I love book positivity, so I wanted to start this thread to see some book love! For me, I don't tend to pick up books if I think I'll dislike them, but there have been a few pleasant surprises for me. Most notably, I think mine are Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens and Beowulf translated by Maria Dahvana Headley. Funnily enough, both of these are from English classes that I took in college.
I've heard a lot about Dickens and how he's so verbose and hard to read, but I absolutely LOVE Our Mutual Friend. It's so cinematic, and dramatic, and funny. Also, since it's one of his lesser known books, all of the twists were actually surprising to me. I actually want to reread it sometime soon, but I just don't have time for such a long book while I'm in graduate school.
I also heard a lot about Beowulf and how it's boring and hard to read. But my professor for my Medieval Lit class chose this newer translation and I was absolutely blown away. It made me want to read a bunch more translations, just to compare the styles and differences between them.
by AuthorAdjacent