I am 22 years old, and I am severley ill. I have been for two years now. I can no longer leave the house, and am confined to my bed. I want to say that I recieve so much comfort and joy from your videos, Emma. I used to study English lit at uni too, and had always read voraciously before my illness. To borrow a phrase of Anne Shirley's, I see in you a true kindred spirit. Someone in whose deep passion for books and humanity, I see my old self. It is such a bittersweet pleasure to me to watch someone immerse themselves so fully in life the way that you do.

When I retired I wanted to start reading classics. My daughter and I are reading classics together. We have read 16 classics so far and my Favorite is The Count of Monte Cristo.

The reason the coffee doesn’t taste as good is because the process of microwaving works by using electromagnetic forces to move particles in the food but the forces only vibrate the polar molecules (molecules where one part of the molecule is more negatively charged and another more positively charged, e.g. water) and the particles in the part of the coffee that are responsible for the good flavour don’t get heated up as much and therefore don’t taste as good and I just made this whole thing up.

Hey Emma could you do a video about your reading schedule or how you fit reading in to your day or something like that? You obviously read several hours a day at least. It would be interesting to see how a literature major/enthusiast keeps up with the reading. And how do you approach a big book - you said something about 15 pages a day for David Copperfield. Do you set a pace like that for books when you have a deadline? So interested in how you fit in all the reading.

1) The Fall - Albert Camus 2) The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas 3) Frankenstein - Mary Shelley 4) Tales of Mystery and Imagination - Edgar Allan Poe 5) Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

My grandmother passed away on Tuesday. I needed this video more than ever. Thank you so much for being a shining light ♥️

I love that you have picked a lot of books that you read for your around-the-world reading challenge.

You re-introduced me to Mexican literature and since I’m from Mexico (but haven’t been back) I’ve been reading it in Spanish and it’s been a delight ❤❤❤

Love everything mentioned here Emma! My favourite classics has to be: War & Peace, Pride & Prejudice, 100 years of Solitude, Pedro Páramo, Dorian Gray, Mrs. Dalloway, Anna Karenina and Emma 😊

Emma, I gotta say, you're the first person who actually made me want to read Pedro Páramo (and I studied Spanish in uni!!). Listening to you talk about your favourite classics is really a wholesome experience! Especially because you're an english speaking person who reads a lot of non english written books, which is so rare and makes all the difference.

honestly i’ve been waiting for another one of these v recently and i was so happy when you posted 😭 i started reading again recently and its safe to say I’ve fallen down the classics rabbit hole so this was amazing timing

my favorite classics so far have to be - the bell jar by sylvia plath (one of my fave authors) - a room of one’s own/ mrs dalloway by virginia woolf (fave too) - a farewell to arms and the old man and the sea by hemingway - frankenstein obviously! so beautifully written and so philosophical, love that - 1984 orwell was life changing so definitely have to include that here

Bought a farewell to arms this weekend!! Hearing you and Carolyn speak about it made me need to read it, planning on starting it after tests and I’m so exited

All of those are such amazing recommendations!!! I'm surprised The Blind Owl wasn't on there! It quickly became one of my all-time favorite classics and all-time favorite books thanks to your recommendation! 🥰🥰🥰

I read the ice palace a few weeks ago because of you and its amazing! The scene of Unn in the ice palace was genuinely hypnotic. I highly 2nd your reccommendation

OOOO id love to read your paper on Frankenstein! Such a good list you got here

I'm brazilian, so I'm pretty happy to see that you read a classic book from my country and you liked! Machado is one of the most important names in our national literature, hope you can read more from him soon, love u 💕

classic literature yes !!! 😍 i love them so much aaa im such a classics lover ♡♡♡ thank you for introducing them emma^^

Last year, I read some amazing classics because of you. And now I got some more. Thank you girl 💜

This video brought me UNBRIDLED JOY. Frankenstein is my all-time favorite book, so I loved hearing you gush about it.

i read the Phantom of the Opera because of one of your previous videos and it was amazing. I loved every page of it. Thank you.

