Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Do you remember when you were in school and your English teacher announced that the class was going to read and discuss a classic novel for the next month or so? I was the kind of student who loved those announcements. While there were a few classics I ended up not liking at all, I did find something meaningful or thought-provoking in most of the ones we were assigned to read.
In fact, I ended up picking up many other classic novels on my own time because of how positive my experiences generally were with this genre. (No, I’m not Hermoine Granger, but I’d bet she and I would have gotten along well if we’d been classmates. Ha!)
1. Beowulf by Unknown.
As soon as my college literature professor told us that the author’s name of this poem is unknown, my ears perked up. I’m fascinated by orphaned creative works like this. There’s something mysterious about reading a story without knowing anything at all about the person or people who came up with it.
Finding out that Beowulf was going to attempt to slay a dragon in it only made me more interested in finding out how it ended.
2. The Pearl by John Steinbeck.
Wealth and power can corrupt people in all sorts of terrible ways that aren’t always clear in the beginning. Seeing those behaviors play out from the perspective of poor characters only made the author’s points stronger. While I can’t say much else about this without giving away spoilers, this is one of those stories that has stuck with me for years.
3. The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.
This is actually the first part of a trilogy about several generations of a Chinese family whose elders were born into poverty and whose later generations grew up in much more luxurious surroundings. I enjoyed getting to know each generation from childhood to adulthood and even old age in some cases. Honestly, I wished this series could have kept going much longer than it did. The character development was really well done.
4. Beloved by Toni Morrison.
I’d studied slavery in the United States in school, of course, but this was the first book that really drove home how much those experiences affected not only former slaves but their descendants as well. I only wish that one of my teachers or professors had assigned this to us.
It’s something everyone should read, so I’m glad to see it’s been included on so many lists as an example of a more modern classic. I hope that the list of books that are considered classics grows much more diverse over time as well. Based on the amazing titles that are being released these days, I think it’s only matter of time before this happens.
5. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith.
Like Francie, the main character, I grew up in a family that really needed to pinch our pennies in order to make ends meet. Even though she and I were from different eras, I saw a lot of similarities between her life and my own, from the simple meals we rustled together from whatever was left in the kitchen when grocery funds grew low to how hard our parents worked to take care of us.
There’s something to be said for classics that look at the world from the perspectives of low-income and working class people.
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6. The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe.
Honestly, I wanted to pick everything that Edgar Allen Poe has ever written for choice number 6 on today’s list. The Raven is an excellent place to start, though. I loved the way it personified guilt in such a chilling way from the very first time I read it.
7. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
So, who else has ever felt incredibly angry with one or more of the characters in a story? The first time that happened to me was when Hester Prynn’s community discovered she was pregnant out of wedlock by a married man and shunned her and her baby. Meanwhile, the man who helped her make that child didn’t face any real repercussions for his choices at all.
I can’t tell you how many times I scowled at those characters for behaving so awfully to Hester. Yes, their society found this sort of thing deeply shameful, but it made me furious to see the father getting off scot-free while an innocent child suffered and her mother was abandoned by a community that claimed to be righteous.
The classroom discussions my teacher guided us through about sin, guilt, legalism, repentance, and the double-standards of that society were well worth my initial reaction to this plot twist, though.
8. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
I hope things have changed since I graduated, but when I was a kid most of the classics we were assigned to read in school were about boys. The girls in these stories, if they existed at all, were often sidekicks or love interests. As much as I enjoyed the plots themselves, I often found myself wishing for more protagonists that were girls like me.
It was refreshing to find Little Women and read about the world from the perspectives of many different types of girls and women.
9. Animal Farm by George Orwell.
Allegories aren’t just for children. In fact, they can be an excellent way for adults to rethink, debate, and hopefully come to better understand the things they’ve been taught about the world, too.
I didn’t know the political history behind this book when I first read it. Looking back, it would have been really helpful to have a teacher explain topics like Stalinism to me before I started reading about a farm full of animals who decide to govern themselves.
10. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.
I first read this when I was a little too young to understand what the author was trying to say, but the messages about persistence, bravery, and commitment mean more to me with every passing year. This is the sort of thing I’d recommend rereading every so often. It’s only become better and more meaningful as I’ve grown older, and I’m still nowhere near the age of the main character yet.
Did your literature instructors assign any of these titles to you when you were in high school, college, or university? Which classic novels or plays do you like?
Great list! I was the same – there were some many books we were assigned to read in school that I really enjoyed, many of them books I wouldn’t have picked up of my own accord, such as Of Mice and Men. I really need to read some Toni Morrison, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is another book I’ve heard only good things about.
I’m glad to hear you were the same sort of kid. Yeah, Of Mice and Men is another great choice. The ending to it brought a tear to my eye.
