#some honorable mentions: the importance of being earnest (wilde) the comet (dubois) (that one's a short story) angels in america (kushner)

[peachcitt]

hey Peach, certified book rec list enabler friend here, can you give us a list of those classic lit recs? 👀

HEY MIA

so i know you asked specifically for classic lit for beginners and i think that is a fantastic idea for a book rec list but im going to give some disclaimers

DISCLAIMERS:

these are simply classic lit books that i like

classic lit books that i like tend to be easier reads FOR ME, not necessarily for other people

my personal definition of "classic lit" is incredibly loose

under the cut is each book with an elaboration on what it's about/what to look out for/my thoughts on it which got a little long, so here's a snapshot of each of the books i included on this list:

Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare)

Lady Audley's Secret (Braddon)

Brave New World (Huxley)

Peter Pan (Barrie)

Frankenstein (Shelley)

Dracula (Stoker)

Olive (Craik)

Herland (Gilman)

At Night All Blood is Black (Diop)

Fun Home (Bechdel)

so anyway here are my recs in no particular order

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

by far my favorite shakespeare play - it's truly funny and emotional when it needs to be, and snappy and bickeringly in love benedick and beatrice really steal the show here. reading it is fun, but since it's a play i'll say my favorite adaptation is the stage production with david tennant and catherine tate as benedick and beatrice. there's also a web series adaptation on youtube that is absolutely phenomenal

2. Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Bradden

by far my favorite book that i've ever had to read for a class !! this is a mystery novel from the mid-1800s, and it's GRIPPING. it follows a distinctly queer-coded lawyer whose best friend goes missing around the time that he meets the lawyer's new hot young step-aunt. i actually posted an alternate ending on ao3 a while ago (it was my final assignment for the class) (i got a good grade). the language in this book is relatively easy to follow, and there's a lot of interesting stuff happening with gender/women/sexuality in there. i cannot recommend this book enough

3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

a fun dystopia from the 1920s! i think if you wanted to get English Major about it, this is a great companion read for 1984 because of how both of these books are dystopias that revolve around what freedom of speech/thought might mean, but they address that idea in complete opposite ways- compelling! while 1984 is all about repression through submission, brave new world is about repression through overt sexuality and substance abuse. i think 1984 is good, but brave new world is a better read; it's emotionally investing and impactful with the words it chooses to use. there's some race/gender/sexuality tension in there that i think is really interesting. reading it in high school changed my life a bit i think.

4. Peter Pan by James Barrie

i think we're all pretty familiar with the story of peter pan, but reading the original text is just a whole other beast. it's a short read, so it can be pretty casual to just pick up. it's a profoundly weird story and i think more people should know about that. a lot of race/gender/age stuff going on there

5. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

a given. a bit of a slower read at points, but i've always thoroughly enjoyed reading frankenstein. key things that i like: the russian doll format, how stupid victor frankenstein is, henry<3, the creature<3

6. Dracula by Bram Stoker

also a given. all the tumblrinas should know about this one. key things that i like: the polyamory vibes, quincey morris<3, jonathan harker<3, mina<3. also how bloody and graphic it is<3

7. Olive by Dinah Mulock Craik

this is a relatively little-known marriage plot novel from the later end of the 1800s and i gotta say. i was Into It the whole time. of course there's some weird stuff in there, but overall this is a book about a girl with a physical disability that gets to be in love and be loved with a happy ending (!!). that kind of thing was nearly unheard of back then, and so even though the language/treatment of all characters isn't perfect, it's really genuine in what it wants to say (which is that people with disabilities deserve love and happy endings). it's a pretty religiously dogmatic text, so be aware of that. the copy of olive that i have came with craik's short story The Half-Caste which is ! well it's a short read and it's a weird one!

8. Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

an early 1900s utopian novel! this one is particularly interesting because there's three (or four, can't remember) male main characters who end up stumbling upon a secret society comprised of only women that is essentially a utopia. how each man reacts to seeing women control, live, and thrive in their own society is really pointed. obviously a lot of gender/sexuality stuff happening in there. my only disclaimer for this one is that sometimes utopian novels can become a bit stagnant, but this one manages to avoid that for the most part because of the conflict the male characters bring in

9. At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop

this is a book that was published in 2018 but i actually didn't know that until i looked it up just now! what! it concerns a sengalese man named alfa who ends up fighting for the french during world war I. after the tragic death of his best friend, alfa begins a descent into madness due to his guilt and his rage. this is a short novel, but it's unbelievably heavy. there's a lot of graphic violence and hard emotions, but it's written so well. it also provides a picture of world war I from the perspective of the african men who were forced into the trenches that isn't normally depicted. it's truly thought-provoking and beautifully written.

10. Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

yes, bechdel as in the bechdel test. fun home is bechdel's graphic novel memoir that was published in the early 2000s, and it details her youth in rural pennsylvania as well as her complicated relationship with her father as she navigated her sexuality as a butch lesbian. it is astoundingly poignant, and the format as a graphic novel means it's a welcoming, quick read (although when i read it i really did dwell on the amazing art panels, and it did make me sit and pause for a while because of how insanely good it is). this is a great snapshot of a particular kind of queer life in the 1960s-70s, and how bechdel depicts her father and her relationship with him is particularly compelling. be aware of themes of sexuality (of course), but also themes of abuse and pedophilia. everything is depicted with care in my opinion, but this one can also get a bit heavy.

and that's it! ive read a decent amount of classic lit, but these are the ones that i enjoyed the most/would be the most welcoming to people who don't normally pick up books like this.

happy reading!!<3