Hi there! I am Mia and welcome, or welcome back to my Blog! I am excited today to be starting a journey. Basically, we are doing something new. So I told you guys about me being in my Booktube phase, and during that time I watched all 4 videos of Hannah, now 5 I guess (@clockworkreader), where she reads some books on certain specific tropes and shares the whole experience. She blogs over the days, weeks and then reviews it and rates them. Honestly, those became instantly my favourite kind of book videos. And I thought it would be so fun to do something similar with a specific type of books that I struggle to read. You read the title, classics.
I have wanted desperately since last year to get my head into them. I just feel that people who read them are just more accomplished than people like me, who would only do this for a challenge. This blog sounds like the perfect time to throw myself out of that comfort zone. So I made a list of some really popular classics that I want to read, and now I am just gonna spin the wheel to see which one we're gonna start with. Spinning the wheel would be the most fun I would have during this, I already know. But you won't see that.
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Rating System :
🌠Stars -
⭐ : Either dnf'd or wondering why bother finishing
⭐⭐ : Okay.. but whatever, do something about the plot holes
⭐⭐⭐ : Hm.. but I don't feel it
⭐⭐⭐⭐ : You gave me something good which could've been better
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ : Talk about my favorite
❣️ Hearts -
🖤 : Disappointed really.
💛 : Oh.. I read it? Yesterday? No impact.
💚 : Confused if I should lower the ratings
💙 : Happy got to read it.
💜: I looooved it but boy where did you miss??
❤️ : Giddy, Crying, Screaming. Don't talk to me rn pls
✨No hearts, No stars : HATED
✨ ❤️ heart, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ stars : ALL TIME FAVOURITE
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Book 1 : The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
The Little Prince came into the list of books that I wanted to read because, a while ago, I saw a YouTube shorts, in which there was a list of most sold books. After Bible and Qur'an, The Little Prince was the book that showed up. It's a novella, my copy was less than 100 pages long. It's a children's book, heavy on allegory. The protagonist meets a young prince when his plane crashes and fall in a desert. Besides what follows after they meet, we see the prince's story of how he travelled different planets and what he saw.. and his reflections. I read this book in 2 days, maybe less than that so there was not much time to update while reading, but
Here are my reactions :
Update 1 : Hi! I finished reading/listening The Little Prince a while ago. I started reading yesterday and couldn't get into it... much. And then an hour ago, I started listening to the audiobook, and I enjoyed it a lot more that way. The story is a lot of my friends' favourite. I think if I had started listening to it from the start, I would have had a better experience overall. Yesterday I couldn't get over the fact that it was a kid's book. ‘The Prince’ and the protagonist equally sounded non-sensical to me and I felt disconnected. Reading it as an adult, I think that's the case with most of us.
Then today, when I read the latter 1/3rd of it. I think I GOT it much better. The audiobook was amazing, highly recommend. I loved the effects and different sounds for charchters. The book did charm me by the time it ended and my heart broke during the last chapters.
Mostly, it's a children's book, I am saying that over and over, but it is so..., but it also touches some important subjects... importance of relationships being the major one, and it makes interesting philosophical comments, which I don't think kids would really understand, but they would love the characters.
In terms of similarity with any other book, I think I have only read The Alchemist, which was written in the same “magical-philosphical” vibes. I would still recommend this mostly to kids, because, as an ‘adult’, I felt flat until I had someone narrate it to me. But I get it, why some people would say it's one of the greatest classics ever written.
Personally, I give this book 3 stars. 💙 Heart. Maybe someday I will re-read it and get the more ‘profound’ meaning.. but I am not getting any younger and the book made it clear that grown ups are very very strange so I might never get there.
So yeah. Onto the next book. Spinning the wheel now.
Book 2 : Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Would be lying if I said part of why added this book to the list, wasn't because of Timothee Chalamet (yep, the adaptation). I haven't watched any of his movies but I just.. he has a really amazing smile okay? Man has an interesting face!
Going into Little Women, I knew nothing except there are 4 or 5 sisters (there are 4), and there's sisterhood and their daily lives. And it's not wrong, this is exactly what the book is about. Kind of obvious that Louisa used the book to reflect her ideologies and preach her beliefs to the audience. It works. This could be boring to read, but if you like reading contemporaries and won't mind the dull monotone daily life things these girls do for some 100 pages, I would recommend the book to you.
