Comments on: TheTop Ten Classics That You Should Read for Your Own Enjoyment

By: rachelhamm

rachelhamm — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:06:53 +0000

I agree about Great Expectations- snooze fest. But Dickens is one of my favorite authors. Bleak House makes my top ten list of favorite books of all time. I do not like the Brontes, except for Villette! Villette is amazing, I love the main character and the ambiguity of the ending. Most of the other ones you mention I haven’t read, but the Catcher in the Rye- UGH. I cannot for the life of me understand why that book is considered a classic. I read it in either eighth or ninth grade and hated it, then read it again after I graduated college thinking that I was just too young to appreciate it the first time, but NO. I just simply do not like it. As for classics I really like, I vote for Tess of the d’Urbervilles. That’s a book with a lot going on and packs an incredible emotional punch.

By: Claire

Claire — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:22:01 +0000

yeah, maybe you’re right–I should probably reread that one. I haven’t recently. I just remember finding Our Mutual Friend so much more “modern” in the way the young people interact and have trouble finding something to be passionate about. But Miss Havisham is definitely one of literature’s most memorable characters.

By: Belinda

Belinda — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:48:53 +0000

I disagree about Great Expectations–it’s about class and status and money, which hits home to plenty of high schoolers. And Miss Havisham exists today, if not in her unmarried state, but in her frozen obsession.

By: Claire

Claire — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:20:10 +0000

I’ll expect your book report in early September, Jillian.

By: Jillian Lauren

Jillian Lauren — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:00:46 +0000

This is awesome! Thanks for my summer reading list (for the next couple of summers).