Yessss, Agnes Grey!! 🎉🎉 I hope you love it as much as I did! Anna Karenina and Crime and Punishment are both good starting points for Russian literature. Those were the first two I read. Anna Karenina is long, but I found Tolstoy to be surprisingly accessible. His novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a great starting point for Tolstoy as well! It’s definitely true that when you start reading more classics, the easier it is to grasp the language!
Ten recommended books: 1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens; 2. Price and Prejudice by Jane Austen; 3. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins; 4. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte; 5. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde; 6. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell; 7. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo; 8. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky; 9. One Month in the Country by L.R.Carr 10. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Just a suggestion for a reading list ! Regards from GB.
I think you should start Anthony Trollope with The Belton Estate. It's a standalone and free on project Gutenberg. If you want to star Barchester, then go with The Warden.... it comes before Barchester Towers.
I highly recommend Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It's my only 5/5 ⭐ read so far this year. Also recommend reading The Warden first for background, and then read Barchester Towers which is sooooo entertaining and delightful 😁
Thanks for the rec! Jane Eyre is definitely on my TBR! I knew Barchester Towers was part of a series. I wasn’t sure if I needed to read them in order. Thank you!
I have been leaning towards classics too! And it feels good. 🥰 I’m so glad you made a video about them. I just started diving into them about a year ago from watching Chantel’s recommendations. I read Jane Eyre last year and fell in love with it. It’s one of my top favorites now! I would say that book is what hooked me for classics. I also enjoyed Frankenstein, The Christmas Carol and Northanger Abbey. Anne of Green Gables and The Hobbit! 🙌🏻 So many good ones. I want to read North and South, Persuasion, Great Expectations and perhaps more Bronte’s this year. I’m still reading my Christian fiction but definitely craving classics too! 😊
I love Chantel’s channel. I’ve been watching it for years! I read a kids “classic” abridged version of Jane Eyre when I was super young. I definitely plan to read it eventually! I’m still reading Christian Fiction too! Just been very focused on classics lately!
Comstance Garnett hasn't steered me wrong yet! Yes, let Courtney help you! I haven't read Wilkie Collins or Anthony Trollop yet either! I love Dickens. I would say no more than two chapters a day though. He is overwhelming so take it slow. I recommend Nicholas Nickleby for starting point. Its.so good! Also, Oliver Twist or David Copperfield are good jumping off points. A Tale of Two Cities is a favorite, but it was a historical fiction in his day, so it is even more daunting because of that. 😅
Yes for Russian literature! And Constance Garnett is my favorite translator! Some of us are planning to read Crime and Punishment together in September (if I remember correctly) so you could join us if you want! But I'm always up for a buddy read of anything Russian if you want 😊 Anthony Trollope is great, I love his writing. It reminds me of Austen quite a bit, actually. Barchester Towers is my favorite of his that I've read. It's second in the Barsetshire Chronciles series (The Warden is the first book) but you don't have to read them in order if you don't want to. Pride and Prejudice is wonderful ❤ the miniseries is one of my favorites. Northanger Abbey is my favorite, but I love them all. Dickens is a writer that I love but I have to approach his work slowly to grasp it. A chapter or two a day usually works well for me. A Tale of Two Citities is my favorite from him. Basically this is a great list and I would buddy read pretty much any of them with you if you want!
Oh I’m glad to know that my translation of crime and punishment is a good one! lol. I may save it for the buddy read! I’m so looking forward to reading Trollope. What you say about Dickens makes sense. I think that may be how I have to approach his books too. I would love to buddy read a classic sometime!
The Garnett translation wasn't for me. I really struggled to get into C&P and restarted several times. I then purchased the P&V translation and it made a world of difference. Last year I read Crime and Punishment and The Brother's Karamazov by Dostoevsky in the P&V translation as well as War and Peace in the Briggs translation. I have Anna Karenina in the P&V and think I'm going to save it for next winter. What helped me w/ Shakespeare was on the first go round to watch a performance and follow along. Be careful though, getting into Shakespeare can derail the rest of your reading plans. I find myself drifting back to it while reading other works. My goal was to read one play a month this year but I took March off.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m basically clueless when it comes to translations and translators. What is P&V? I’m still deciding where I plan to start with Russian Lit. Good suggestion about watching a Shakespeare while also reading it!
I made an attempt at reading The Brothers Karamazov years ago and found that I was not in the right emotional mood to tackle it. I started Dune instead and have slowly been working through it. I am still reading Dune now 😅 Dune is a challenge for me, so it is difficult to get through. It is interesting, but too heavy for me personally to be a page turner. Hopefully I can give Russian literature another go after I have finished Dune. I quickly (for me) read through the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan #1-4 while I was pregnant in 2023 to give myself something to do and to focus on when I was feeling tired. I will be taking a break from the series before trying #5. All of the classics that you mentioned look interesting!
