Recommended Reading: Classics List

I have a bunch of books on my reading list right now.  Basically, I found a list of "classics that everyone should read" and decided to read all those that I had not already read. Here are the ones that I read this week and last:

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
 A watched a movie of this book at some point and all I remembered about it was that it was a ghost story.  That in mind, I thought that I would probably not like it. Wrong.  I liked it the best of all the books that I read this week. Each character was real with their own multifaceted personality. The descriptions of the setting were rich, but not overly drawn out. I highly recommend it for anyone 14 and up.  There are some violent scenes.  I think it is an adult book, only because it would be hard to have enough life experience to appreciate the characters' personalities otherwise.

 2. Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier
This is another book that I would have classified as kind of a "scary" book based on the dust cover description. I read it in 2 days. It was absorbing to see through the eyes of the "heroine".  It is written in the first person and there is a lot of inner dialogue, which can be very annoying, but helped illustrate her insecurities and perceptions without being annoying in this case. The ending is not perfectly tidy and leaves some questions unanswered.

3. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
This is a good book in terms of illustrating marriage customs in India.  It would be appropriate for the teenagers in my cultural anthropology class. But it is a sad story and I did not like the ending. I don't recommend reading it for fun.

4. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
I wish that someone would have told me to read this when I was about 8 or 10.  I would have loved it. It is a great kids adventure story about sailing, camping, and islands.  It takes us into the imaginations of the children without losing touch with the real world around them.