50 Short Classics you should try

Follow Me Elsewhere:
instagram: @_rubygranger
tiktok: @rubygranger8
goodreads: Ruby Granger

Frequently Asked Questions:
😇 How old are you? 22
📝 What are you studying? I just finished studying English Literature at the University of Exeter. But we are students for life, and I hope that I will continue learning even though I am out of structured education.

Timestamps (kindly contributed by spalanai)
0:00 Intro
0:44 I'm starting a book club! (ad)
5:03 A Christmas Carol
5:54 The Greengage Summer
6:15 Animal Farm
6:48 Breakfast at Tiffany’s
7:16 De Profundis
7:44 The Stranger
8:36 Bartleby, the Scrivener
9:15 A Room of One’s Own
9:55 The Great Gatsby
10:23 The Diamond as Big as the Ritz
11:13 Songs of Innocence and Experience
11:23 Macbeth
12:17 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
12:43 Fahrenheit 451
13:05 The Hound of Baskervilles
13:41 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
14:16 Ariel
14:53 Picnic at Hanging Rock
15:09 The Nutcracker
15:24 The Tell-tale Heart
16:06 On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts
16:27 The Pleasure of Hating
16:50 The Metamorphosis
17:32 The Professor’s House
18:05 Death in Venice
18:49 Meditations
19:21 Meno
19:42 Hero and Leander
19:50 Frankenstein
20:27 Gulliver’s Travels
20:46 Nature
21:04 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
21:29 Blithe Spirit
21:39 The Woman in Black
21:55 The Problems of Philosophy
22:10 Of Mice and Men
22:27 Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
23:02 Don’t Look Now and Other Stories
23:21 Song of Myself
23:38 The Secret Garden
24:01 A Little Princess
24:40 The Sandman
25:12 The Waste Land
26:21 A Night to Remember
26:40 The Painter Modern Life
26:57 The Yellow Wallpaper
27:20 Peter Pan
27:38 I Am David
28:17 Outro

[nadineebada]

If anyone wants a reference to the book titles to come back to here you go! i know i always love it when someone does this under book rec videos. (though you should really watch the video ruby talking about books is always so fun )
-
- A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
- The Greengage Summer
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
-Breakfast at Tiffany's
-De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
- The Stranger/ The Outsider by Albert Camus
- Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
-A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Diamond as Big as the Ritz by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Songs of Innocence and Experience
- Macbeth
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
-Fahrenheit 451
- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
- Ariel by Sylvia Plath
-. Picnic at Hanging Rock
- The Nutcracker
- The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
- On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts
- On the Pleasure of Hating
- The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
- The Professor's House
- Death in Venice
- Meditations by Descartes
- Meno by Plato
- Hero and Leander
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
- Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson
-The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas (and other short stories) by Ursula K. Le Guin
- Blithe Spirit
-The Woman in Black by Susan Hill
- The Problem of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
- Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
- Oranges are Not the Only Fruit
-Don't Look Now (and other short stories) by Daphne Du Maurier
- Song of Myself by Walt Whitman
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
-The Sandman by E. T. A. Hoffmann
-The Waste Land by T.S. Elliot
- A Night to Remember
- The Painter of Modern Life by Charles Baudelaire
- The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
- Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
- I am David by Anne Holm

if i missed some please let me know and ill add them on !

[jeremiahbok]

Who else would've been all for a 50 minute book video? Ruby, if you're reading this, when it comes to books, long videos are pure tea with some dark chocolate eaten with it.

[spalanai]

5:03 A Christmas Carol
5:54 The Greengage Summer
6:15 Animal Farm
6:48 Breakfast at Tiffany’s
7:16 De Profundis
7:44 The Stranger
8:36 Bartleby, the Scrivener
9:15 A Room of One’s Own
9:55 The Great Gatsby
10:23 The Diamond as Big as the Ritz
11:13 Songs of Innocence and Experience
11:23 Macbeth
12:17 Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
12:43 Fahrenheit 451
13:05 The Hound of Baskervilles
13:41 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
14:16 Ariel
14:53 Picnic at Hanging Rock
15:09 The Nutcracker
15:24 The Tell-tale Heart
16:06 On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts
16:27 The Pleasure of Hating
16:50 The Metamorphosis
17:32 The Professor’s House
18:05 Death in Venice
18:49 Meditations
19:21 Meno
19:42 Hero and Leander
19:50 Frankenstein
20:27 Gulliver’s Travels
20:46 Nature
21:04 The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
21:29 Blithe Spirit
21:39 The Woman in Black
21:55 The Problems of Philosophy
22:10 Of Mice and Men
22:27 Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
23:02 Don’t Look Now and Other Stories
23:21 Song of Myself
23:38 The Secret Garden
24:01 A Little Princess
24:40 The Sandman
25:12 The Waste Land
26:21 A Night to Remember
26:40 The Painter Modern Life
26:57 The Yellow Wallpaper
27:20 Peter Pan
27:38 I Am David

