“Top Ten Tuesday” is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish!
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is the Top Ten Favourite Classic Books.
I’m going to be perfectly honest: I struggled quite a bit with this week’s topic, primarily because the scope of the topic was so vast. Should I focus solely on books published before a certain date? Should I focus solely on young adult novels? There was no end to the options I had before me. I didn’t want to exclude certain books simply because they were more modern, like The Bell Jar, or because they were adult, like North and South or Pride and Prejudice. Instead, I tired to touch on the best of all possible words. The result is a fairly comprehensive, if eccentric, collection of my favourite ‘classic’ novels. Of course, this list barely scratches the surface and I can’t help but lament all the novels I was forced to leave off, like George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess, Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, and the entirety of Jane Austen’s collection of work (Because being forced to choose only one might have cost me a piece of my soul today). That said, omissions aside, the following ten novels were the first I thought of when I began to ponder this week’s prompt, and the books I continue to re-read to this day.
As always, these choices are listed in no particular order.
1) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2) The Witches by Roald Dahl
3) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
4) Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
5) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
6) Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
7) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
8) North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
9) To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
10) The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis
15 Responses
Ah, The Witches is a great Roald Dahl book. I guess Roald Dahl books are classics in their own right. I never thought of that!
Chrissi Reads recently posted…Top Ten Classics I Want To Read
I totally forgot about Elizabeth Gaskell. I loved North and South when I read it for a class in college. Fantastic list!
Alison Doherty recently posted…Top Ten Favorite Classic Books
Orwell’s 1984 made my list, and I almost put ANIMAL FARM on it, too. The only one I’ve read on your main list is TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, one of my favorite classics. That court scene had me so entranced and it was just SO GOOD; I should probably reread this sometime in the future.
Rachel Patrick recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday (90)
Ooh, The Witches are on my TTT as well (I did children’s classics). And Jane Austen, of course, though I’d be hard-pressed to choose between P&P and Persuasion … I like your list a lot!
Kaja recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Children’s Classics
So many books I love on your list! I have read The Witches in the longest time, but I love all things Roald Dahl. Not to mention P&P, Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, favourites I’ve reread time and time again 🙂 As for he ones I haven’t read, I particularly want to read To Kill A Mockingbird. Great list!
My TTT
Bernadette @ The Bumbling Bookworm recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Classic Books On My Radar
Little Women and Jane Eyre are on my TBR list, its nice to see them on someone elses so I know there is a chance I will like them. I loved P&P
Jazz @ Jazmin Jade Reviews recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – Classics
It’s so good to see To Kill a Mockingbird and The Witches on your list! I must read The Bell Jar soon! Love your list!
Melody recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Classics That I Still Need to Read
Yay, North and South! Elizabeth Gaskell is such an overlooked writer, I think.
I really, really wanted to do this TTT but I ran completely out of time. (I’m secretly a little relieved because it would’ve been so hard to narrow it down – although I’m usually pretty steadfast that my favorite Austen novel is Persuasion, haha.) Four on your last I’m so embarrassed I haven’t read yet: The Bell Jar, Little Women, Anne of Green Gables, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Little Women especially, I’ve wanted to read it since before I can remember. (Sidenote: my great-aunt has always called me and my sister “the little women” so as a kid I thought I had a special tie to the book or some such.)
OH, also: so happy to see Lewis on your list! I adore The Chronicles of Narnia. I don’t know if I could pick a favorite, but I do love The Magician’s Nephew and The Last Battle.
I love The Witches, and The Magician’s Nephew was always one of my favourite Narnia books, too! If you’re a fan of Charlotte Bronte then I definitely recommend reading one of Anne Bronte’s novels – she’s always forgotten in favour of Charlotte or Emily, and her work is amazing; she’s considered to be one of the first Victorian feminist writers. 🙂
Jess Gofton recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday | Favourite Classics
Great list! I love that you included children’s books! Anne of Green Gables and Little Women were on my list as well.
Caitie F recently posted…Top Ten Favorite Classic Books
THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW.
Oh yes, Jen. Yes.
This is a wonderful, and eclectic, list of your favorite classics. I’m glad your fav Jane Austen is P&P. It’s my favorite, but I didn’t have a hard time choosing one. And Anne of Green Gables!
And I LOVE that you included Roald Dahl. I should have as well (Matilda for me).
And seriously, I need to read Little Women. Shame on me for never reading it.
Quinn @ Quinn’s Book Nook recently posted…Top Nine Classics
It’s great to see some Roald Dahl on your list! I just adore his work and I can’t wait to share the wonders of Roald Dahl with my little one – although that won’t be for some time yet!
Little Women is another great classic. I also really like the edition you featured.
The Bell Jar is a classic I just couldn’t get along with, it kind of flew over my head in all honesty.
🙂
Jade @ Bits & Bobs recently posted…Recent Reads | Child Narrators
I love that you have some of the classics that I enjoyed in my younger years on here – the Little House books and the Green Gables books are some that I’ve read a bazillion times and probably will keep reading throughout my life! And I’ve just fairly recently re-read Little Women and fell in love all over again.
Asheley (@BookwormAsheley) recently posted…Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson Review {with Audiobook Notes}
Little House on the Prairie. <333 So much love for those books! (and the tv show for that matter.. haha) There are certain classics like these and the Anne of Green Gables books that I can't wait for the Baby Bettys to eventually read. And of course some Jane Austen! They are timeless.
BETTY recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: MY BOOKISH CONFESSIONS