39 Comments
User's avatar
Colette Cauli Brown's avatar

Incredible list to ponder during the Wintry storms

So appreciate your share

Expand full comment
caitlyn's avatar

Glad you enjoyed <3

Expand full comment
mimi's avatar

Great recommendations! I’ve read the master and margerita and it was so good! Also, I believe that a lot of us were raised with the feeling that studying the arts were for ‘less sharp’ people and that we should settle for a low paying job with a education like that. Especially with the capitalist mentality that we live in today where the arts are considered hobbies and extras of a life when I believe it should be considered as the spice of life, without it living would be very dull

Expand full comment
caitlyn's avatar

I couldn’t agree more. And yes the master and the margarita is one of my favs. Love the magical realism in that book

Expand full comment
Wundaboy's avatar

I still recall the visceral reaction I experienced reading Crime and Punishment in a college literature class early 1960’s. Looking back now, I realize the profound impact it had on my 40 year career as a probation officer.

Expand full comment
caitlyn's avatar

Wow that’s fascinating! You should reread it

Expand full comment
Sophia Laettner Joubert's avatar

I love so many on this list and saved it so that I can read more of them!!

Expand full comment
caitlyn's avatar

Too many books not enough time

Expand full comment
mara vale's avatar

i would highly recommend ‘a passage to india’ & - if you can stomach epic poetry (which i think you can from the presence of homer’s works in your recommendations) - ‘paradise lost’ by john milton.

Expand full comment
caitlyn's avatar

Yes yes yes

Expand full comment
mara vale's avatar

also, thank you so much for your recommendations - been planning to read the illiad & the odyssey for so long, and i was planning to read emily wilson’s translations; i’m glad they’re recommended.

Expand full comment
Morgan's avatar

I appreciate this list! Just finished Giovanni’s room and I’m recommending it to everyone. Jane Eyre was life changing for me.

Expand full comment
caitlyn's avatar

Giovanni’s rooms is such a brilliant book. I want to read more of Baldwin this year

Expand full comment
Arsim's avatar

I am currently reading the Odyssey and listening to the brothers Karamasov. The choice to listen the brothers Karamasov was because you recommended it.

Expand full comment
caitlyn's avatar

How are you liking it?

Expand full comment
Arsim's avatar

Fyodor Pavlovich is the most dramatic character I have read in a book.

Expand full comment
OT's avatar

nothing was as life altering and obsessing to me as Pride and Prejudice

Expand full comment
caitlyn's avatar

Pride and prejudice didn’t speak to me the way Jane eyre did 🥀

Expand full comment
OT's avatar

I've been meaning to read that. I'll add it to my TBR

Expand full comment
Michael Mohr's avatar

"if philosophy teaches us how to think, classic literature teaches us how to feel. it pulls us into conversations that span centuries, connects us with minds long gone, and reminds us that every struggle, every longing, every moment of doubt we experience has been felt before."

Beautiful and deeply true.

Expand full comment
Litcuzzwords's avatar

I’m sorry, dear, I can’t concentrate to comment on your essay’s content. I have serious vision issues, in fact, my right eye just sort of moves around doing its own thing. I lose my place constantly. How do I recover the line I was reading? Capitalization of first words in a sentence.

Expand full comment
helena's avatar

"if philosophy teaches us how to think, classic literature teaches us how to feel" 🥰🥰

Expand full comment
Ricky M's avatar

Try Raymond Radiguet - Le diable au corps (There must be an English translation)

Expand full comment
MJ Bel's avatar

An excellent list, thank you for sharing! Wuthering Heights is also beautifully haunting.

Expand full comment
Julia's avatar

this has truly reminded me of my passion for classics. It is an incredible list of books I have either always wanted to read, read, or never heard of but still added to my ever-growing list of to-be-reads. Great great recommendations!

Expand full comment
Frank Bard's avatar

Midsummers! :)

Expand full comment
Glenn Brigaldino's avatar

Is it style or choice not to capitaize ?

Expand full comment