Hey! I'm Brazilian and i gotta say: Is SO GOOOOOOD to see Machado de Assis on your list. It warmed my heart.

my fave classics, my top 3: one hundred years of solitude, the posthumous memoirs of bras cubas, and the count of monte cristo. i actually got most of my classic recommendations from you and a huge THANK YOU emmie for introducing me to south american lit! also i recently bought hour of the star by clarice lispector and collected stories of machado de assis

the ice palace is so good! it's definitely about to be popular this year.

This video brings me so much joy! One of my favorite humans with lots of my favorite books 🥰

Emma, your list of classic lit is nothing, but perfect! ✨✨

I think my preference of literature matches perfectly with you. Because of your recommendations I read The Picture of Dorian Gray and Frankenstein, and OMG! I can't ever thank you enough for them. I look forward to your videos, just to note down your recommendations, so that I can put them in my TBR and enjoy the hell out of them. Thank you for these videos. Thank you for being the way you are. ♥️

Things Fall Apart was one of my favorite books we read in high school. I feel Ice Palace calling to me.

obsessed with the way that you have introduced me to so many classics i had never heard of, especially foreign classics! thank you, emma!

A Farewell to Arms was a hit for me. I plan to reread it as well. I am loving the Game of Tomes!

You just talking about books while holding a cup of coffee in your hand is just so dreamy and cozy. I’m a mom and I read classics too. I enjoy them because they have more substance and essence for me compare to contemporary fiction. I just loveee hearing classic book recommendation!!! I loved Things Fall Apart too. We studied at one of my classes back in college. ❤️

Your videos are always so fun and interesting! I enjoyed hearing about Ernest Hemingway. I just got done with The Old Man and the Sea and loved it, and I remember loving Farewell to Arms when I was younger. I read Things Fall Apart in high school as well, but I should give it another read since I hardly remember some of the details!

Hill house is such a hoot to read. While we differ so much between our favourite classics, i love hearing people talk of their favourites. There is always a part of me that thinks « Maybe I should give them yet another reread in case I missed something the first times ». It brings out my optimistic nature for sure. My favourite classics are Anna Karenina, Little Women, and Mrs. Dalloway. They feel so intimate, cozy, flawed, but human.

oh, the timing of this video! I've been searching everywhere for classics recs cause out of nowhere I've felt this urge to start reading them and I definitely trust your taste!!

Oh Emmie, I love your videos so much... Your intros and just realness is amazing ... I have all these books, thank you for the recs. I Loved The turn of the screw, Things Fall Apart, Frankenstein, A Farewell to Arms, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Phantom of the Opera, Bras Cuba's was HILARIOUS!!! Dorian Gray is just a MUST READ, War and Peace broke me and I loved it, I haven't read Season yet but it is in my tbr, Haunting of Hill House was good as well... I am still trying to finish David Copperfield and I am loving it... Thanks for another great video Emmie .. love from Ohio

I’m sooo glad to see Bras Cubas in this list! Another great work by Machado de Assis is Dom Casmurro, a story about a distrusting husband set in the Rio de Janeiro of the Brazilian Empire. Trust me, this is a 5 star book as well.

This video is an absolute delight ! ❤️ One of m'y favorite classics are : Grapes of wragh, and Mice and Men by John Steinbeck and Wuthering Height by Emilie Brontë

As an Igbo Nigerian im glad u loved things fall apart i remember my aunt gifting it to me when i was 12 years old and i still remember it ever since!!!

I can listen to her talk about Frankenstein for hours❤

I am definitely going to read some of these! I have never heard of Ice Palace until now. Frankenstein is so good and a great introduction to classics since it’s exciting and a bit easier to understand!

I only read Frankenstein for the first time a few years ago and I was amazed how moving it was. Totally unexpected. I agree with you. It's so real and gut wrenching.

Not only classics and recommendations, but they're by Emma, cannot possibly get any better.

You always post when I need distraction and comfort most. Love and books always ❤ 📚

Thanks for recommending your favorite classics, Emmie. Stay true to yourself no matter what.

