print or on LibraVox.
His works are so dramatic and beautifully written! Everything I need 😊
I just got Adam Bede for Christmas! I'm excited to read it now! My favorite George Eliot so far is The Mill on the Floss.
You’re the second one to mention The Mill on the Floss as a favorite. I’ve heard so many people dislike it that it’s good to hear another opinion!
Very interesting! I loved Middlemarch, Adam Bede, and Silas Marner but have been reluctant to read Mill on the Floss because, well… you know. Same reason I postponed Old Curiosity Shop for the longest time. I’ll have to give Mill a go.
Ahh ! Victorian literature is pure love.. Btw my favourite is "David Copperfield" can't love any other novel more than this one.
Same!
I love how much Dickens made the list! And yeah, I hated Wuthering Heights when I first read it too, but I liked it more with each re-read.
Dickens has definitely won me over (blessedly 😂). Wuthering Heights is just so wild I think sometimes you need to take time to get to know what the heck it is to enjoy it 🤣
@@goodstrongwords So true!
You have literally most of my favourites bar David copperfield.. You know wuthering heights is my favourite 💜💜
Of course! I just love gushing over my favorite reads 🥳
Your classic copies are gorgeous! Many never seen before book covers. ❤️ Reading CD's LITTLE DORRIT for my Victober pick. Following along with audio at the same time. Should keep me busy for a couple months. 📗 Can't go wrong with a Charles Dickens story. I look forward to reading some from your top fav list.
Enjoyed video. 🏵️
Thank you! I always enjoy finding more unique covers when possible 😊. I need to get to Little Dorrit soon!
Read the book a nd watch the TV production that had Sir Alec Guinness and Derek Jacobi.
It really isn't one that is often mentioned.
Personally, my favourite CD books is Great Expectations and my second favourite (not a CDs) is Price and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Funny that you chose Anne Bronte of the three sisters because ,even though she wrote two novels they happen to be my favourite Bronte ones.
Little Dorrit is one of my all time favs. You’re in for a real treat!
The Way We Live Now is incredible!
Really hated Wuthering Heights. Couldnt even finish it: there was no one I could identity with or even find interesting--just a bunch of mean rotten people. I'll probably have to give it another go; obviously, I missed the point. The one Id loved and read the most times was Great Expectations, but on the last read, not so much--we change. Im really into Thomas Hardy now and aim to run the table with his works and even try his poetry, which he considered his strongest suit. Wonderful writer.
Hardy is absolutely wonderful! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed his work thus far. Great Expectations is one I need to reread as the first time I read it, it was just fine to me. As for Wuthering Heights, obviously I love it but I 100% understand people not enjoying it. It’s definitely a unique novel.
@@goodstrongwords I just picked up a paperback copy of Wuthering Heights at the library book sale. I'm going to try again. Hardy has been wonderful.
@nicholasschroeder3678 I’m so glad! And good luck!
@@nicholasschroeder3678 I will never try WH again as life is too short! Good on you for not giving up but I am throwing that towel straight in haha.
Same re. WH. I kept trying to find someone to root for. The only characters I cared a whit about were Nelly and Edgar. I’m glad I read it but don’t plan on rereading. Too many other great books out there, and life is short. 📚
I’m not much of a reader, so I didn’t subscribe. I did Like and I did watch it until the end.
Why?
I find you fascinating. Your love of Victorian literature shines bright. Thanks.
I can recommend "Hadji Murad" by Leo Tolstoy if you haven’t had the chance. A great read.
Great list; inspires me to read some that I missed. I would recommend Eliot's "The Mill on the Floss," and Dickens' "Little Dorrit," which has a really strong heroine. Thanks!
I think Little Dorrit will be my next Dickens. It’s been prettier high on my radar for a while now and I think it’s time. I know a lot of people find “The Mill on the Floss” to be disappointing but I’ve always had a feeling that I would like it. I think Romola will be my next one by Eliot but maybe I’ll try The Mill on the Floss after that 😊. Thank you!
I definitely think recency and rereads can make a difference, I feel like I love most books more the more I read them - I’ve read Vanity Fair three times and it’s an absolute favorite for me although I loved it from the start, I was happy to see it on your list Tori as it doesn’t seem to make many top tens. I also love Bleak House, North and South, David Copperfield, Tess, Adam Bede and The Way We Live Now and haven’t read the rest except for Tenant which I didn’t love and Wuthering Heights which I read 30 years ago so probably need to reread!
It’s very true that rereads have an impact, especially with Victorian literature I find. I’m glad we have so many similar favorites! I actually can understand not loving Tenant as I can see how it can feel less interesting in some ways, but it just hits the spot for me. Wuthering Heights is such a wild one, I thinks rereading it often helps to get into it. 😊
Thank you for sharing your favs. I have Vanity Fair on my TBR pile and have wondered about its popularity, as I don’t hear many booktubers talk about it when they mention classics. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this tome of a book. I will definitely be giving it a go👍
We have such similar taste. Although, I don’t love Dickens that much. I think I don’t feel attached to his characters, and so for me I feel disconnected even if the stories are great. But I love Anne Bronte’s books, Wuthering heights, and Tess. I now need to read the woodlanders, and Adam Bede.
