Earl Grey Books

Last week I shared with you some of the classics I’m reading at the moment/while be reading this month and in that post I mentioned I wanted to talk about some of the classics I really wanted to reread as well. And well, here we are today. I could probably mention many, many others but I picked out six today that I’ve been thinking about rereading for a while and now we’re going to talk about them.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

I honestly never would have considered The Picture of Dorian Gray a particular favourite of mine. I enjoyed it when I read it, but I’d already seen a movie of it by that point so it didn’t really blow me away. But lately, I’ve been thinking about it a lot partly because I just watched the film—The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which features Dorian Gray as a character. It made me remember how much of an interesting book it actually is, in terms of how unique it is. I’ve developed a real appreciation of Oscar Wilde’s literary techniques lately and since it’s been almost six years since I’ve read this, I figure it’s time to read it again now that I feel like I’ve read more widely since 2015 and I think I’ll pick up on more this time around. It’s also been more than a decade since I’ve seen the film adaptation so maybe I’ll seek that out again once I’ve reread it.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Going into Dracula I had no expectation of me actually enjoying it. Again, I’d seen the movie because I went through a Gary Oldman phase as a teenager but honestly I expected the book to be pretty boring and difficult to get through. I was actually pleasantly surprised and ended up mostly enjoying this. I did study it for class (also back in 2015) so I think that probably helped to a degree. I am a little nervous about going back into this one now—I rewatched the film a few months back and found it to be boring and just plain terrible. Of course, the book doesn’t have the terrible special effects of the early 90s so maybe it’ll end up being more enjoyable. So this one that I definitely won’t be seeking out the movie for.

Villette by Charlotte Brontë

Confession time: I absolutely hated this book when I read it back in 2012. I thought it was honestly one of the most painful things I’d ever read. I swore I’d never read it again and then for some reason I ended up buying myself a copy a few years later. Now that I’m older, and again, a little more well-versed in classics and just reading in general, I want to give this another go. I’ve reread Jane Eyre a few times now, and as I mentioned in that first post, I want to reread Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, so now seems like a good time to get into the Brontë mood, you know? I’m honestly not sure what to expect with this—will I end up still hating it or will I find some new appreciation for it? I guess only time will time, but I am very interested to see what my thoughts end up being.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Once upon a time, I considered Great Expectations to be my favourite classic (now I’d consider it to be Frankenstein, in case you were wondering). I went through a period where I was straight up obsessed with Dickens and I had this idea that I would read everything he ever published. I made it through three, including this one, before I gave that up. But now that I’ve been reading Little Dorrit, I’m slowly becoming more interested in his work again. I definitely won’t be making any plans to read everything of his again but I do plan on rereading this, finishing Little Dorrit and giving Bleak House a shot this year. That sounds like a lot but with a readalong and possible buddy read for two of those, it sounds like it might even turn out to be a lot of fun!

Hamlet and The Tempest by William Shakespeare

An author that I am determined to read everything from one day is Shakespeare. I’ve studied quite a few of his plays over the years as well as reading some of my own accord but I’ve decided I’d rather like to reread some of them alongside reading some for the first time. I decided to purchase myself copies of Hamlet and The Tempest recently as well as a couple I haven’t read before. I’m not quite sure why I had a sudden desire to reread Hamlet, but I do have a NetGalley ARC waiting for me that’s a retelling of The Tempest. It’s been so long since I read it originally that I felt like I needed to revisit it so that I could fully enjoy the retelling without trying to remember how on Earth it was different in the original. I think I’ll probably end up doing a post about my Shakespeare related plans by the end of the month too!

And that’s it for today. Let me know if you have any classics you’re hoping to reread (or read for the first time) and I’ll see you all tomorrow!