Carolyn: classic lit for beginners Me, who's been reading classics for most of their life: HECK YEAH

"All you have to do to be a classics reader is pick up an old book, and read it." Fantastic!

Excellent lecture. I am a retired teacher (30+ yrs.) and I so enjoyed listening to your enthusiastic promotion of classic literature. I know you are a fabulous illustrator and lover of classics. However, you'd be a great teacher! By the way, read Homer's Odyssey translated by Emily Wilson; it's and excellent translation with an informative introduction by Ms. Wilson. It’s easy to read. I love all you videos and am a happy subscriber! Thanks Carolyn!

i definitely agree that anyone can pick up any “old book” and read it. there are no prerequisites for reading classics! i jumped right in with crime and punishment last year and loved it. great tips and fantastic recommendations, professor carolyn! 👍

I think some people are afraid of classics because they had to read them when they were in school so it wasn't a personal choice and nowadays because of booktube and bookstagram, most channels are about YA and fantasy books . There are few readers who promote classics on their videos.

jane eyre is what got me really into reading classics, i think it's a great place to start! or a room with a view by forster 🥰

As someone whose just gotten into reading classic lit, this is going to be insanely helpful. Thank you for making this video!

You know what you call a channel like this, "Seriously Underrated." I just love that you talk classics almost exclusively! It makes me so happy! I'm ready for class, Carolyn. I have my No.2 pencils and notebooks all set to go.

one of my first classics was The Count of Monte Cristo so now nothing really scares me 😂😂

A class where everyone is on time - I can already tell that this is a fantasy

"Best thing about classic literature is the memes" 😂 Well said👏

This video is a little older, so you may not see this but here goes. I love that you also listen to audiobooks and I love your comments about the reader. I work a lot of overtime, so my reader is somewhat limited to the hour before I go lights out in bed, and it’s hard to get any momentum with a 1,000 classic at 15-20 pages a day. I tried with Don Quixote and, as I’ve heard you say, DNF’d it. But I have had long commutes and discovered audiobooks several years ago. To be honest, I have been much more of a non-fiction and travel fan, but I’ve started to feel like I need to get back into the classics. So I have added free versions of probably 30 of the usual suspects, and as soon as I finish a very long biography of Napoleon, I plan to start the audio version of Don Quixote, with Anna Kerinina or Crime and Punishment next. In the meantime, I’ve started the written version of one of the PG Wodehouse Jeeves books and purchased a bunch of other shorter classics for actual reading. I think The Picture of Dorian Grey (Gray?) us next or maybe Emma. Anyway, I agree completely with the importance of the reader on the audio side, actually like when the actual author reads on the non-fiction side (Bill Bryson and David McCullough are fantastic), and am glad I stumbled onto your channel.

I’m not new to classic literature but I really enjoyed this. What got me into classics was a fabulous English teacher I had in high school who taught World Literature. This is where I fell in love with Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky. I am thankful to this day for having him as a teacher. It was such a blessing. I’ve been collecting the Penguin Classic Clothbounds because of your videos. I now have 21 and have begun many rereads. Like you I don’t read from those editions but enjoy them on my bookshelves, I have other ebooks and trade pbs of the same novels. Truly there is nothing like a Classic in my opinion.

Most people find it hard to follow a classic because they had such a command of the English language! But if someone goes slowly and give it a chance the profound and powerful prose is so rewarding

Audible has a bunch of Jane Austen novels narrated by Rosamund Pike and I seriously recommend! That was how I approached Pride and Prejudice for the first time!

I started my classics journey as a kid with Jules Verne. I still remember the way journey to the centre of the earth and around the world in eighty days made my imagination soar as a preteen and I’ve never stopped loving the dusty doors and fantastical portals an old book can open for me to this day.

Yevgeny Zamyatin’s “We” is probably my favourite dystopian sci-fi classic. He gets overlooked because a lot of his work was suppressed by the Soviet regime but this book is fantastic. He plays with the concepts of knowledge and reality so effectively and I found it more interesting than 1984.

When you said you didn’t love Frankenstein that really helped me out. I read 1984 and didn’t like it at all but I went online and saw everyone saying how much they loved it and that it got them into classics and made them realize why they wanted to study literature. This really discouraged me because I started to think all these other classics that had great reviews I probably wouldn’t like so maybe I shouldn’t read them at all. But hearing you say it is okay to not like one book or a classic everyone else likes really lifted my spirits. This was a great video, thanks!

