Throughout the past few centuries, there have been several works of genius that are now considered classics or at least still impart a sense of nostalgia to readers.
Reading books is almost a lost art today. To be entertained or learn something new, people mostly turn to Youtube and look up funny dog videos or how to build a pool or something along those lines, and the sad thing is that if many teenagers want to experience a good story, they’ll either watch a film adaptation of a book or play video games.
It’s just sad because it seems fewer and fewer people are taking the time to read good books; instead, they are reading the newest TikTok book because it’s popular. Most teenagers are likely unwillingly to read a classic book. They are missing out. Read on for some recommendations that will not disappoint.
The 1700’s were the start of classic literature. Jane Austen pointed out the flaws of British society in humorous and entertaining ways with her most famous works Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion. And later on in the 1800’s Charles Dickens would do the same thing with his novels Oliver Twist and The Christmas Carol. Now a lot of you might be thinking, “Well, I read that in my English class, that means I read it.” True, but you read it because it was required for class; you didn’t read it of your own free will, something totally different.
In the late 1800s, gothic literature was born and became widely popular in the Victorian era. Some of the great works under this category include Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Also, Edgar Allen Poe astonished the U.S. with his mysterious and macabre stories of tragedy. “Aren’t these books hard to get through?” Well, yes, but if you like slow-paced books, then I would highly recommend these.
In the 1900’s, came a surge of books that are still being read and taught in schools. In the 1920’s and 1930s, the career of Agatha Christie started to take off with her famous adventures revolving around her two most popular characters Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. In the 1940’s, British author George Orwell released his two most famous works 1984 and Animal Farm. In the 1950’s, Ray Bradbury entered the scene with his famous book Fahrenheit 451 and his short stories The Veldt and The Sound of Thunder. Movie are still made of Christie’s books, and SVHS sophomores still ponder the imagined future of Bradbury.
If you tell people you read for fun, you either get a surprised (maybe resentful) look or a supportive nod of mutual understanding. And that’s to be expected. After all, a hundred years ago, the world didn’t even have tv or video games or even radio. Now we do and technology is changing every day, giving us more ways of getting information. We have audiobooks we can listen to, ebooks we can download, and, if we like, we can go buy a paperback. Although not the only option, books still have meaning and a place on people’s entertainment shelf.
For me, nothing beats actually reading on a porch swing on a nice sunny day, with a book in one hand and a glass of lemonade in the other. You could try to do the same thing with an ebook, but it’s not the same.