Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Ten Classics

Every week the delightful people over at the The Broke and The Bookish provides us with another theme for a Top Ten and today I am going to do my Top Ten Classics - a list of masterpieces that should only be bought in hardback editions to be read again and again. 

10) Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Some parts of this book were difficult to get through because they really touched me and made me worry so much about justice and fairness and the way that life sometimes does not go according to plan. 

9) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Be ready for some serious emotional rollercoastering when you read this book. I went through loving, hating, pitying and being infuriated at the main character Emma Bovary is so trapped by dreams of something, someone better than she forgets to live her life and instead stumbles in her own greed for a better version of life. 

8) Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Another book that made me emotional and enthralled me. A beautiful piece about the difficult dynamics of marriage and a novel that I personally enjoyed more than The Great Gatsby by the same author. 

7) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Don't let the brand and image of this book scare you off. It is a masterpiece both in terms of writing and in terms of the way it deals with an incredibly difficult storyline. Read it, then judge for yourself. 

6) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

This book is the classic love and mystery novel. It is the novel that has inspired a whole tribe of romance novelists such as Victoria Holt but no one ever comes even close to mastering it the way Charlotte Brontë does. Chuck out your romance paperbacks and buy a hardback edition of Jane Eyre instead. 

5) Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

My favorite children's book even and one that can easily be read and enjoyed by adults. A book that makes me both cry and laugh 

4) Emma by Jane Austen

Emma is the popular girl, the pretty girl, the lucky girl you want to be. She is also egoistical, bored and unable to think through the consequences of her actions - yet she is lovable and you will root for her as she tries to make couples of all of the single people in her village and instead makes a mess. A humorous classic that Elizabeth Bennett (See number 1 on the list) would have loved. 

3) The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Not only does this book have four main characters that all have each their own definite personality, it also has a plot that is full of political and love intrigues and the most scary female villain ever. Dumas is at his best in the action packed classic and I am still debating with myself if it should be number 2 or number 3 on my list... 

2) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

This novel has it all: love, revenge, hate, jealousy, a plot that twists and turns. Maybe that is why it is so incredibly long... mind you, I wouldn't have edited out even one page. A masterpiece from an author that I will never stop loving. 

1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

If you are a living, breathing person and have not read this book yet then go buy it and call in sick until you have turned the last page. This has to be one of the best novels ever written. The story, the characters, the heartbreak and the humour, this book has it all and Austen writes like no other author ever has or will.  Oh and it features my all time favorite main character Miss Elizabeth Bennett. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Jerks, asshats...

This tuesday the top ten list is counting down a list of the top ten jerks and asshats that we have met while reading. Not in real life obviously but on the pages.For more info on Top TenTuesday and to read a really great blog, go to The Broke and The Bookish (who started this fantastic meme) at http://www.brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/

Here comes my top ten - some of them worse than others:

10) Keir from "Inexcusable" by Chris Lynch. What is really interesting about Keir is that he is the main character and narrator as well as being a real jerk who has a problem with understanding that a no is a no.

9) Edward and Jacob from "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. Both are pretty controlling and both seem to think that being in love is an excuse to treat a girl rather badly. Still, the books would be rather boring without them :-)

8) Mr. Collins from "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. One of my favourite minor characters ever - he is an eternal source of laughs and I never tire of reading the proposal scene over and over again.

7) Greg Fuller from "The Book, The Film, The T-shirt" by Matt Beaumont. Easily swayed by a skirt and constantly nursing a hangover/migraine due to some problem that he himself has created - and always counting on his wife and PA to bail him out. Such a jerk.

6) Professor Sturrock from "All in the Mind" by Alastair Campbell. Will not say why because of spoilers but if you've read it, you know what I mean...

5) Kevin from "We Need to Talk about Kevin" by Lionel Shriver. Why Kevin is a jerk is the question that this book revolves around and if you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you do - it is great!

4) Mr. Vuoso from "Towelhead" by Alicia Erian. Such a creep, a real asshat. Gave me chills down my spine when I read it because he repulsed me so.

3) Cardinal Richelieu in "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas. Oooh he is a really nasty one, always has a trick up his sleeve to try to get his way. A bit of a perfect literary villain.

2) William Rackham from "The Crimson Petal and the White" by Michel Faber. I will not give any reasons as I am afraid to reveal spoilers

1) William Hamleigh from "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. Not even just a jerk but a real nasty piece of work. I hate this guy, really absolutely hate him.

Which jerks have you met on the pages of books?

Top Ten Tuesday: Dynamic Duos in literature!

Top Ten Tuesday - as you probably know - was created at The Broke and the Bookish: http://www.brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/.
Each week a lot of us list-crazy bloggers will post a new Top Ten list and this week's topic is Top Ten Dynamic Duos!

