Items25The creator’s order
  1. 1Great Expectations (1861)Great Expectations (1861) 7.5/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1861Pip’s embarrassment about his origins becomes more painful once work, money and gratitude are real adult concerns. Dickens also gives him a comic narrative voice and a world of odd, sharply observed people, so there is far more to enjoy than tracing a symbol. Start here for the uncomfortable…0
  2. 2Pride and Prejudice (1813)Pride and Prejudice (1813) 8.4/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1813Listen to how people talk when they want to impress, flatter or conceal an interest. Austen’s family gatherings and disastrous conversations make a lively comedy, while marriage has material consequences for women with limited independence. Elizabeth’s judgement is part of the entertainment because…0
  3. 3Of Mice and Men (1937)Of Mice and Men (1937) 8.0/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1937A patch of land matters differently when a reader recognises the insecurity of relying on the next job. Steinbeck’s short, scene-driven novel makes George and Lennie’s dream concrete before its pressures tighten. The dialogue and dramatic construction reward reading for pace as well as ideas.…0
  4. 4The importance of being earnest and four other plays (2003)The importance of being earnest and four other plays (2003)Published 1 Jan 2003Start this collection with The Importance of Being Earnest and hear the exchanges as a performance. Wilde turns marriage interviews, family credentials and the need to appear respectable into exquisitely timed nonsense. The pleasure is the speed with which a confident sentence can undermine the…0
  5. 5Persuasion (1818)Persuasion (1818)Published 1 Jan 1818Eight years of living with an earlier decision give Anne Elliot’s restraint its force. Austen makes missed opportunity and the pressure of other people’s advice feel specific, then surrounds them with vanity and absurdity. This is an especially rewarding return for someone more interested in what a…0i
  6. 6Middlemarch (1871)Middlemarch (1871)Published 1 Jan 1871The marriages, bills and professional ambitions have room to become complicated before anyone can pronounce a verdict. Eliot’s wit helps make that patience pleasurable: a whole town is trying to interpret itself, often badly. Choose it when you want to spend time with the compromises behind a…0
  7. 7Jane Eyre (1847)Jane Eyre (1847) 8.1/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1847Jane’s direct voice makes the struggle for dignity immediate, especially when dependence on an employer limits what she can safely say. The Gothic suspense and force of her anger give the novel energy beyond its romance. Read for that voice and for the price of keeping self-respect. The treatment…0
  8. 8Wuthering heights (1848)Wuthering heights (1848)Published 1 Jan 1848The striking thing on a return may be how many people are hurt by a bond often packaged as a great romance. Brontë’s competing narrators, harsh comedy and repeated acts of cruelty make the experience stranger than a plot summary suggests. Read it as a disturbing family story told through imperfect…0
  9. 9The Mayor of Casterbridge (1922)The Mayor of Casterbridge (1922)Published 1 Jan 1922A man can acquire status without learning how to live with himself. Henchard’s rise and his disastrous responses to the past give Hardy’s novel a powerful dramatic engine. Adult pride, business rivalry and the difficulty of accepting help are useful ways back into it. The opening betrayal of his…0
  10. 10A Christmas Carol (1843)A Christmas Carol (1843) 7.9/10 on Open LibraryPublished 1 Jan 1843Read the narrator’s jokes, grotesque details and changes of pace, and the familiar seasonal story regains some bite. Scrooge’s conversion is also a story about what an employer owes the people whose lives his decisions affect. The ghosts make that argument theatrical. Its rapid redemption has the…0