
More About These Classics
*Click the book titles to read full reviews.
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
I’m sure someone will come along and tell me that Excellent Women “isn’t that obscure,” but I’m trying to walk the line here between recommending something many people haven’t read or really even heard of and something that actually counts as a classic.
Barbara Pym has apparently been called the “20th century Jane Austen,” so if you’re looking for great characterization and social commentary in a more modern package, check out Excellent Women!

Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
One of my college professors recommended this book as “one of the most romantic novels she’d ever read,” and it’s so true and so overlooked due to most people’s focus on Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. I do think the book opens a bit slowly, but once it gets going, it’s immersive. It would also pair well with reading North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, due to the focus on the mill and labor issues (still romantic, though!).

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
So many people have called this book “life-changing,” and it’s so short, that it’s basically begging you to give it a chance and read it!

Silas Marner by George Eliot
Eliot is probably best known for her incredibly long novel Middlemarch, but Silas Marner is short and sweet and a masterpiece in its own right, a story about family and what is most important in life.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo is long, very long, but also very worth reading all the way through in its unabridged glory! (I did this when I was in eighth grade, so I trust you can get through it all, too!). There’s a bit of mystery, a lot of drama, heaps of revenge. It will keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next!

Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong
Also an epic story grounded in history, the Romance of Three Kingdoms has action, myth, and more. Wikipedia claims there are more than 1000 dramatic characters, and what could be more sweepingly epic than that?
Ooohh love your flow chart!
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Thank you!
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I’ve actually just ordered a copy of Excellent Women, and I’m keen to get into it! I’d definitely consider it a bit more obscure, I hadn’t heard of it until someone recommended it to me.
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I hope you enjoy it!
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I think I read Count of Mount Cristo- back in high school.
I have read a number of classics- I never read on big classics after just finishing one. Usually I try to insert a non-classic in the middle- which usually is a fantasy
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It can definitely be hard to read a lot of long books in a row!
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For sure- after Iliad, read a short non-classic, before heading into Odyssey.
For some books though- I can read one long book after another. When I get to my reread of HP- think I can manage
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It’s great to see a recommendation for Barbara Pym! She’s not totally obscure but she is not one of those household names like Bronte and Dumas. And definitely worth reading.
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Yes! I’ve come across a couple people who’ve heard of her, but not very many!
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It’s been a while since y’all have posted a decision tree like this. I’m glad to see one returning! The only book on this list I’ve read is The Alchemist, but all the rest are on my TBR. That’s a good sign, right? I am hesitant to pick up Romance of the Three Kingdoms due to its length. Guanzhong definitely puts Dumas’s word count to shame…
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Ha ha! I actually did it partially because I was thinking we hadn’t posted one in a while!
I also haven’t read Romance of the Three Kingdoms yet. It’s one of my friend’s very favorite books, so I need to get to it eventually! I tried the first chapter once, but just thought, “Uh, there are a lot of characters here…” so I don’t think it was the right time for me. :p
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Maybe it’s the sort of book where you need a family tree or 10 to really process what’s going on? XD I’ll let you know if I ever dig into it!
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That might be a good idea! I remember drawing family trees when I was reading Egil’s Saga.
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I am pretty happy to see ‘The Alchemist’ here :D. Also, I have never felt a more burning desire to read ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ – let alone the UNABRIDGED ‘Count of Monte Cristo’ – than I do now, after this piece called me out XD. So, if/when that book ends up taunting me from my end table, I’m 100% blaming you.
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I love The Count of Monte Cristo, but I am slightly intimidated to take the time to reread it! I first read it in eighth grade, when I had more free time….
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Just the other day I was having a conversation with a friend and I was being nostalgic for how, back in our 20’s and right out of college, it seemed like we read everything and saw every movie as soon as it was out and new each new band that showed up. Now it seems I can’t keep up with any of those things let alone all of them! He laughed and said, “Well we didn’t have full adult lives then.” I mean, he’s right…but still XD.
However, I feel slightly better if eight grade you is calling you out as well as me.
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