Reactions :
Update 1 : Hi! So, it's been 3 days since I started reading Little Women and I am more than halfway through it. I think I have a more concrete view of every character now. It's mostly a character based book, written in third person omniscient. All four sisters have such different characters and the part that I am at, Amy.. she's shocking me with the character development. I read it in the preview of the book, how the book came to be and there was a line : A survey of students says that this book is more impactful and influential than Bible. Amy's charchter development.. it's giving me that.
The way Alcott has written the problems in marriage that Meg (oldest sister), is going through, and the way Amy and Jo visit their family and friends and Amy tries to put on her best behaviour and why.. Alcott's views and insights are beautiful and amazingly written. This book actually made a few changes in my daily schedule, watching March sisters go about their days and how they interact with others, is one of the most poignant things I have ever seen in literature. It's actually impacting people.
It was also written in the preview that Alcott was worried that her first part of the novel (it's divided in two), might be boring to the audience. I agree. In the first part you're mostly introduced to the Marches, their friends and neighbours, charchters and their individual 'duties'. And then one character gets sick, and how everyone is doing what their duty is and try to be their best selves to bargain health for this person from God, like a redemption.. as such. There's not much plot. It's like you're reading background story of these charchters for a better study of the latter part of the book, which has more plot.
It would take me at least two more days to finish Little Women, and it already is better than what was part I. I saw that a lot of my friends on Goodreads were 'currently reading' this book, since like January, and they're just stuck at the first few chapters. That might be a problem, I encourage everyone to get the audiobook, it makes that easier.
I think it's hard to choose one March sister as my favourite. I thought it would be easy because Jo is the 'revolutionary' 'feminist' one, which should have been modern audience's favourite. But. Uh.. but she had me thinking she was probably trans for five solid hours and I'm still thinking about it. It's not a bad thing, I just think that it's fitting if she is. And her character is like that more because she's trans, than she has a different, 'feminist' view of the world. And inspite of being 'feminist', she is quite wild and at her sisters' and parents' expense. If she was doing it as an independent, I would have liked her more. Each sister has her flaws, and all of the four are dear to my heart. I think Alcott has done a great job bringing this family to life. I will update you more soon!
Update 2 : Hi! So, it's the sixth day and I finished reading the book last night.
I think that was the most moral book I've ever read.
“People want to be amused, not preached at, you know. Morals don’t sell nowadays.”
It was a dialogue and a going opinion in the book of some characters and portrayed as something that society thinks, which is true. Moral stories don't sell A LOT, or AS MUCH. But she wrote this novel to contradict, which was her opinion that morals still sell, and Little Women's sale and immense popularity must have been a proud moment. And I think she also succeeded in what she was set to do, write a story for young people (ofcourse, for years older people would also enjoy) and preach her beliefs. The book has left a lasting impression on me and I have found a book to gift my mother lol.
There were many ups and downs in the book, things were sometimes extremely dull, especially in Part I, and sometimes the tension between some characters is screaming at you. One particular chapter ‘Heartache’ which I know would be quite popular with fanbase, had me screaming with anxiety. And who ends up with who.. which again is another big conversation topic.. I don't like who Laurie ends up with. From the start of the book he had chemistry with every single March sister. He thought Meg was the prettiest, he said Jo was his favourite, Beth had a crush on him and Amy spent time with him in foreign and they got close. And he was a player, he had other girlfriends besides these four. After a particular 'heartbreak' he recovers so soon, and I felt bad for him during the ‘heartbreak’, and he goes on to say that “X and you changed places in my heart, that’s all.” I mean.. *panics*. I never liked him much, he wasn't THE gentleman. Mr. Bhaer was the heart-stealer.
Among the four sisters, I loved reading about Meg the most. ‘Men are trash’ is the policy in today's, and I can't agree less. They are quite trashy. But Meg's pov always showed a different side to the story. When man is good i.e. Mr. Brooke, how he's misunderstood in a feminine world. I have seen massive hypocrisy in videos that go to show that, with so many crimes and injustice going with women, it's easier to reason women's side of the story, that leaves good men in a messy situation. Alcott does a great job. One of my favourite chapters was when Meg was upset because her husband had started spending time with his friends after he came back from work, and she was alone and bored at home. The advice Marmy (Mrs. March) gives Meg then.. well, I was quite stunned. Being a woman, it's easier to blame men. The ‘modern culture’ supports so. Marmy stole my heart. She also was my favourite character in the whole book.