I LOVE “The Old man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway, and it’s very short!!!☺️

My enemies to lovers "book" but actually a play is always Much Ado About Nothing. It has almost ruined every other romance for me. Benedick and Beatrice are so real in their motives, but they play off eachother so hilariously, and the circumstances that bring them together are so absurd but tonally fitting. Even the bard himself knew when to throw out the high prose and let Benedick happily scream that he'll be "horribly in love!"

Growing up, I never encountered anything or anyone who made me think that classics can be intimidating or a special kind of books that would need mental preparation. I guess I was just too ignorant to be daunted. lol As a pre-teen, I just kept reading these titles and authors in encyclopedias (yes, I grew up with them at home) and I thought, wow these must really be good books if they're still being read by people. So, I just picked whatever classic books I could find and read them. Sir Walter Scott, Bronte, Austen, Hardy, etc. I was a kid in a time and place where YA books were not that ubiquitous so I never really had the chance to read a lot of YA books. I transitioned from children's books to classics as I was entering my teens so that influenced my taste in fiction as an adult. I mostly read classics and science fiction for fiction works; as for non-fiction, my interests are considerably more expansive.

As someone who is passionate about history I love classics because they tell a lot about the context they were written in. Don Quixote (one of my first classics) was great for that. Nice video.

Omg I love how you address some of the obstacles when getting into classical literature for the first time like assuming it's only for smart people! My English grades weren't good for a long time and because of that, I was scared to read certain books and often felt left out and dumb when my smart friends raved about Oscar Wilde etc. But, then I had a wonderful teacher in my senior years who had the same type of mindset as you do and who didn't get mad if I was reading a children's classic. Honestly, it's people like that teacher and you that fuels my love for classics and books in general now! Lovely video~

Classics do possess wonderful moments that capture in a sentence or a paragraph the essence of what it means to be human.In fact while reading Nicholas Nickleby,I had to put down the book at one such part in utter admiration for the author.Thank you professor for this charming lecture!

I love classics!! AlI genres. All my life. But there were authors that I thought that I 'didn't like'. I was really inspired by the debate. I have given up on Dickens after A tale of two cities. Thanks to you I went back and right now I'm enjoying his work. I'm going to apply these advices for russians authors. I've try them but is really hard for me. Amazing video!!!!🤗❤

"The best thing about reading classics is the memes." LOL, wasn't expecting that! Great video!

I just watched your first classic novels guidance. OMG so glad to see this update!

The Yellow Wallpaper is such a great book! Yesss love Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights

YOU ARE PRECIOUS PLEASE 😭😭

I started with The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 2 years because I wanted to be a better ally and I enjoyed reading it so much that it got me back into reading, so I followed it with The Bell Jar and The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Oh my god!!!! I'm so happy for this updated new Beginners video. This is just what I wanted 😁😁😁😁

carolyn, i just had to let you know i am smiling so hard hahaha, i’m 2.5 min in to this video and it’s your funniest yet, thank you for this 👏👏💗💗

When the title says "Ultimate" you have showed me that it is the ultimate guide for reading classic lit. I'm so in love with your energy, I'm new here and I have already watched a few of your videos and so far all of them have been so entertaining and helpful. This is truly great, I thought this video would only recommend me some classics but this one exceeds that. This video is indeed an in depth introduction to the classic literature, the authors around it, and the inspirations of each genres. Thank you for your great efforts in putting this one out!

YESS, i love classics but booktube doesn’t talk about them enough!

Your AMAZING Carolyn...Love ALL your videos..Im new to this whole reading thing...LOL...Im learning so much ...your such a FAB teacher...No joke !!.looking forward to learning more as you grow your channel.....Thank you for all your hard work Carolyn...Todd...:)

You can babble on all you like because its all good stuff.Well done!

After all these years of reading Russian (and Soviet) Literature, these are my picks for the best...." Quiet Flows the Don" Mikhail Sholokhov novel..."The Storm" Aleksandr Ostrovsky play....."The Cossacks" Leo Tolstoy short novel...& "The Lady With the Little Dog" Anton Chekhov short story (recommendations).

