Ahhh, Anna Karenina ❤ One of my latest all-time favourites. I have read all of these and loved them at some point in my life, except for Wives and Daughters. I just read North and South and I really enjoyed it, so I'm hoping to get to Wives and Daughters this year! Love hearing you talk about books! Also, YES to your Lizzy Bennet comment. I wish I were a Lizzy but I actually worry that I am a Catherine...
Cool that we have such similar taste! I don't even know which Austen character I'd be...probably somebody peripheral and vaguely annoying, like Charlotte Lucas (the truth hurts)
Girl, the way you talk about books is epic. And you weren't kidding about a good number of the books on my classics TBR being your all-time favs! I'm even more excited to get to these now if that's possible...
Thanks, Olive :) There are even more from your TBR further up my list! I'd planned this series before you came out with your TBR and couldn't believe how much cross-over there was - can't wait to hear what you think about these books (even if you end up feeling meh about some of them)
It's a joy to find a booktuber so into classic literature and who talks about books in this way!! I especially loved the bit about Persuasion (my fave after Pride&Prejudice)
What a terrific video! I have not read the Plath or the Gaskell (Wives and Daughters is on my 2017 TBR) but I totally agree with you on Anna Karenina and Persuasion. My husband and I "buddy read" Anna Karenina several years ago which made for some lively dinner conversations. Shortly afterward we went to a local theatrical presentation of AK which was also fantastic. (I don't know what this says about us, but we both rather enjoyed most of the Levin scenes.) I am currently re-reading all of Austen's novels and am saving Persuasion for last because I love it so much.
I actually love the way you talk about books, I can genuinely feel your passion and you're so wonderfully eloquent! I've read all but the Gaskell, and I agree with you on those - I've only read Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice, and while I hated the latter, the former was a totally unexpected breath of fresh air!
Thank you. One of the first videos I ever watched of yours was one where you said you hated Pride and Prejudice, and I was like, "I need to hear all of her book opinions." I just find it so interesting that you had such different experiences with the same author!
Hi, Jennifer. Happy new year! You convinced me to add to my TBR list 'Persuasion' and 'Wives and Daughters' :) In another video you mentioned that you would like to read more books by central European authors this year. I am currently reading Milan Kundera's 'Immortality' and it's fantastic - an interesting blend of philosophical/psychological novel and meta-narrative. I highly recommend it!
Thanks for the recommendation! I loved The Unbearable Lightness of Being (it definitely fits the description you just gave), and I've been wanting to read more Kundera
I have been wanting to read Wives and Daughters ever since falling in love with the bbc adaptation - but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. It's been on my bookshelf for years.....you've just convinced me that it is time. It's going on my TBR! And I avoided Persuasion when I was younger because I couldn't relate to her at that age, but now Anne really appeals to me. Great video!
Yay! Wives and Daughters takes ordinary interactions and makes beautiful portraits of them. (And now, if you end up hating it, I'll be squarely to blame - definitely let me know either way ;) )
haha I was telling my friend the other day to buy a book, and then as soon as she did I felt this immense responsibility - at least with Wives and Daughters I've already got the book :)
OMG!! I am soooo glad I found your channel! Your way of talking about the real heart of a story is so wonderful! I also loved The Bell Jar.. It has been a read that has stayed with me. It portrayed mental illness in a very realistic way. I suffer from depression, and I could identify so strongly with her... LOVED this video!
I read it before I had my first bout with depression, and it meant so much to me to go back to it during some of the worst periods of my life. Thank you for your support!
Straight after this I'm picking up Persuasion and I'm looking for the others. CURSE YOU!! But also, you're more than welcome to keep going because I could happily listen to your literary rants and recommendations all day! I've read North and South (to become the most cliche person ever, yes I read it because of the BBC miniseries. And yes, I watched the miniseries because of Richard Armitage, but come on, Victorian Dwarf Lord!) and I really enjoyed the way Gaskell wrote, so with what you said about Wives and Daughters, I'm quite looking forward to reading that! And I've never been able to find a relatively cheap-isn cover of The Bell Jar that I like? Hmm. VERY much looking forward to the rest of your list :)
Thanks Molly! Exact same story for me with North and South - saw the BBC series, interpreted Armitage's bass drawl as the meaning of life, and read the book after. There's also a fantastic BBC series on Wives and Daughters, and I really liked the casting (even though the characters didn't look how I pictured them, they felt like I thought they'd feel, if that makes any sense)
God! I discovered you today and I'm going through all your videos. The Bell Jar! This book has a modern voice. I can't believe that it was written in the first half of the twentieth century. Its semi-autobiographical and it's scary that I relate to this book so much.