Is dune sci fi? I haven’t heard a lot about it. I know the movie just came out. From what I’ve heard, Russian Literature can be pretty heavy! So I think I will have to be in the right mood too.
@@bethanybringsbooks Yes, Dune is considered to be one of the best sci-fi books, as well as a sci-fi classic. It is pretty political and analytical. Dune was a significant source of inspiration for the Star Wars series, and parallels can be seen between the two.
CZcams recommended your video, good luck with your classics journey - yes the more you read the easier they become. Dickens - Great Expectations is an easier introduction and is a really superb book Wilkie Collins - I've just read Moonstone - very good but if I had to choose then Woman in White gets the nod - a real page turner. Russian Classics - Crime and Punishment - I read the Constance Garnett translation and it was fine The great books are big - Anna K, War & Peace, Brothers Karaz. There are lots of Russian names that are difficult to pronounce. Don't be put off by this - pronounce the names how you want to and don't worry about it. The chapters are small and so you get through the book bit by bit and before you know it you are half way through (Dickens chapters are the same) Dostoevsky is only "difficult" in that he demands your attention they are deeply philosophical works beyond the premise of the storyline. They are well worth the time - some of the greatest works, if not the greatest of all times. Maybe start off with something a biy=t smaller as an intro to Russian lit - Tolstoy's (3rd in pecking order and lesser known) Resurrection is shorter and fabulous. Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons is short and excellent. Shakespeare - perhaps start with a comedy to ease yourself in Sorry for the long essay, lol
These are all amazing options!! I am really excited to hear your thoughts about Pride and Prejudice. I just reread it last year so I'm not up for another reread of it yet, but I'm really curious how you will like it. I've read a lot by Elizabeth Gaskell, but not Ruth yet. I really want to! I loooove Dickens.i understand why people don't like him or find him intimidating, but I absolutely love his prose and his characters. For Shakespeare, I've been working through his comedies first. His tragedies and histories are daunting to meet, but I have really enjoyed the comedies I've read, which has been quite a few of them. Much Ado About Nothing is a favorite. I've not read Dostoyevsky yet 😬 but I've read a few other really good Russian works. I really liked Anna Karenina. Currently I'm reading Eugene Onegin which is really good.
I love Austen! Mansfield Park is actually my least favorite of her completed works, and Pride and Prejudice is my favorite. But I still like Mansfield. Fanny is precious. I read Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, and it was pretty good. I'd like to get to Agnes Grey! We have pretty much the exact same thoughts about Wuthering Heights. I actually really like Shakespeare. Please don't start with Romeo and Juliet, though. It's definitely not as good as the rest of his stuff. I have no idea why that's the one we all read in high school. No, that cover doesn't really match the themes of Frankenstein. It isn't my favorite classic, but it was pretty good. I really want to read Ruth! I haven't read much Dickens, but Christmas Carol is really all I've liked of his. But I really like the Little Dorrit miniseries, so I might read that one. But it's really long. My English major was really showing in this comment, wasn't it? 😂😂
I’m really enjoying Mansfield Park. I’m interested to see what my favorite of her works will be. I have Tenant of Wildfell Hall on my TBR! Yea, I think I’m going to read Macbeth first? It’s the No Fear Shakespeare copy that I own.
Agnes Grey is great! Another great Brontë novel is Jane Eyre! Pride and Prejudice is definitely a great book.
I’m really looking forward to Agnes Grey. I plan to read Jane Eyre eventually.
So many awesome books!!! Ruth ❤❤❤❤ I get why some people don't love it as much, but I thought it was so powerful!
I’m looking forward to reading it.
Yessss, Agnes Grey!! 🎉🎉 I hope you love it as much as I did!
Anna Karenina and Crime and Punishment are both good starting points for Russian literature. Those were the first two I read. Anna Karenina is long, but I found Tolstoy to be surprisingly accessible. His novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a great starting point for Tolstoy as well!
It’s definitely true that when you start reading more classics, the easier it is to grasp the language!
I’m looking forward to it! Thanks for the suggestions!
Ten recommended books:
1. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens;
2. Price and Prejudice by Jane Austen;
3. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins;
4. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte;
5. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde;
6. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell;
7. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo;
8. Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky;
9. One Month in the Country by L.R.Carr
10. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
Just a suggestion for a reading list !
Regards from GB.
