reviewing EVERY classic I’ve read, ONE SENTENCE each.

Have you ever nodded and smiled when someone mentions a classic book at a party?! Let's talk literature, snobbery and what I really thought of all of the 'masterpieces' I have read so far.
Being in the club means you get: a free weekly podcast, access to a secret facebook group, a free poetry collection and play written by me, access to livestreams AND you get to access to all my videos before anyone else sees them!

// COME AND HANG WITH ME IN BETWEEN UPLOADS //

00:00 intro
04:38 the books
12:38 closing thoughts on 'canon'

Books mentioned:
Pamela
Heart of Darkness
Pride and Prejudice
Margery Kemp
Great Gatsby
1984
Catcher in the Rye
Mrs. Dalloway
Animal Farm
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Howard’s End
Beloved
Jane Eyre
Paradise Lost
The Lonely Londoners
Emma
A Room of One’s Own
Treasure Island
Swallows & Amazons
Maus
The Hobbit
The Bible
Remains of the Day
Persuasion
Turn of the Shrew
Stone Butch Blues
Catch 22
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
The Drowned World
A Christmas Carol
Leaves of Grass
Villette
The Communist Manifesto
Bleak House
Hard Times
Love Letters between Virginia Woolf & Vita
The Master and Margarita
The Bloody Chamber
Oranges are Not the Only Fruit
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Rape of the Lock
The Souls of Black Folk
The Soul of Man Under Socialism
Alice in Wonderland
The Wizard of Oz
The Handmaid's Tale
She
The Good Terrorist
Sir Gawain and the green knight

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[samanthabartlett]

Cracking up that you're more concerned about upsetting the Tolkien stans than bashing the bible 🤣

[Littlebeth]

I propose a drunk bookclub for reading books in middle English

[katierose]

Had to pause two minutes in to give proper praise to "if you're reading for fun, the emphasis must be on fun" @ all the people who are critical of what others read in their spare time! I work a full time office job with an hour commute each way, I will not be criticised for reading a romcom on my precious 30 minute lunch break!!!

[EricKarlAnderson]

I've never been at a party and said "Darling, that is *so* Middlemarch" but now I will. 💁🏻‍♂️ Loved this video! ❤️📚

[laurenc]

I'm currently getting my Ph.D. in English lit. and I feel like ppl have this misconception that we just sit around reading massive "classic" novels 24/7 when I haven't read a "classic" novel in over a year. It's mostly academic articles, other academic articles, and oh more academic articles.

[xeshacinds]

'male, pale, and stale' HAHAHAHA this is the best description of the canon ever

[partygirlbg]

Please read The Count of Monte Christo, litterally the most readable classic i've ever read and I've also read quite a few. It seems long, but definitely worth it.

[phamtrinhyenchi]

I love the "we're all missing out" part. So true. There've always been so many talents that were never discovered, nurtured, or even allowed

[lizehhh]

Regarding the fact that the books that have now become classics aren't necessarily the books that were being read: if you look at the books that were being published in the Netherlands in the 19th century, there were actually quite a lot of books being written by women and female writers were actually well represented within the best selling lists. But as soon as academics would get involved and started analysing and critiquing and ranking, the male writers would find their way into the canon and the female writers would fade into oblivion. And it's been going that way ever since...

[thebugbear]

Look, look. Did I, in retrospect, identify with The Catcher in the Rye because I was also completely abandoned by the adults around me and thought it was my responsibility to never need any help? Maybe. But I don't appreciate how clearly everyone sees that now.

[indeeruh]

My favorite classic - FRANKENSTEIN. It's so so incredible, one of the most thought-provoking books I've ever read. If you're interested in meditating on what it means to be a human, I HIGHLY recommend it.

[TheHelican]

I completely agree with the entire premise of this whole video BUT, I gotta say, John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men' is one of the most moving reads I've ever experienced, and I gotta say.... when I'm Empress of Literature, it's gonna be a must read.

Also, side note: Margery Kempe was not the first woman to author a book in known record! There's a japanese novel called The Tale of Genji which was written by a noblewoman called Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th Century. So you can relinquish your Thatcher-y vibes on that one (if you feel so inclined)!

[abseurde]

I absolutely *loved* this video and, as a PhD student at Cambridge in EngLit, disagreed with almost every single evaluation. That’s brilliant, though - different interpretations of the same works is what makes this field so endlessly fascinating!

[hannahweston]

I effing LOVE Anne of Green Gables so much it is such a gorgeous book (also haven’t reread in about a decade so couldn’t say how it holds up but I would hazard that it would be amazingly!!)

[anna-nezk]

had to pause it at 0:10 already because damn. every time i come to this channel i just feel so comforted. like. immediately felt happy watching this. gonna have a good time watching the rest. thank you leena for the great vids as always

[kokoerdmann]

I would really recommend reading classics of other countries! I read "the incredible lightness of being" which is very male, but also very good and a czech classic.

[tabithasophia]

I love, love, love James Baldwin. Giovanni's room, Go Tell it on the Mountain, and Another Country are three of my favourite books!

[chloejlambert]

To kill a Mockingbird is very readable, I remember picking it up for my English A-Level and assuming it would be a snooze-fest, then read the whole thing in one sitting. I loved Anna Karenina when I read it about 10 years ago but it's overdue a re-read and I'm nervous it won't still have the same impact. Also was very surprised by Rebecca - loved it. I think classics for me have an element of being books you can read over and over and get something different from them each time, books that have something to say and get people talking

[lizehhh]

Love the discussion on why we need or don't need to read classics. I'm sure a lot of people will really appreciate being released from the pressure of reading classics and that's a good thing. However, I'd like to invite people that are unsure of reading classics to consider two things. Firstly: reading classics can be fun. Not all books that are old are boring! Don't be scared of books just because of their age. Secondly: a lot of classics might not be the biggest page turners, but they could add to your reading pleasure in the future. There are several books I've read that I did not enjoy in the moment, but by having read them I was able to draw parallels, make connections and spot intertextuality in contemporary reads, making for a richer and funner reading experience of those books. I will admit that this might only be for the more geeky among us, but I know a lot of geeky people who are afraid of classics, so I thought I'd put it out there.

[aftoncrain]

I read the count of monte cristo, mostly encouraged by the fact that I acquired a gorgeous Barnes and Noble copy. It took a month but it was honestly a very interesting story