Do correct me where I am wrong or if I have missed any! Also, thank you Ruby <3

[jeremiahbok]

Ruby be taking a spin into booktube territory and I love it. She's done a lot of book videos in the past but it seems to be a regular thing now and I am all freaking for it.

[circleofleaves]

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is *not* Jeanette Winterson's memoirs. It is a novel. It is metafiction novel that is autobiographical, yes, but still a novel. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal is her memoir. They do tie together though.

[jimcooper]

My absolute favorite thing about your book vids is how your eyes literally light up with excitement when sharing your thoughts on these wonderful stories. A fantastic list of recommendations, I took copious notes! 🙂

[sophiaisabelle]

We wish you well, Ruby. We appreciate your effort and hard work through the years.

[MrVladier]

I like that you put in a lot of philosophy works. Great philosophy is usually great literature!

[JulEnglefaris]

YES Steinbeck. Glad he made the list. He has quite a bit of short books. The Pearl and The Red Pony are also great books by him.

[sprivaRRT]

Enchanted April is one of my top 10 films of all time. It always felt like a mini vacation, soul-soothing, and at the end felt like I was there. I read the book after seeing the movie which made the imagery so much more vibrant for me. Looking forward to reading it again!

[HeyyyitsBell]

Voltaire’s Candide is another great classic, and it’s only just over 100 pages. Super underrated imo, and it’s surprisingly funny.

[katyajohanna]

What a lovely collection of classics. This definetly lenghened my books to read list. I already have read a bunch of these books and can only recommend it. For this year I set myself the goal to read many classics and it is going very well so far. As a german I have to add Faust by Goethe (we had to read it in school and even though I wasn t super enthusiastic in the beginning I ended up loving it, though I liked Iphigenie on Tauris better), Dürrenmatts plays, the visit and my favorite the Physicists, which are both rather short and very exiting, I also am a big fan of Hermann Hesse. There a books for each season, I am reading the spring one right now. The edition I own even has paintings by Hesse in it. If you are interested in Dracula, but it seems intemitating, try Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. From the same author as the Sandman I loved Mademoiselle de Scuderi. It is a criminal story set in the 16th century Paris and very investing. Speaking of criminal stories we cannot forget the queen of crime Agatha Christie. While she has plenty phenomenal stories, I started my Christie reading journey with Murder in the Vicaragy. I love about it, that while Ms. Marple is an important character it is told from the pov of the priest. A book I read for a class in just one night was the novella Linewalker Thiel. It is almost set up like a fairytale, but super tragic and dark. I just love the allover vibe of it. That is all I can think of right now. I am not sure, if all of them are under 200 pages, but I read all of them in just some days, or even one evening, so I believe they should be about that long. Have fun reading.

[carolaustin]

I loved this video, Ruby. You are so articulate and have reawakened my interest in some of these books, as well as introducing me to new ones.

[rachelwalker]

This made me realize I had read a lot more of the (shorter) classics than I thought! I, unfortunately, should reread a few as I had a poor English professor who dampened my love of reading for a time when I read most of them

[carolynmarshall]

I love listening to you AND your recommendations. I soo wish I could go back in time and study literature, I hated reading as a child but now at 58 cannot be without a book and like you very much like Classics. Wish my English was as good as yours, you would make such a good teacher 📚

[smritiagarwal]

This kind of bookish video is what I crave for. So many new book recommendations. Thank you

[gwenhughes]

One of my favorite videos of yours so far! Thank you for the recommendations.

[iterumm]

F451 was the book that made me start reading adult literature when i was 13, after that i just needed more! i just picked up anne carson’s translation of the bacchae yesterday which is only about 90 pages as well

[smrutiranjannayak]

Watching your videos takes my anxiety away❤. Love you.

[julianalfarochacon]

I've read Sherlock Holmes & The hound of Baskervilles. Such a good book, can confirm it's worth the read