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Literature Top 10 Books
Film Top 10 Movies
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I assume my choices will be considered unorthodox by any student or professor of literature, being purely personal choices, and coming off the top of my head as well. But I think the best classical novel of English literature I've read is Middlemarch, which certainly surprised the hell out of me when I read it out of pure desperation when I lived in Italy and would read any book I could get my hands on as long as it was in English. It seemed like the most boring possible choice among the limited range of books I had to choose from when I lived there, but eventually I had to give in and read it or else reread something else. I couldn't believe how great it was! The characters are incredibly well-done, and Eliot's complex understanding of human nature was a revelation to me, especially when compared to the long and tiresome list of cardboard English literature characters who range from shallow caricature to barely-disguised symbols that stand in for stereotypes. It's a novel that lives and breathes reality. The level of emotional involvement I experienced while reading this book was shockingly high. So, it has to my choice as the best of the classic English novels ever written. |