I basically stopped reading classics last year, so this year I'm really trying to put them back on my TBR. (And these are totally fantastic, but of course I'm biased :) )
Great video, I love 9-7! Persuasion is definitely my favourite Austen for exactly the same reasons! I could not have put it better myself. Now I need to read the bell jar.
I'm late to Jane Austen-- just read Pride and Prejudice in December, loved it, now have buddy read later this month for Sense and Sensibility. You've convinced me to make Persuasion next. I will forsake my dreams of ever being Lizzie Bennett.
The way you talked about Persuasion made me want to chuck in the rest of my day and re read it. 😊 it's my favourite Austen too. Have you seen the adaptation with Cillian Murphy? Wives and Daughters is the only Gaskell I haven't read, so clearly I need to get to that!
First, I'm actually watching these of order of when you filmed them. Second, I'm trying to decide which Austen novel I should read next. I've read Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.
I've read and enjoyed three of these. In fact am getting set to revisit Wives and Daughters with a group on Goodreads. Re Austen, I love Persuasion too but my least favourite is Sense and Sensibility mainly because Marianne gets on my nerves. Northanger I quite like.
I've read only one Russian classic in my life, Doctor Zhivago, and I finished it but didn't get on with at all. I found the lead protagonists who you are supposed to root for intensely unlikable people, which isn't a problem in itself, I've enjoyed plenty of books without liking the characters, but I felt as though the author was expecting everyone to like them. It was a few years ago I read it though, and I'd like to give another Russian classic a go. Is Anna Karenina a good one to try next do you think? Also, do you have a particular translation you would recommend? Since reading Doctor Zhivago I seems I picked the least preferred translation to read so I wonder if that had some baring on my lack of enjoyment.
I basically recommend Anna Karenina to everybody - just treat it like a giant soap opera and have a blast. I read it in college, and my professor recommended the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky version. One of them translates word-for-word from Russian, and the other goes through and makes things more idiomatic in English, and then the first one goes back and makes it more true to the Russian, etc. The collaboration seems like a really smart way to do things, and as far as I know their translations have been critically acclaimed
I've read "The Bell Jar" (Plath is one of my all time favorite writers) as well as "Persuasion", and Indefinitely agree with what you said about both. Though, now I'd really like to read "Wives and Daughters" based on your description and praise.
After seing this video, I read Sylvia Plath's The bell jar. I read it without difficulty (I'm french), the writing is so good - it's so modern! Because of the style as well as the topics: the depression, the women condition, the society in the 50's. It gives another vision of the 50's, it shows the pressure of conformity at this period of time. Thank you for this recommendation! :-)
I have that feeling with Romeo and Juliet. I remember when the Zefferelli movie came out, I walked out of the theater thinking, just once, I'd like her to wake up in time.
My favorite Austen novel is also Persuasion and my favorite hero is Captain Wenworth as well as Ann being my favorite heroine. I was going to read Wives and Daughters but after listening to your review, it will definitely be very soon.
The tragic thing about Wives and Daughters is that it's unfinished, so some of the grand culminating scenes aren't even in the book. But it's still brilliant, and there's always the ending of the BBC miniseries as a consolation prize :)
Very interesting that you mentioned the scythe; to me, and many people I've talked to who really appreciate Tolstoy, the scything of the grass represents the pinnacle of Tolstoy's prose. The ability to imbibe such a mundane activity with such meaning was to me astounding. Great books in your selection, cheers!
You moved Wives and Daughters waaay up my list from 'I'll get there' to 'this year!' Same for Anna Karenina. Also, love the term 'intellectually masturbate.'
Wives and Daughters is a magnificent book that I feel never receives enough attention. Persuasion is my favourite Austen novel as well. Interested to see what else has made your list of favourite books ever.