You have such a calming voice, I could listen to it all day ❤️😍

This year I am focusing on variety and your recommendations have helped tremendously. 😊

Thanks for the reccs! I just got done with the Chiltern Classics ed. of Dorian Grey the other week, love love love that range, big recommend. Gonna pick up one of their Frankensteins now, no idea why I always tuned that book out :)

Hey Emma I read 100 years of solitude after I watched a video where you recommended it. You spoke about it with such passion, I was very intrigued. I jumped into it blindly. As you say it does come with its challenges but wow ! What a book. Near the end of the book I read a couple of passages to my boyfriend and that’s when I realized I was reading something truly amazing. I’m currently reading the picture of Dorian Gray. Thanks for your videos

Your skits and book recs are elite

Emmie, so humorous and fabulous YOU are! One of your best reviews of the classics. I love all of your choices!!! Wish I could say I've read them all too, but nevermore...:/

Loved your list :)) I've already tried to add Things Fall Apart maybe 3 times to my tbr because it sounds so good. Ice Palace also sounds amazing! My favorites include: The Hunger Angel - Herta Müller The Wall - Marlen Haushofer Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck Narcissus and Goldmund + Beneath the Wheel - Hesse The Yellow Wall-Paper - Charlotte Perkins Gilman Loco Afán - Pedro Lemebel Mr Palomar - Calvino The Artificial Silk Girl - Keun The Bell Jar - Plath Marie Antoinette - Zweig Everything by Ingeborg Bachmann (she's a genius)

Omg! I got Weyward too!!!! I am so excited to read it! I can’t wait to hear your feelings on it

each of your movies affects me like warm tea on winter days. every movie fills me with warmth and it makes me happy to listen to you because you are so wise and aware. you have no idea how your videos help me. I am sending you much love

I’ve read eight of these books thanks to you and two more are waiting on my shelves. So thank you Emma 😅 💜

It's a pleasure to hear how much you love One hundred years of solitude, It's perhabs the best book ever wrinten in my country. Greetings from Colombia! Love ur content. 🌸

Emmie make a video of the best short stories.

Omg i’m adding all the ones i haven’t read from these straight to my tbr

As a treat to myself I’m reading The Picture of Dorian Gray on my bday weekend (the last weekend of March) and I’m soo looking forward!

I'm very close to finishing Things Fall Apart (almost definitely finishing it today) and I'm really loving it, it's fantastic

Wonderful recommendations! I am reading Moby-Dick for the first time, and oh man it is so much better than I thought it would be, and I am loving it!

Great book recommendations, loved Frankenstein and PotO!! Still hoping for book recommendations based on great dates (in addition to the one inspired by bad dates:))

My favorite classics (so far) are: -Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, the language was a bit difficult but the story was just amazing. - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, she is such strong character and I loved following her story. - The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, so short but every single page was brilliantly written. The ending left me in shock for a while. - Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, I love Mary Shelley and her life story. When it comes to Frankenstein I finished it in one sitting which is not something I would usually do, so it is amazing. - The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, a very famous and brilliant story but that one chapter... Still ignoring it... - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, yes I am a man but the whole book just warms my heart... Love it. - Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allan Poe, every story was beyond interesting and his writing style is so easy to get through. "The Black Cat" will forever be my favorite story.

Can I just say how well the cover of "Chess" matches your outfit and nails! 😍

Your videos are very comforting❤

Great recs! We have a lot of classic audiobooks and a couple from the list!

Thanks for the recommendations, I'm actually reading "In Cold Blood" from Truman Capote which is consider a classic as well. Regards from sunny DR. 🇩🇴🇩🇴

I recommend you anything Kafka honestly. This man and his work has a GRIP on me, unimaginable. For instance as I was reading "the trial", it was so interesting and had so many layers or just generally leaves so much room for interpretation but I KNEW that as I was reading some pages, that I just did not understand the passage and the intention with which Kafka wrote it like- just amazing, beyond amazing honestly. It makes me so emotional and empathetic too like I DO NOT EVEN know this man😭 But yes highly recommend Kafka and also his short stories to start with maybe too!!

omgg classics and emmie

I am half way through War & Peace. I struggled with it in the beginning but am enjoying it now. So far I'd say I definitely prefer Anna Karenina.

