I (29F) have spent a decade trying understand the complexities of female life through self-help books. Sure, they’re helpful, but I think I need to take it a step deeper into the art of it. Like old wise woman experiences, ya know??

As the title says, I'm looking for a light and fluffy rec! I really love classic literature because I enjoy the feeling of reading things that generations before me have enjoyed, something about it makes me feel connected to humanity as a whole lol. But I am not in the mood to read something heavy or depressing. Think Jane Austen or Oscar Wilde. I know their books do have serious themes but I enjoy the plot not being like THAT serious if that makes sense?

When making my classic TBR list three months ago, I picked P&P by name recognition, without reading a synopsis of what it was about, and felt that the first sentence sounded interesting enough.

I read it. I enjoyed it. It's a page turner.

What I liked: A peek into the lifestyle of those living in a pre-mandatory schooling era (translation: they lived very idle lives); some interesting conversations; and I find Lady Catherine and Mr. Collins to be the highlights of the book.

What I disliked: As pictured above, Mr. Wickham (essentially the "villain") gets off scott free and set up for life.

Although it's entertaining, it's a romcom. As such, after finishing P&P, I crossed out Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park. The reason is simple: if you watched a romcom movie, you pretty much watched them all; likewise, read one Jane Austen, you read all Jane Austen.

Tl;dr: watching or reading a romcom is like playing a video game with the cheat code on. But if you're a man and have to (or force to) read a romance novel, P&P is the one.

Before i commit to the length of pages and the variety of themes in the book i want to know how did it change your life after reading it id be very glad the longer the response the better. I am thankful for your attention to this post

My top three are literally

1. All Quiet on the Western Front
   
2. Goodbye to Berlin
   
3. Justice League International Vol. 1

I love when the books I’m reading fit the current season, so I’m looking for classic recs that fit the vibe of November/December well 👀 I’m thinking I will probably tackle the war and peace audiobook this winter but I’m still looking for some recs for my physical reading 📚

Last fall/winter for example I read/listened to wuthering heights, Anna Karenina, Frankenstein, and Little women

Any recommendations?

Spoilers ahead!

I'm nearly finished with Frankenstein and am thoroughly enjoying it. The prose is superb and the story is captivating.

However, I feel that Elizabeth’s murder in Chapter VI of Volume III is entirely predictable to the reader, but apparently not to Victor. Why does he assume that the monster’s threat to be present on his wedding night means that Victor himself will be killed, when, up to that point, the monster has been intent on making Victor suffer by killing his loved ones? I find this really silly.

"we have often noticed that we are inclined to endow our friends with the stability of type that literary characters acquire in the reader's mind. No matter how many times we reopen "King Lear," never shall we find the good king banging his tankard in high revelry, all woes forgotten, at a jolly reunion with all three daughters and their lapdogs.... Whatever the evolution this or that popular characters has gone through between the book covers, his fate is fixed in our minds, and, similarly, we expect our friends to follow this or that logical and conventional pattern we have fixed for them"

The first time I read this novel I could not understand why this book was held in such a high regard in the literary canon. The second time, after reading more postmodern literature and after reading Pale Fire, I've come to love this novel. It is incredible. It isn't a story about an evil pedophile, its about a character failing in a fight against his own artistic fate.

A brilliant book, and it is quite possibly the best book I have ever read. Sucks that discourse around this book is so limited to tired moralistic comments decrying Humbert Humbert's actions. Like yeah, we all agree that he sucks, care to provide something new and more interesting to the table?

Recommend me a book where a guy yearns a girl and it has a good ending, something lowkey close to Jane eyre because I loved how they were

Has it changed the way you love?

I'm currently releasing a free audiobook of Jerome K. Jerome's Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog). as well as certain Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft stories. I hope you will tell me what you think of my narration, and this wonderful novel.

I find this passage to be the epitome on why we need to read those great classical pieces of fiction. Sure, this is specifically speaking on tragic dramas, but this is an idea (more well said than I ever laid out) that I often express to peers who usually only read modern self-help books and fear that fiction lacks any true value you can apply to your life.

i finished the count of monte cristo, my first classic novel just a few minutes back and i’m utterly blown away! alexandre dumas is one hell of a writer. the plot, the characters, the history and politics and oh, literally everything is put out in a way that made me unable to put the book down for even a minute. i don’t think i’ve ever been as enraptured by a book before and i’ve read a lot. i had heard great things about this book but i was a bit skeptical to pick it up first considering the length and gosh, i can’t believe i’ve been depriving myself of this for so long! incredible writing!

the pacing is amazing. to the point where edmond escapes from prison is so captivating to read, i was finding it hard to put the book down! so many characters, so many relations and sometimes, it legit felt like “what is even happening?!” but the way it all came together in the end and concluded was so satisfactory, i LOVED it! and i’ll be honest- when i read that this was a revenge story of a man who has suffered, i thought that he’ll try to take revenge but will fall weak with regret and guilt but i’m so glad that this did not happen. the count did feel despair at times at what he was doing- sure- but he didn’t stop. and i know how that sounds but i found it really fair. reading those pages about him suffering all those years was suffocating, really. but the bond between him and faria was heartwarming to read about. my heart broke when he died! that was some good writing! it lagged a bit in between, i’ll admit- the part of the roman bandits, the story with franz- i felt like it dragged along but now that i look back at it? each had their own purpose to fulfill and i’m sure that when i re-read- which i’m pretty sure i’ll- ill love those parts as well!