I always say that, as much as we love her, we are NOT Elizabeth Bennet. In fact I'm pretty sure I am mr John Knightley, unfortunately. My favourite Austen remains Emma. I also love Anna Karenina, I'm about to start a re-read after many years, I remember being pretty patient with Tolstoy up until he starts talking about bees or something. I'll be curious to see if War and Peace (my all time favourite book) gets a higher place in you top ten!
Never read War and Peace, so I'm also curious. And I've had conversations with my sister that go something like this: Me: "Too bad we'll never be as witty as Elizabeth Bennet, amirite?" Her: "But I actually am like Elizabeth Bennet." Me: ..........
It will be interesting to hear your opinions when you eventually read it. Ha! The other thing is that, if not witty as Elizabeth, people think they're wise and poised like Elinor Dashwood.
I just read Persuasion over the holidays! I loved most of it, I felt the second act was weaker than the first, but I totally agree the letter was AWESOME.
I think I'm going to find some interesting new books on your list. I only read TBJ from the ones you showed. Plath's writing was amazing but her poetry still scares me. I also loved the fig tree so I think you'll enjoy this illustration zenpencils.com/comic/130-sylvia-plath-the-fig-tree/ . Also, I have to say your channel is really calming because you don't show 30 books in one video like some other booktubers do. Few videos back I recommended you Krleža (On the Edge of Reason). Some other great Ex-Yu authors are Meša Selimović, Ivo Andrić and Danilo Kiš. I think you could also be interested in Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić who mainly wrote children's books but was nominated for Nobel Prize few times even though people still haven't heard of her.
I'm bookmarking this link so that I can look at it all the time - absolutely beautiful. Thanks for the recommendations, I really value them. And I definitely get stressed out from other booktube videos, so I'm glad mine don't make you feel that way!
The letter! The letter! I listened to it on audio last year, and I knew it was coming, but I still just *died*... anyway... So I haven't read Wives and Daughters. Maybe I should be doing a full read of Mrs. Gaskell's works... I didn't actually *love* North and South but I did love Cranford.
I didn't love North and South or Cranford, really. I liked them a lot, and there were some parts in Cranford that I found really moving, but Wives and Daughters was worlds apart for me
Haha! When I read Anna Karenina I was just irritated. I actually gave up and didn't read the last few chapters (wow, that sounds really bad, maybe I need to revisit this.) Gina
That sounds like a legitimate reaction! And the last few chapters get pretty preachy, if I remember correctly, so if you didn't like the juicier stuff it was a good decision to call it quits
You? Not say the cleverest thing at the right moment? Lies! I don't believe it. :) PS I always get Elizabeth Bennet on those online quizzes; that must mean it's true right? :D
Only watched this video now and I remember ranting on facebook about how I really wanted to not read about how to use scythes anymore hahaha That and the religious transcendence bit in the end made me so booored, but maybe it's just my atheism and lack of passion for gluten
![How should we read Anna Karenina? [The Common Room]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/WChICrpG3PU/mqdefault.jpg)
Ahhh, Anna Karenina ❤ One of my latest all-time favourites. I have read all of these and loved them at some point in my life, except for Wives and Daughters. I just read North and South and I really enjoyed it, so I'm hoping to get to Wives and Daughters this year!
Love hearing you talk about books!
Also, YES to your Lizzy Bennet comment. I wish I were a Lizzy but I actually worry that I am a Catherine...
Cool that we have such similar taste! I don't even know which Austen character I'd be...probably somebody peripheral and vaguely annoying, like Charlotte Lucas (the truth hurts)
Girl, the way you talk about books is epic. And you weren't kidding about a good number of the books on my classics TBR being your all-time favs! I'm even more excited to get to these now if that's possible...
Thanks, Olive :) There are even more from your TBR further up my list! I'd planned this series before you came out with your TBR and couldn't believe how much cross-over there was - can't wait to hear what you think about these books (even if you end up feeling meh about some of them)
It's a joy to find a booktuber so into classic literature and who talks about books in this way!! I especially loved the bit about Persuasion (my fave after Pride&Prejudice)
Thank you, it's a joy to find commenters who also love classics!
