*Disclosure* Some of the links in this post might be affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link & make a purchase, I’ll receive some commission- at no extra cost to you, which helps me cover the costs for this blog.
How many of us introspect or decide to be grateful for the things we have received? How many things in our life do we take for granted?
I certainly am guilty of taking the good stuff in my life for granted and complaining about the things I lack. I have done it for the longest time, especially when I was unaware of the power of gratitude.
Gratitude is powerful. Much more powerful than we realize. It has the power to change your mood & uplift your mind. Gratitude has the power to heal.
Gratitude doesn’t mean that we become delusional or brush away our problems. Being grateful means being aware of negativity & still choosing positivity. Gratitude means being grateful despite our problems.
To keep ourselves positive during the current COVID pandemic, practicing gratitude is essential. Whenever we feel that we are slipping into an abyss of negativity, depression, anxiety or dissatisfaction, gratitude is our anchor.
Here are 4 effective ways to practice Gratitude:
1.Gratitude Journal
This is by far the most talked about method of counting your blessings or expressing gratitude. Maintaining a gratitude journal and writing about the things you are grateful for can be of a great help.
Sit comfortably in a quiet place or close to a window to get a view of the outside world. Light some candles or turn on your favorite music. Close your eyes for a few minutes and mentally run through everything in your life that you are thankful for.
It could be your family, friends, your pet or even material items like your cozy home, your car, the latest gadget in the kitchen, the places you have visited, the cuisines you have tasted, the books that you have enjoyed… it could be a seemingly trivial thing or a big milestone in your life.
Your gratitude journal doesn’t have to look like an article from a newspaper or like a book from the printing press. You do not have to bother about the grammar, nor run any spell checks . All you need to do is write and express your gratitude for every single item that has brought joy. The journal is for your eyes only.
You can scribble just a few lines or write multiple pages. You can journal every day or once every week. It doesn’t matter how many lines you write or how often you update your journal.
Gratitude journaling can also be modified as ‘bullet journaling.’ Write down your gratitude list as bullet points.
2. Gratitude Pot/Jar
You don’t have to run to the store to buy a fancy jar to implement this. A simple mason jar from your kitchen will work! If you like being artistic, you can paint/decorate your jar.
Below is a picture of my gratitude jar that I made a while back. It’s a simple earthen pot that I painted using acrylic colors.
Gratitude pot painted by me
The idea here is to make note of the items that you are grateful for. Take a small piece of paper and jot down what made you happy on that day. Fold the paper and drop it in the pot/ jar. Keep the jar/pot in a place where it will be visible to you. If you want, you can encourage your family members to add their gratitude notes as well.. Take a moment to think what you are grateful for on that day and write it down.
It is best to do this activity at the end of the day so that you have an overview of the entire day.
You can try this gratitude pot/jar activity for a period of 40/90 days or for an entire year. At the end of this period you can empty your pot and read all your notes. It feels great to re-live the happy moments & remember that you have so much to be grateful for.
3. Volunteer for a cause
I think any gratitude practice is incomplete without helping someone or volunteering for a cause. While donating to charity is also good enough, volunteering for a cause like opting to help the less fortunate in your own way (other than donating money) is the best way to practice gratitude.
I have personally experienced this when I taught Dance Movement Therapy for free to senior citizens at an NGO in Singapore over a period of 6 months.
The feeling of giving back to society is amazing & unmatched. When we help those who are in need, we have a realization of all the wonderful things we have. The unfortunate help us realize how fortunate we are. Volunteering also helps us become more empathetic to other people’s troubles & needs.
During this trying time, if possible, you can volunteer to help the poor & sick people; and/or the migrant labourers in your city/country by giving them food/groceries or helping them in other ways.
The possibilites of helping others during this time are endless & the happiness you get from helping others & the gratitude you feel when you realize how much you already have, is incomparable.
4. Gratitude meditation
Gratitude Meditation is a form of mediation where we focus on gratitude for what we are thankful for. There are numerous guided gratitude meditation videos available on YouTube. If you are beginner in meditation, I suggest short (10 min or less) videos.
Gratitude meditation is an extremely powerful tool, combining the benefits of meditation & the feeling of contentment you get when you are grateful.
It is definitely a great mood booster! 🙂
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I hope you liked these 4 methods of practicing gratitude. When we intentionally practice gratitude, it is extremely powerful.
I know it is tough to practice gratitude especially when you are having a bad day or when we are faced with diffcult times like these. That is precisely the reason to practice it even more.