Thank you! Sounds like a great list! One or two that I haven’t heard of. Many of these are on my tbr!
I think you should start Anthony Trollope with The Belton Estate. It's a standalone and free on project Gutenberg.
If you want to star Barchester, then go with The Warden.... it comes before Barchester Towers.
Thank you for the tip!
I highly recommend Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It's my only 5/5 ⭐ read so far this year. Also recommend reading The Warden first for background, and then read Barchester Towers which is sooooo entertaining and delightful 😁
Thanks for the rec! Jane Eyre is definitely on my TBR!
I knew Barchester Towers was part of a series. I wasn’t sure if I needed to read them in order. Thank you!
I have been leaning towards classics too! And it feels good. 🥰 I’m so glad you made a video about them. I just started diving into them about a year ago from watching Chantel’s recommendations. I read Jane Eyre last year and fell in love with it. It’s one of my top favorites now! I would say that book is what hooked me for classics. I also enjoyed Frankenstein, The Christmas Carol and Northanger Abbey. Anne of Green Gables and The Hobbit! 🙌🏻 So many good ones. I want to read North and South, Persuasion, Great Expectations and perhaps more Bronte’s this year. I’m still reading my Christian fiction but definitely craving classics too! 😊
I love Chantel’s channel. I’ve been watching it for years! I read a kids “classic” abridged version of Jane Eyre when I was super young. I definitely plan to read it eventually! I’m still reading Christian Fiction too! Just been very focused on classics lately!
Best wishes with what you choose to read. I hope you get some great stories.
Thank you!
You named a few that I loved and a few I haven’t read but I cannot believe I’ve never heard of Ruth! I loved North and South and Cranford by her.
I can’t wait to read another of hers!
No Fear Shakespeare!
Yes! That’s it!
Im excited for you to read P &P!!
Me too!
Comstance Garnett hasn't steered me wrong yet! Yes, let Courtney help you! I haven't read Wilkie Collins or Anthony Trollop yet either! I love Dickens. I would say no more than two chapters a day though. He is overwhelming so take it slow. I recommend Nicholas Nickleby for starting point. Its.so good! Also, Oliver Twist or David Copperfield are good jumping off points. A Tale of Two Cities is a favorite, but it was a historical fiction in his day, so it is even more daunting because of that. 😅
Also, for Shakespeare, I love A Midsummer Night's Dream!
Thank you for the recommendations! I think a couple chapters a day sounds like a good plan!
Yes for Russian literature! And Constance Garnett is my favorite translator! Some of us are planning to read Crime and Punishment together in September (if I remember correctly) so you could join us if you want! But I'm always up for a buddy read of anything Russian if you want 😊
Anthony Trollope is great, I love his writing. It reminds me of Austen quite a bit, actually. Barchester Towers is my favorite of his that I've read. It's second in the Barsetshire Chronciles series (The Warden is the first book) but you don't have to read them in order if you don't want to.
Pride and Prejudice is wonderful ❤ the miniseries is one of my favorites. Northanger Abbey is my favorite, but I love them all.
Dickens is a writer that I love but I have to approach his work slowly to grasp it. A chapter or two a day usually works well for me. A Tale of Two Citities is my favorite from him.
Basically this is a great list and I would buddy read pretty much any of them with you if you want!
Oh I’m glad to know that my translation of crime and punishment is a good one! lol. I may save it for the buddy read!
I’m so looking forward to reading Trollope.
What you say about Dickens makes sense. I think that may be how I have to approach his books too. I would love to buddy read a classic sometime!
The Garnett translation wasn't for me. I really struggled to get into C&P and restarted several times. I then purchased the P&V translation and it made a world of difference. Last year I read Crime and Punishment and The Brother's Karamazov by Dostoevsky in the P&V translation as well as War and Peace in the Briggs translation. I have Anna Karenina in the P&V and think I'm going to save it for next winter.
What helped me w/ Shakespeare was on the first go round to watch a performance and follow along. Be careful though, getting into Shakespeare can derail the rest of your reading plans. I find myself drifting back to it while reading other works. My goal was to read one play a month this year but I took March off.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’m basically clueless when it comes to translations and translators. What is P&V? I’m still deciding where I plan to start with Russian Lit. Good suggestion about watching a Shakespeare while also reading it!
I made an attempt at reading The Brothers Karamazov years ago and found that I was not in the right emotional mood to tackle it. I started Dune instead and have slowly been working through it. I am still reading Dune now 😅 Dune is a challenge for me, so it is difficult to get through. It is interesting, but too heavy for me personally to be a page turner. Hopefully I can give Russian literature another go after I have finished Dune. I quickly (for me) read through the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan #1-4 while I was pregnant in 2023 to give myself something to do and to focus on when I was feeling tired. I will be taking a break from the series before trying #5.