What a terrific video! I have not read the Plath or the Gaskell (Wives and Daughters is on my 2017 TBR) but I totally agree with you on Anna Karenina and Persuasion. My husband and I "buddy read" Anna Karenina several years ago which made for some lively dinner conversations. Shortly afterward we went to a local theatrical presentation of AK which was also fantastic. (I don't know what this says about us, but we both rather enjoyed most of the Levin scenes.) I am currently re-reading all of Austen's novels and am saving Persuasion for last because I love it so much.
You just described my dream marriage haha. I hope you like Wives and Daughters!
I actually love the way you talk about books, I can genuinely feel your passion and you're so wonderfully eloquent!
I've read all but the Gaskell, and I agree with you on those - I've only read Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice, and while I hated the latter, the former was a totally unexpected breath of fresh air!
Thank you. One of the first videos I ever watched of yours was one where you said you hated Pride and Prejudice, and I was like, "I need to hear all of her book opinions." I just find it so interesting that you had such different experiences with the same author!
Insert Literary Pun Here I know right? And haha, I'm used to being in the minority about P+P :)
Hi, Jennifer. Happy new year! You convinced me to add to my TBR list 'Persuasion' and 'Wives and Daughters' :) In another video you mentioned that you would like to read more books by central European authors this year. I am currently reading Milan Kundera's 'Immortality' and it's fantastic - an interesting blend of philosophical/psychological novel and meta-narrative. I highly recommend it!
Thanks for the recommendation! I loved The Unbearable Lightness of Being (it definitely fits the description you just gave), and I've been wanting to read more Kundera
I'm 100% with you on the fig tree image. Hit me hard when I read it at 17... and it still does. Soo painfully spot-on!
I have been wanting to read Wives and Daughters ever since falling in love with the bbc adaptation - but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. It's been on my bookshelf for years.....you've just convinced me that it is time. It's going on my TBR! And I avoided Persuasion when I was younger because I couldn't relate to her at that age, but now Anne really appeals to me. Great video!
Yay! Wives and Daughters takes ordinary interactions and makes beautiful portraits of them. (And now, if you end up hating it, I'll be squarely to blame - definitely let me know either way ;) )
haha I was telling my friend the other day to buy a book, and then as soon as she did I felt this immense responsibility - at least with Wives and Daughters I've already got the book :)
OMG!! I am soooo glad I found your channel! Your way of talking about the real heart of a story is so wonderful! I also loved The Bell Jar.. It has been a read that has stayed with me. It portrayed mental illness in a very realistic way. I suffer from depression, and I could identify so strongly with her... LOVED this video!
I read it before I had my first bout with depression, and it meant so much to me to go back to it during some of the worst periods of my life. Thank you for your support!
Yea! Persuasion is my favorite Austen too. I can't wait for the rest of your top 10.
I loooove this!!! If I could articulate about the books as eloquently as you do, I would be a booktuber as well lol. So Awesome
Awww I'm sure you could!!
Straight after this I'm picking up Persuasion and I'm looking for the others. CURSE YOU!! But also, you're more than welcome to keep going because I could happily listen to your literary rants and recommendations all day! I've read North and South (to become the most cliche person ever, yes I read it because of the BBC miniseries. And yes, I watched the miniseries because of Richard Armitage, but come on, Victorian Dwarf Lord!) and I really enjoyed the way Gaskell wrote, so with what you said about Wives and Daughters, I'm quite looking forward to reading that! And I've never been able to find a relatively cheap-isn cover of The Bell Jar that I like? Hmm. VERY much looking forward to the rest of your list :)
Thanks Molly! Exact same story for me with North and South - saw the BBC series, interpreted Armitage's bass drawl as the meaning of life, and read the book after. There's also a fantastic BBC series on Wives and Daughters, and I really liked the casting (even though the characters didn't look how I pictured them, they felt like I thought they'd feel, if that makes any sense)
God! I discovered you today and I'm going through all your videos. The Bell Jar! This book has a modern voice. I can't believe that it was written in the first half of the twentieth century. Its semi-autobiographical and it's scary that I relate to this book so much.
I haven't read many classics, but these all sound fantastic. Maybe I need to get some more on my TBR
I basically stopped reading classics last year, so this year I'm really trying to put them back on my TBR. (And these are totally fantastic, but of course I'm biased :) )
Great video, I love 9-7! Persuasion is definitely my favourite Austen for exactly the same reasons! I could not have put it better myself. Now I need to read the bell jar.