When we intentionally practice gratitude during a bad day/time, we become naturally more hopeful, happier & more resilient.
Practicing gratitude is like lighting a candle in a dark room. It will keep you warm, fuzzy & happy.
Do you practice gratitude? Have you used any of the methods listed here? I would love hear more about your gratitude practices. Please share it with me in the comments section below! 🙂
*Disclosure* Some of the links in this post might be affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link & make a purchase, I’ll receive some commission- at no extra cost to you, which helps me cover the costs for this blog.
Hi guys, it’s May already! Time flies and we are through with 5 months of the year. Feels unreal, doesn’t it?
Anyway, I think now is a perfect time to write about fasting and it benefits. With all of us staying at home, it is quite easy to get carried away and binge-eat.
I personally have been watching my food portions during this circuit-breaker period in Singapore (lockdown/stay at home whatever you call it). Other than that, like always, I fast once a week, on Mondays. It was around 4 years back that I started fasting a day a week, on a regular basis. Initially I ate food allowed for the vrat/upwas but I didn’t feel a lot of difference. When I began fasting by limiting my food intake to minimal (usually fruits/dry fruits & lots of water), I began to see the benefits.
Fasting is a concept which has been practiced for centuries in India in the form of vrat/upwas and on special occasions. It is also practiced in other religions & cultures across the globe.
Fasting may or may not be done for religious purposes, but it can certainly be done for health reasons.
There are various types of fasting and intermittent fasting has gained a lot of traction in today’s world with a lot of people opting for it. Intermittent fasting is an eating pattern where you cycle between periods of eating and fasting. There are many different types of intermittent fasting, such as the 12 hour intermittent fasting or the 16:8 or 5:2 methods.
Irrespective of the type of fasting, the benefits attached to it are innumerable.
Here are 5 benefits of fasting:
Fasting improves your immune system
Fasting improves the immune system because it reduces free radical damage, regulates inflammatory conditions in the body and starves off cancer cell formation.
In nature, when animals get sick they stop eating and instead focus on resting. This is a primal instinct to reduce stress on their internal system so their body can fight off infection.
Our immunity improves if there is a faster regeneration of cells, which happens when you fast.
According to one study, a three day fast can lead to the regeneration of the entire immune system and the production of totally brand new white blood cells which have a stronger ability to fight disease.
How cool is that?
2. Fasting aids weight loss & improves metabolism.
Fasting can be a great way to lose weight as many studies have shown that fasting allows the body to burn through fat cells more effectively than just regular dieting.
Fasting allows the body to use fat as it’s primary source of energy instead of carbohydrates. Many athletes use fasting as means to hitting low body fat percentages for competitions.
Fasting also gives our digestive system a rest, and this can energise our metabolism to burn calories more efficiently. If our digestion is poor, this can effect our ability to metabolise food and burn fat. Fasts can regulate our digestion and promote healthy bowel movements, thus improving our metabolic function.
3. Fasting Can Reduce Insulin Resistance, Lowering Risk of Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes has become incredibly common in recent times with unhealthy lifestyles & high amount of sugar intake in people due to improper diet and over consumption of processed food.
The main feature of Type 2 Diabetes is high blood sugar levels in the context of insulin resistance.
Anything that reduces insulin resistance should help lower blood sugar levels and protect against type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, fasting has been shown to have major benefits for insulin resistance and lead to an impressive reduction in blood sugar levels.
Thus, because fasting is extremely beneficial in reducing insulin resistance & increasing insulin sensitivity, which can be of much significance in lowering blood sugar levels, it thereby proves to be helpful in reducing the risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
4. Fasting Helps Clear The Skin And Prevent Acne
Fasting can help clear the skin because with the body temporarily freed from digestion, it’s able to focus its regenerative energies on other systems.
Not eating anything for a while has shown to help the body clean up the toxins and regulate the functioning of other organs of the body like liver, kidneys and other parts.
Since the digestive system gets detoxified and bowel function improves, the skin also benefits from it and flushes out the toxins it has accumulated thus becoming clearer and healthier.
5. Fasting Improves Your Brain Function
Fasting has shown to improve brain function because it boosts the production of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF.)
BDNF activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons, and triggers numerous other chemicals that promote neural health. This protein also protects your brain cells from changes associated with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Ageing of brain cells can slow down, thus increasing mental alertness & awareness which helps to improve brain function.
