Kelsey
Listing a favorite work of literature is like declaring a favorite child. For those who truly love literature it is impossible. Therefore instead of listing my top favorite works, I would like to start this blog off by listing literature that makes me especially happy. (I refuse to call them my “favorites” because there’s simply too many books and plays and poems in that category!)
Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
One look at this website and the assumption has already been made, so I’ll just reinforce it. Though I said I wouldn’t use the word, I can confidently say that this is one of my favorites. Actually, Oscar Wilde is just one of my favorites. The sense of humor in this comedy of manners is sharp, polished, and perfectly patronizing. It is especially genius because of the layers of humor: at first glance, it seems to be a parody of relationships, but the ridiculous behavior of the characters in society also prompts a re-evaluation of the lengths to which we will go to perfect a refined public image, the lack of class and subsequent judgmental attitude we must adopt in order to fit into high society. And then, under that layer, is yet another, even more hysterical layer–phallic humor. Who could possibly reject such a work of brilliance?
Other…ahem…”favorites” of Kelsey’s:
Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Libby
There have been a few works of literature that have ensnared me in their haunting sentences, revolutionary ideas, and raw truth. Some drew me into worlds which I could only with pain and gut-wrenching sorrow acknowledge as fiction, such as the Harry Potter series, so tangible and extraordinary were they. Others made me laugh and shake my head incredulously at mutual human idiocy from which I struggle and fail miserably to exempt myself, like Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Some bring me into the realm of legend, introducing me to transcendent beings, like Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. To me, there is no greater way to meet your own self and encounter the shared heart and meaning of humanity than to delve into literature.
Hamlet by Shakespeare
This is one of the greatest works, in my opinion, of all time. It introduces the reader to an infinitely true human character we simultaneously admire and shrink from, as we both triumphantly and fearfully recognize ourselves in him. He is a man of love and yet trepidation, who first nourishes and then breaks the heart of his lover Ophelia. He is a man bound by duty to a dead father, a man of revenge and yet compassion, a man standing at the crossroads of justice and peace. He is a man wracked by indecision and intelligence, a man of tragedy. If any great work forces us to stand at a mirror and peer into our essence, both great and terrible, it is Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Other “favorites” of Libby’s:
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
The Essays of E.B. White
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Readers, which works of literature are your favorites?
Gwendolen & Cecily 