The Canterville Ghost

Oscar Wilde tells a funny little ghost story that’s really about the relationship between a rising America and old Europe. 

It’s funny and silly and short. Read it, ideally to your kids, next Halloween.

Candide

Voltaire tells an outlandish satire. 

My overwhelming experience of this book was disorienting silliness. I didn’t know much about it going in, except that it has long been considered a classic, and kind of as with Don Quixote, it’s shockingly goofy. 

Underneath the antics, it’s clearly roasting some Leibniz philosophical optimism position. “The best of all possible worlds” seems to stand in, in Voltaire’s eyes for something exceedingly dumb. I’ve never encountered Leibniz before, so it seems like Voltaire won the battle since the days when Leibniz was worth roasting. 

It was fun, but it didn’t make its claim to such celebrated status clear to me. 

I wouldn’t especially recommend it, but you should lean towards thinking of me as a philistine in this case probably.

haha love your honesty! sometimes classics are more like an acquired taste, right? sounds like an interesting read tho! 📚😄