thelittlebookowl

Today I am going to be continuing on with recommendations series and the topic of this post is my favourite classics. I have posted a Where to start with classics post, which you can check out here, and all of those books are part of my favourite classics as well. For this post, I have picked five other classics that I love and would recommend to anyone.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall / Anne Bronte

From the least well known Bronte sister, this book is a tale of marital cruelty – we meet Helen Graham, a mysterious tenant, who is the subject of the town’s gossip and throughout the book we learn more about her story. I absolutely love this book. I really enjoyed the way it was written, and although I think some people feel the middle drags abit,  I didn’t have that issue. I think Helen is such an amazing and interesting female character, and it is (I think) quite accessible to a variety of readers. This book is definitely up there with Jane Eyre (by one of Anne’s sisters) as one of my all time favourite classics.

 

War and Peace / Leo Tolstoy

This is a translated classic. Originally in Russian, this book is pretty big – the edition I have (Penguin Clothbound) is around 1400 pages long. However do not be intimidated by the size. Yes you will have to put time aside to get through it, and yes it is very long but once you get past the first few chapters (and used to the names) you will be completely engaged with the story and characters. I was pleasantly surprised how easily I got into this classic. I never thought that I would read it – my dad has been telling me to read it for years but I was always intimidated by the size and I thought that it would be too dense for me, but then I saw the BBC adaptation (which I also recommend) and was intrigued to pick it up. I am so glad that I did. I loved it and would definitely recommend to everyone.

 

North and South / Elizabeth Gaskell

This classic is probably one of the first that I ever read. It follows Margaret who, along with her father, mother and servant, have to move from a rural village to the industrial town of Milton and they must all adjust to this new surrounding. I absolutely love this book – it is one of the books that really got me into classics, I think. I personally love Gaskell’s writing and characters. She is probably one of my favourite classic authors and this book is definitely my favourite book of hers so far. If you haven’t read this book yet and you love classics, you need to read this.

 

Persuasion / Jane Austen

Persuasion is possibly my favourite Austen book, with Pride and Prejudice a very close second. Maybe they can be my joint favourite. Anyway this book follows twenty-seven year old Anne Elliot who encounters Captain Wentworth, the man she had loved but had been persuaded to break off the engagement to, eight years. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and characters: it also contains an amazing love letter. I would recommend any Austen book, but this one is probably my favourite.

 

Far from the Madding Crowd / Thomas Hardy

This was my first Hardy novel and it follows Bathsheba Everdeen as she takes up her position of a farmer in one of the largest estates in the area and manages to attract the attention of three different men. Although you will most likely question Bathsheba’s motives/actions (I definitely did), you will really enjoy the development of the plot and characters. The descriptive writing style works really well with plot and creates an amazing setting. I highly recommend this and I am interested to read more by Thomas Hardy in the future.

 

Let me know if you have any classic recommendations for me in the comments. I have a whole load of classics that I want to read: it’s just a case of getting to them all :). I hope you are all having a wonderful day.

 

See you next time

 

Pippa