A kindred spirit! I was the same way, and I still get funny looks when it comes up in conversation. This is a great list. You actually have several on your list I have yet to read (although they are on my TBR pile). Beowulf and The Scarlet Letter are the only two I have read–and enjoyed. 🙂 Thanks for sharing. Have a great week.
Thank you very much! Yes, we do seem to have very similar tastes in books. I hope you enjoy Beowulf and The Scarlet Letter.
Great list! I love Edgar Allan Poe, so I’m happy to see him on the list. ♥
Thanks! Yes, Poe wrote some wonderful stories.
So many of these I love. But the Pearl, ugh.
My ttt
http://www.thehauntedgravebooks.com/2018/08/top-ten-tuesday-back-to-schoollearning.html
That’s okay. There are a few classic novels I’m not a fan of either. 🙂
So many fantastic books on your list! I really need to get around to reading Beloved some time soon. Great choices ?
Thank you! Yes, Beloved was a great read. I hope you enjoy it.
I’ve been meaning to re-read The Old Man and the Sea. I think I was 16 when I read it in school and I know it went right over my head.
I hope you do! It’s so much better when you’re an adult reader in my experience.
I’ve not read any of these, but SOMEDAY I should try to read “Little Women” given how much I adore the story and period drama stories. Plus, I love that it’s a story about sisters, too! 🙂
Thanks so much for visiting Finding Wonderland.
You’re welcome. Little Women truly is a timeless story. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Glad to see you’ve gone with classic novels!!
Here’s a link to my TTT post for this week: https://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2018/08/top-ten-tuesday-back-to-schoollearning.html
Thank you! It seemed to be a somewhat common theme this week.
Animal Farm is a fantastic book!
I know, right? More people should know about it.
Great list! I still have a lot of classics to get through – I only read Little Women and Animal Farm from your list but I did highly enjoy both of them 🙂
Thank you very much. I’d say that it’s well worth the time to give the classics a try. Not all of them will appeal to every reader, but there is a reason why they’ve remained popular for so long.
I was the same way with Beowulf in school. I wasn’t super interested in classics but my ears perked up too when this one was announced. 🙂
Animal Farm I’ve never read, which is probably a shame- I should I suppose.
I’m so glad you liked Beowulf, too! It was made into a film a while ago that I thought captured the essence of what it was about pretty well.
You should totally read Animal Farm. It’s fairly short, and the message in it is really good.
Great list, I do enjoy reading classics every so often. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn will be my next read.
Cool! I hope you love it. The characters were well developed and the storyline kept me glued to the page until the final scene. I wish it would be made into a movie someday.
This is a great list! I love your thoughtful reflections on each 🙂 You make me want to pick up more classics!
What a nice compliment. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the classics you hope to read in the future. There are some amazing ones out there.
There are so many classics still on my TBR list! I haven’t read anything by Steinbeck or Hemingway, but I feel like I’d like both. Great list! I love seeing more lists about classics. Most of the ones I’ve seen today have been about boarding school books or things like that– which are great! I love those books, too. But I’m loving seeing more classics celebrated as well. 🙂
Thank you very much. Yes, I like it when classic novels are celebrated, too.
I love Edgar Allan Poe and have been drawn to his writing since high school. Little Women and Animal Farm are also good ones. Nice choices!
Thank you. High school was when I first discovered Poe as well.
Great list! Animal Farm is one of my favorite school reads, and one that always seems very relevant. I read Tree Grows in Brooklyn and The Good Earth as an adult but both were great. I always had a little trouble relating to Little Women, despite having three sisters myself – but I definitely agree about having to read books with mostly male characters! As a child my favorites were the Oz books, mainly because the strongest characters were mostly female.
Yes, Animal Farm seems to have something to say to every generation.
I find it interesting that you had trouble relating to Little Women even though you had three sisters. It’s funny how differently various people can respond to the same story.
I liked The Scarlet Letter too. People are always smearing it, I don’t know why. I read The Pearl when I was 13 1/2 years old. I really don’t think I was old enough to appreciate it, which was pretty much the case with most of the books I read for school. Little Women, The Raven, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – yes, yes, and yes.
It seems that we have very similar tastes in books!
Yes, I think it’s common for kids to be assigned classics when they’re a little too young to understand them. Some, but certainly not all, of the classics really do work better with adult readers who have more life experience.
I think I liked The Scarlet Letter when I read it in high school – that’s probably one that could benefit from a reread!
I totally agree with you there.
Interesting list. I was one of those students who groaned silently when the words “Classic Novel” were said in class. LOL! And, honestly, they’re still not my jam. I do make it a point every year to read at least one classic (usually a modern classic) in order to broaden my horizons.
Good for you. I do think that the definition of what is considered to be a classic evolves over time. Modern classics totally count.
Great list. I enjoyed all of these when I read them in high school, although I didn’t read Beloved until I was in college.
