“A great book should leave you with many experiences, and slightly exhausted. You should live several lives while reading it.” –William Styron

So I thought one of the best genres to start off with is Classics. The definition of Classics that I know is kind of hazy, so I’m going to define Classics as books that have stood the test of time (at least 50 years) and that give you something to think about, like a great idea of some sort. Here’s a list of my top 10 favorite Classics, in no particular order:

1. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
2. Little Women, by Louisa M. Alcott
3. My Antonia, by Willa Cather
4. The Odyssey, by Homer
5. The Death of Ivan Ilych, by Leo Tolstoy
6. The Divine Comedy, by Dante
7. Any work of Shakespeare’s, especially Julius Caesar and Hamlet
8. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, as translated by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee


1) and 2) Pride and Prejudice and Little Women, I’ll admit, have reputations of being a little “girlie” but I think both have points in them that apply to both girls and guys. Mr. Darcy and Laurie are both male characters who treat women with the respect they deserve, a quality lacking in many male characters in modern literature.

3) I really enjoyed reading My Antonia. Willa Cather’s characters are very human and easy to relate to. My Antonia looks at the friendship between an immigrant girl, Antonia, and a young boy, Jim. The book is written in Jim’s point of view, which I really liked, it made the story more personal sounding than if it had been in the point of view of a narrator. The story follows Jim and Antonia’s friendship as they grow up.

4) I consider The Odyssey to be the Classic of Classics. First of all it is the oldest work on my top 10 list. Plus, it stood the test of time for hundreds of years before even being written down, it had been recited and passed down orally, which I think is pretty impressive. The Odyssey contains many great ideas to ponder and discuss. For example, what is justice? Did the Greeks’ idea of justice differ from our Christian idea of justice? What is the relationship between justice and mercy?

5) When I first began reading The Death of Ivan Ilych last year I really didn’t like it. I found it thoroughly depressing and dry. I had never read any Russian authors before, so I think my unfamiliarity with their writing style was a factor. I think I thought it was depressing because, well, it is. It is a review of a dying man’s life. In this review the reader discovers that Ivan Ilych’s life was not good. He had spent many years of his life trying to climb the social ladder and putting on an act to do so, he had a terrible relationship with his wife and wasn’t the ideal father either. The people around him can’t wait to see him dead. Depressed yet? So you’re probably wondering why on earth I put this totally depressing book on my top 10, right? I think this book contains important questions for every reader, it also is very hopeful in the end.

To be continued...