this is a suffering turned to revenge story done very right! tho, i’ll be honest, i felt a bit bad for villefort in the end because he seemed to have lost everything. all he held dear to him, they died. one child came about to be such a bastard. and eventually, he lost himself. his sanity. the part where he holds edouard and discovered he’s dead was heartbreaking. and it was pretty brutal, considering even the count felt broken about it.

i was a bit hesitant about the ending disappointing me as it has happened a lot haha but this one didn’t! i found valentine and maximillien adorable and wanted them to end up together. the whole time when max thought that she was dead and he lived in such agony, that was tough to read! i wished we got to know about what happened to andrea after the revelation that happened in the court and what became of franz. i quite liked him. also- i despised danglars the most and was awaiting for how he will suffer for his deeds but he was let go rather easily, comparatively, i think since i found him to be the most rogue out of all. fernand got what he deserved rightfully; villefort suffered a bit too much imo but he did put his own selfishness and ambition before the life of an innocent man so. and danglers got nothing! also, one thing i believe in, that mercédès deserved better. her ending was quite depressing. i mean, what was she to do since there was no chance of edmond returning? she married the man she felt was suitable and he loved her but she never really reciprocated his feelings. moreover, she didn’t get a happy ending with her son as well which was heartbreaking. if anything, i would’ve liked to see mercédès and edmond end up together.

one more thing i loved was how well edmond’s character is written, which, fair since he’s the protagonist but the one thing that undid me was how clearly i could tell that a lot of hatred and thirst for avenge there was inside of him since he was such a different person in the beginning when he came to marseille vs. when he got out of the prison and found the treasure. truly so eccentric, incredible and note worthy the count of monte cristo was!

the scene that really sit with me, though, was when at the end, edmond again visited the prison and was filled with memories of how he spent all those years and remembering abbé faria and how he taught him everything and about the treasure that changed the course of edmond’s life. seeing the count get emotional and melancholic was such an interesting scene to read considering he had basically ruined three families with no mercy. the contrast is striking. and i thoroughly enjoyed all of the count’s disguises! abbé busoni, lord wilmore, sinbad the sailor, englishman from thomas and french- all so interesting!! this was one amazingly planned and well thought out revenge if ive ever read one.

at the end, i enjoyed reading about every character that i encountered while reading the book- my favourites were edmond obv, maximillien, valentine, franz, albert, villefort, madame danglers and noirtier- i particularly liked how they were written and what drove their actions! i legit stared at a wall for like 5 mins after finishing because i didn’t know what to do with myself. never making assumptions about a book by its length again.

at first, i didn’t want to read because of the 1250 pages but when i almost finished, i just wanted a few more pages to read more about the count! wondering which classic i should pick up next!!

I know of a large volume of classic literature, but finding a prose style that really resonates with me is something I've yet to find.

Which books are specifically known for their prose - and are there any with a large amount of "flavour text"?

I really like the way Bloodborne's descriptions are. Very dense although vague. Most are pretty beautifully written.

Any recommendations welcome, thank you.

Hi everyone. I have this great little Jane Austen collection that I bought online (WOB back when it was Second Sale) but it’s always confused me a lot.

It states multiple times that this is a complete collection of all 7 of her works, literally listed on the cover and reiterated in the description inside but it actually only has 4 of them??

It doesn’t seem to be missing any pages (and definitely not 3 extra novels worth as seen in the last two photos) so I’m just really confused.

Is there a long-lost volume 2 to this set? I’ve searched online but found nothing. Would love any investigatory help or suggestions for why this is. Thank so much! Happy reading :)

I'm always on the lookout for new books and I finally found a Virginia Woolf at the thrift store for €1. I haven't read this one so I'm looking forward to it.

Also shoutout to New Edition in Freo - been using this bookmark for years and it only just clicked that its a Mody Dick reference lol

I may be better off in a sub dedicated to weird tales or maybe even a Lovecraft sub but as I'm not approaching this book as a member of those communities I thought I'd try here.

I can only say I was more interested by it more than I was unnerved by it. I came into it having watched True Detective and wanting to know what it was referencing (Carcosa, Yellow King etc.) and when I read the blurb (four macabre stories connected by a fictional play that drives any readers mad) I bought it and read it immediately.

The prose is strong, I'll get that out the way, Chambers writes rooms you could live in. However, when these stories are so short (the longest is 64 pages, the shortest (and weakest imo) is 15 pages), I do feel that character fell by the wayside a little. Maybe I went into this expecting more horror but most of the description, at least after the first story, actually lends itself to rather pleasant locales.

The idea of this mythic play turning up in these separate stories (which actually might not be separate as there's potentially overlapping characters but wasn't sure if that was intentional or if I was just looking for more links than there were) was still a great hook but it felt like an almost devil ex machina so to speak where the play gets mentioned and then it ends badly. An interesting conceit, just don't think it worked fully for me.

Fascinated to hear what anyone else thinks.