Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë

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This is one of those classics that loomed like an ominous mountain in front of me. Then I downloaded the audiobook narrated by Juliet Stevenson and she made all the difference to the experiencing. She is a true entertainer, the voices and accents that she made for each character brought a whole different level to the experience.

The story was dark and bewitching, with a love story that could’ve ended differently if the two characters weren’t stubborn. Catherine really worked on my nerves, she was selfish and with her betrayal of Heathcliff that set the wheels in motion of the plot, I found her very childish.

To a certain degree, I can not really understand why people always reference Catherine and Heathcliff as the perfect couple. Heathcliff is an emotional abuser and Catherine is a spiteful young woman who damned everyone with her actions.

I am however very glad that I am only reading this now as an adult since I can see where a younger person would romanticise the relationships, but as an older reader, I can say it is disturbing to think so many people have these two characters as their ideal of how a relationship should be. 

Please children, spiting one another and then ruining each other does not make a great relationship. 

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen

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I have listened or watched every adaption of this book but every time I started the book since I was in school, I just thought the language was too difficult and never persevered to finally read it. This time though it was different. I flew through it, the book pulled me in immediately and now I understand why this is one of the most loved classics. Jane Austen had a way to bewitch you with words, they draw you into this story and I couldn’t put it down.

The characters were more detailed and I could understand them better, I fell in love with Mr Darcy, I grew frustrated with Lydia, Mrs Bennet irritated me (in a good way) and all the other characters just crept deeper into my heart. The way they all played their part in this story made you either like or dislike them more and to me, this will be one of my favourite character driven books.

I truly wish I read this book earlier, but then I also believe that if a book doesn’t hook you it is not your time to read you. If I pushed through with all my earlier attempts this wouldn’t have had such an impact on me.

If you struggle reading this one, I would also recommend you spend the money and get the audiobook narrated by Rosamund Pike, she does different voices for each character and it really helped me get into this book. I combined the audiobook with my physical copy and in the end only read the book once I got accustomed to the language.