All of the classics that you mentioned look interesting!
Is dune sci fi? I haven’t heard a lot about it. I know the movie just came out. From what I’ve heard, Russian Literature can be pretty heavy! So I think I will have to be in the right mood too.
@@bethanybringsbooks Yes, Dune is considered to be one of the best sci-fi books, as well as a sci-fi classic. It is pretty political and analytical. Dune was a significant source of inspiration for the Star Wars series, and parallels can be seen between the two.
I am planning to read Pride and Prejudice for the first time next month. I have wanted to read that for a while.
I’m looking forward to that one!
CZcams recommended your video, good luck with your classics journey - yes the more you read the easier they become.
Dickens - Great Expectations is an easier introduction and is a really superb book
Wilkie Collins - I've just read Moonstone - very good but if I had to choose then Woman in White gets the nod - a real page turner.
Russian Classics - Crime and Punishment - I read the Constance Garnett translation and it was fine
The great books are big - Anna K, War & Peace, Brothers Karaz. There are lots of Russian names that are difficult to pronounce. Don't be put off by this - pronounce the names how you want to and don't worry about it.
The chapters are small and so you get through the book bit by bit and before you know it you are half way through (Dickens chapters are the same) Dostoevsky is only "difficult" in that he demands your attention they are deeply philosophical works beyond the premise of the storyline.
They are well worth the time - some of the greatest works, if not the greatest of all times. Maybe start off with something a biy=t smaller as an intro to Russian lit - Tolstoy's (3rd in pecking order and lesser known) Resurrection is shorter and fabulous. Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons is short and excellent.
Shakespeare - perhaps start with a comedy to ease yourself in
Sorry for the long essay, lol
Thanks for the recommendations! It all sounds great. I appreciate it! I’m looking forward to the journey.
I love David Copperfield by Dickens and The Woman in White by Collins was chillingly good. 🤓
I’m looking forward to Wilkie Collins! Don’t know where I will start with Dickens lol!
Great Expectations.
I read Frankenstein years ago and i was surprised at how much i liked it, it is very different from what you think it would be, more sad
These are all amazing options!! I am really excited to hear your thoughts about Pride and Prejudice. I just reread it last year so I'm not up for another reread of it yet, but I'm really curious how you will like it. I've read a lot by Elizabeth Gaskell, but not Ruth yet. I really want to! I loooove Dickens.i understand why people don't like him or find him intimidating, but I absolutely love his prose and his characters. For Shakespeare, I've been working through his comedies first. His tragedies and histories are daunting to meet, but I have really enjoyed the comedies I've read, which has been quite a few of them. Much Ado About Nothing is a favorite. I've not read Dostoyevsky yet 😬 but I've read a few other really good Russian works. I really liked Anna Karenina. Currently I'm reading Eugene Onegin which is really good.
I have to research Shakespeare more! I’m not clear on what are his tragedies vs comedies. I’m so excited about reading more Classics.
I hadn’t heard about Eugene Onegin until I saw you mention him on your video.
I love Austen! Mansfield Park is actually my least favorite of her completed works, and Pride and Prejudice is my favorite. But I still like Mansfield. Fanny is precious.
I read Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, and it was pretty good. I'd like to get to Agnes Grey! We have pretty much the exact same thoughts about Wuthering Heights.
I actually really like Shakespeare. Please don't start with Romeo and Juliet, though. It's definitely not as good as the rest of his stuff. I have no idea why that's the one we all read in high school.
No, that cover doesn't really match the themes of Frankenstein. It isn't my favorite classic, but it was pretty good.
I really want to read Ruth!
I haven't read much Dickens, but Christmas Carol is really all I've liked of his. But I really like the Little Dorrit miniseries, so I might read that one. But it's really long.
My English major was really showing in this comment, wasn't it? 😂😂
I’m really enjoying Mansfield Park. I’m interested to see what my favorite of her works will be.
I have Tenant of Wildfell Hall on my TBR!
Yea, I think I’m going to read Macbeth first? It’s the No Fear Shakespeare copy that I own.
I loved watching the Little Dorrit TV series!
Did you major in English in college?
@@bethanybringsbooks Macbeth is pretty good! It is kinda creepy in parts, though.
Yes, I did!
You might like Dr. Zchivago by Boris Pasternak. 🤷♀️ The movie is good.
I’ve heard of that one. I need to add to my TBR
Did you ever watch Kate Howe? She is very into Victorian literature. She would be helpful.
I subscribed to her channel! I need to go watch some of her videos.