Do it! And it's always nice to find another Persuasion fan
I'm late to Jane Austen-- just read Pride and Prejudice in December, loved it, now have buddy read later this month for Sense and Sensibility. You've convinced me to make Persuasion next. I will forsake my dreams of ever being Lizzie Bennett.
Dream on, girl :) Have fun on your Austen journey!
The way you talked about Persuasion made me want to chuck in the rest of my day and re read it. 😊 it's my favourite Austen too. Have you seen the adaptation with Cillian Murphy? Wives and Daughters is the only Gaskell I haven't read, so clearly I need to get to that!
Haven't seen that adaptation - I've only seen the one with the Bath Marathon at the end
Is there an adaptation with Cillian Murphy?
So true about Persuasion's "special ache."
First, I'm actually watching these of order of when you filmed them. Second, I'm trying to decide which Austen novel I should read next. I've read Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.
5:56 yeah, that's where Tolstoy lost me. I may pick it back up in the future, after all, it did take me 3 tries to finish War and Peace
I've read and enjoyed three of these. In fact am getting set to revisit Wives and Daughters with a group on Goodreads.
Re Austen, I love Persuasion too but my least favourite is Sense and Sensibility mainly because Marianne gets on my nerves. Northanger I quite like.
I've read only one Russian classic in my life, Doctor Zhivago, and I finished it but didn't get on with at all. I found the lead protagonists who you are supposed to root for intensely unlikable people, which isn't a problem in itself, I've enjoyed plenty of books without liking the characters, but I felt as though the author was expecting everyone to like them. It was a few years ago I read it though, and I'd like to give another Russian classic a go. Is Anna Karenina a good one to try next do you think? Also, do you have a particular translation you would recommend? Since reading Doctor Zhivago I seems I picked the least preferred translation to read so I wonder if that had some baring on my lack of enjoyment.
I basically recommend Anna Karenina to everybody - just treat it like a giant soap opera and have a blast. I read it in college, and my professor recommended the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky version. One of them translates word-for-word from Russian, and the other goes through and makes things more idiomatic in English, and then the first one goes back and makes it more true to the Russian, etc. The collaboration seems like a really smart way to do things, and as far as I know their translations have been critically acclaimed
you want likeable lead character in a russian classic? Try 'the Idiot" by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I don't know anyone who doesn't love Prince Myshkin :)
I've read "The Bell Jar" (Plath is one of my all time favorite writers) as well as "Persuasion", and Indefinitely agree with what you said about both. Though, now I'd really like to read "Wives and Daughters" based on your description and praise.
After seing this video, I read Sylvia Plath's The bell jar. I read it without difficulty (I'm french), the writing is so good - it's so modern! Because of the style as well as the topics: the depression, the women condition, the society in the 50's. It gives another vision of the 50's, it shows the pressure of conformity at this period of time. Thank you for this recommendation! :-)
Omg! You've gotta read Mansfield Park-- its my favorite Austen by far!!
I have read it now! It's one of my favorites of hers too
I gave up on Anna Karenina during the lengthy Levin parts. I need to get back to it someday soon and finish it
Omg those parts dragged a lot, but I totally promise that the slog is worth it (it's actually a really small percentage of the book as a whole)!
I have that feeling with Romeo and Juliet. I remember when the Zefferelli movie came out, I walked out of the theater thinking, just once, I'd like her to wake up in time.
My favorite Austen novel is also Persuasion and my favorite hero is Captain Wenworth as well as Ann being my favorite heroine. I was going to read Wives and Daughters but after listening to your review, it will definitely be very soon.
The tragic thing about Wives and Daughters is that it's unfinished, so some of the grand culminating scenes aren't even in the book. But it's still brilliant, and there's always the ending of the BBC miniseries as a consolation prize :)
Very interesting that you mentioned the scythe; to me, and many people I've talked to who really appreciate Tolstoy, the scything of the grass represents the pinnacle of Tolstoy's prose. The ability to imbibe such a mundane activity with such meaning was to me astounding.
Great books in your selection, cheers!
