My Favourite & Best Classics

When the Classics Club originally asked this question in August 2012, I waffled on a bit about my love for all things Jane Austen, but eventually I came to the conclusion that my favourite classic of all time was Persuasion by Jane Austen.

Eight years later, it is hard to top this.

Persuasion is a story that bears repeated readings, never gets tired, constantly provides solace and comfort and still amazes me every time with its exquisite writing and plotting. Oh! and the dramatic irony, the social satire that cuts deep but sweet like a cake knife, the on point dialogue and the so, so satisfying relationship arcs. And if by some weird quirk of fate this is not quite the right thing for my mood, then one of Austen's other books will be for sure! She delights me at every turn, every page, every book. Austen is the only author that I have read so consistently and so often throughout my adult life. 

However in the eight years since I last answered this Classic Club question, I've read so many more classic titles and authors, from a far more diverse range of genres, regions and cultures. None of them have had the pleasure of multiple rereads, like my Austens. But some of the titles listed below are classics I do plan on rereading one day. 

My Best of Classics List

In Translation:

• French - Germinal by Emile Zola
• Russian - Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
• I have read many more foreign classics, from all around the world, but these are the two books I really want to reread and delve into deeper...so far! 
• Both these books packed an emotional punch that still reverberates years later. They are both set in radical, rapidly changing times - times that the authors also lived through. The personal, the facts and the fiction are interwoven into a seamless, satisfying, epic whole.

Short Stories:

• Katherine Mansfield - I'm still making my way through her short stories. Each and every one is like peeling an onion in reverse. Each story adds another layer of understanding and insight into Mansfield's mind and heart.

Australian:

• The Fortunes of Richard Mahony by (Ethel) Henry Handel Richardson - how on earth this book is not required reading for anyone serious in their English studies at high school, is beyond me. Yes, all three volumes together are HUGE, but the insights into colonial Australia, wrapped up as they are, in the story of Richardson's own childhood, are exceptional.

English:

• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell - this list is for the books discovered by me in the last eight years. If I was to include an all-time reading list, then Jane Eyre, David Copperfield and Middlemarch would also have to be listed here.

American:

• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston - Janie has an astounding voice. She keeps whispering my name hoping to tempt me back into her world again soon.
• Moby-Dick by Herman Melville - the effort required to read this book is worth it if you have the time and patience to do so.

Sci-fi:

• Absolutely anything by John Wyndham. Yes, I'm pretty tame when it comes to sci-fi. 

Fantasy:

• My recent reread of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J R R Tolkien only confirmed how magnificent these books are. For pure escapism, detailed world building and characters to love (and hate), they are hard to bet.

Biography:

• Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain. If you haven't read this extraordinary account of WWI yet, you really should stop everything and source a copy now.

Children's:

• I've loved Ethel Turner's Seven Little Australians my whole life, but only recently have I explored her other young fiction titles. The Wonder Child and In the Mists of the Mountains have been the stand-out titles so far.

Ancient World:

• Herodotus' The Histories - what a wonderful old gossip he was! One day I will write a post about my own history with Herodotus....

Honourable Mentions: (For those classics from my pre-blogging days that couldn't quite beat out Jane Austen):

• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery
• Diary of Young Girl by Anne Frank
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
• Dangerous Liaison by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
• Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
• The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy

Each and everyone of these stories is now a part of my story.

They helped to form my view of the world.

They have given me a sense of belonging and connection and fellowship.

They have satisfied my soul and slaked my cravings.

They have asked impossible questions and answered many more.

They have taken me out of myself, to another place, another time, another possibility.

They have inspired me to do better, be better, live life more fully, deeply, kindly and whole-heartedly. 

They have given me hope in dark times, lifted me up when I was down and been a friend to lean on when I thought I was all alone.

I'm sure there are sub-categories and genres that I've over-looked (like modern-day classics), but for now, these are my favourite and best classics.