Design credit: Sarah of Puss Reboots
This year for Armchair BEA we're being asked to write about genre fiction for our daily topics, and today we're addressing the issue of classics.
I used to avoid classics, especially after high school, because I was forced to read a lot of classics I didn't like and I thought they were hoity-toity and boring (except for the few I LOVED, of course, like Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and The Great Gatsby). Nowadays, I read so many classics I started a my own classics blog, The Project Gutenburg Project! So what changed? Basically, thanks in large part to Project Gutenberg, Librivox, and Redeeming Qualities, I realized that there were all these entertaining, fun classic novels out there, waiting to be rediscovered.
If you have a favorite genre, chances are you can find that genre as a classic. I've been exploring classic mysteries from Edgar Allan Poe's Inspector Dupin stories (considered the first mysteries), to Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, and it's been soooo much fun. Or romance! Ivanhoe, Vera, or an Emilie Loring novel will hit the spot. How about adventure? You can't go wrong with Rafael Sabatini, The Three Musketeers, or The Thirty-Nine Steps. Sci-fi fan? Try Robert E. Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Second of all, classics are curious. There are a lot of similarities to modern literature and some differences that are just bizarre. And I LOVE the bizarre books most of all. A few years ago I couldn't stop reading romances, and now I can't stop reading classics. It's like a sickness.
Anyway, if you want some recommendations for classics, just ask me in the comments and I'll try my best to think of something. Or check out the recommendation flow chart I made up (and need to update).
And if you have a favorite classic you think I'd like please let me know!
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