In terms of relatablity, obviously, writer Jo was the most relatable character. She was loud, she was always frowned upon, she had flaws.. her temper and struggle to control it, phenomenal rep, Alcott.
I am talking a lot, I guess. But okay, domestic historical books are REALLY FUN! The only flaw, was with Laurie being called a 'gentleman' and the first part.. boring. I would give it 4 stars. 💜 Heart.
Book 3 : Romeo And Juliet by William Shakespeare
If you have read my review, you already know what I think about it. Romeo and Juliet is forbidden romance. Two families who hate each other and their kids fall in love. They can't handle the situation, they're young and they die. I am not spoiling anything, I am sure you already knew or have heard the story in parts before. It's MAD POPULAR. To me, reading it wasn't worth it. No new information gained.
But here are my reactions :
Update 1 : I just got this in the wheel and I just know I'll be singing Love Story (Taylor Swift) throughout this. smh.
Update 2 : Hi! I finished reading Romeo and Juliet last night. It was quite short, but I took my time, so it wrapped it in two days. It was a hard book to read. Old english and it was in play format, flowery language was everywhere. Having finally read it, I can say that it has added nothing to my literary knowledge. The story is so popular, I already knew everything that was there to know, except the specifics of how they die together. It's really glorified, ‘the greatest love story of all time’, yeah no.
I mean, I get it, the story was sensational, but the writing was just... meh. I can't believe that's what my first opinion of Shakespeare is. I would recommend this only to kids lol, and I can't see why people would consider this as text to write papers on, it just isn't that deep. I can tell from this one work that William Shakespeare won't be my guy, like ever. So, I will keep listening to Love Story and consider that og. #taylordiditbetter. Living for no suicides at 14!🙌
Would rate this 2 stars. 💛 Heart.
Book 4 : Persuasion by Jane Austen
Persuasion, my girl Jane Austen. Persuasion wasn't the next Austen I wanted to read, I wanted to do Sense and Sensibility first. But the wheel.. and this still is on my TBR for the new Netflix adaptation. Persuasion is second chance romance of a couple that was seperated by the girl's family because he wasn't rich and then he comes back and they go through enemies to lovers arc. There's 'I'll-date-her-to-make-you-jealous' trope, which I don't jam with. But it was surprising to see Austen attempt it.
Update 1 : Hey, so we have reached the point where I feel like banging my head against the wall if I don't stop reading classics. I am realising that one classic at a time might suit me better. Having to read 5 of them back to back is painful and I'm afraid of falling into a slump. You know what, I think I should stop overthinking this.. only the last book is left, and then I have accomplished my goal. Or else I would think that reading is supposed to be my fun hobby and this task wasn't meant to punish me, and I should just give myself a break -
Wait now I have said it. Curse this. Ugh. Forget this paragraph. Never happened. Brr brr brr. Let's start again!
Hey!! I just finished Persuasion. Even though Little Women was the book that took me longest to finish, this was the book that never seemed to end, like, during the last 30%, I was constantly thinking ‘Can this end? Can this please, for the love of lord, end?’. It wasn't that bad. I'm just saying I'm disappointed. If there was any book on this journey, that I was REALLY looking forward to, it was this Jane Austen book. I thought I was safe with Jane Austen!
And I wasn't sick of it for the most part, but I also wasn't very interested. First of all, this book is second chance romance, which surprised me. We have read forbidden romance, friends to lovers and second chance romance during the whole duration of this blog (by now) and the latter, I had never expected. Second chance romance existed in 19th Century!? Is there ANYTHING that modern authors create?
Anyway, so we don't see how these two acquainted the first time, only hear of it, and then he comes back 8 years later and we see these two go from there. I already knew about Anne's charchter as the shy, introvert one among the Jane Austen females, but she was more like the only person in the family who wasn't completely WHACKED in the head. Walter Elliot, her father, hands down, the FUNNIEST charchter I have read this month. His obsession with 'looks', of women or men, either, it's no joke, the biggest joke! This one paragraph..
