My Top Ten Favorite Books and Why

Reading Tess of the D'ubervilles in England on study abroad with my dear friend Courtney (2007)

I relish the classics. Relish. I guess that's why I got my Master's degree in British literature--no, actually, that is why I got my Master's in British literature. Not all of my top ten favorite books are by British authors, but all of them were born before the year 1900.

Why do I love classics written by those old dead guys and the occasional female?

Two reasons.

They generally focus on characters having to make a choice between right and wrong, showing the consequences that come from both choices. Even when wrong choices are made and tragedy is the result, these books convey an overarching hope for humanity despite human frailties. After reading classics with these themes, I am inspried to be and do better. Those are the best books. The ones that when you get out of your comfy chair and blanket, you want to change, do different and be different.

With characters making such complex choices, the character becomes the focus of the story rather than the plot itself--I love that. From these classics, the compelling truth that we are more alike than different from the people who have gone before us is proven. Through reading the classics, we find that decisions determine destiny more than any plot ever could.

As literature has evolved, it now often blurs the line between  right and wrong. Instead, it often shows people getting away with bad decisions, without consequences. Not to mention, hope has become almost non-existent. The writing styles may be brilliant, their plots fascinating, but the modern novel often lacks the teaching of becoming. I like being taught when I read; I like being taught by characters and being left inspired to do the right thing because of them.

With all of that in mind, I made this list; some may find it filled with works that are didactic, wordy, too long, and with some unrealistic happy endings, but these are the works that have helped shape who I am, what I believe, and who I want to become:

1. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
1. With its risen popularity through the new movie (which I have not seen) and the powerful musical that has left many in tears, most will admit that there is a power in this story of sacrifice, redemption, and good vs. evil. I read the un-abridged version the summer after my freshmen year of college, and I fell in love. The best kinds of books are the ones that make you see both sides to every person--feeling sympathetic yet disdaining them at the same time, such is the case with Javert. Fantine makes you weep, Val-Jean restores hope in second chances, the priest beckons forgiveness, Eponine emulates true love, and the list goes on and on. This is the most soul-seeking book I have ever read.
2. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
1. What can I say? One of my favorite characters of all time--Jane Eyre--is simple, strong, and good. The book is in first person, which means you get to go inside Jane's head. The book has everything: mystery, romance, history, and some of the best lines of all time. With lines like this, “Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigour ... If at my convenience I might break them, what would be their worth?", how can you go wrong?
3. Middlemarch by George Eliot
1. Middlemarch explores several different plots and characters that cross paths. It portrays motives, consequences, characters you detest, characters you root for and ends with this line, “But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.” Reading it makes you think about it for days, weeks, and years.
4. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
1. David Copperfield always makes me so happy, even though it can be a tear jerker. It is a classic coming-of-age type tale. The reader follows David as he goes from a little boy who goes through hardships and tries to turn them around for good, into his young adult years where he learns from trials and errors and then finally becomes a man. His choices and character are a foil to so many others in the novel. You see him make one drastic foolish mistake, but he knows he must live with the consequences. This one makes you laugh out loud and cry, all the while relating in some way to this average David Copperfield. 
5. Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
1. "It was the best of times, it was the worth of times," starts one of the world's most beloved classics. It has been a long time since I have read it, but I can still remember how moved I felt when realizing how far the depth of sacrifice can go.
6. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
1. This is a complex romance that leaves girls in agony for half the story--but that's part of the fun of a good romance novel :) It shows how background molds perspective and how prejudices should be withheld until all proof is given. Love this story. Also, I love English history; for instance, North and South depicts factory and mill life vs. the country life in England. 
7. An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott
1. Cute. Cute. Cute. Almost a little too didactic, even for me sometimes, but it was so fun to read a story about a true good girl for a change. I just smiled the whole time.
8. King Lear by Shakespeare 
1. In my mind, this is Shakespeare's crown jewel. Redemption is the main theme, and it's Shakespeare--enough said?
9. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
1. You can't go wrong with Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility is my favorite. Elinor is one of my favorite characters, holding back everything yet showing nothing. I could write a thirty page paper about her, but I won't :) Austen's writing forte is her ability to portray characters so accurately that you will think, "I know someone like that!" almost every time. 
10. Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand
1. This has to be one of the best plays ever written--witty, hilarious, tragic all wrapped into one. You have heard of the man with the big nose who writes love letters to his beloved under the guise of a handsome young man (no doubt, everyone has seen the Wishbone version :) )? Knowing the plot alone is nothing like reading the translated French prose that reads like poetry. I remember reading this in high school and shocking even myself with how much I loved it. Cyrano has to be one of the most sympathetic characters in literary history.

 So here it is. These are the works that have changed my life for good. I think I will have to re-read them all again....