Top Ten Classics I Want to Read (or Re-read)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme run by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, the topics are Top 10 favourite classic books or Top 10 classics I want to read.

Note: I’ve put a slight spin on the topic this week, and included books I want to reread at some stage.

Classics, in general, aren’t usually my thing; and I firmly place the blame on my secondary school English classes. It managed to do several things for me: it made me mistrustful of books written by Irish authors, and it made me dislike anything historical, in particular anything with the label “classic”. The only person I studied that managed to escape the fate of auto-hatred was William Shakespeare! Thank goodness my year managed to skip all Jane Austen books… that would have really ended badly.

I really doubt any education board wants to discourage a person to read particular types of books, but sadly these were my feelings for such a long time. Thankfully, I managed to persuade myself to try some classics once I was far away from a classroom, and I discovered quite a few classics that I genuinely love. Hand me a copy of Pride and Prejudice, for example, and I’ll float away happily for hours.

These are in no particular order.

Pride and Prejudice

by Jane Austen

After reading what I wrote above, it won't be a surprise I've listed this first! Unlike most, I didn’t read Pride and Prejudice for the first time when I was a teen in school: I actually read it when I was nearly finished college! And I’m really glad I read it then. If I had read it when I was fourteen or so, I know I would have hated it. Now, it’s one of my all-time favourites and I make a habit of rereading it every year or so.

Anything Agatha Christie Wrote

I’ve read so many of her books, and I still have dozens more on the list I haven’t read yet. Yes, I do find some of her mysteries a tad formalistic, and I can predict the guilty person very quickly, but I still really like them!

Lolita

by Vladimir Nabokov

I haven’t read Lolita, but I’ve seen lots of divided opinions. It’s one of those books that I’ll eventually get around to reading and seeing what reaction and opinions I end up having.

1984

by George Orwell

I love dystopian books, so this one should something I’ll like.

Rebecca

by Daphne du Maurier

This one has been sitting on my TBR list for years, and I think it’s about time I take the plunge and read it!

Jane Eyre

by Charlotte Bronte

What’s not to love about the Bronte’s? =)

Wuthering Heights

by Emily Bronte

I read Wuthering Heights when I was a kid and I thought it was alright, it didn't appeal to me that much. I’ve wanted to give it another go for years and hopefully including it here will remind me to dig out my old copy and re-read it!

Emma

by Jane Austen

This was one of those books I was expecting to hate. I know, not the best way to approach a book! I loved it, and it's second to Pride and Prejudice as my favourite Austen books.

Romeo and Juliet

by William Shakespeare

I studied Romeo and Juliet in school, and I’ve always wanted to reread it without expectations, and teachers hovering over my shoulder, whispering what opinions I should be having about what I’m reading!

The Harry Potter Series

Is this pushing the “classics” boundaries to far? Maybe it is. I suppose it could be classed as a new classic now, and since I haven’t read the series just yet - (I'm going to start the first book this week!) – I’m including it for its legendary status. =)

What books did you include in your Classics list this week? Leave a link to your TTT post so I can visit =)