“The worst of Bath was, the number of its plain women. He did not mean to say that there were no pretty women, but the number of the plain was out of all proportion. He had frequently observed, as he walked, that one handsome face would be followed by thirty, or five and thirty frights; and once, as he had stood in a shop in Bond-street, he had counted eighty-seven women go by, one after another, without there being a tolerable face among them. It had been a frosty morning, to be sure, a sharp frost, which hardly one woman in a thousand could stand the test of. But still, there certainly were a dreadful multitude of ugly women in Bath; and as for the men! they were infinitely worse. Such scare-crows as the streets were full of!”
I couldn't stop laughing! It's kind of offensive, but that's his character and I never took him seriously.
Anne's sisters are insufferable in every way possible. Enters Mr. Elliot, Anne's cousin and heir of their house, and he's playing role of recycled Mr. Wickham from Pride and Prejudice. And these charchters make half of the book pure comedy show.. which I don't think is what Jane Austen was going for. 😬
If that wasn't enough, here's some real comedy. So this girl, Louisa, who's a candidate to be married, 20 something, she's feeling really playful. She along with others are strolling and whenever they have to descend to a lower platform, she needs her partner (the man she's engaged with) to hold her by the waist or catch her, when she jumps. So when he puts her down, she goes back up again and says catch me once more, goofy. At this point, I am kinda rolling my eyes, but okay, get it over with. But her partner can't catch her, and she falls, hits her head, gets unconscious and everyone's staring in horror. I'm sorry, I had belly laughs over this. And then, in this context this line occurs, “Ay, a very bad business indeed.—A new sort of way this, for a young fellow to be making love, by breaking his mistress’s head!—is not it, Miss Elliot?—This is breaking a head and giving a plaister truly!”
I mean- COME ON!
I'm not a salty person, I like laughing. I will give it brownie points for being funny but not for unlikable charchters, and they make up half of the book.
Let's talk about love interest now. So, it's Mr. Wentworth. He loved Anne when he had nothing, they both loved each other and her side of the family refused to their 'acquaintance', because he has no money and security. So heartbroken, he goes away. Upon coming back, this time with cash, he's being mean to her. And I don't understand why... It was her family who refused him, and he knows it. I don't understand his temper with her, even though later he apologized and said it was his pride, but why? He was literally poster boy for ‘your-family-refused-for-not-having-coin-so-now-I-have-cash-watch-girls-licking-me-mooch-mooch’.
And then later some guy looks at Anne like he wants her, and Wentworth notices, and IT'S WHAT MR. WENTWORTH TELLS ANNE LATER... “The passing admiration of xyz had at least roused me, and the scenes on the Cobb, and at Captain Harville‘s, had fixed your superiority.” Okay, so sir saw that others find her admirable so maybe I can forgive her for crimes she never committed and tell her that I love her. And he also leads some others girls on while trying to make her jealous and later tells her that “I've loved no one but you.” and I think that's ridiculous! Those other girls are happy and married now so that makes his actions okay? He apologized.. again. But he's still horrible! I couldn't stop getting icks from him. He never expressed why he loved her, we don't see when and how this happened. Anne was always blushing, and we're in her head so we know she's down for it, but Wentworth was trying to move on, and he was definitely ahead of Anne in that race, did he just give in to the older feelings like, ‘okay this is too much. Why find other lover when I can just have this old one.’ ummmm
I liked the writing. Domestic historical novels are super fun. There's drama and every character has a story going. Every character brings something to the table. I semi liked Anne, she was a little too perfect, and her being so normal in her abnormal family makes no sense. I liked the letter scene, butterflies, you know, but also it was a cop out?? Sir, say it. Funny scenes were amazing. Saved the book. Some of the conversations these characters had, showed maturity Austen has gained, which is cool.
I will rate this 2 stars. 🖤 Heart.
Book 5 : Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
I knew next to nothing about Wuthering Heights, except this quote,
“He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
which some people think belongs to After.. ridiculous. Anyway, I thought it was a cute romance. I couldn't have been father from the truth. It was a really dark book about a dude gone mad in love and hate and ruining lives. That's it.