10) Peter Pan and Wendy from "Peter Pan" by J.M. Barrie. I loved Wendy when I was a child, I really really looked up to her. However, I always found Peter a bit of a spoiled brat. Wendy's patience, understanding and caring nature is the perfect antidote to Peter's childish nature while his courage and love bring out her adventurous side.

9)Sparhawk and his horse Faran from the Elenium series by David Eddings. What is a knight without his noble steed? In this case a very short-tempered, angry, passive-agreessive noble steed.

8)Milady de Winter and Cardinal Richelieu from "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas. Ooh these two are a really great pair of villians. He is the dark force that lead this vicious, revenge-loving beauty. Together they are seriously scary.

7)Mapp and Lucia from the Mapp and Lucia series. Bitter rivals and an early example of the frenemy tendency that was made famous by ugh Paris Hilton (can't believe I just wrote that name on my blog!). I think they keep each other on their toes and what would their lives be without their incessant battles to be the first lady of the village?

6) Marianne and Elinor Dashwoodfrom Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility". They are a great example to other sisters. Even though they are very different, they value these differences and bring out the best in each other.


5) Katniss and Peeta from "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins. Katniss has the logical reasoning and the cool while Peeta has the emotional intelligence and good sense. They are absolutely a power couple!

4)The three musketeers and d'Artagnan. I know they are more than a group than a duo but hey, they are really really cool!



3) Jane and Lizzy Bennett. Sisters seem to feature heavily on my list :-) I love how supportive Lizzy and Jane are of each other, I think they would have been so lonely with that mother and those sisters if they did not have each other.

2)Hermione, Ron and Harry from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Normally they say that three is a crowd but in this case, three is exactly the right amount to battle evil.

1) Georgette Heyer's heroes and heroines. I am on a bit of a Heyer roll at the moment, reading a lot of her books and what is quite clear is that her heroes and heroines usually adhere to the "opposites attract" saying. The males are noble, clever, fashionable but not slaves to fashion, eligible but unable to find the woman who can be their soulmate. The heroines have common sense and are independent. They are not missish and they take chances and usually they find the heroes annoying - at least in the beginning... Oh they fit so well together :-)

Top Ten Tuesday: Criminals, Villains and other Degenerates!

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish - http://www.brokeandbookish.blogspot.com/

Everyone is welcome to join - just you link back to The Broke and the Bookish on your own Top Ten Tuesday post and sign the mister linky on the B&B blog.

This Tuesday are dedicated to Top Ten Villains! We all know that sometimes it is the villain that makes a story so here is a post celebrating those baddies and nastiest in literature!

10. Mr. Wickham from Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice". Because he is a nasty golddigger with no shame what-so-ever. He really deserves getting married to Lydia, talk about a match made in hell...

9. Zenia from Margaret Atwood's "The Robber Bride". In Denmark there is a saying that goes "Women are woman's worst enemy" and that is exactly Zenia. She enters the lives of three women and wreaks havoc. What a b-tch!

8. Humbert Humbert from "Lolita" by Nabokov. Because he is outright creepy and disgusting!

7.Captain Hook from "Peter Pan" by J. M. Barrie. The man wants to kill children. Honestly. He may not seem bad in the Disney movie but he is a nasty piece of work.

6. Marquise de Merteuil from "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. Again a woman who will stop at nothing to get her will, you definitely do not want to cross her...

5. The three witches from Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" who are plotting to kill an innocent, young fallen star and cut out her heart to recapture youth and beauty.

4.William Hamleigh from "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. This guy will do anything to destroy his personal enemies and he sure knows how to hold a grudge. The characteristics of his personality seem to be brutish, violent and evil.

3. The totalitarian regime in "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margeret Atwood. I can't describe the horror of this regime that has turned women into caste-divided creatures that only live to serve men. The scariest book ever.

2. Voldemort fra the Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling, don't think I have to mention that...). Need I say more? Voldemort is evil, really evil.

1. Milady de Winther from "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas. I have always been really scared by Milady de Winther - she is a chilling character. Evil to the bone but able to conceal it behind a mask that alernates between worldly beauty, damsel in distress and pious scapegoat. She is a villain if there ever was one!

Do you want more villains? Then check out this link http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3560987/50-greatest-villains-in-literature.html

Who are your fave villains?

Where do you read? Part 1

These days I mostly read while I am on the bus travelling to and from work. However, I do actually have favourite places to read and some books I have loved more, simply because I have read them in the right atmosphere. I have a few favourite reading spots that I want to share with you, here is the first one. On this beach in the Italian town of Levanto - close to the Cinque Terre - I have spent some wonderful hours reading only interrupted by an occasional forray into the turquoise water.

Lying in the sun, listening to the people chatter around me in Italian and smelling the salty water, I got lost in the world of "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas. Every time I read little snippets of this book, I feel myself transported back there and it makes the book even better than it already is! Have you any favourite reading spots?