Dickens took me some time but in the end I found a few I loved! If you like Tess, Wuthering Heights, and Tenant, you’ll likely enjoy Adam Bede and The Woodlanders! I’m excited to hear your thoughts!
A reader can have a payoff treat after finishing reading any of those 12 books. The BBC has a video version for sale for them all. For instance, their George Elliot set has 5 videos:
Middlemarch / Daniel Deronda / Silas Marner / Adam Bede / The Mill on the Floss
Interesting! I’ll have to look into that.
And they’re wonderful as is their The Way We Live Now! Oh, and the film versions of Our Mutual Friend, Martin Chuzzlewit, and the 80’s version of Little Dorrit are also very well done.
Great choices! I have not read the Woodlanders yet but the rest are all great… except your #1 choice 😂 I agree though her writing style and descriptions are so beautiful and powerful imagery
Thank you! Respect some hatred for Wuthering Heights but I’m happy to love it 😂
@@goodstrongwords Oddly enough, it's probably a book I'll read again, because I'm a sucker for punishment. I read it the first time but completely misunderstood what the book was about - I thought it was a romance, closer to Jane Eyre style. But then a few Booktubers mentioned that it shouldn't be read that way, and reading it as a revenge story or as the way you mentioned it is better, and so I read it again recently and that did help, but I just didn't enjoy it - the characters are so awful to each other!
I will say again though - Emily wrote some beautiful scenes, descriptions, and atmosphere - and I like the beginning portion too, that sets up the story. But I'm afraid I started off on the wrong foot with it, and it might have ruined me forever LOL...
I love Emily's poetry though. And I wish we could have seen what else she would have written if she hadn't died so young.
My favorite is also Wuthering Heights.
Super list! I've read all but North and South! Thanks for posting.
How come noone reads Don Quixote anymore, considered by readers and scholars to be the best novel ever written?
People do read Don Quixote ... it wouldn't be in this list, though, due to it not being a Victorian novel. 🙂
Love the woodlanders
You should read Daniel Deronda if you are looking for more action in Eliot
My favorite Dickens might be Our Mutual Friend. Here's the Wikipedia blurb:
Our Mutual Friend, written in 1864-1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis.
This is great on audiobook and also has a great PBS series.
Another of my favorites which probably doesn't classify as Victorian because it was earlier is Clarissa by Samuel Rechardson. This is a book which influenced many Victorian writers. It's an epistolary novel--all told via letters. It's quite long and there is an amazing audiobook of it which is around 100 hours long. Make sure you choose the unabridged version.
These are both long books for those of us who like to live in the fictional world for extended periods. And that is the beauty of Victorian novels. They last and last...
Jude the Obscure is Hardy’s best novel.
thank you! love all of your videos - just started with you today.... and found you with your HARDY rankings... Woodlanders is also my #2 Hardy (#1 Tess).
Thank you for checking this out! It’s so nice to hear that I’m not alone in my love of The Woodlanders! It really is such a hidden gem ❤️
I've just started book three of The Return of the Native and really liking it even though Eustacia Vye is a bit over the top🤣😎📚
She really is but she kind of reminds me of Catherine from Wuthering Heights which I think increases my fascination with her. I’m glad you’re enjoying it! I need to revisit it sometime soon 🥰
Yeah, I’m not a fan of WH. It’s so interesting hearing which books other people love. My list overlaps yours in several places. Other favs include: Our Mutual Friend, Little Dorrit, Jane Eyre, and Woman in White
Great choices, though you missed "Jane Eyre" which is fantastic, and I also loved "Cranford" by Mrs Gaskell. Silas Marner is also lovely. I presume you are missing out Jane Austen because she is not strictly Victorian?
Yes, I kept to books written in the UK during the reign of Queen Victoria, but I do enjoy Austen 🥰. “Jane Eyre” is incredible, I just find it doesn’t quite hit my tastes as well as the other Brontë sisters. That being said, I’m sure I will continue to reread it throughout my life.
Cranford and Silas Marner are wonderful as well 😊
The “Woodlanders” is the only one I haven’t read. Enjoyed the rest on the list.
I really enjoyed reading Wilkie Collins‘ novels The Woman in White and Moonstone. But on the other hand I had heard so much praise of Middlemarch, but I was not able to finish it, I just lost interest somewhere along the way.
No Wilkie Collins ?😲
Unfortunately no. I think if I did a top 20 “The Woman in White” would make it, possibly “The Moonstone” as well. I find I really enjoy reading Collins but the x-factor that makes a favorite for me isn’t there. I do want to read more from him though because, as I said, I have enjoyed myself reading his books 🙂
@@goodstrongwords The Woman in White is in my top five but I also would like to read more from Wilkie. I am doing a re-read right now to see if Agnes Grey is still in my top five. It may move down for me also.