The Bell Jar and Anna Karenina would probably make my list of top books of all time (although I do prefer War and Peace over Anna Karenina)
Interesting, haven't read W&P yet!
Insert Literary Pun Here I do recommend it
You moved Wives and Daughters waaay up my list from 'I'll get there' to 'this year!' Same for Anna Karenina. Also, love the term 'intellectually masturbate.'
Wives and Daughters is a magnificent book that I feel never receives enough attention. Persuasion is my favourite Austen novel as well. Interested to see what else has made your list of favourite books ever.
I agree, W&D is underrated!
I always say that, as much as we love her, we are NOT Elizabeth Bennet. In fact I'm pretty sure I am mr John Knightley, unfortunately. My favourite Austen remains Emma.
I also love Anna Karenina, I'm about to start a re-read after many years, I remember being pretty patient with Tolstoy up until he starts talking about bees or something. I'll be curious to see if War and Peace (my all time favourite book) gets a higher place in you top ten!
Never read War and Peace, so I'm also curious. And I've had conversations with my sister that go something like this:
Me: "Too bad we'll never be as witty as Elizabeth Bennet, amirite?"
Her: "But I actually am like Elizabeth Bennet."
Me: ..........
It will be interesting to hear your opinions when you eventually read it.
Ha! The other thing is that, if not witty as Elizabeth, people think they're wise and poised like Elinor Dashwood.
I just read Persuasion over the holidays! I loved most of it, I felt the second act was weaker than the first, but I totally agree the letter was AWESOME.
I read it a few years ago so I can't remember which half was better, but you could be right. Dat letter dough.
I think I'm going to find some interesting new books on your list. I only read TBJ from the ones you showed. Plath's writing was amazing but her poetry still scares me. I also loved the fig tree so I think you'll enjoy this illustration zenpencils.com/comic/130-sylvia-plath-the-fig-tree/ . Also, I have to say your channel is really calming because you don't show 30 books in one video like some other booktubers do.
Few videos back I recommended you Krleža (On the Edge of Reason). Some other great Ex-Yu authors are Meša Selimović, Ivo Andrić and Danilo Kiš. I think you could also be interested in Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić who mainly wrote children's books but was nominated for Nobel Prize few times even though people still haven't heard of her.
I'm bookmarking this link so that I can look at it all the time - absolutely beautiful. Thanks for the recommendations, I really value them. And I definitely get stressed out from other booktube videos, so I'm glad mine don't make you feel that way!
The letter! The letter! I listened to it on audio last year, and I knew it was coming, but I still just *died*... anyway...
So I haven't read Wives and Daughters. Maybe I should be doing a full read of Mrs. Gaskell's works... I didn't actually *love* North and South but I did love Cranford.
I didn't love North and South or Cranford, really. I liked them a lot, and there were some parts in Cranford that I found really moving, but Wives and Daughters was worlds apart for me
I have never wanted to read Anna Karenina until this video. Now it's... all I want to read?!
It's so FUN, which I didn't expect at all. And moving and frustrating and thrumming with life. I wish I hadn't been so afraid of it for so long!
Haha! When I read Anna Karenina I was just irritated. I actually gave up and didn't read the last few chapters (wow, that sounds really bad, maybe I need to revisit this.)
Gina
That sounds like a legitimate reaction! And the last few chapters get pretty preachy, if I remember correctly, so if you didn't like the juicier stuff it was a good decision to call it quits
the bell jar!
Fav trans of Anna?
You? Not say the cleverest thing at the right moment? Lies! I don't believe it. :)
PS I always get Elizabeth Bennet on those online quizzes; that must mean it's true right? :D
Haha anyone can be clever on script :)
unless u're lydia and wickham in which case u get each other lmao 💀
Only watched this video now and I remember ranting on facebook about how I really wanted to not read about how to use scythes anymore hahaha That and the religious transcendence bit in the end made me so booored, but maybe it's just my atheism and lack of passion for gluten
(This is about Anna Karenina, btw hahaha)
I love the book, but Lucy got on my dang nerves with her insipid personality and she reminded me Melanie Wilkes. Melanie's naivety drove me crazy.
I think that the most rational thing anybody can do is commit suicide but it takes an enormous amount of courage. Enormous.
Holy crap are you ok?!?