If you fancy reading a classic novel, we now have a selection available for this term at Dynevor Library! Titles including 'Heidi', 'Frankenstein', 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' and 'Pride and Prejudice' can be located on our fiction trolley, next to the daily newspapers.These titles normally reside at Townhill Library, which has a wide range of fiction both modern and classic, to suit all tastes.
So if you are looking to temporarily escape from your studies and immerse yourself in classic literature, hopefully we have something to tempt you!
I've personally selected from the trolley 'The Great Gatsby' by F.Scott Fitzgerald, which I read a long time ago and wanted to revisit. Although I'm only a few pages in so far, the story is coming back to me and I'm enjoying!
ReplyDeleteI love the Victorian era so Charles Dickens is one of my favourite classic authors. I especially liked ‘Great Expectations’ for the array of characters; rich and poor; cruel and kind; generous and mean. I love how even the small characters turn out to be integral to the story.
ReplyDeleteI’ve recently started reading a lot of Rudyard Kipling. His short stories are very imaginative and often thought provoking. I would recommend his poems which are highly visual, and his charming children’s stories such as ‘How the Whale got his Throat’ (found in Just So Stories which we have in the library). My favourite Kipling stories are set in British India and have an element of the supernatural about them. Keep an eye out for ‘The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes’ ‘The Phantom Rickshaw’ and ‘The Man Who Would Be King’, all found in The Man who would be King and other stories, also in stock in the library.
‘The Women’s Room’ by Marilyn French is a semi autobiographical work of fiction, based in the 1950/60s that questions gender inequalities within western society. This book is worth reading as an eloquent intense and uncompromising historical document. That many of the issues it raises and injustices it explores are less relevant today, is partly due to the groundbreaking nature of this text, the poignancy of which is underscored by the retrospective knowledge that this is a book that changed lives. Well recommended!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite classic novel is Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. I'm a huge fan of gothic literature having studied it at university. This novel is often misunderstood as being rather gruesome thanks to the Hammer Horror films of the 1950's but is in fact a surprisingly heart wrenching story about the value of human life. Victor Frankenstein creates his monster from misfit body parts and brings it to life giving no consideration as to how it will survive in the world. His creation has feelings and emotions like everybody else but finds himself doomed to a wretched existence where society can't see beyond his outward appearance. Written against a backdrop of industrial revolution and scientific advancement it carries a moral message as relevant today as when this novel was first published!
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of the books already mentioned too - Frankenstein and Great Expectations are two of my favourites, and I love F. Scott Fitzgerald's glamorous and often quite tragic tales of the Jazz Age. There are so many great classics to chose from, but I think Pride and Prejudice will always be my number one. (I first read and loved it just before the BBC adaptation in the 1990s, so my feelings were not influenced by Colin Firth and his britches, I swear!). The novel is a lovely mix of humour, romance and observation. I'll never tire of reading it. Jane Austen creates wonderfully believable characters, finding humour in their less desirable traits. She keeps her mockery gentle, though, and wise girls who learn from their mistakes can be sure of a happy ending! Customs and manners might have changed in the last 200 years or so, but people are much the same, which is what makes Austen's work so timeless.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourite classics is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. This book is powerful stuff! It is a story about absolute love and hate in the strongest sense of the words and even though I've read it numerous times, I still don't know if I love or hate Heathcliff.
ReplyDeleteFor its time this book was considered heathenish, it was shocking then and it is shocking now. Don't let the first few chapters difficult and pompous language stop you from reading it because it's all part of the plot! This is a bleak but beautiful novel which can also be quite horrific (Heathcliff genuinely threatening to break a babys skull on the stairs springs to mind)... Enjoy!
Of all the classics, I would say To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee sticks in my mind most. I first read it in school and I'm still drawn to it today.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the main focus of the story is the trial of Tom Robinson and the defence put forth by Atticus Finch, it's the narration by Scout that always kept me coming back to it.
The innocence of the character is in stark contrast to the rather dark subject matter of the novel and Scout's voice always gives the book a touch of lightness and humour. A great read!