I sort of felt ridiculous typing the title since it’s been awhile since I’ve even put a review on the blog but, never fear! I do have many coming down the pipeline so it’s okay. Really …..! 😉
Well, I decided to alter the Top Ten Tuesday topic a little and instead of my first ten reviews, I’m going to give you my favourite top ten. Here goes …
My Top Ten Favourite Reviews on My Blog
1. Ecce Homo by Friedrich Nietzsche : this is by far the most popular review on my blog and (this will surprise you) probably the funniest one that I’ve written. Nietzsche, while at times interesting, is nothing if not tedious and one cannot help poking fun at him.
2. The Warden by Anthony Trollope : written in journalistic form, I would say this is one of my more creative reviews!
3. The World of Tomorrow by E.B. White : this essay is my second most viewed review and interesting in its own right. White is certainly a master-essayist!
4. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky : Dostoyevsky is never an easy read and this one was particularly difficult. Yet I think for my first read I was able to dig deeply enough to get more than I expected out of it. Now I have to go back to The Idiot and do the same.
5. Christianity and the Survival of Creation by Wendell Berry : this essay is my third most viewed review which at first surprised me but it shouldn’t have. Berry’s sensible and insightful views of what is most important at the root of life should be read by everyone. He’s a treasure!
6. Hamlet by William Shakespeare & on the same topic, Hamlet: the Prince or the Poem? : the first being the play and the second, C.S. Lewis’ lecture given on the heart of this favourite Elizabethan drama.
7. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley : in spite of being only nineteen when she wrote it, this novel shows surprising perception, and the development of complex ideas for one so young. A masterpiece!
8. Paradise Lost by John Milton & A Preface to Paradise Lost by C.S. Lewis : perhaps it was timing but this wonderful poem vies for my top favourite. It’s not perfect but at points Milton surpasses a level that I would have thought unreachable. Lewis’ lecture is a must to get more marvellous insights.
9. War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy : an epic story that is not to be missed, Tolstoy crafts a masterpiece. This was probably my most difficult review to write (also Decartes’ Meditations gave me nightmares! 😉 )
10. Fathers and Sons & What Is To Be Done? & Notes from the Underground – I put these three reviews together because interestingly they were part of a three-way conversation between these three great Russian authors. First, Turgenev wrote Fathers and Sons as a commentary on the collision of old traditions and the advent of new thought; Chernyshevsky in a rant in What Is To Be Done? responded to Turgenev’s views with his own take on a social order; and Dostoyevsky decided to blow Chernyshevsky’s views out of the water with his own response in Notes from the Underground which reached to the very depths of human behaviour. It’s a fascinating conversation and the books really need to be read consecutively to be truly understood.
And there are my ten+ reviews of which I’m most proud, not necessarily in numerical order because they are all liked for different reasons. If you have a favourite review of yours, please leave a link in the comments! I’d love to read it!
~ Top photo courtesy of Rawpixels
Okay, I love your reviewing style. Ecce Homo was particularly amusing!
My TTT.
Thanks, Lydia! In spite of Nietschze’s self-adulation, it wasn’t too bad to read and a fun review to write! I’ll check out your Top Ten post!
I really like your blog because you review classics!
My TTT: https://ichleseblog.wordpress.com/2019/04/23/top-ten-tuesday-first-ten-books-ive-reviewed/.
Thank you for your nice comment! I feel like I’ve gone a little off track with my Christie reads lately but perhaps Dante’s The Divine Comedy balances it off. 😀 Thanks for stopping by!
I love the selection. of course I have to go back and read some of them, while I remember some, including Berry which was perhaps one of your most awesome posts!
Thanks so much, Cirtnecce! I’m gratified to hear that you remember some of them! Berry is great, isn’t he? I must read more of him!
What a fun post! Ah, the days of “What is to be Done?,” how lunatic they were. I should pay attention to the Top Ten more, this would be a fun one to do.
Chernyshevsky wasn’t what you’d call balanced, was he? Or realistic, or sane, or …. 😉 You should do it anyway. I’ve been known to do Top Ten Tuesays on other days of the week, and sticking with the topic …? Pshaw! 😉 If it interests you, go for it!
Sounds fun. Now I just have to find the time, but after all, I can do it anytime!
Ooh, lots of classics here! Don’t find too many people reviewing those, and I just love that you do! The reviews are such fun to read.
Here’s my TTT post.
Thanks, Sammie and welcome! I do love the classics and I’m so happy I’ve read so many but there still seems so many to go! Nothing to do but keep reading, huh? 😉
I will definitely check out your Top Ten Tuesday!
I think I will have to give Nietzsche another try someday. I might get more out of his writings after I have read some other philosophy.
I have read Paradise Lost but I am sure I will read it again. I have thought of maybe pairing it with reading William Blake, next time.
War and Peace is on my list for someday.
Great list! I would have had a different list if I had picked my 10 favorite reviews, but here are my first 10 reviews:
https://bethsbookishthoughts.blogspot.com/2019/04/top-ten-tuesday-first-ten-books-i.html
I don’t know why I think reading more philosophy would just make Nietschze more unbearable, lol! In any case, he was somewhat interesting and I do plan to read more of his works. I’ll just have to brace myself! 😉
Hmmmmm ….. I feel that Blake did not understand Milton. He claimed that he (Milton) was part of the devil’s party and completely missed the insights into his portrayal of Satan which C.S. Lewis picked up. But now that I know that, I’d be interested to read Blake.
I’m going now to check out your reviews!
#1 – Ah, Nietschze… I guess I will read him someday, but authors who are self-consciously Profound are an instant turn-off.
#4 – Ok, I seriously need to read Berry. Everyone raves about him, and your review is excellent!
#5 – I dare not say the phrase “read along” (our plates are already so full), but I’m looking to re-read The Idiot probably later this year. 😀
#10 – Somehow I failed to read What Is To Be Done? when I read the other two…again, a re-read is in order!
As always, I’m so impressed by the scope and depth of your reviews! 🙂
Not only that but he sounded a little bit loopy. I felt a little sorry for him as I imagine how he’d be received by your common individual.
Yes, absolutely! Read Wendell Berry! You’d LOVE him!
I will see if I can fit The Idiot in but I can’t promise. It was a book that I found so frustating as I felt Dostoyevsky was trying to say so much, yet I didn’t get it. I don’t think I’m in the minority though. It would be nice to try to figure it out together.
Reading the three books consecutively is invaluable.
Thanks, Marian, and likewise! 🙂
What a fun switch on this week’s TTT. I’ve just had a great time going back through your greatest hits and reading them. Ha, take that, Friedrich!
LOL! Poor Nietschze! He didn’t like anyone but in spite of his self-aggrandizement, I’m not sure if he even liked himself. It been a number of years so I should be able to bear another of his books soon, ha ha!
Thanks so much for reading through the reviews; I really appreciate it! 🙂
As soon as I saw this I was hoping you’d put your Fathers and Sons/What is to be Done?/Notes from Underground reviews on here. Probably one of my top 3 favourite reviews I’ve read from the Classics community over the years. Great list!
Aw Keely, that’s very kind of you to say so! 😀 The connection between the three is not well known and I’m hoping that as soon as people realize that connection that they’ll make an attempt to read the three together. It’s such an interesting and valuable conversation.
Yeah, your review of Ecce Homo was brilliant! I loved it!
Thanks, Ruth! It was a surprise that, in spite of finding the read trying, the review was fun to write!