The recent recommendation posts going up on my site may lead readers to believe that all I ever read is filthy, filthy smut. And this is 90% accurate. But I am also an intense mood reader and sometimes I’m in a different reading mood. Then I turn to either horror, or my other surprise favorite: classical literature.
I know. I know. Wtf, SE? How random can you get? Just wait, it gets even less comprehensible.
Because if I’m being honest, the main type of Classics that I like are children’s books. Maybe I’m a child at heart (aka super childish). Maybe I like to rest my eyes, and heart—and vocabulary—by reading simply written books with brilliant illustrations. It could also be that these are the books I grew up with. Or the fact that I still read them when I’m feeling the need for a break from life, the universe, and everything.
Most likely it’s a combination of all of these. Plus the fact that Dickens, Faulkner, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy…they’re just EXHAUSTING to read, okay, each sentence is like a full English class on its own, Sweet Baby Sauron I just want to READ a damn BOOK, not examine every heavy theme in literature all in one go. *uncomfortable cough* Anyway. If it’s silly, sweet and slightly funny, the odds are very good it’s my favorite Classic in all the world. I especially can’t resist the wry, gentle humor of British children’s authors. Definitely my aesthetic.
Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne
“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like “What about lunch?”
― Winnie-the-Pooh
“Oh Tigger, where are your manners?”
“I don’t know, but I bet they’re having more fun than I am.”
―
The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
“Now sir, said the bulldog in his business-like way. ‘Are you animal, vegetable, or mineral?”
– The Magician’s Nephew
“The bright side of it is,” said Puddleglum, “that if we break our necks getting down the cliff, then we’re safe from being drowned in the river.”
― The Silver Chair
Wizard of Oz series, L Frank Baum
“Oh, I see;” said the Tin Woodman. “But, after all, brains are not the best things in the world.”
“Have you any?” enquired the Scarecrow.
“No, my head is quite empty,” answered the Woodman; “but once I had brains, and a heart also; so, having tried them both, I should much rather have a heart.”
― The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Tales of Peter Rabbit, Beatrix Potter
“I do not think”—said Samuel Whiskers, pausing to take a look at Tom Kitten—”I do not think it will be a good pudding. It smells sooty.” ―The Tale of Samuel Whiskers
“ONCE upon a time there was a frog called Mr. Jeremy Fisher; he lived in a little damp house amongst the buttercups at the edge of a pond. The water was all slippy-sloppy in the larder and in the back passage. But Mr. Jeremy liked getting his feet wet; nobody ever scolded him, and he never caught a cold.” ―The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
A Little Princess/The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett
“Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book. People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment. The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage.” ―A Little Princess
Matilda/James and the Giant Peach/The BFG, Roald Dahl
“I cannot for the life of me understand why small children take so long to grow up. I think they do it deliberately, just to annoy me,” barked Ms. Trunchbull.
― Matilda
“My dear young fellow,’ the Old-Green-Grasshopper said gently, ‘there are a whole lot of things in this world of ours you haven’t started wondering about yet.”
―James and the Giant Peach
“Meanings is not important,” said the BFG. “I cannot be right all the time. Quite often I is left instead of right.”
― The BFG
Coraline, Neil Gaiman
“On the first day Coraline’s family moved in, Miss Spink and Miss Forcible made a point of telling Coraline how dangerous the well was, and they warned her to be sure she kept away from it. So Coraline set off to explore for it, so that she knew where it was, to keep away from it properly.”
―Coraline
“It won’t hurt,” said her other father. Coraline knew that when grown-ups told you something wouldn’t hurt it almost always did. She shook her head.”
―Coraline
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
“Name the different kinds of people,’ said Miss Lupescu. ‘Now.’
Bod thought for a moment. ‘The living,’ he said. ‘Er. The dead.’ He stopped. Then, ‘… Cats?’ he offered, uncertainly.” ―The Graveyard Book
Howl’s Moving Castle, Diana Wynne Jones
“Yes, you are nosy. You’re a dreadfully nosy, horribly bossy, appallingly clean old woman. Control yourself. You’re victimizing us all.” ―Howl’s Moving Castle