Excellente video! I am Brazilian and I love Brazilian classical Literature. Thanks a lot for the suggestions!

ahh im so glad you posted this! I'm currently in college as an English major but I've been reading mostly ya for my entire life, so I'm having trouble adjusting to all the classical literature I've been having to read for my classes. thank you for this!!

This was so gorgeous, the way you acted like in university, so gorgeous!! You have a really calming voice, I loved this videos!! Last week I finally ordered an Ernest Hemingway Portrait from your etsy shop and its already on its way to Germany, Im really looking forward to receiving it. Thank you so much for selling them!! Love from Germany

Very compelling. I'm now inspired to give this a go this summer. Many thanks!

Congratulations for your fantastic work! All those suggestions are amazing classics, but if I may add, try to bring more non-english spoken literature options, because it seems most of the greatest classics are english, american and russian. Consider the french, the italian, the brazilian, the portuguese, the german, and you'll have a second video!! Keep going the great work!

I wholeheartedly recommend Journey by Midnight by Antal Szerb! It's a Hungarian classic written in the 30s, so the language isn't as archaic and it's easy to understand. It takes place in various different Italian cities and Paris, the atmosphere of this book is absolutely magical❤

My first classic was Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

Thank you so much for your excellent reviews. I enjoy your enthusiasm and your excellent sense of humor. I am 82 years old and recently cut cable. I enjoy you so much more than anything the commercial world can offer. I recently (the last decade) started reading Russian writers. I agree with many of your viewpoints. Like seeing a movie can enrich the classics. Peter Fonda spectacles as Pierre and then another Pierre comes along. I'm still wondering what happened to that daughter that enjoyed science along with her father. I think she could be a book in her own right. Best wishes in your life and Thanx!

My day was made when I found Anna Karenina The Barnes and Nobles Classics edition, at my local library for $1. It’s been the first book on my TBR for this year and I’ve been avoiding it. Well no more , diving right in. 😊

Andy Serkis does a great job narrating "The Screwtape Letters" as well.

When you mentioned The Outsiders, I got so excited because that is my favourite book ever!

This is my 1st video of you I'm watching and I thought this is just a thing you do, talking to us like a teacher. But then you burst out laughing and I did too 🤣🤣 so funny seriously

"one of the best things about classics is the memes" hahahaha yes, i agree!

The thing about classics (in my experience) is that it only takes one book to make you a classic reader. I read Anna of The Five Towns and was astonished that it could be a page-turner while portraying a somewhat mundane life about class in a small town. Before that, I always thought classics are dull and boring. Like, holly hell, classics are so cool. Then I read Where Angels Fear To Tread by E.M. Forster and found a reflection of myself in Philip Herriton. And since then, I became an avid classics reader. It blows my mind how these "old books" could be so impactful. Also, I couldn't agree more with the cultural references and memes thing! Shakespearean memes are especially my favourite :) And thank you for the heartfelt and brilliant lecture! Listening to other classic readers gush about their love for classics is my favourite :))

Would love to see a Russian classics version of this! My classics recommendation is probably East of Eden by John Steinbeck but want to do a deep dive on Russian classics next

" Even if you don't like a classic and you've a copy of it , you've a beautiful book" HAHAHAHAH ! Amazing amazing video ! 😘

Speaking of expectations, with great trepidation, I read Great Expectations and was astounded by the author's sense of humor! It didn't take long before the trepidation evaporated. Thank you SO much for this channel! See you soon.

I love your channel Carolyn! And the BBC’s war & peace (2016) absolutely rules my life, and has since I first watched it, and made me want to read the book. I do find it so intimidating but your channel is helping me become more comfortable with getting to it!

Yes,she is an enthusiast and charming too.

As a classics lover i 100% agree with the recs! the book that made me love classics was frankenstein!

Awesome video Carolyn! The book that got me into classics was The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy!

Thank you ! You and *e.m.m.i.e* have encouraged me a lot to read classic english literature. Thks.

Amazing video! Thank you! The thing is I find it sometimes difficult to cope with the massive amount of classics there are, usually I tell myself I should focus on enjoying them, yet I still struggle from time to time...I will check the Penguin black collection, seems very interesting!! Thank you for all!! Greetings from Spain!

I love classic literature discussion.