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These were a few health benefits of fasting. There are numerous benefits of fasting apart from the 5 listed here. Fasting is known to improve heart health, reduce risk of cancer and also helps in regulate hormones. The list of it’s benefits is very long.
It doesn’t matter what type of fasting you practice; intermittent or not, any form of fasting is beneficial.
I personally have experienced feeling mentally alert and more active when I fast. My ‘fast day’ is usually more productive and more creative than the rest. I feel quite energetic as well.
Fasting should be done carefully and it does not mean starving yourself. Also, prolonged period of fasting is counter-intuitive and can cause more harm than good.
Fasting should only be done once or twice a week with regular meal days in between.
Anyone with diagnosed medical conditions and on specific medications should avoid fasting. Fasting should also be avoided by underweight people, people with eating disorders and by pregnant or lactating women.
Fasting can also feel initially tough to those who have never done it before and any extreme form of fasting should be avoided. The body takes time to adjust itself to fasting and it is important to be gentle with your body.
Tht said, I hope you found the article useful and I hope you do give some form of fasting a try, keeping in mind your health & body capability too! 🙂
*Disclosure* Some of the links in this post might be affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link & make a purchase, I’ll receive some commission- at no extra cost to you, which helps me cover the costs for this blog.
Today, as the month of April comes to an end, I am sharing with all of you 51 ways of self-care and self-love that will give you a much needed boost a this time. We all have our bad days and good days and these self-care ideas are sure to help you cope whenever you are having a tough time.
2020 is proving to be quite a challenging year and the year of upheavals. So it is quite natural to have bad days and feel low during such a time.
Before I share with all of you these easy and fun ways of self love & care, I want to write something on this topic.
What is Self-Love/Self-Care?
Self- love means doing what is best for yourself. It does NOT mean being too proud or having a superiority complex. Infact, it’s the opposite.
Self-love keeps you humble because you know your own pluses and minuses and acknowledge that you are imperfect. Those who are vain do not love themselves since they seek validation from others & have not yet come to terms with their own imperfections. Those who are self-assured and love themselves, don’t really need any external validation.
The most important thing I have realized is that self love doesn’t mean having no self-accountability and making excuses for yourself. Making excuses also means you don’t love yourself enough to do what is needed. While it is very important to be kind to yourself and compassionate with yourself, it is also important to differentiate between being kind to yourself and making excuses Examples: I’m gonna skip my class/session/work/ meditation/workout today because I don’t feel like it. I’m going to buy myself those expensive shoes even though I know I should save that money, etc. Guys, this is not self- love. I learnt this after making some mistakes, but I have realized that self-love means inclusion of self-accountability as well.
Self love & self accountability go together. Self love and self care mean doing what you NEED and NOT just doing what you WANT. Self love & care mean knowing and doing what is best for yourself, even when it may seem tough to do at the moment. In order to know what is best for you, you need to start self-introspecting. You have to become your own best friend.
For me, self love means being honest with yourself, acknowledging the fact that you are not perfect and striving to improve yourself.
On that note, I am sharing with all of you 51 Simple Ways of Self-Care, to help you during a bad day at home.
Here’sthe list:
Brew and drink a cup of your favourite beverage
Refresh your morning routine
Wake up early
Watch the sunrise
Have a healthy & satisfying breakfast
Write down or say a few positive affirmations.
Write 10 things you are grateful for
Take a detox bath
Try a new face mask
Breathe deeply
Do Yoga
Sleep well
Exercise often
Stretch yourself to relieve tension
Meditate daily
Order/make your favorite dessert
Write 5 things you love about yourself
Make a bucket list or vision board
De-clutter 10 items
Read a personal growth book
Skip watching & reading the news
Do something that makes you laugh
Do a kind deed for others/ help someone/donate to charity
Stop comparing yourself with others
Watch your favorite show
Have a video chat with family & friends
Give yourself (or get) a manicure or pedicure at home
Give yourself a head massage
Light your favorite candle
Listen to your favorite podcast
Cook your favorite meal
Do a digital detox
Watch funny YouTube Clips
Draw, paint, colour or doodle something
Take regular small interval breaks from work
Don’t criticise or belittle yourself
Dress up as if you are going outside
Click some pretty photos of yourself
Listen to your favorite music
Hug someone/ Tell someone you love them
Drink a full glass of water & stay hydrated
Read inspirational quotes
Watch a motivational Ted Talk
Wear your favourite perfume
Turn your phone off for a few hours
Do a Brain Dump
Plan your upcoming week
Leave some room for imperfection in your life.