See for yourself :
Update 1 : Hello! I think I am gonna take a little break before starting this. Read another book alongside because if I willingly read a book that's potentially going to put me in a slump, that is just sad. And I am not a masochist. So I will start this tomorrow. Honestly, I was about to throw up five minutes ago, when I spinned the wheel and it was about to land on War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, that book is THICK! Thank God it stopped on Wuthering Heights. I will update more later.
Update 2 : Hi! I have started reading and I am at chapter number 3, I just realised that it's a gothic novel. Whatever I had been expecting, it wasn't this.. It's kind of confusing as of now, everyone at this house, Wuthering Heights, is acting like an asshole but hey, Wuthering Heights is a pretty name for a house.
Update 3 : Hey! I thought I would update a bit. So this really really wasn't what I was expecting. The ‘gothic’ part of the book was set aside after the first few chapters and since then we have been reading the backstory of the main characters from their maid's pov. It's really interesting. All I wish is, it would've been better if we started with the backstory first and then would've met these people in present time, because the first few chapters were SO confusing. And their backstory helps immensely.
Talking about the main characters, not one of them is likable, and I am sure that's the way it's supposed to be, so not complaining. Edgar and Isabella are the only two I can take, you would know the people I'm talking about if you have read the story, others.. the really main ones are nasty nasty. It's not cute, it's not springs. It is a dark book. Surprise surprise.
The writing is indeed amazing.. and the forbidden romance.. ugh. It's just the most unhealthy thing ever. It's worse than teacher student romance. I was pretty much sneering at them both until the part where she's so sick, she's almost ghastly. And then the dialogues, the writing.. that's the only convincing factor that despite them being horrible, they are in love with each other and it's messed up. I think that's the beauty of this book. Prose.
“It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and feel those wasted hands,’ he answered. ‘Kiss me again; and don’t let me see your eyes! I forgive what you have done to me. I love my murderer—but yours! How can I?”
But I am waiting for the gothic part to come back around. I haven't read any historical gothic in ages.
Update 4 : Hi! Popping up to say that Heathcliff is HORRIBLE!! He's such a scheming bitch! This is NOT what I imagined at all. I think at most, two more days 'till I finish this book.
Update 5 : Hey! Last book down. Can we get some hurrahs here!?
Okay, so if you have been here a while, you know I've wanted to read 'unhinged women' for some time now. And while reading this, Wuthering Heights, I accidentally read 'unhinged man' and Boy! I hated the man. But I find it quite fascinating when a writer can create these horrible people and make you hate them and detest their actions, and at the same time, make you care just enough to read 500 pages about their entire life. Quite a sensational story.
It was gothic in terms of vibes only, dark but not horror. The best of it is definitely writing. Immensely compelling and it kept me hooked once I got the hang of the story. It actually turned out to be most interesting among the 5 I read, The Little Prince and Little Women tieing for the second place.
The book was simply charming; you don't realise until the very end that you've kind of fallen for these charchters despite their obvious flaws. Yes, I'm talking about Heathcliff, who, if I ever saw a man LIKING, I would run like a banshee. After a while, as you age with him, you start feeling pity towards him and some sort of attachment. I didn't cry, but I could feel what Hearton was probably feeling, crying near his dead body.
And it was a love story. The most damned one out there, but still an eternal romance. The kind which people would always talk about.. not because how sad it was that these two couldn't be together. But because Heathcliff realised it too late and suffered agony, and he pulled others with him into his hell just because he was miserable, pathetic, lonely man who had gone crazy with hate for himself. Damn this book. I know I will be coming back to this years later.
To this, I would give 4 stars. 💙 Heart. The most fun that has come out of this whole thing, journey. And I'm glad this was the last book.
So that was it! I think it was so fun to read classics like this. I will be doing more readathons in this way in future. I loved recording the reactions so much. Let me know in the comments what theme you would want to see in future. And if you wanna recommend any classics, please do. I have added more to my list and my fear of them might be dimming out. What have you guys been reading? I would love to know! See ya around!!
Edit : By the way! You can follow my blog by going to the 'web version' which you will find at the bottom of the page. You'll see the option, consider clicking. I hadn't put it up until a few months ago.
((Note : The photos don't belong to me. Credits go to respective Bookstagram accounts. I follow all of these incredible people and me using their pics doesn't mean that we are of the same opinion.))
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