Thesis - Yes! Phantom of the Opera! I especially enjoy the edition you held up - the translation by Mireille Ribiere and who doesn't absolutely love her quote about Mozart! (p. 55)

Love a number of these. My other favorites are The count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, the Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Beloved by Toni Morrison, I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou, In our Time by Hemingway, Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, and Anna Karenina by Tolstoy

Sounds fun will definitely check it out!

You mentioned you are studying hotels in lit?? I would love a video essay on your thoughts or even just a Rec video! I am obsessed with the role of houses/structures as characters in literature

Yes! So happy to see Oscar Wilde on here. The Picture of Dorian Gray is one of my all time favourites. And of course you can’t go wrong with 100 years of solitude. Check out Carlos Fuentes, another giant of Latin America literature. I have a feeling you would appreciate his works 😊

watching the coffee in your cup being very close to spilling is so stressful ahaha but love your recs

I love your add skit.🤣 Made my night.

I’m so happy to see Machado de Assis on your list 💕

on top of my head, some of my favorites are: Hunger Artist by Franz Kafka, Frankenstein, 1984, Death and the Dervish by Meša Selimović, Uncle Maroje - A Comedy in Five Acts by Marin Držić

I'm gonna recommend just one of my favorite classics (and favorite overall): The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. It's one of those books I don't want or know how to talk about, it's so special and unique to me, and it WILL break your heart if you read it.

Very happy to see Machado de Assis here. A recommend all of his books

I absolutely recommend All Quite on the Western Front. It is so good and made me cry.

I just finished 100 years of solitude and I can honestly say it’s joined my top 10. Got absolutely lost in it and just thoroughly enjoyed reading it

New to the channel. As a reading polyglot, this video is gold. Most recommendations only stick to things written in their own language.

100 Years of Solitude was my favorite of all time until I read War and Peace a few years ago. Definitely two masterpieces. Love your analyses by the way.

1. Orlando 2. Mrs Dalloway 3. The Waves 4. Frankenstein 5. The Picture of Dorian Gray 6. Wuthering Heights 7. Jane Eyre 8. Anna Karenina 9. 100 years of solitude 10. The Pickwick Papers 😊

I love Hemingways writing. It’s just so good

I generally avoid older books as I found myself not connecting to them much but I read "The Hopkin's Manuscript" by R. C. Sherriff recently and absolutely loved it, maybe one of my favorite books now. Idk if it qualifies as a classic but it def made me more motivated to explore classics and older books.

Just what I needed!

the ice palace has been in my cart for months, just ordered it, all i needed was the push.

EMMA !! You should read john keats’ “love letters and poems to fanny brawne” !! I’m reading it right now, and I am loving it so so so much. It’s so beautiful in all the ways

My number one favorite book of all-time is One Hundred Years of Solitude as well! As for my next few fave books, Beloved by Toni Morrison is an extremely close second, with Frankenstein in third.

Hi Emma. I have just finished a modern classic from a fabulous writer, The Transit of Venus, by Shirley Hazzard. What a treasure! I loved it to pieces! I cannot recommend this author enough!

I've been trying to get into Mary Shelley's biography of late,her parents were incredible people.I have still to finish A Farewell To Arms and some of the names on the page are places I have been to many moons ago so in that sense I feel a strong connection with the book.

you just reminded me to reread the ice palace because it was my first read of summer 2022 and i’m not sure it was the best climate to be reading it in

I finished A Farewell To Arms today and yeah, just completely fascinating. I have 2 books of short stories and 4 novels of his to get through next.

my top 3 classics: Emma, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Les Misérables

im going to go reread frankenstein now!

Chess is one of my favorite books of all time! Read it in one sitting…

I just read Frankenstein for the first time and it was so much better than I had expected! Then right after, I read Frankissstein by Jeanette Winterson - highly recommend!

Just bought Things Fall Apart because of your recommendation!