When I was 12 years old, my favorite book was The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. Pretty strange for a 12 year old, right? It probably didn’t hurt that I was OBSESSED with the Broadway musical, but I was still in love with this book! It was really strange to most people, including my middle school friends, that this book they’d never even heard of was my favorite book. Even today, I’m not sure what I loved so much about it back then. However, I have read it since, and I was immediately drawn to the story’s progression and the character development. A little later on, I thought I was ready to take on Les Miserables. It didn’t really turn out so well at the time, but I have plans to read it again in the near future! Despite the the issues I had with language comprehension, and not understanding the military terminology, the character and situational descriptions always stayed with me. The characters are always so well formulated in classic novels, which is something that always draws me in!

Another aspect of these books that engages me is the romance that the author seamlessly weaves through the story. It doesn’t necessarily need to be a love story between two people to be romantic, but the romance of the language. Some authors, especially writers of the romantic period like Mary Shelley, understand the natural beauty of the world around them. It adds an extra layer of enchantment when you understand the romance of the everyday. Only certain authors can do that! And as a person who loves beauty and romance of all kinds, that definitely appeals to me!

I just finished reading War and Peace (I promise I’m. not trying to brag about how impressive the books I read are!!!!), and it was a very emotional experience. It was a book about life, and the beauty and tragedy that it can mean. Of course, I didn’t understand or relate to everything, but you don’t have to in cases like this! It’s not like reading a textbook for school, it should be much more enjoyable! It’s definitely not easy to start some of these books, and they can be slow in some places, but the experience will definitely be worth it.

Here are some of my favorite “old books” –

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• ANYTHING BY JANE AUSTEN!!!!
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Oliver Twist, and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley