Day 10 - Favourite Classic Book

This one is right up my alley. Which book not to list? I love the classics.
Although, I never used to, until I discovered audio. Having a book read to you unabridged in the voice of an actor or actress who really knows how to emphasize the right words and is clever with voices is the way to open up the classics if you haven't attempted it yet. For example, Dickens might look intimidating, if you pull it off the book shelf. Small print, thick book, and sometimes it takes a few chapters to get into Dickens, so audio introduced me to him, and now he is my favourite classic author. (I think David Copperfield is almost 40 hours on audio - now there's a bargain for your money)!

Of course, who can pass by Jane Austen or the Bronte's, or Daphne DuMaurier or William Makepeace Thackery, and I think I can throw in LM Montgomery. Surely, she is a classic by now.

Instead of listing my favourite classic book, which is quite impossible for me, I will list my favourite book written by the most well-known classic authors.

Jane Austen - Sense and Sensibility. I know that most people love Pride and Prejudice the most, but there is something about Sense and Sensibility that appeals to me. I love the moodiness of it, and I love the cottage by the sea. I also love the fall-in-love-with-a-villain plotline. I have read it so many times and I  still haven't decided who I like best out of Eleanor and Marianne.

Charlotte and Emily Bronte - Jane Eyre has to take the cake here (it is brilliant), but I also love Wuthering Heights. Is there a more villainous villain that Heathcliff? The thing about the Brontes is that while Jane Eyre is my most favourite classic book ever, if I had to choose between meeting Charlotte and Emily, I would choose Emily, because I think she was the more interesting of the two. What a mind to conceive of Wuthering Heights, when she led a fairly isolated life. I did a study on her for an English assignment in 4th Form (year 10), and I struggled to find in-depth information on her. I would love to know her better. I have always had a fascination for her.

Charles Dickens - for our 10th wedding anniversary, we went to hear Miriam Margolyes give her incredible performance of Dickens' Women. What I love about Dickens is his social conscience and the subtle way he wrote to bring about change in his society of the day. I am inspired by that. A true example of the power of the written word. Harriet Beecher Stowe is another example of this. My favourite Dickens book is David Copperfield (it was his favourite too), but I have written about his books many times before.

Elizabeth Gaskell - I love, love, love North and South. Another social conscience plotline (and she was friends with Dickens too). But the characters truly live in this story. It is wonderful.

Of course, other favourites are Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackery. I am also discovering Anthony Trollope and have enjoyed a few of his, but they always leave me with a funny taste in my mouth, so to speak, so not a favourite, but definitely enjoyable and contemplative.

There are so many other classic writers, but these are a few that stand out to me. Jane Eyre tops them all, in my opinion.