Dance like crazy
Block/ unfollow people and social media accounts who bring down your self-confidence/ make you feel negative
Set an attainable challenge for yourself for the next day
So here was my list of 51 self-careideas. Do let me know if you try any of these and feel better!
Take Care of yourself everyone and focus on loving yourself and taking care of your mental and physical health during these crazy Coronavirus Pandemic times.
Are you missing traveling as much as I do? The stay at home situation is teaching me not to take things for granted, including travel.
I have always loved traveling for as long as I can remember and I find that the best way to learn and grow yourself is to travel.
Photo clicked by me – Hong Islands- Krabi, Thailand.
Travel is something which helps you get out of your comfort zone and many a times I have had positive as well as negative experiences which have brought me out of my comfort zone, encouraged me to travel more and helped me to understand more about life.
“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” -Gustav Flaubert
So here are 8 things I miss about travel:
The Anticipation
The feeling of anticipation I get, when I visit a new place for the first time, is something I am currently missing. It makes me hopeful and happy when I know I am going to visit a new place!
2. Last Minute Packing
This one is strange, since I NEVER have liked packing. Whether it is moving homes or countries or traveling, all of which I have done often, the one thing I absolutely don’t like is packing my stuff. Whenever I do travel, my packing is almost always done last minute, since I cannot make up my mind completely before that 😀 So I always am rushing to pack my bags, last moment, every single time, which annoys my husband very much since he is quite a meticulous planner. 😀
Strangely enough, ever since I am at home, I am missing packing my bags and going to discover some place new. I miss the last minute rush and craziness of it all!
3. The Culture & People
I am a people’s person and I love discovering new places and different cultures and I like to interact with the local people and observe them. I find each travel experience teaches me something new and helps me broaden my horizons. This is one of the primary reasons I love traveling, since it teaches me so much about the world!
4. Airports
I love airports and the sense of being in transit and the vibe of it all. I really enjoy having a cup of tea/coffee before I board the plane and I love to observe people as they rush through to different destinations.
In fact, I am one of the few people who loves a longer transit time in between flights. Of course, not all airports are that interesting or well developed, so it also depends on the airport whether I enjoy my time there or not.
My favourite airport is of course Singapore Airport. There is absolutely no competition there! I haven’t heard of or seen a more creative and interesting airport than Singapore Airport! The next one which I like is Mumbai International Airport!
5. Nature
Whenever I travel, I make it a point to visit some scenic place. I love connecting with nature. The lush green trees, the chirping birds and the ache I get when I walk too much. I feel calm and refreshed and energetic connecting with nature. I miss that feeling right now.
Also, I am a sea person and like they say, I need a dose of ‘vitamin sea’ when I travel. Watching the waves, feeling the sun and wind on your skin and the sand underneath my feet, is an incomparable feeling.
I miss my dose of nature & sea!
6. The excitement of being in a place for the first time
The thrill of going to a new place for the first time, being amazed at the new things I tumble upon and the feeling of wonder on discovering something new, I miss that.
7. Photos
How obvious is this one!! Every girl likes getting clicked and so do I. For me though, my love for photos extends beyond myself. I love to capture the food, the place, the people, nature and everything else that I can, in my photos. I love capturing photos since photos are memories for me. Memories I cherish and I wish to treasure.
I also love sorting out the unwanted photos on my phone and keeping the good ones. For me, travel and photography go hand in hand and any place I travel to, is incomplete without photos!
8. Coming Home
Although, I love traveling much more than an average person, I also love the feeling of coming back home. Home is like a safe space for most of us, isn’t it? I love coming back home enriched with wonderful experiences and a new perspective on life. Unwinding at home after travel is a great feeling and I miss it.
No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang
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These are a few things I miss about traveling. As I write this, I feel the urge to travel again!
I hope that we all overcome the Coronavirus Pandemic and are able to travel, make new friends, collect more memories and learn more about each other!
“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain
The lockdown/stay at home situation is starting to get to me, just like it is getting to all of you I presume. There are days when I am genuinely happy and productive at home and there days when I am not.
The only saviour through all of this for me has been reading.
Too much of social media, too much of news about COVID-19, too much of watching Netflix/ Amazon Prime shows and movies makes me feel unproductive and I seriously can’t view shows/movies all the time.
Reading makes me feel alive & activates my imagination. It helps me go into another world & I forget the worries of the current world for a while. It also makes my memory sharper as I grasp one story after another and read one line after another.
