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Writer's pictureKathy Miller

My Favorite Books #1


There are many classic novels that aren't on my list, because I've already read them. I wanted to talk about some of my favorite "classics"...and some of my favorites that aren't considered classics (but I think they should be).


In no particular order:

  • Emma by Jane Austen - So, I love all of her novels. I've read them each dozens of times. But Emma stands out as my favorite (closely followed by Sense and Sensibility). One of my favorite movies is the 90s classic "Clueless", which of course is an adaptation of Emma.

  • Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray - I love Becky Smart! She's an imperfect heroine in an imperfect world. This novel is beautifully written and the movie adaptation with Reece Witherspoon is just *chef's kiss* (Note: I've just found out that there's a miniseries of this book from 2018 with Michael Palin!!! Will be watching that very soon!)

  • Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris - I bet you did a double take. This novel is obviously quite different from the others I've mentioned...or is it? At its heart, this is a novel of two messed up people finding each other. It is more modern and contains a great deal more death and destruction. But the Hannibal series are, at the most basic level, a (morally fucked up) love story.

  • Anne of Green Gables, Little House on the Prairie, Eight Cousins... - There are multiple novels of this type and I love them all. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is another one. Little Women, Little Men, etc...deserve special mention here. Absolute classics.

  • Animal Farm and 1984 - These two classics of dystopian fiction are so elegantly written, nothing can really compare. Lord of the Flies is certainly a classic but not quite of the same caliber, in my opinion (and since this is my blog, only my opinion matters here). And to be completely honest, Brave New World kinda sucks. I really did not enjoy it and it is not where near as good as 1984.

  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - both the Robert Redford and the Leonardo DiCaprio movies are excellent, but the book is so much better.

  • The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkein - the entire series is amazing but my favorite of them is the Simarillion. And of course, the movies are fantastic. Thank you, Peter Jackson and the entire country of New Zealand. (interesting fact: the elvish language was based on Icelandic and Welsh).

So that's it for this post. I'm sure I'll think of more novels I want to talk about but these were the first that came to mind. Let me know if I missed anything amazing.


I got:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/shylawatson/top-100-book-library-checklist-quiz?utm_source=dynamic&utm_campaign=bfsharecopy&quiz_result=122886759_2#122886759

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