Such an amazing video as usual. Thank you so much for this advice Carolyn! A Beginners Guide to Russian Literature would be incredible :D

Thank you, really enjoying this community of readers :)

I really enjoyed this video. Thank you so very much for shedding some light on the classics and your wonderful recommendations.

A video on poetry alone.....pls

Adore the history:) And the earlier I hear a book was written the more of a feeling happens within my chest. Oh my 💗 I shall very much look forward to delving into number 8

I did the same with Pride and Prejudice. So I 100% agree on watching an adaptation first. I also did this for Dracula. I've been so intimidated by Russian classics, I've never read a single one. I'll try to incorporate these tips and try to tackle crime and punishment. I wonder if reading retellings like Song of Achilles or Circe would help in reading the Iliad and the Odyssey.

For me classic books are more interesting to read.I think bcoz i developed this hobby growing up,i used to borrow books from book rental which is not existed anymore today.I already read wuthering heights,adam bede, Sidney Sheldon Novels, i ever read pride and prejudice and many more.Today i really like reading Pearl S.Buck novels.I'm 38 years now but i have a difficult reading contemporary books.And language is not a problem bcoz those books had been into Indonesia.Really like your video.Greetings from Indonesia.🙏

This was a fantastic idea and I really appreciated it. Wanted to get into classic but was scared to but you have made it sound so great, that I will be reading a classic from your list. Thank you again.

Other people: You have to be smart to read classics. Me who reads primarily classics: Well you haven't met me...

Omg, i loved this! Thank you so much for posting this video, it was extremely useful!!!👏🏻

Very good intro ...Bravo!!

Can u pls make videos on art history, educate us about forms of art n how it evolved and all??🥺I really love your vids n the way u express...❤❤❤❤

Your amazing learning so much on classics

Me, an avid classic literature reader: Write that down! Write that down!

the automatically generated subtitles keep writing "tolstoy" as "toaster" and i just can't stop laughing

Omg!! Prof Carolyn is sweet but intimidating. 🤪 I like The friend Carolyn .. so natural!! 😍

I wrote my thesis on the similarities between Lilith by George MacDonald and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis :)

Your voice is so soothing! I loved loved this video❤

Thank you for this video! I adore classical literature! The only problem is, after reading so many well written books, it's hard to read modern books that may have a plot that I am very interested in but are not well written. It's frustrating sometimes!!

I had to get the audiobook of The Brothers Karamazov. I struggled with that book not gonna lie. But the Audiobook helped me a ton!

I do love to read more classics now thanks for the help

You´re amazing. Thank you for this video.

This inspired me, and I've just ordered The Portrait of Dorian Gray and David Copperfield, both as Penguin Clothbound Classics! Thank you! 🙏

Some mystery classics that I would recommend The Maltese Falcon by DeMill, and of corse Sherlock Holmes. Thanks so much for sharing your tips, the big books intimidate me still. I think Jane Eyre is the book that got me started.

Amazing video!

Oh, love the intro!

This is amazing. Thank you so much!!

well, I don't know anyone actually loves In Cold Blood. It's pretty grisly, and somewhat dated. However there are good reasons to read it, or listen to it on audiobook.

Watching this while avoiding my reading homework 😎😎😎

Nice Video, for Novels I am only readidng classics lately, I need to put a limit for now, otherwise I won't be able to get anywhere lol

I am excited to find your channel as we are in classical conversations for my two kids and they have a deep emphasis on history and classics:)

You’re simply amazing 🥰

Book: Racist Mother of Black Son. CRV publisher. This one is mandatory. Very worth reading. Published in Brazil

Such a great video! I have read a good share of classics, but I always enjoy watching other people's videos about them :) And I wasn't a big fan of Eugene Onegin in high school when I read it, but I have seen the opera and enjoyed it. Definitely want to reread the book, since I've read it half a life ago LOL. I also really like your personality, keep up with all the good content :)

Great channel. The videos are quite lengthy. I think timestamps would be great for all of your videos.

This is just the best… thank you for this

Great video, thanks for that. Somehow you remind me of Meg Ryan's character in 'You've Got Mail'.

I love this video and your amazing channel please stay safe and enjoy your reading love your intro xx

omg i was just searching for a guide like this and your video came up in my feed!