Honestly, college is a great age to read Beloved, too. There are parts of that book that definitely wouldn’t be appropriate for young readers.
I actually never had any of these titles – somehow! – but I’ve always been curious to read Animal Farm. One book we did study that I really enjoyed was Frankenstein!!
Ooh, Frankenstein is another great choice. I loved the ending of it, and I hope you enjoy Animal Farm.
Such great titles! I’ve read and enjoyed most of these, though A Tree Grows in Brooklyn has been sitting on my shelves for years now. I really need to read it soon!
Oh, you should definitely pick up A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
The only one I’ve read here is Little Women but I’ve always wanted to read Beloved & A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.
I hope you enjoy both of them!
I love Poe!! I am hoping to read Little Women this winter. I haven’t read it before but I hear amazing things about it. Awesome list!
Thank you very much. A few of the most important scenes in Little Women take place during cold(er) weather, so winter is the perfect time to read it.
Winter is the perfect time of year to read Little Women. There are a couple of important scenes in that book that take place during the winter or cold days in general.
I’m not usually a huge fan of Classics, but there are definitely some books on your list that I’m intrigued to read! Great post!
Thank you. Happy reading!
I remember reading Animal Farm for school / in school one year. I also remember absolutely not liking it, but I’m pretty sure that has more to do with it being “you HAVE to read this” than “you read what you want to read”. Which is also why I want to reread it at some point; find out whether I’d like it more now than I did then, ha.
That makes a lot of sense. I also think it’s the sort of book that might appeal to some people more when they’re older.
I’ve read a few of these for class, namely The Raven, Beloved and Beowulf. Beloved still haunts me in a way and was so impactful when I read it so I think a lot more schools should have it as required reading! Beowulf was the first thing I read when I started uni so it’ll hold special memories in a few years!
I couldn’t agree more with your thoughts on Beloved.
I love Edgar Allen Poe! He was definitely one of my favorite “assigned” authors to read in school.
Yes, same here!
I tried reading The Old Man and the Sea last month but really couldn’t get into it. I think that was just a matter of timing on my part though.
Yes, timing makes a huge difference. There are a couple of other classics that I’ve had the same trouble with.
Being forced to read so many classics in school that were so outside anything I knew or cared about really did fuel my resentment of them afterward. There are some classics I do enjoy, but they are few and far inbetween.
I hear you. School might not be the best place to introduce certain students to the classics. So much depends on their personalities and interests.
I had to read The Pearl for a summer reading assignment, and it was my favorite school read. Glad to see it on your list!
Thank you. I was introduced to it in a class, too.
I love classics! Great list 🙂
Thank you very much.
I really love Little Women. I read it myself outside of class and loved it!
It’s a timeless story for sure.
Great list! I need to re-read Little Women…;)
I’d say that would be an excellent thing to do.
Love that you added some modern classics to the list! It makes things seem so much more well-rounded, and it’s what schools need tbh. The ones I “read” (I use the term very loosely, think CliffsNotes and general bullshitting ha) were The Scarlet Letter, Beowulf, The Raven, Animal Farm, and Little Women. I will say they definitely were some of the ones I tolerated much more than others, so I agree with your choices for sure!
Thank you. I totally agree with you on the importance of modern classics.
Ahhhh, Beowulf is one of my favorite classics too! I had to read it both in high school and for my Brit Lit class in college. I actually have a t-shirt with text from Beowulf on it. 😀
And I read both Animal Farm and The Scarlet Letter in high school!
I’ve never seen a Beowulf t-shirt before. How neat.
I read Animal Farm and (I believe) The ScarletLetter for school. I did not like The Scarlet Letter (mostly because of how it was written) but reading your post brought back memories of me being mad at preacher not getting in trouble. Animal Farm (some animals are more equal than others) is one of my favorites. I agree when I hear all these people who hated reading for school I can’t relate because majority of the books I read I liked. Reading the selected books in school got me into reading classic novels.
It sounds like we have a lot in common! I’m glad I’m not the only one who was angry with the preacher in The Scarlet Letter.
What other classics do you like?
My favorite time period was the 19th century.
Jane Eyre (read for school), Grapes of Wrath (read for school), Fahrenheit 451, To Kill A Mockingbird (read for school, don’t know if I could enjoy it now though), and lots more. I’ve gotten out of my love of classics but one day I hope to get back into them.
Ourika and The Yellow Wallpaper has been two of my favorites in the last few years.
If I ever really get back into classics I want to read A Prince of Swindlers (which I bought recently for cheap), The Georges by Alexandre Dumas, and The Woman of Colour. What is on your classics TBR?
The Yellow Wallpaper is one of my all-time favorite stories!
Someday I’d like to read A Tale of Two Cities, Don Quixote, and Song of Solomon.