I ,for no reason whatsoever, avoided The Woman in White until I read it end of last year/beginning of this year; I loved it so much that I now have to add The Moonstone in my TBR list....seems to be growing every day, now at 48 books of which at least 75% are brick books of 850 pages plus !
I never liked Hardy. Had him for 'O' Level and 'A: Levek,too 🙄. As for Wuthering Heights, I detest it even on second reading....only Nelly is OKish, the rest of the characters are horrible, thinking of Joseph and his dialect 😖
Anyway, regards from GB.
@@goodstrongwords Love love love the Moonstone! The Woman in White is on the list for me.
You need to discuss the plots. You love all of the books and kept repeating your love. Please give a deeper synopsis than “really really love this book”.
I’ll see what I can do in future. I know a lot of people who watch my videos like to go into classics knowing next to nothing and often the books I enjoy most have more to do with characters than plot so it’s hard to know where to stop since it’s easy to get into spoilers when the big plot points are relatively limited. But I can think about it.
I keep on hearing about that book weathering heights I must get it 😊
Definitely! It’s amazing!!! (but also not everyone’s cup of tea so, no worries if you hate it 😅)
So far Jane eyre is my favorite, because I LOVE the banter between the 2 main characters. I also really liked how they fell in love with other more because of their personality's and less because of physical attraction, which is rare in literature, and to a certain in real life to.
Loved North and South! Not fond of the romantic ending of Adam Bede. Doesn't really make any sense to me and seems like an afterthought.
I can understand that view of Adam Bede. I liked the ending relatively well but it definitely felt random.
What a sweet nerd. I pressed Like.
I've never heard anyone say they love Jude the Obscure. While I like his writing, I HATED this book. And I'm one who can tolerate unlikable characters 😅
Yeah, I feel like it’s middle of the road to me because I can see the art and talent in his writing and love it, but I DESPISE the story.
I briefly went out with a woman who said Jude was her favorite book.
🤣
Do u know of any commentary on TH-cam that does the mill on the floss?... or can u gv comment?
Unfortunately I have yet to read that one myself. I know Katie from Books and Things did a series about George Eliot’s novels a few years ago and has one specifically about The Mill on the Floss. She has a playlist for that series I believe.
Kate Howe also did an interview with Dr. Erin Van Laningham about George Eliot this year. It’s mostly general stuff but I believe Dr. Laningham mentioned The Mill on the Floss as one of her favorites and discusses it some. Sorry I don’t have more suggestions for you! My next Eliot I’m planning to read was Romola but The Mill on the Floss will be after that I think. I’ll try to remember to make a specific video on it at that point because it sounds like an interesting one for discussion.
Please tell me which one book of chales dickens should I read in beginning .please suggest me name of books, i will grateful to you forever.
I am from India.
Oh wonderful! I haven’t read a lot by him but I definitely think either David Copperfield (which is my favorite) or Great Expectations are the best places to start with Dickens. I hope you enjoy!
@@goodstrongwords Thanks at heart .Thanks for Answering my question.
A Christmas Carol. It's short and brilliant. Tale of 2 cities is shorter. And wonderful.
Nice list. If you’ve never read Rebecca (does that fall into Victorian?) check it out.
I have read it! It’s slightly after the Victorian Era but it is wonderful and has a similar style too. 🥰
Vanity Fair seems to be missing from the list.
Thank you for noticing! I just added it to the description so it matches up with the video.
🤓💕😊
Thank you
👍👍👍👍
Nice❤
Too much upspeak. Why intonate every sentence as though it's a question?
I don’t know????? Maybe you could just, like, find another channel that you actually enjoy and leave me out of your whiny and unnecessary expectations????????
@@goodstrongwords Wow, an interesting overreaction! I seem to have found a sensitive spot!
You took the time out of your day to critique a woman you don’t know at all. Didn’t you want an interesting response 😂?
That being said, you probably have a point. I’ll see if I can work on it. But, you may want to follow a different channel if you don’t want to listen to me. I promise, I won’t be offended 🤷♀️
Thanks for not mentioning over-rated Austen, but perhaps she doesnt fit the time line. .. grew out of Wuthering Heights years ago.
Middlemarch is one of the most amazing novels ever written, and far surpasses anything simple- minded Jane Austen wrote. She was a great stylist, but Charlotte Brontes Jane Eyre beats Austen, as does the content of North and South. Trollop, Hardy, Dickens, Thackery, all are literary giants.
What a snob
I think the Beatles are crap. But my favourite music probably wouldn't exist if they hasn't paved the way. And so is Jane Austen to the novel.
@@dhcl5653If Austen “paved any way” it was the path to the vapid, easy to read, quick to forget chick-lit/ Harlequin romance genre.