The added benefits of vocabulary expansion, cognitive stimulation & brain exercising make reading the best stay at home activity during these times.
Today, I am sharing with all of you 13 Classic Fiction Novels which aren’t boring. Infact, these books are so good that they have been adapted into movies & television shows and you must have seen the adapted versions of atleast one of these.
Even if you have seen any of the movies/TV shows, I would suggest you all to read these books. Books give you the real story and movies/shows although entertaining, lack the depth and intensity of books. Books are layered and have more complex plot build ups & describe the minutest things in detail.
If you love the vintage vibe & the amazing culture, costumes & dialogues of the previous era like I do, you should definitely read these classic novels. As a bibliophile, I find that the books of today lack the depth of character & detailing that the books of the previous generation had. There is just so much richness, finesse & character to these books, that it’s hard to beat such good writing. Hence, they are rightly the most popular books of all time.
I am a huge vintage, retro and classic fan. From vintage clocks, to vintage home decor, to vintage clothing and vintage cars, I love it all! In fact, one of my favourite cafes in Singapore is vintage themed! I guess I am probably just an old soul….
Anyway, the classic novels mentioned below are from different genres & they have a great plot/story line, irrespective of their genre.
Depending on your favourite genre, you can start reading any of these!
Here’s the list:
1. HERCULE POIROT SERIES- AGATHA CHRISTIE
The Hercule Poirot series is dated back to the 1920s and is a legendary series written by Agatha Christie. Hercule Poriot is a Belgian Detective and the stories revolve around him solving many cases through detective work. He is known to be extremely intelligent & observant. The books are available as both, short stories and novels.
Genre: Mystery/ Detective Fiction/Suspense
2. JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH- JULES VERNE
This is an 1864 science fiction novel. The story involves German professor Otto Lidenbrock who believes there are volcanic tubes going toward the centre of the Earth. He, his nephew Axel, and their guide Hans descend into an Icelandic volcano and encounter many adventures, including prehistoric animals and natural hazards & somehow manage to resurface to the earth again.
Other Jules Verne novels like Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea & Around The World in Eighty Days are also very popular and worth a read.
Genre: Science Fiction
3. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD- HARPER LEE
This book was published in 1960 & soon became extremely popular & won the Pulitzer Prize as well. It deals with sensitive topics like racial discrimination, etc in an extremely subtle manner. In fact, it has lots of humour & warmth as well and the story is told innocently through the point of view of a six year old girl.
Genre: Southern Gothic/Coming of age fiction
4. PERRY MASON BOOK SERIES- ERLE STANLEY GARDNER
The first book in this hugely popular law detective series was written in 1933. The Perry Mason Book series ranks 3rd in top selling book series of all time. Perry Mason is a criminal defense lawyer and the stories involve a client’s law murder trial. The American author & lawyer E.S Gardner depicts Perry Mason as a lawyer who fights hard on behalf of his clients and who enjoys unusual, difficult or nearly-hopeless cases. He frequently accepts clients on a whim based on his curiosity about their problem, sometimes for a minimal retainer, and finances the investigation of their cases himself if necessary, to get to the bottom of the crime & ensure justice.
A still from the Perry Mason TV series adaptation
The series include a large list of 82 novels plus 4 short stories. The dialogues and courtroom scenes definitely make this series a great read!
This book dates back to 1844 and is written by french writer Alexandre Dumas who also wrote the famous novel – The Three Musketeers. The story takes place in France, Italy, and islands in the Mediterranean during the historical events of 1815–1839 (when Napoleon returned to power after his exile). The historical setting is a fundamental element of the book, an adventure story primarily concerned with hope, justice, vengeance, mercy, and forgiveness. It centres on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail & plans revenge.
The saying ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’ is apt for this book and this book has lots of thrill, drama and characters with deep layers and stories. Today, this book is a literary classic.
Genre: Historical Fiction/Adventure Fiction
6. THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK- ANNE FRANK
This book is also called as the ‘Diary of a Young Girl’. This is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by a young girl calledAnne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in a concentration camp in 1945.
The diary was retrieved by Miep Gies, who gave it to Anne’s father, Otto Frank, the family’s only known survivor, just after the war was over. The diary has since been published in more than 60 languages. The diary entries where published soon after in the 1945s to 1950’s & the popularity of the book was such that it was translated from Dutch to 60 other languages.
It is a heart- wrenching yet warm & gripping book and one can see the world from Anne Frank’s eyes.
Genre: Autobiography
7. SHERLOCK HOLMES- SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE
This is a vastly popular series and needs no introduction. Sherlock Holmes is a fictional private detective created by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes is a private detective and refers to himself as a “consulting detective” in the stories. The series date back to the year 1887 and gained popularity in the early 1891.
Adaptation- Sherlock TV series
Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.
Genre: Detective Fiction/Mystery/Crime Fiction
8. LORD OF THE RINGS- J.R.R TOLKIEN
This is an epic high fantasy novel written by English author & scholar J.R. R Tolkien. Most of you must have watched the films. Did you know that it is originally a book series? The story intially began as a sequel to Tolkein’s 1937 fantasy novel The Hobbit, but eventually developed into a much larger work. Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling novels ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.
Genre:Fantasy/ Adventure Fiction
9. LITTLE WOMEN- LOUISA MARY ALCOTT
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott which was originally published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details their passage from childhood to womanhood. It is loosely based on the lives of the author and her three sisters. Scholars classify it as an autobiographical or semi-autobiographical novel.
Little Women was an immediate commercial and critical success, with readers demanding to know more about the characters. The two volumes were issued in 1880 as a single novel titled Little Women. The women’s characters and the sisterhood bond is amazing in this book, with the character of the tomboy girl Jo adding the much required spark to the story. It depects the life of women in that era and makes a great read.
Written in 1813, this classical fiction written by British author Jane Austen is romantic fiction set in that era. The novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussions of judgments formed in haste and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness.
Its appeal lies in it’s humorously honest depiction of manners, education, marriage, and money during the Regency era in Great Britain. It is the perfect book depecting the fact that appearances can be deceptive. The iconic characters of Flitzwilliam Darcy & Elizabeth Bennet and the hot & cold relationship between the two, make the book very interesting. Each of them learn their lessons and Elizabeth learns not to have a prejudiced mindset.
Still from the movie Pride & Prejudice 2005
Pride and Prejudice has consistently appeared near the top of lists of “most-loved books” among literary scholars and the reading public. It has become one of the most popular novels in English literature, with over 20 million copies sold, and has inspired many derivatives in modern literature
Genre: Romance Fiction/Satire/ Domestic Fiction
11. COMA- ROBIN COOK
The Robin Cook book series are not literary classics in true sense of the word, but they are one of the best book series on medical fiction from the years 1972 to 2019. Many of the books have been bestsellers on The New York Times Best Seller List. Several of the author’s books have also been featured in Reader’s Digest. His books have sold nearly 400 million copies worldwide.
Coma is one of the most famous of the books written by American physician & author Robin Cook. The book’s protagonist is young 3rd year medical student Susan Wheeler who stumbles upon mysterious deaths in the hospital & decides to investigate.
Genre: Medical Fiction/ Medical Thriller/Suspense
12. JANE EYRE- CHARLOTTE BRONTE
Jane Eyre (originally published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography) is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë, published under the pen name “Currer Bell”, in the year 1847.
The book contains elements of social criticism, with a strong sense of Christian morality at its core, and is considered by many to be ahead of its time because of the character Jane Eyre’s individualistic personality and how the way the novel approaches the topics of class, sexuality, religion and feminism.
The last book in this series and the oldest, dating back to 1811, written by Jane Austen beofre Pride & Prejudice.
The story revolves around the Dashwood family & the two sisters Elinor & Marianne.
Elinor is the eldest & the ‘sensible’ one. She is reserved and has a silent & yet strong character. She places other people’s welfare and interests above her own and suppresses her own strong emotions in a way that leads others to think she is indifferent or cold-hearted.
Marianne is the younger, more romantically inclined & temperamental one. Her emotional excesses identify her as the “sensibility” half of the novel’s title. (At that time, this word meant what we now call “sensitivity”).
The relationship between the two sisters & the happenings around them and Marianne’s realisation of her behaviour makes this book an all time favourite classic.
Genre: Romance Fiction/ Domestic Fiction
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Thus, this was a list of my favourite classic fiction novels from various genres.
From romance, to suspense, to fantasy, to autobiography, to science fiction & medical thriller, this list has it all!
Do you love classics as much as I do?
Do let me know if you have read any of these and if you are inspired to read one.
Did I miss any other favourite classical novels of yours?
Go ahead, grab a cup of tea/coffee and start reading one of these classics.. I am sure you will not be disappointed!
In case you need more ideas on what to do during lockdown, read my previous post.
A Cupful Of Everything 